Paddler Ed
Adventurer
After loitering on here for about the last month, I've decided it's a good idea to put a thread up about my trailer... everytime I come on here I get sidetracked by other awesome vehicles... this going to be a bit of an intro thread as well, as I didn't do one of those...
Intro to me
I've been in Australia now for 5 out of the last 6 years - originally came over in 2010 - 2012 as a backpacker with (then) Girlfriend (who is now the minister of war and finance), and had a whizz bang Mazda E2000 van (they're called whizz BANGs as that's what the sliding door does...)
(my recommendation for curtains by the way are Thermarests - block an amazing amount of light - or even better, Cardboard boxes..)
We did find the limits of it though:
We lived in that for about 18months, with only about 6 weeks where we were not sleeping in it all the time! In total we covered about 40,000km from Sydney to Cape Tribulation, out to Longreach (picture above in the mud... after 25mm of rain overnight) and back into Sydney via Bourke (and a whole load of other places inland and on the coast... but that's another story)
It was looking like we were staying, so we got a Toyota Land Cruiser FJ73.... but had to go back to the UK in 2012. Saying goodbye to it after 15,000km of travels (Sydney - Mt Gambier and back round on the Great Ocean Road and the coast (+ a load of other trips):
Came back out in 2013 as a student, got another 4x4 (this time a 1992 4Runner) which we use for swag camping and touring in:
(New Year camping next to the river with some mates)
and now that I've finished studying I needed a project...
Intro to trailer
Originally I had designed my own trailer, and lined up a mate to do the welding for me to build it... but as time went on, this was looking less and less likely. Instead I scoured eBay and Gumtree (Aussie Craigslist) and found this 15mins from home:
1996 Kanga Camping Trailer - designed for you to lob all your stuff in when you go camping.
There was a long conversation with the wife that evening - mainly revolving around the fact that I'd not really told her I'd found it... and the outcome was that 90minutes after viewing it, I'd said I'd take it.
A couple of stand out features for me were:
-Independent suspension:
Shocks turn out to be from a 60 series Land Cruiser, so typical Aussie logic; we'll make it using something that is readily available anywhere in the country.
-Decent size and weight - the trailer box is 7' x 4' (the upper limit for most camper canvases) and only weighed (according to the rego papers...) 350kg... in fcat it weighted 420kg WITHOUT the lid... It's now had a 20kg crash diet with the angle grinder. Max weight is only 750kg, but will need brakes as the 1992 4Runner can only tow 400kg unbraked according to the towbar.
-Because it has 6 stud hubs I can have matching wheels and tyres to the car:
(that's the spare from the car)
And a mate was selling (for a carton of beer) 4 that were the same dimensions as the ones I have on the 4Runner:
I designed my own kitchen for it, as I needed to keep everything as light as possible, so 1" ali box with plastic quick connectors:
As the trailer needed brakes, and after much thought, I decided to go electric brakes, so had to get a brake controller - spent a day rolling around fitting one:
The main brain for it is hidden at the bottom of the A-pillar:
As long as it's firmly fastened, it is self calibrating in any orientation, so down there was out my way...
But importantly this is what it all looks like together:
It has a trailer light board on it at the moment as I removed the lights in preparation for sand blasting and repainting - that's happening in about 3 weeks time, sandblasted before the weekend and then any welding done over the weekend and painted the following week.
Once that's done, I'm off to get a canvas for it from Gordigear; going to go for the Taiga (the smallest) and an extra room. Had a great chat with Helmut a couple of months ago now about it all, and he sent me some samples of the materials for me to look at. Fits my budget and my needs - there were some very nice ones that were 2x as much, but if I went for one of those I was risking over-capitalising the trailer.
I'll try to keep this thread upto date, along with the other 2 threads I have on the go elsewhere!
Ed
Intro to me
I've been in Australia now for 5 out of the last 6 years - originally came over in 2010 - 2012 as a backpacker with (then) Girlfriend (who is now the minister of war and finance), and had a whizz bang Mazda E2000 van (they're called whizz BANGs as that's what the sliding door does...)
(my recommendation for curtains by the way are Thermarests - block an amazing amount of light - or even better, Cardboard boxes..)
We did find the limits of it though:
We lived in that for about 18months, with only about 6 weeks where we were not sleeping in it all the time! In total we covered about 40,000km from Sydney to Cape Tribulation, out to Longreach (picture above in the mud... after 25mm of rain overnight) and back into Sydney via Bourke (and a whole load of other places inland and on the coast... but that's another story)
It was looking like we were staying, so we got a Toyota Land Cruiser FJ73.... but had to go back to the UK in 2012. Saying goodbye to it after 15,000km of travels (Sydney - Mt Gambier and back round on the Great Ocean Road and the coast (+ a load of other trips):
Came back out in 2013 as a student, got another 4x4 (this time a 1992 4Runner) which we use for swag camping and touring in:
(New Year camping next to the river with some mates)
and now that I've finished studying I needed a project...
Intro to trailer
Originally I had designed my own trailer, and lined up a mate to do the welding for me to build it... but as time went on, this was looking less and less likely. Instead I scoured eBay and Gumtree (Aussie Craigslist) and found this 15mins from home:
1996 Kanga Camping Trailer - designed for you to lob all your stuff in when you go camping.
There was a long conversation with the wife that evening - mainly revolving around the fact that I'd not really told her I'd found it... and the outcome was that 90minutes after viewing it, I'd said I'd take it.
A couple of stand out features for me were:
-Independent suspension:
Shocks turn out to be from a 60 series Land Cruiser, so typical Aussie logic; we'll make it using something that is readily available anywhere in the country.
-Decent size and weight - the trailer box is 7' x 4' (the upper limit for most camper canvases) and only weighed (according to the rego papers...) 350kg... in fcat it weighted 420kg WITHOUT the lid... It's now had a 20kg crash diet with the angle grinder. Max weight is only 750kg, but will need brakes as the 1992 4Runner can only tow 400kg unbraked according to the towbar.
-Because it has 6 stud hubs I can have matching wheels and tyres to the car:
And a mate was selling (for a carton of beer) 4 that were the same dimensions as the ones I have on the 4Runner:
I designed my own kitchen for it, as I needed to keep everything as light as possible, so 1" ali box with plastic quick connectors:
As the trailer needed brakes, and after much thought, I decided to go electric brakes, so had to get a brake controller - spent a day rolling around fitting one:
The main brain for it is hidden at the bottom of the A-pillar:
As long as it's firmly fastened, it is self calibrating in any orientation, so down there was out my way...
But importantly this is what it all looks like together:
It has a trailer light board on it at the moment as I removed the lights in preparation for sand blasting and repainting - that's happening in about 3 weeks time, sandblasted before the weekend and then any welding done over the weekend and painted the following week.
Once that's done, I'm off to get a canvas for it from Gordigear; going to go for the Taiga (the smallest) and an extra room. Had a great chat with Helmut a couple of months ago now about it all, and he sent me some samples of the materials for me to look at. Fits my budget and my needs - there were some very nice ones that were 2x as much, but if I went for one of those I was risking over-capitalising the trailer.
I'll try to keep this thread upto date, along with the other 2 threads I have on the go elsewhere!
Ed