"TrailTop" modular trailer topper building components

jscherb

Expedition Leader
I crated/boxed and dropped off the first mold masters at UPS today, two are shown in this photo.

ReadyToShip_zpswcto4jr5.jpg


This may be the last update I will be able to give on the process of getting these into production. I can always respond to questions, comments, trailer design questions, etc. about the TrailTop parts in general, but it won't be my place to provide any updates on the company's progress unless they give me an update to post.
 

screwball48

Explorer
Good luck to whomever the adopting company is! Fingers crossed they can jump into this thread and update availability.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Good luck to whomever the adopting company is! Fingers crossed they can jump into this thread and update availability.
I know they follow this thread, so they'll be reading any thoughts, questions or comments anyone posts so if anyone has anything to say to them, they should post it.

Since I've gotten to know them a little during the discussions that led up to me shipping them mold masters yesterday, I would guess they won't post an update until after they've made their production molds, made some parts and built their own proof-of-concept project with those parts. They could surprise me and post earlier than that, but I'm not expecting anything public for a while.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
where are we with this? I have two trailers that would benefit greatly with these concepts.

It's not my place to speak for the company but hopefully they won't mind if I post this - the last I heard from them is that they have molded some parts for testing.
 
OK, so it's kind of hush hush until they sort things. LOVE the concept but I need to move forward with two trailers I'm building. Great thread on the whole topic, hats off to you sir!
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
MORryde borrowed one of my Jeeps for their booth at the Easter Jeep Safari Vendor Expo to display the Trail Kitchen.

MORryde1_zpse4bjwfq8.jpg


They're marketing the Trail Kitchen for Jeeps, other offroad vehicles and for tailgating. I've installed the prototype Trail Kitchen in my Trailtop-based Jeep-tub camper project, I posted photos of that installation before, so it may find use in some trailers too.

At the Expo a manufacturer of offroad trailers came up to the MORryde booth and was asking about the Kitchen, he said he wanted to offer a kitchen for his line of trailers. The MORryde Trail Kitchen won't fit in his trailer - his trailer would need a lower-profile design so we talked about his trailers and what a kitchen for them might look like and over the weekend I did some concept drawings of a kitchen design for him. Here's one of the kitchen concept images (the images I sent to him were drawn on a photo of one of his trailers but I've removed the trailer for posting here because I don't think he wants me revealing who the trailer company is).

KitchenConcept_zpszkqkrus9.jpg


I've also suggested to him that the kitchen could be offered to DIY trailer builders because I don't think there's a ready-to-install kitchen on the market that could easily be installed in many homebuilt trailers (other than the Trail Kitchen, space permitting). This kitchen design would be easy to install in many of the trailer I see being built here. It could also be installed in a Dinoot Jeep-tub trailer or a military trailer... I did these concept drawings back in 2012 when I was designing what became the Dinoot J-series trailer.

DinootKitchen1.jpg


DinootKitchen2.jpg


I don't know if this new kitchen idea will progress beyond the concept drawing stage but I'll post about it if it does.

BTW the trailer manufacturer I talked to at the EJS Expo is not Dinoot, I just posted the old Dinoot concepts here to show how a low-profile design like the one I did over the weekend might apply to other trailers.

As I write this I'm on a trip with my Trailtop camper, I brought it not for camping but as a cargo trailer, what I needed to haul was larger than the available space in any of my Jeeps. Took this photo at home just before leaving, it was 28 degrees yesterday morning so there's frost on the Jeep and the trailer. I recently added a 2-door to the fleet so I drove that on this trip, it's the first time I've driven it other than for around-town errands.

2drWithTrailer_zpsx37vrxk6.jpg
 

deeve

Observer
Nice design! I like the magnetic utensil holder on the fridge. Is that one of those drawer fridges in your first concept drawing?
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
Nice design! I like the magnetic utensil holder on the fridge. Is that one of those drawer fridges in your first concept drawing?
Thanks :).

The magnetic utensil holder on the fridge in the photo of the kitchen in my Jeep is from Ikea, it was less than $10. I removed the front handle from the Dometic fridge, drilled two matching holes in the mounting part of the Ikea magnet, and the magnet bolted right up.

The drawer fridge in my concept drawing is a Dometic 31-quart. It's very low profile so it will fit in many places a top-loading fridge won't.
 

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