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  1. #16
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    Oct 2019
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    I agree Ed.

    Im not the worlds greatest welder by any means. Sure I have grown up in the country and we welded from a young age but besides some small formal education of welding as a part of my trade I am not a welder by trade.

    But you are correct, some of the welds on caravans and campers is scary to look at. I have seen welds that dont even hit the place they are supposed to be welding! And more often than not welds are very cold sitting on top type beads that do not do the job.
    I think a lot of manufacturers use young inexperienced people to do the welding.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Ningi Qld Australia
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    64

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    Yep, hence the reason I think that's where a lot of problems with chassis failing start from, apart from the design issues. On my boat trailer I was lucky to spot the multiple cracked support arms when I did, as my next trip down the highway might have been very interesting, as I said this is a well known large boat trailer manufacturer but in my case, welding was fine, design was not. Other times it's the welding itself, I looked at a new 4x4 dual cab once without the tray and just checked it out, from what I saw, the first thing I thought of was "memo to self, do not buy this brand".

    This sub-forum is "Trailers and other Fabricating stuff", so I am sure others would be interested in the build, so feel free to give a blow by blow description of your build, it may inspire other members to do the same, they may not comment unless they have something to contribute or need to ask questions but will still follow it and it may give others ideas on what works or not for them.

    Cheers

    Ed.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Murray Bridge S Aust.
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    71
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    5,942

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    Thanks for your comments Ed, I'm interested in the suspension design. Looks very good and durable.
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    Ningi Qld Australia
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    64

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    Quote Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore View Post
    Thanks for your comments Ed, I'm interested in the suspension design. Looks very good and durable.
    Kryn
    All good, no need to thank me as it's up to danshell to put up the info when he has time.
    Cheers.

  5. #20
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    Ok at Ed's request here is the actual build. Its nothing really detailed but it does give a little more info..........some of the pics ore hosted by photobucket so I dont know how this'll turn out!

    Keep in mind this is back in 2012 not that it makes any difference I suppose.

    It started as a design concept, didnt really turn out exactly like the concept but you get the idea





    And then as usual with anything I build I like to design and test things in the virtual world first, it saves on steel and heart ache later LOL























    I think its fair to say even the virtual designs are subject to change and in my case they were changed quite a bit after going to the camping show and seeing what I wanted. I didnt bother to make the changes virtually because I completed the cutting lists and designs on paper....its easier to have out in the shed with me!

  6. #21
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    The day I picked the tent up.....excitement plus LOL



    Set up at home so I could take all the vital measurements to build the trailer



    The trailer like all trailers, started life as a pile of steel on the floor.



    The draw bar and chassis is all one piece, I had rollfab in Hobart roll the steel into shape for me. He didnt do it exactly to my drawings but I let him off and worked with it anyway.



    And not long after it started to take shape. All pretty simple stuff really.



    I tend to over engineer at times but I was concerned about a slight kink in the steel where the metal roller rolled my chassis/drawbar shape so I put a nice sized gusset in that area.



    I should mention the main section is 100x50x3 with the rest being 50x50x3 all blue steel except all the top section or any other non structural area was made with 50x50x1.6 gal.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    I got a shipment of goodies required to make a CT, it was like Xmas morning at my house when it all arrived



    It was about now I took 2 or so weeks off work to complete the trailer.....a little ambitious but I worked 12 hour days and sadly I was not in a photo taking frame of mind so we miss quite a bit here but anyway you will get the idea


    The suspension is taking shape, so is the very strong spare wheel carrier and few other things....









    Suspension A frames being under coated



    Stone guard starting to take shape...it pivots to allow easier access to spare wheel



    And it appears as though I have the floor on and the underside is being under coated

  8. #23
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    Now it is starting to look like a CT!


    Sheet metal time.....I should mention we have a milling machine, several lathes and a couple of sheet metal folders at work



    Before the boxes were cut out



    Test fit lol The fridge has a place inside the kitchen when the tent is set up also. It is on a slide in this front box where it stays for quick overnight stops, like wise there is another large slide out box opposite the fridge here



    Cutting things out and tacking on weather strip holders



    Starting to sikaflex the seems I think



    Trying to make 14 different lids, shelves etc fit onto 2 sheets of steel!

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    It was about now I started on the box lids. They are folded up with 1.6mm steel using flash chromed brass hinges and double locks.





    Messy shed is a sign of lots of work happening



    I used a Mchitch and his hand brake. I was going to use a poly block but the supplier told me they are not adr approved so Id have to use a standard ball hitch to rego it....go figure!






    I also made my own tent base. I cut up the original Chinese base and used the steel for making some of the kitchen because it was very thin light steel, more suited to a light weight kitchen rather than a strong tent base.



    My wife made our stone guard cover using double shade cloth. She cut it out so it velcro's on but leaves the corners of the guard exposed (I didnt make mandrel bent corners to cover them LOL)






    The camper has a 60ltr water tank at each end both with a filler each but feeding into the one pump. All my water tanks, pump, suspension components, accessories, brakes etc etc were all bought off huntsman products in Melbourne. Everything else I sourced off Ebay.

  10. #25
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    Keep in mind that this was back in 2012, a lot of this is now changed as the camper evolved and we made it lighter and easier to use.


    The vented Battery compartment house 2 x 105ah deep cycle batteries, circuit breakers, solar controller, gauge shunt and inverter switch/breaker.





    The other electrical compartment holds the 240v smart charger, isolation switch, fuse box and some water elbows.





    Vented Gas compartment is pretty self explanatory it has the gas bottles and gas reg.





    This is the large slide out pantry that takes up half the large front box. It generally holds things like leads, hoses, pegs, guy ropes and various larger pantry items such as spare drink bottles etc with plenty of room to spare.





    This is the little control hatch that is easily accessible inside the tent and where I used to spend a lot of my time keeping an eye on everything when I first built the camper! It has the charger remote head unit which gives me all sorts of info when the charger is plugged in, a volt meter which obviously tells me the batteries volts at any given time, water pump isolation switch and an amp meter which allows me to see how may amps we are dragging from the battery when ever any power is being used.





    Not really a hatch but it is an area that gets used a lot when the tent is up. It is the hot and cold water quick release fittings, a 12v cig style plug, a 12v merit style plug and a bank of small anderson style plugs that all our LED strip lights and portable stereo plug into.





    This is the hot water unit and water pump area. It really is a work of art how it all works! It allows town water in, hot water out to a shower, water from the onboard tanks which have the ability to isolate one at a time and of course hot and cold water to the sink.





    My favourite thing, the fridge slide compartment The fridge stays in here unless we are staying for 2 or more days then we put it inside the tent in the kitchen. It is a 110 litre 12v or 240v fridge/freezer.




    My solution to a pole holder. It also houses the Inverter, some 12v plugs and fuse box for the internal lighting etc.








    And finally some pics of the kitchen. I still need to tidy a few things up on it and give it a final coat of paint but this is essentially it. It houses everything we need permanently so its always ready to go.












  11. #26
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    I finally have some paint on this thing!


    I was going to be real fancy and paint it in a black pearl basecoat then clearcoat to give it a 'spray painter obviously owns this' look, but in the end captain sensible decided to paint it plain old black.


    I used a quality poly urathane 2 pack to finish it in. Mainly for its excellant toughness or chip resistance and secondly because I wanted a nice finish.


    I still have all the doors to paint. The doors are very much the main focal point as they pretty well dominate the sides of the camper so Ill take some photos with our good camera once they are on and its all finished.


    In the mean time here are the latest phone pics I have.



























  12. #27
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    We had a weekend at home so I managed to get a 'roof rack' built and mounted today. I built it using an old swing set that was about to be thrown on the tip, so it cost me nothing which is not a bad price. Like every thing I do, it will stay in primer while I am testing it, once it passes the tests Ill paint it.
    Ill also put a self imposed 50kg weight limit on it. It is strong enough to hold my weight and no doubt plenty more while stationary but I think around 50kg's bouncing down rough roads will be a nice safe limit. I built it to carry slow moving canvas in a water proof roof rack bag and to stack any wood we might need while on our travels for the camp fire.




    IMG_0863.jpg

    Folded the doors up, put vents in them where required, painted them and mounted them.

    IMG_5682s.JPGIMG_5683s.JPG

  13. #28
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    Now fast forward a few years.....................

    With the kids growing up we didn't need such a large tent even though we loved our circus tent so we sold it and bought a new smaller version.
    We also fitted a diesel heater which is unbelievable and got rid of our large heavy kitchen to make way for a smaller, lighter version that fits the tent better and also houses our fridge in a convenient location.


    We are really happy with it now, not that we weren't before but it is now extremely well sorted and so easy to use. Oh and we painted it Isuzu Splash White.........












  14. #29
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    Oct 2019
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    Tasmania
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    And thats about it. I may have missed a fews things of the build but if you would like to know anything or see more, let me know and ill see if i have the pics.

    The camper has been on quite a few epic trips and really taken places where you see a lot of campers sitting on the side of the road as junk. (we could have been one of them..as you read earlier)

    It is very easy to set up and pack up now that we have the smaller tent and we have really refined and evolved every aspect of it. We use it all the time. I even use it as an over nighter with the lads type of trip as it is so easy to set up.

    Itll probably get asked but in regards to cost I think at the time it cost around $8000 grand or so complete. No doubt ive spent a bit more on it over the years but wouldnt be a lot.

    We will step up to a caravan or hybrid camper at some stage in life but I doubt Ill ever sell this. They do not fetch a lot of money now that the Chinese imports are so cheap. Although it has every mod con you could ask for its still a very competitive market, so I d prefer to keep it for my kids/grandkids to use rather than give it away too cheap.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Ningi Qld Australia
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    64

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    Very nice, who did the tent part, I assume you just gave the trailer dimensions to someone and they made it to suit and also that it has a soft floor in it?

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