Help with tent trailer design

[Christo54]

Hey all, just wanted to post a couple of preliminary pictures of a rough CAD design of a trailer I’m going to be building over the next few months. I am sourcing materials right now and already have the frame for the trailer which is 3/16” thick 4” c channel. The main question I have is if I can make the posts for the rack and sidewalls out of 0.065 wall 1.5” square tube steel for weight saving and the fact that I already have about 20 ft of it.
The rack will carry about 800 lbs with tent, my family and gear inside. On the road it will only carry the 175lb tent. All the cross bars will be 1/8”.

In the pictures the metals colored green are 0.065 wall, while the blue are 1/8” wall and the black are 3/16” wall.

let me know what You think! thanks for your help in advance!

 

[colorado matt]

well one thing i see is that opening to the front of trailer .... a place where most people put storage or a battery box ..... with that door that space would have to be empty to use that door.... maybe move that door to the side of the trailer.... or whatever is stored on the tongue will have to be moved before accessing that door.... just a thought .... i will let smarter folks answer the steel questions .... but i used 1/8 inch steel for all of my build except the tongue....Matt

 

[Christo54]

well one thing i see is that opening to the front of trailer .... a place where most people put storage or a battery box ..... with that door that space would have to be empty to use that door.... maybe move that door to the side of the trailer.... or whatever is stored on the tongue will have to be moved before accessing that door.... just a thought .... i will let smarter folks answer the steel questions .... but i used 1/8 inch steel for all of my build except the tongue....Matt

Yea, I’m not sold on that front door, it may turn out to be a side door, or two side front doors. It’s going to be interesting though with a low suspension height trailer on 35’s. I think the wheels and/or fenders may make side doors difficult. But we’ll see. I ordered the steel and pick it up tomorrow, so I’ll probably make that decision after the main skeleton is built.

another question though; is it better to have the posts go continuously through the top to the rack? Or would it be better the make the rack separate and bolt it to the top.I’m thinking it would be lighter to have the posts continue straight to the rack, but that make other problems.

 

[colorado matt]

not sure i am smart enough to answer that question.... if they go thru to the rack then that seems like it would be stronger and weight would be distributed to the frame instead of the top of the box ..... not sure what you mean by that causing problems ...and skinning the top may be easier if you skin the top of the box before adding crossbars to the rack ...... Matt