Mobile base camp build

[Arya Ebrahimi]

So I finally got a moment to take a few pictures to update this thread. I'm embarrassed to say that I never did paint anything and it now has a pretty solid "patina" on the frame and suspension. I had grand plans of stripping it down for a full sandblast and paint this spring, but work and other projects took up all my time, so it will likely go another season as is.

The first two pictures are of the mechanical closet. This houses the battery, air compressors, water pump, power inverter, air manifold, fuse block, switch panel and water heater. It took a bit of brainstorming to get it all to fit and be somewhat organized, but I think it came out relatively clean. I do still need to tidy up the wiring a bit, but a lot of that was last minute or even during the trip last summer. I'll be digging in over the next month as we get ready to go to Wyoming in August.
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The next picture shows the front of the cargo area where the air tank and the fridge slide reside. The air tank is going to be relocated so that it's not vertical and takes up less room. That will allow me to build a clean simple cover to encapsulate everything and make it more weather resistant. If you look closely you can also see the junction box where all of the chassis wiring is terminated.
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The 7-pin RV plug is routed to that junction box through the tongue tube and comes out through a handle I made.
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The safety chains are attached via 3/8" cold rolled steel rod I bent into 90*s and welded on.
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That's about all I have for now. The kitchen is the next major area of focus. On our trip to Colorado I was constantly worried about preparing food on/in a trailer that we were also sleeping on top of. Being from the east coast I don't have the greatest sense of security around the larger predatory animals of the west. As a result we did a lot of our cooking/food prep on campground tables. I'm still not sure whether I want the stove and other cooking tools attached to the trailer or if I will keep them modular and just create storage areas for them. In the meantime I'm going to finish up the sink and plumb the water heater in so that it will serve both the sink and the shower. While I'm doing that I intend to add an accumulator to the water system so that it doesn't pulse so badly.

Feel free to hit me with questions, I'm happy to share my triumphs and mistakes

[Arya Ebrahimi]

One thing that I forgot to mention is the controls for the air bags. You will notice two toggle switches at the top of the switch panel seperate from the rest. These are air switches and they control the two airbags individually. Simply push the switch up to inflate the bag and push it down to deflate. This is VERY handy for leveling the trailer side to side, increasing ride height over rough terrain, and dropping ride height for highway cruising and in camp.

[loren85022]

Suggestion, minimize distance between sink, and wtr heater, and insulate input hose. I have same setup and waste water waiting for heat at sink. Suspension envy!


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[Arya Ebrahimi]

Loren, that's a good point. How far is your sink from your water heater now? Mine will end up being about 7-9' of hose when it's all said and done if I go with my current plan.

[loren85022]

I'm sim distance. It's only an issue when preserving water is essential. I keep a pitcher near by and fill it with the water coming in before the heat gets applied. Maybe 16 oz. then send kid around to refill. We use sink 20x more than shower so in hind sight, it's a design flaw.


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[Hifihunter]

Outstanding craftsmanship. Can you go into more detail re. your electrical system and what all capability it provides. Are you using (1) battery? Is it wired to charge while driving via the tow vehicle?

How much do you think your trailer's curb weight is?


Thanks, and yes..... Your trailer is worthy of a very nice paint job

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Outstanding craftsmanship. Can you go into more detail re. your electrical system and what all capability it provides. Are you using (1) battery? Is it wired to charge while driving via the tow vehicle?

How much do you think your trailer's curb weight is?


Thanks, and yes..... Your trailer is worthy of a very nice paint job

Thanks for the compliments.

The basic electrical system consists of 1 Diehard Platinum Marine battery, a Bluesea fuse block, a home made switch panel and a Xantrex power inverter. The battery is charged via the 7-pin plug from the tow-vehicle. I do not have any fancy isolation system in place, I simply unplug the trailer plug when in camp to prevent drawing down the truck battery. Since the ladder of the trailer lands on the tongue, it's fairly easy to remember to unplug the trailer while I'm there.

I have 2 air compressors(twin viair's run in parallel), the fridge, the water pump, and some LED area lighting permanently wired/switched via the Bluesea fuse block. There is also a 12V cigarette outlet on the switch panel in the electrical cabinet for general use. The inverter is powered directly from the battery and is for general 110V use. I have not had occasion to use it on the trailer as of yet, but have used it in the past during electrical outages and it has been more than sufficient for the basics.

As for the weight, I have not had an opportunity to weigh the trailer, but I'm guestimating it's in the 1000-1200lbs range. I know the box by itself weight approximately 700 lbs before I removed the full steel floor. The frame of the trailer is probably a couple hundred pounds plus another 200-300 for the suspension bits and tires.

I have not been able to make any progress on the trailer thus far this year. Work has been absolutely nuts and I had to cancel our road trip plans. Hopefully in the next month or so work will die down and I will be able to get back to the rest of my life.

[Mark Harley]

Great build, Work pays the bills but I hope you get some down time to continue the build.
I have been looking for a utility body local but most are dual wheeled versions and tons too heavy
or a good price but scrap metal. No fiberglass models yet.

Looking forward to more build

[Grim Reaper]

Glad I found this thread I'm about to build something similar.

If the weights I found listed are correct single wheel 96 inch steel beds list out at 1200lb. and my dumbass plans to pull it with a 86 4runner with a 22RE.

My plan is also to cut out the stock floor and frame then deck the frame to cut weight. Id be thrilled with a 1200lb dry weight. I was going to Run a water tank on the tongue like an adventure trailer. I had planned of setting the body flush to the bottom to get full use of bed depth and putting a utility shell on top. That will allow me to stick a twin mattress in it on a pedestal to sleep on and give me about 5ft floor to ceiling. I already have a frame under my last build and if my measurements are correct it should roll right under it after some out riggers and building a bumper similar to yours. Bags would be a future up grade. I had planed on 33x9.50-10.50s to allow them to be used on the runner (or fj80 I'd like to get one day).

Now you have me worried about how high it will end up. May have to rethink this. Think the stock floor and body is stiff enough to be run as unibody?

At travel height what's the ground clearance under yours?.

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Glad I found this thread I'm about to build something similar.

If the weights I found listed are correct single wheel 96 inch steel beds list out at 1200lb. and my dumbass plans to pull it with a 86 4runner with a 22RE.

My plan is also to cut out the stock floor and frame then deck the frame to cut weight. Id be thrilled with a 1200lb dry weight. I was going to Run a water tank on the tongue like an adventure trailer. I had planned of setting the body flush to the bottom to get full use of bed depth and putting a utility shell on top. That will allow me to stick a twin mattress in it on a pedestal to sleep on and give me about 5ft floor to ceiling. I already have a frame under my last build and if my measurements are correct it should roll right under it after some out riggers and building a bumper similar to yours. Bags would be a future up grade. I had planed on 33x9.50-10.50s to allow them to be used on the runner (or fj80 I'd like to get one day).

Now you have me worried about how high it will end up. May have to rethink this. Think the stock floor and body is stiff enough to be run as unibody?

At travel height what's the ground clearance under yours?.

It's been a while since I weighed the various components, but I want to say the bed by itself was 700lbs. I think you could easily reinforce the body and use it as a unibody. That never occurred to me, although I would be hesitant to cut out the floor and it's associated structure if you intend to use it as a unibody structure. Of course you could replace whatever structure you remove.

It definitely ended up a bit higher than I originally thought it would, but it hasn't proven to be a problem.

I'm not 100% sure on the ground clearance measurement, but I'd say it's at least 20" at the lowest point, probably closer to 24" for the majority of the trailer.