miketomcat Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 (edited) The plan is to build a rugged trailer that can: Have a cup of tea ready in the time it takes to boil the kettle. Sleep four. Be well insulated. Have a kitchen area. A toilet with at least a sink but a shower would be nice. Have hot water and heating. Be small enough to tow easily and in remote areas. Be robust. Use land rover stud pattern. Be quick to build. So far the idea is buy a galv trailer chassis (possibly a livestock trailer). Get a fridge/freezer box off a delivery van. These can be picked up cheap and are already insulated. Fit a pair of bunks for the girls and a king size bed for us. Hopefully we can have a bed that converts into seating. A toilet/shower cubicle would be nice but willing to go pull out toilet and shower outside. Probably going to have a pull out kitchen on the outside. This will replace our now gone camping trailer and our current caravan (bought to see if it worked for us). This may start next year or it may not but ideas and comments welcomed. I should point out my wife is at uni doing interior design and she designed our camping trailer set up. Mike Edited October 24, 2018 by miketomcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 good plan, but id buy a old caravan. strip the fittings out and keep them, pull the body off the chassis and then do what you propose. will save you a wedge of money. i did similar not long ago, the caravan cost me £50. best £50 i even spent, save me £300 if i only count the loo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted October 24, 2018 Author Share Posted October 24, 2018 We may well strip our current caravan but we have limited space and will probably need the current one while building. A caravan chassis is not in my opinion robust enough and are quite limited in carrying capacity. Quite often things like cookers, sinks and fridges are available from work. I restore classic power boats for a living so the interior fittings are often replaced with shiney new ones. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianmayco68 Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 Looking forward to this should be interesting . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 14 hours ago, qwakers said: good plan, but id buy a old caravan. strip the fittings out and keep them, pull the body off the chassis and then do what you propose. Yes and no - you can re-use the fridge, cooker, etc. if that's your bag but the furnishings are usually twee as hell and fitted to the vehicle so it's as much work to re-use them as just make something new that fits. And I know part of M+T's motivation is hating how twee and flimsy caravan interiors are (and I wholly agree). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 (edited) 7 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said: Yes and no - you can re-use the fridge, cooker, etc. if that's your bag but the furnishings are usually twee as hell and fitted to the vehicle so it's as much work to re-use them as just make something new that fits. And I know part of M+T's motivation is hating how twee and flimsy caravan interiors are (and I wholly agree). yup, i only mean the electrics, gas etc. the heater, hot water heater, cooker, sink, fridge and loo alone are serious money, a cheap caravan which you can then sell to a farmer for storage (what i did) will save a huge chink of your cost... s'what i did... worlds biggest camper Edited October 25, 2018 by qwakers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 YES !!!!!!! Now you're talking... 😎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 OK now I'm jealous... you need to put a build thread for that beastie up so we can have a proper ogle! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Yes, I agree. This calls for a detailed tread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Davies Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 (edited) Sounds an interesting project Mike, I'll be watching with interest. I know Ifor Williams 5 stud axles are LR stud pattern and some of the stock trailers even come on 16" wheels but most are 12" I think. What overall size are you going for? Edited October 26, 2018 by Chris Davies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 18 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said: OK now I'm jealous... you need to put a build thread for that beastie up so we can have a proper ogle! 10 hours ago, Arjan said: Yes, I agree. This calls for a detailed tread. 19 hours ago, Arjan said: YES !!!!!!! Now you're talking... 😎 done 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Please keep them coming..... Both the Mrs. and me have a full HGV licence and this is really what I'd love to build. ...including a garage for the 88 in the back..... Think a 8 mtr. bay should do nicely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 2 minutes ago, Arjan said: Please keep them coming..... Both the Mrs. and me have a full HGV licence and this is really what I'd love to build. ...including a garage for the 88 in the back..... Think a 8 mtr. bay should do nicely... to avoid hijack... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Y E S !!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Will it have a diff? Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 I would take a look at some of the Aussie off-road caravans, lots on youtube and many micro-manufacturers over there to browse and steal ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon W Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Have you thought about making your own trailer chassis? Reason I ask is a friend of mine makes fridge trailers by building a chassis and then putting sansburies fridge bodies on them. Could put you in touch, think he does single axle and double axles. Could be a simple starting point Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 IVA for home made chassis now, Mike has said he really doesn't want to do that all over again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Sankey trailer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 You could get a flatbed Ifor and go SOA to fit some lr sized tyres under the bed or cut the bed out and leave them SUA. Livestock trailers are the dearest and not much different to a flat apart from some have a HD drawbar and wider spaced axles depending on spec. I have a 12ft ex Sainsbury's box the biggest issue would probably be all the tye down hoops set in but if you know anyone handy with resin you could remove and blank if needed........ have ve you looked into the upvc ship lap type stuff? Could be another square stream. will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 UPVC boarding is *expensive*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carloz Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 I would consider a wide track sankey trailer as a basis and lengthen it a bit. Probably just shifting the axle backwards and lengthen the frame backwards as needed. And keeping the weight low is the key.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 TBH, I'd forget the Sankey and get a nice 1 axle trailer. Legally, they can go uo to 1750 - 1800 kgs and all the hard work has been done. Saris has a 310 x 150 1-axle trailer that is 1.750 kgs. mam and that should be more than enough. A good 2-axle trailer frame is just as suitable. But the frame is less than half of tha well know Sankey, much lower and bits are sold everywhere. Any, I'm looking forward to the build !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Altering the chassis, just like a car, means IVA again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 Sankey is to short. I have a 14ft box trailer I could use as a start the box isn't great and not wide enough so it might be better to sell it and buy something better. This build will be done on less than a shoe string so we may well butcher our current caravan to save some pennies but the wife was last seen with sketch up open on her laptop. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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