Exacting Specs Trailer Build

[elsensei]

point taken.

this is 3/16 wall tube, and i'm running 100 psi not 250. Actually for my general purposes I could go as low as 10-20 psi. re: moisture...yes agreed you'll never get all the water out, but that's true for the frame regardless.

and no, i'm not using it for gasoline storage!

thanks for your comments.

 

[elsensei]

another idea...

So here's what I'm trying to do...For this rig, I want to be able to carry 15-20 gallons of water and an equivalent amount of gasoline. Two problems: weight and bulk. I've used jerry cans or other 5-gallon plastic cans before and those are all very well and good but they are heavy to store or to carry, if they are anywhere up on a storage rack your rig becomes topheavy, you have to worry about miscreants stealing them and they take up a lot of space.

The idea I'm working on came to me while I was initially designing the frame of this trailer. I calculated out the volume of the negative space between the trailer frame members...by that I mean the air space, not the volume inside the trailer frame itself. Here's a picture to make it more concise:

as you can see, two tanks suspended within the confines of the frame will carry a total of over 20 gallons of gasoline. A tank built to ride over the frame members and at 1.5 inches tall internally will carry almost 20 gallons of water.

Here's what I designed. All the tubes are for filling the tanks above and below the trailer deck, pressurizing the tanks (now you know why I want compressed air storage) and for retrieving liquid from the tanks:

and

I think that this way, if the tanks are built with internal baffles and constructed properly, carrying capacity objectives can be reached in that about 20 gallons of both fuel and water can be stored, the weight will be as low to the ground as is possible while maintaining ground clearance, no bulky tanks will be required and no pump needed to void the storage tanks.

The downside is that I'm looking at running a total of 85 feet of tigwelded aluminum bead! But I did find a guy online with an aluminum spool gun so maybe I'll hire him to stitch everything up after I've tacked it.

unless someone on this board has a mobile setup and the know-how to use it and wants to make some side $$$?

 

[INSAYN]

I see you said something about using air pressure for fluid transfer, but I agree with Curtis on avoiding using the square frame as your air tank. I'd suggest several hotdog shaped tanks under the trailer as your air tanks.

Do you plan to do fuel tranfer from the trailer to the motorized vehicles via hose, or push it into a can and transfer manually.

One more thought on single point storage for fuel or water and soley depends on your personal environment you play in. If you spring a leak in a tank and don't catch it until it's too late, you get the daunting task of making decisions on how to remedy the situation. If you have multiple tanks like jerry cans, and potable water jugs, one leak in one can/jug only drains that specific unit. Sure it is bulkier and somewhat top heavier, but folks have been strapping these cans/jugs all over their rigs and I doubt they tip over because of it.

It looks like you would have enough room to secure two jerry cans on either side behind the fenders, and make some sort of water containers to sit in front of the fenders. Maybe cover with false walls to deter theives. This would still keep the overall weight low, and give you redundant fluid storage.

Just something to consider.

Nice fab work though! You seem to have a well stocked shop to play in.

 

[elsensei]

I've got a plan for doors at three of the four fender areas you mentioned (kitchen, fridge slideout, etc), so jerry cans won't work in those areas. Plus, I already bought all my aluminum and have two of the 3 tanks already constructed so I'm going to go ahead with my original plan. I think it'll work out fine but if not I'll have the most expensive skidplates known to man.

 

[loren85022]

I like the build and your relentless pursuit to maximize the functional use of every nook and cranny.

Regarding water and fuel, what's your plan for the back of the Tacoma? I ask because assuming there's some space, you could run for a while with Jerry cans. Which sorta leads into my other thought. You might consider getting the base model done and put some miles behind it before you invest in the seriously custom ( cool & clever) stuff. Not that I don't like watching it be built, but sometimes you get even better ideas with some nights spent using it. I'm my case, as I look back at my drawings, it was more like...****** was I thinking!

But you clearly got a cool build going, so whatever you decide, build on amigo.

 

[elsensei]

The back of the Tacoma...I'm gonna keep the shell to drop on the truck when it's surf safari time...I agree with you on the Jerry cans as additional storage...that'll come in handy i I do a south america trip...load up in venezuela at below-market prices. Also a good place to lock up the surfboards, etc.

I agree on the value of using ideas borne from experience. I've been doing Baja and desert trips for about 10 years now and every time I take a notepad with me and note what worked, what didn't, what needs to be repaired/replaced/replenished etc-It's a point of pride for me to pack light, take a trip and come back with exactly zero extra perishables. (Though I keep some MRE's on hand just in case.) So I've been thinking about this for a long time, and a lot of what I have planned requires integration from the foundation. I'm counting on you guys to chime in with ideas and questions in the meantime.

 

[elsensei]

couple shots of the air quick disconnects:

I'm using a sheet of aluminum for the deck. .190 thickness, 5052 alloy...Tough, doesn't corrode, lightweight, doesn't need finishing, and SHINY!

Drilled holes are to access airbag bolts and to fill as-yet-to-be mounted fuel tanks.

I'll be spending lots of time with the drill and the tig today, boring holes to mount the deck to the frame and then welding studs onto the frame. The plan is to sandwich the deck between the frame and the steel cage for the trailer box itself.

 

[elsensei]

The cage:

I deviated somewhat from my plans...using 1x1 16 ga steel tube, I removed a couple of the uprights and crossbars that i had on my sketchup drawing.

Basic cage:

Added a hinged side door...

Ambulance doors at the rear...

Here's the opening for the fridge slideout...Need to hang a door here...

And the trailer so far, upended from when I was doing the shocks...

One more for the road...

And speaking of the road...took it for a trial rollout down the street with the fridge in place. I since bought a 1" drop for the coupler since I'll not be running with the airbags pumped up so much. Might need a 2" drop...we'll see.

 

[Mark Harley]

Love the build! "and the 68 charger too!"
Keep the pics coming.
Mark

 

[elsensei]

you know what sucks? running out of MIG shielding gas after 5 pm when you've still got a full head of steam.

This was a long day in the shop...but i got a lot done...

for starters, as promised here is a shot of the eezi awn and cargo rack stored overhead. I'm goign to use the rack and tent on the new trailer and keep the shell for lockable security for oversize items, surfboards, contraband, whatever.

Today was all about doors...Last thing I did yesterday was weld in all the stops for the door to close on. I already have weatherstripped to apply after paint.

First, the side door- to make it possible to grab stuff from the front of the trailer without having to crawl inside. Finished it off out of the same 1x1 steel with crossbraces and skinned the inside with aluminum diamondplate. The whole thing is pianohinged and it will have a locking paddle latch and probably cables to hold it when open.

Next, my slides arrived today. Beefy hettich 34 inchers, supposedly with 500 lb capacity. I believe it after looking at the size of these things. When extended, you have to look twice to see all of them.

I built and installed a door for that compartment and test fitted the sliders:

and I think they'll work perfectly for my fridge. I also added a vertical brace in the angle in the door so the skin will have some backing.

The way I figure it, when cooking you'll pull the fridge out and open it, then fold down this compartment

into position like this:

And possibly there will be a slideout that you can pull out from inside. Not sure about that yet. And I have to confess, I have a piece of granite left over from remodeling my house several years ago...and a diamond saw blade...and I need a food prep workspace...I'm actually laughing out loud at how over the top that would be. Hmmmm...

Anyway, further on to the rear of the trailer where I'm scheming a fold-down slide-out stove idea. I found brand-new slides at the local industrial liquidators for $6 A PAIR!!! I love cheap hardware. So I grabbed a couple pairs and they're just itching to be used here:

I built both halves of the door frames for one side for this.

I'll do an identical setup for the other side of the trailer where the shower will be contained. Yes, it's on it's way from walmart and it'll fit the space I have for it! Only bummer is I couldn't find one gasoline fired, only propane. Oh well, so now I'll be mounting a bottle somewhere.

Speaking of everything having a place....I also did some work on the ambulance doors, crossbracing them and fabbing bracketry to hold my tool kit...

and a pair of gas lanterns.

Most likely I'll add another bracket to hold a fire extinguisher on the toolkit side too...

I think that's it for now...tomorrow first thing will be a trip to the welding supply...or maybe I'll just start attaching all the tanks with the tig since that is low on gas as well...getting both filled at once. We'll see.\

Give me your comments critiques and ideas!

Thanks-

Sam

 

[grimbo]

Awesome. Love the everything has a place and a place for everything aspect of the build.

 

[elsensei]

Frame Studs

Today spent a number of hours working on the frame and deck.

First, had to drill out the deck to accept the studs I needed to weld on to the frame. Here's the deck with 28 holes drilled.

By the way, 28 x .190 thickness x 11/16" diameter = a hella lot of aluminum all over the place.

Then I tigwelded on 28 individual studs. That was a chore. But I didn't run out of shielding gas. Maybe tomorrow!

Once that was done, the deck slipped into place perfectly.

Amazing that something seemingly small like that can take up most of a day. Tomorrow I'll drill out the cage to fit onto the studs, bolt that down and if I have time, start welding the water tank together.

 

[indiedog]

Nice work mate. You are certainly resolving many things before construction. Makes me think you may be an architect or similar?? I also used welded on studs to attach my fenders, what a pain that was! :Wow1: So I know what you mean. Keep it up.

 

[Greenmonkey]

The build looks sweet, can't wait to see more.

 

[Fresno]

thank you for a excellent build report.