Long time lurker here finally getting a start on my project. My girl and I love the outdoors and love camping and enjoying nature with our two dogs. After a few years of struggling to keep more then 200lbs of dog in a nylon tent at 5 in the morning when a random, raccoon, deer or other animal comes sniffing through camp... and a few ripped tents later, we decided a tent trailer would probably be a little easier.
Yeah they look innocent, but they'll tear up even the best of tents quicker then you can whip out the visa to purchase them!
Lucky for us her parents were giving up their old one for something bigger and newer. Here it is on one of it's last weekends. You gotta love the color scheme!
Well it served it's purpose, but now we want to find places further and more remote. Not to mention, it's rotted through. We decided a full rebuild and upgrade was in order.
The tear down starts!
And ends pretty quick. You wouldn't believe how flimsy those suckers are!
Very little will remain of the original camper as you can see. We are keeping the "pop-up" mechanism of the old trailer, and the basic, two bed layout will stay the same. What we will do is get rid of a lot of the crap inside and transfer our essentials outside. For instance, cooking in a tent is stupid. The cooking will now be done outside so pull out compartments for our "kitchen area" will be worked into our plans. I love to rough it but with a camper like this, it is handy to have interior and exterior lighting when you're off the grid, so we will be wiring up a 12volt system that will charge while being towed off our tow vehicle. Propane and water will also be permanent fixtures on this rig.
I will also be making this a lot more off-road worthy. Not as much as some (No 33" mud tires here) but full size wheels and 30" tires will be used, and with that, stiffening of the frame and structure of this camper.
We will eventually change the canvas, but we may just have to make due with the old stuff for this year depending on our time and budget constraints.
More updates to follow!
Yeah they look innocent, but they'll tear up even the best of tents quicker then you can whip out the visa to purchase them!
Lucky for us her parents were giving up their old one for something bigger and newer. Here it is on one of it's last weekends. You gotta love the color scheme!
Well it served it's purpose, but now we want to find places further and more remote. Not to mention, it's rotted through. We decided a full rebuild and upgrade was in order.
The tear down starts!
And ends pretty quick. You wouldn't believe how flimsy those suckers are!
Very little will remain of the original camper as you can see. We are keeping the "pop-up" mechanism of the old trailer, and the basic, two bed layout will stay the same. What we will do is get rid of a lot of the crap inside and transfer our essentials outside. For instance, cooking in a tent is stupid. The cooking will now be done outside so pull out compartments for our "kitchen area" will be worked into our plans. I love to rough it but with a camper like this, it is handy to have interior and exterior lighting when you're off the grid, so we will be wiring up a 12volt system that will charge while being towed off our tow vehicle. Propane and water will also be permanent fixtures on this rig.
I will also be making this a lot more off-road worthy. Not as much as some (No 33" mud tires here) but full size wheels and 30" tires will be used, and with that, stiffening of the frame and structure of this camper.
We will eventually change the canvas, but we may just have to make due with the old stuff for this year depending on our time and budget constraints.
More updates to follow!
