Our 5x8 Cargo Conversion

mikesova

New member
Last week, my wife and I bought a Cargo Conversion. It's a Continental Cargo 5x8 that was custom ordered. The P.O. built it specifically for he and his wife to do an 8 week trip around the country. They did so last summer and they no longer needed it. He built in a nice kitchen area in the back and finished off the front area for sleeping. They also had a tent that attaches to it custom made. It's no frills, basic 110v hook up in the front and rear areas, No 12v, except for the tail lights and a pair of interior lights that only work when the tow vehicle's headlights are on.

So we picked it up to "save money" on hotel rooms on a trip out west this summer.

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We're leaving on Friday to take it out to Yellowstone. I have some questions on how to improve it. (probably not before we leave, but for when we get back) Since the kitchen is in the back, it can't really be used as a toy hauler as is.

Any idea on a good way to haul a 300lb. dual sport motorcycle? Our tow rig is a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and the max tongue weight is 350 lbs.

Any recommendations on a set of roof racks for a cargo trailer that would clear the roof vent?

How about a good way to haul bicycles on it, externally?
 

Pjcfraley

New member
Absolutely incredible. So cool. Well done! I know Yakima racks has an extension you can add to raise the bar. That might work but not cheap. As far as bikes go here's what I did with my pup:
I had an existing bike carrier for my car. He kind you strap to the back, not to a trailer hitch. Besides, I had heard of horror stories about hitch carriers on the back of PUPS so I didn't want to go there. I bolted two heavy duty D rings to my roof on each side of the AC. All I do is connect the straps on the carrier to the D rings and then two straps around each side of bumper to tighten everything up. So far used it a few times with 3 bikes and it works great. The straps act as shock absorbers taking the brunt away from the trailer itself. Cheap and easy


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

BigAl

Expedition Leader
That is really nice! They did anice job. You might be able to loose the tounge box, extend the tounge by a foot or so, then put the bike on sideways in front of the living quarters. You could move heavy items to the rear or add counter weight underneath to get your tounge weight were you need it?
 

mikesova

New member
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I'm building a power pack to run the 110v plugs inside. I'm enclosing a 35ah SLA battery in an electrical box. I have an SAE lead to use to hook up the charger and I have a switched voltmeter wired up to be able to check the voltage. I'm just waiting for the 800W continuous /1600W peak inverter to come in the mail. I'm going to wire that to the battery and mount it on top of the box. This will be kept in the tongue box and can be used on the road where electrical hookup isn't available. :) It's basically in place of a generator. I know it will only last so long before recharging, but it should do for the basics.
 

mikesova

New member
I'm thinking I found a low cost, nice solution for a removable roof rack.

http://www.cargogear.com/infolib.aspx?lookup=HIROOFRACK&image=hiuroofrackBjpg

It's like a normal thule/yakima style rack, but instead of using rain gutter, it uses a nylon strap. For a car, that goes in between the body and the door. I am thinking I can attach something to the side of the trailer to connect it, like a footman loop:

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This setup seems nice also, because it would be easily removable. My trailer will barely fit in my garage and I don't think it would with the rack on it.

Any thoughts?
 

mikesova

New member
I finished the power pack yesterday. It works well and the lip of the cargo box allows a cord to be run in while allowing the lid to be shut, so I just need to run a short cord to the side of the trailer for onboard power.

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I also attached a tv wall bracket to the front of the trailer. I was intending this to be for a laptop, but I found a little tv/dvd at a yard sale last week for 10$.

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Honu

lost on the mainland
What about making the bed a Murphy bed kinda thing ? So it can get out of the way and might fit corner to corner ?
 

elmo_4_vt

Explorer
Can you install a hitch rack off the back? I was thinking about doing that with my old one before I went to a larger cargo trailer so it could go inside.

Don

-
 

Honu

lost on the mainland
Oh just saw how short the door is for some reason my mind did not register the person in the one pic :) thought it was more a full length door ;) hahahah yeah that would be tough
seen some that had decent size doors :)

to bad you could not make your rear kitchen thing on hinges to swing to the two sides so you could open up a spot in the middle then when parked swing back and joint the kitchen up in the middle ? for sure a ton of work though but would be cool to see something like that done
 

photoman

Explorer
I think you have three potential options on the motorcycle. Have someone install a class III hitch on the back of the trailer or front of the Jeep and use a motorcycle hitch carrier. Other option would be to mount a motorcycle carrier on the front of the trailer and lengthen the tongue as mentioned earlier.

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BTW- I like the idea of a conversion. If I ever go the trailer route I am thinking of doing a conversion.
 

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