i hear that, we havent been out since that weekend in Plain either (we were parked next to you, can see my yellow FJ in one of your photos). Sure was a hot weekend! We had just moved into a new house and spent the summer doing renovations. I have a bunch of changes planned for my trailer to do this winter for a Baja trip next fall, raise/lower the tent with linear actuators, more water/fuel storage, adding shocks, adding an inverter, etc but after gathering a pile of parts i broke my right hand last week messing around with my mountain bike so now i'll be lucky if i get it done my Spring. Really wish life would stop getting in the way of my fun!
Hey there, yes I totally remember the yellow FJ and matching trailer. You guys had quite a group there for the event. Thanks again for the ice cubes... hot Bourbon is just not awesome. I really liked your trailer setup, it was awesome...so clean.
I will be back at NWOR this year, looking forward to it! Hope you are there, also looking forward to the updates.
Sorry to hear about the hand, that just sucks. I have been riding mountain bikes for years, and have bruised, torn, broken and otherwise tattered myself many times. Heal up fast!
Hi Greg,
I think I have read your thread about 3 times now, and many of the modifications you made, look incredible. I was wondering if you might answer a few questions.
1) I noticed at one point you went with what I am assuming is a lock and roll hitch, but in later pictures, it looks like you converted back to a regular ball copular. Is there any reason for the switch?
Hey Mattio. Yeah I did indeed have a coupler, it was/is a custom made unit. The reason for the switch back to a ball is simple, the coupler I have is not DOT approved. It works awesome offroad, but for on road towing I use the ball for insurance reasons. Maybe I am being overly cautions, but just in case. I carry the coupler in the trailer with me in case it gets really twisty!
2) You had contemplated doing your water tank under the tub. But ultimately changed your mind. Was there any one convincing factor to change your mind? I have a 2dr 2011 wrangler, and with the back seat, there is absolutely "ZERO" cargo space, so everything will have to go into the trailer. So all space will be crucial.
Yeah, I thought long and hard about it. Really what it came down to was complexity and ground clearance. While I don't plan on doing a lot of "rock crawling" with this setup, it would hang very low, so a skid plate was going to be crucial. The cost, complexity and effort involved meant it was more work than I really wanted to do. I have 13 gal internal in my tank and it only takes up about 4 square feet. I don't haul enough stuff to really notice the loss of cargo space, and the security of having the water inside is pretty nice. Under would work very well, my friend Mike did an under belly tank in his teardrop...it works great. He also has a big belly skid plate to protect it too.
3) I noticed you mounted your tent directly to your lid. Was there any consideration to use a rack? My initial thoughts would be a moisture problem of the lid and tent with direct contact with each other.
The tent sits on 2 rails, so the tent floor is about 2" away from the top of the lid. With the way the tent cover hangs down, it actually keeps the area under the tent perfectly dry even on the highway in pouring rain. I have not had an issue at all, it has worked out well. Having said that, I do want to build a rack, and lift it with Linear Actuators (18" stroke). The reason, get the weight off the lid and lift the tent higher off the ground when deployed. Works well enough now, but if someone is in the tent, no more tub access...which I found out at NWOR is a hassle.
I appreciate all your effort into putting together a well documented build. It is very inspiring.
Regards,
Mattio
Thanks for reading, hope my thread and answers helped!
Greg
