My Trailer Mods Thread

taz223

ExplorationOutfitters.com
About a month ago, my fiancee and I decided that we were ready to either build or buy an offroad trailer for us to use on exploration trips and little adventures. We happened to run across one for sale locally, and made the trip down to check it out and pick it up. It was a very lightly used, well-taken care of 2007 Outlander Sherpa II. The owner was selling it only because he wanted to order a Sherpa I for a little bit smaller size to tow behind his Tacoma. We excitedly brought it home and began deciding what all we wanted to do with it.

After admiring a lot of the builds on here and doing quite a bit of research, our list was done and it was time to start working on stuff. The trailer as purchased was basically the bare bones package, it had the large storage box in the back, Mombasa 3 man roof top tent, and a Mombasa awning on the side and back. There was also a factory Outlander rear swing-out tire carrier that was un-installed, and a few MFC mounts thrown in the back.

My fiancee Katie and I both love to cook, and both love to eat, so it was natural that our first priority was to figure out our kitchen setup. I looked at buying boxes, looking at fabricated my own boxes, and then decided to follow the KISS principle and do something simple and practical. Short trip to Lowes for a piece of lumber and some miscellaneous hardware, and our fold down table was invented.

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When its not in use, it folds up like this in the picture:

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The table is 48" long x 16" wide, and to be honest I'm not much of a woodworker so I don't know what kind of wood it is. I lacquered the top side of it with multiple coats, and the bottom side is bedlined from a spray can for durability. Hinges are visible in the picture, for a latching mechanism I used 2 simple latches from the hardware aisle, and made some supporting cables to help keep the weight up.

After the table was completed, it was time to figure out an electrical system of some kind, including perimeter lights and lights in the tent. I called Robert at Outlander trailers and discussed with him the options for having him do the whole setup, but I decided I could probably do it cheaper and wanted to know how everything was done. The first step was buying a box to hold all the electrical components, and I found a great price on this aluminum storage box at a local parts house.

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Once it was installed, it was time to install the battery, fuse block, battery maintainer/charger, and run all the wiring.

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The picture of the switch panel doesn't show them very well, but there are two West Marine 12V outlets there at the bottom of the panel. There is obviously room for more than 5 switches, but 5 are pre-drilled and ready to wire in. Although not pictured, there is an LED battery level gauge with momentary switch, as well as a battery disconnect switch installed on the panel.

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I also installed a shore plug adapter for the guest battery maintainer to make it a little cleaner of an install.
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After the electrical system was installed, I picked up a pair of FANTASTIC LED spotlights from a vendor on eBay for a killer price (80 for the pair). I also ordered some coiled wire from McMaster Carr, cut it in half, and soldered it onto the lights to allow some flexibility for extension of the awnings -

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I also wired in 2 15" LED strip lights inside the tent with a switch installed inside the tent as well, but in my haste at 3AM I forgot to take pictures of all of it. It works very well though and provides the perfect amount of light. Enough to read with or whatever else you need to do but not so much as to be blinding and harsh.

After lighting was done, our next priority was on-board water. Looked at a lot of options again for this, and was amazed at the price of some water tanks. Ended up finding a 21 gallon RV water tank from another eBay vendor that ran me about $65 shipped to my door. The dimensions were pretty close to exactly what I was looking for, and when it came in we went to work installing it.

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Fabbed up some brackets for the tank out of 1/8" Aluminum strap, and padded the tank using some RV double-sided insulation tape.

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Found a great deal on a little 1.0GPM pump and faucet combo from West Marine, picked it up and plumbed the pump in directly to the tank:

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Tank Installed in the rear cargo box:

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Added an external fill port for a boat to make filling the tank easier when the trailer was loaded:

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Once the tank was installed and the fill was done, time to install the faucet. Fabbed up a little tray to hold the faucet, and wired it in.

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The ultimate test:

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It works!!!

Aside from those mods, have done a few other odds and ends. Found some little RV level gauges on clearance at walmart for 4 bucks, figured they would definitely be worth the price.

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Also installed the rear tire carrier and a TrashARoo bag.

The best thing about doing all these mods is the day after they were all finished Katie and I took a 3-day, 2-night trip up into the mountains of eastern OK/western AR and finally got to use our investment. Everything worked fantastic, the trailer pulled awesome, and we couldn't have been happier. We made a short list of improvements that we want to make and little things that we want to change, but we are STOKED!

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Got busted takin a nap!

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Mods Left To Do:

Anti-Condensation Mat under the mattress
LED lights in storage box and near electrical box
Make a little bit stouter mount for the faucet
Install a drain line in water tank
Figure out a good system for shoe storage when in the tent
Charging line from the truck to the trailer
Maybe install a more flexible coupling system (Max-coupler)

Any comments/suggestions/questions are most definitely welcomed. Hope ya'll enjoy the pics!

Matt
 

Titanpat57

Expedition Leader
Wow...good stuff right there!

Great list of mods, and a dandy little setup!

Nice to have someone that shares it with ya too!

Safe trails and happy camping!

Pat
 

orionfe

New member
Great job on your trailer. Hope you are still enjoying it. Any close ups on the spare tire mount? That's exactly what I want to do to my M101A2 so that I can use a tongue box up front.
 

taz223

ExplorationOutfitters.com
Thanks for the props guys!

Orionfe, I will try to take some pics and post them up... I forgot to take any when I was welding it all on. Its a pretty simple setup though, shouldn't be hard to replicate.
 

orionfe

New member
I really liked the water tank strap idea also. Planning very simular setup for my trailer, mounting the tank forward in the trailer bed with a drawer system that will be between the wheel wells from the tank to the tail gate that will be the same height as the tank. Shopping for LED tail lights and markers now. Built a electric harness from the front j box to my truck plugin from 1/2" radiator hose to protect the wire, a spring over the hose where the wire runs thru a clamp to a modified 7 pin plug so I didn't need the 4 pin. Looks factory.
 

taz223

ExplorationOutfitters.com
I really liked the water tank strap idea also. Planning very simular setup for my trailer, mounting the tank forward in the trailer bed with a drawer system that will be between the wheel wells from the tank to the tail gate that will be the same height as the tank. Shopping for LED tail lights and markers now. Built a electric harness from the front j box to my truck plugin from 1/2" radiator hose to protect the wire, a spring over the hose where the wire runs thru a clamp to a modified 7 pin plug so I didn't need the 4 pin. Looks factory.

Orionfe:

If you need a really good source for your lighting needs as well as the water tank search eBay for a vendor called R and P Carriages. They have a TON of trailer parts on there, and their prices and shipping are top notch. If you don't have any luck finding them PM me and I will get you their contact info. I have purchased from them several times and they're always great.
 

greentruck

Adventurer
Excellent, well-thought out build!:)

Only one thing I thought might be something to consider a mod to your design. I used to work in the trucking biz and the straps around the water tank got me thinking. You really need a barrier of some kind to keep objects from rubbing directly against the tank. I'm thinking some aluminum or stiff plastic screening maybe?

It's just inevitable that things will get shoved up against the tank and they will rub if you take that awesomely capable rig the places it was designed for. Ups, downs, brakes, jostling all the while. You don't want to arrive at a remote camp to find the water is mostly gone.
 

taz223

ExplorationOutfitters.com
Excellent, well-thought out build!:)

Only one thing I thought might be something to consider a mod to your design. I used to work in the trucking biz and the straps around the water tank got me thinking. You really need a barrier of some kind to keep objects from rubbing directly against the tank. I'm thinking some aluminum or stiff plastic screening maybe?

It's just inevitable that things will get shoved up against the tank and they will rub if you take that awesomely capable rig the places it was designed for. Ups, downs, brakes, jostling all the while. You don't want to arrive at a remote camp to find the water is mostly gone.

I had these same thoughts as I was going through the build... and thus far haven't been able to come up with much of a solution. Thanks for the input, got any good ideas?
 

taz223

ExplorationOutfitters.com
Next time you use the RTT, can you post up pictures of the LED lights and switch?

-Eric

I'm going to try to setup the tent tomorrow to clean everything and I will definitely post up pics of the lights and switch.
 

bigwapitijohnny

Adventurer
Congrats...

Welcome to the Outlander family. Very nice additions that you have done. Would have liked to do the mods myself, but my skill set would prevent me from doing so! Congratulations again!

Regards,

BWJ
 

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