An Oztrail Camper 6 tent for the Ratbag's "new" trailer

Ratbag ... I can hear you cheering from here. A most successful trip to Bunnings! Camper trailer is looking awesome!.... Hope your body is feeling very much better.

Best regards,

Thanks, S2.

I am wondering if I have forgotten how to weld in the intervening 35 years or so ... :lol:.

The camper is just awesome. I have figured out how to get the Jerry can out without unbolting everything.

I just remembered about 10 minutes ago that I designed the lid to slide off its hinges. So only a matter of unlocking the side clamps, popping the struts off at the lid end, loosening both front and rear gates, then sliding the whole lid + tent forward about 4 inches. After that, swing it out of the way, remove the Jerry can, do the cut and shut on the Jerry can holder, then slide the lid back on ... :ebiggrin: :biggrin:.

You little beauty! It never has to leave the top of the trailer . That's great, because all up it weighs around 125 kgs ...

Gidday Folks

I managed to lift the lid by myself yesterday (with the tent attached). Nearly killed me!

Put in both the separate lid props, and disconnected one of the gas struts at the bottom end. Reversed its direction so that it was sitting in the near-side bottom of the trailer bed angle. Just the one strut in this position allowed me to open and close the lid like a well-oiled drawer. It wouldn't close all the way, as the top strut mount needs to be moved back a few inches.

A problem I had with the struts on the off the rack trailers is that I cannot shut the lids on any of them by myself. The struts were great for opening, but even with my mate and I both hanging off one, we could only just pull it down - and he weighs about 100 Kgs!

It seems to me that where Jimi first had it mounted will work well (how OzTrail suggest for their own strut kit that costs about double what I paid for mine ... ).

The struts on my trailer lid were chosen to make lifting and closing the lid easy. Not to hold it open in gale force winds.
I have a swing-down 20 x 20 mm structural steel box section prop to do that ... .
I don't trust gas struts all that much, having been king-hit by the bonnet on our old Camry when a slight wind gust pushed it down on my head !

The trailer is going to Jimi next Monday to have this done, plus a couple of other minor things.

Gidday Folks

Just set my OzTrail Camper 6 up for the second time today to do a reccy on removing the part of the lid under the trailer bed access hatch, and to drill some marker holes through so that I can attack this from underneath.

Set up time was 3m15s, but as it was set up in the driveway (bricks on concrete ... ), I didn't put pegs through the floor loops.
It is also good to know that I can set it up here at home after organising some concrete blocks to tie it down to.

In this position, it is easy to tie the opposite side tie-down loops on the roof to the pergola posts for stability.

Pack up time was about 8 mins, but that's only because I forgot to put the pole and peg bags back on top before I had put the travelling cover back over it, so includes the time to remove it, put the poles on top, then replace the travelling cover. Stupid mistake on my part, but I expect to get better at this as time goes on.

Neither of the above times counts putting up/packing up the annexe, (left it folded back over the tent roof). This is pretty simple with this tent and model. I gather from some reading elsewhere that this is not always the case.

Both of these times were done solo, with no help at all - how it will be in the field for me.

My SWMBO saw it erected for the first time today, and was quite impressed with how easy it was to set up/take down, and how commodious and airy it was.
So am I ... Just as well after spending all that dough on this project!

Gidday Folks

The travelling cover on my trailer tent seems to be pretty heavy PVC covered material and has a sail track at the front, then shock cord running around the sides and rear. The shock cord loops under cleats attached to the base board.

Given the various prices for a new one of these being between $400 to $1,300, it seems that one should take good care of them! Just like the floor of any tent, whether camping trailer or normal.

The book of words for my CT states that while the materials of the travelling cover and the tent itself are UV resistant (etc), it also states that they are not designed or meant to be exposed to the elements or UV on a 24/7 basis ...

ATM, my CT lives outside, so the travelling cover is exposed to the elements and UV 24/7 ... .

There are other hazards to be considered - damage while towing from ballooning or flapping; damage from objects thrown up while towing, or otherwise falling onto the tent at speed to name but several.

To this end, I thought about various cheap solutions to all these scenarios. Seemed to me that a suitable solution is to protect the travelling cover while it is performing its primary function of keeping all the rest of the CT top protected from the elements and in one place. This might seem silly at first, but the more I thought about it, the better I liked it.

SCA sell some very cheap but robust PE ground sheets. When I say "cheap", I mean less than the $20 mark each ... . I bought two of these with eyelets all around that are silvered on one side and black the other side. They appear to be coated with something. Not sure what. However, when I got them home and started to put in the rest of the eyelets (no ground sheet ever has enough of these installed when made, IMNSHO ... ), I discovered that the coating plus the PE sheet is made of sterner stuff than I thought! Three to five belts of the punch to get a hole through for each new eyelet ... Put in about 12 extra 1/2" eyelets. The sheets each come with 8 ... . These sheets are far tougher than the old PE tarps that I have. Probably of the order of 5-10 times tougher and cut/tear resistant.

This ground sheet covers the entire top and front of the travelling cover, and about half way down each side and the rear - i.e. it provides pretty full protection without being overly large and unwieldy. When removed, it will wrap around the travelling cover when in camp, hopefully protecting it from sticks, branches and stray sparks and such like.

I bought two of these, and a further one that has D rings at the corners, but no eyelets. I will put 1/2" eyelets in suitable positions on this sheet as well. It is to go on the ground under the ground floor room to protect the tent floor from damage.

A set of ratchet tie-down straps also came into my possession from Bunnings at a never to be repeated price ($2.50 ... The lass said "Grab it and run". I did ... ). I intend to run two of these sideways and another two lengthwise when towing at high speed. I don't intend to sit on 80-90 kmh on the open road ... .

Sure, there is a set up and pack up time penalty arising from all this, but who needs to have their travelling cover damaged while on the road? I am very used to tying tarps down over odd shaped loads (read "time consuming"), so this is really pretty straightforward by comparison. The tarps I bought could have been made for my application, and at $13.88 each plus the cost of a dozen eyelets each, they sure beat stumping up $400 for a new travelling cover! The other one cost me a whole $18.88 ...

For anyone who's interested, I took some photos of the protective cover I made for my travelling cover. The silver coloured eyelets are the ones that came fitted when I bought it ($13.88 at SCA) and the brass coloured ones were fitted by me. IME, these tarps never have enough eyelets fitted, or in the right place/s ... .

Some pics of the tarp just slung over the top to check for fit, and to see where I needed additional eyelets:










After fitting additional eyelets (note that I missed one one the P/S front of the tarp ... fixed this today).
Also note that across the front and rear I have added a second eyelet in the middle, and one each between the middle and the corner.

The front edge of the trailer will soon have a tie-down bar similar to that at the rear of the trailer for the tarp to tie onto securely (or cleats ... ).
The front of this additional protective cover is securely tied so that it fully overlaps the front of the trailer. Also note how the additional eyelets allow the cover to be pulled down evenly and snugly over the existing travel cover. It can also be seen that the front corners are tied back through the first side eyelet so that they cannot flap, or otherwise catch the 100-120 kmh wind ... I have used this method for tying down cover tarps for many decades, and have yet to have any problems with it, even when tied down over lumpy, irregular loads.

I propose to run two ratchet straps cross-wise across the middle in an "X" pattern, then run two ratchet straps from front to rear over the top of the cross-wise ones.








I really don't care if it takes me an extra few minutes to set up and take down. It beats the heck out of having one's trailer tent deciding to self-erect at 100 kmh (or so ... :iconwink: :biggrin, or having to try to get one's travelling cover repaired or replaced several hundred kilometres from anywhere ... .

Gidday Folks

The trailer tent sitting on the front porch while the further modifications are done to the trailer lid framing, both on top and underneath, to make it strong enough to resist the forces imposed by the strength of the gas struts and the fact that the tent base board is not flush with the lid over the whole top of the trailer lid.



These are the problems here:





The framing that protrudes under the base board (the 40 x 20 mm steel double 'H' section that frames the underfloor access hatches), and the join in the base board that can be seen at the rear of the photos.

The 3/8th in. bolts attach the base board to the lid, passing all the way through the 20 x 20 mm steel lid framing. There are 7 of these currently, but this will expand to 10 when the tent goes back on the trailer. There will be another three across the front edge through the new reinforcing and top frame cross-member.

One of the existing bolts needs to have its position changed by about 2 - 3 inches. I'm just happy that I don't have to re-position all of them!

The design of the tent base board will have cost me some $700-800 in modifications to the trailer to accommodate. Real PITA, considering how easy it would have been to design it so that the bottom of the base board was completely flat ...

Ratbag - I admire your tenacity and ingenuity. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Tweak.

I think that Kevin got it about right when he said that I should call the tag-along "Flaming Marathon"! :rotfl:

I managed to clean all the over-spray off my all-important ORS stickers ... :ebiggrin:. I figured that turps would just dissolve the over-spray ... and the stickers ... So I attacked it with metho, and that worked a treat! I had no real expectation of it having the slightest effect, but there we are ... :biggrin: .

Just finished engraving the "R" number into the centre reinforcing bar that is part of the A-bar. Jimi has done the legal bit of stamping this number into the D/S of the A-bar, but it isn't very deep, or obvious. So I got out the Dremel, and cut it into the centre bar in letters/numbers about 25 mm high and around 1/16th - 3/32nds" deep. Won't grind that out in a hurry!

The weather is looking good for tomorrow. I have organised 3 friends to come around for the tent re-fitting. I will have to apply the weather seals around the base board to trailer lid frame, and around the hatch frame to trailer lid prior to re-fitting the tent.

The alignment will have to be very precise. Have to line up the 7x 3/8" bolts through the base board with the existing holes in the trailer lid/frame. The base board cannot be slid across the seal/s, as it will tear it/them. Has to be picked up, then put down in the right spot. It weighs around 100 Kgs ...

Once we have two bolts lined up, it's all but done.

The other bolts should then fall into place, and we can put the nuts on from underneath. Then my mates can lift the lid (no struts ATM), and I can re-connect the gas struts.

After that, the tent can be erected and I can drill the three new holes through the base board from underneath. The lid framing is already drilled for these.

It is either going to take about 10 minutes; or 2-3 hours ... Tomorrow will tell.

^ Well, that's the theory ... :lol:.

With the help of 3 friends, the tent is now back on the trailer with the sealing strips and gas struts fitted. The lid no longer bends from the 1,000 Ncm struts and the weight of the tent :biggrin:.

I'm just bolting it down now. 10x 3/8" bolts. One 3/8" nut short, of course ...

*********************

That was written about 20 minutes ago. I just found one more nut, cunningly camouflaged as itself inside the trailer tent, which is partially erected. It was sitting there, smugly, on the top of the base board ... :iconwink: :lol:.

It's about 20°C outside here ATM. Inside the tent is a good deal warmer, but there are plenty of windows. None of them are open ATM. I am nearly ready to fold it away again, after I have put the last nut on ... .

At long last, I feel that things are being done for the last time, and that it should be ready to get moving soon. Just have to partition the inside of the trailer; fit and wire the reversing lights; fit the cargo barrier in Roo2 and make and fit the cargo shelf. Nearly forgot, still have to finish off the UHF CB aerial installation and power for it.

Then I should be able to pack the trailer and car, instead of having crap spread all over the place.

Love the tent. I can see myself being very comfortable in it. Even though I was pretty weary today after doing all the sealing tape and partially fitting the tent to the trailer, I could still erect the tent by myself. A good sign.

^ BTW, it took more than 3 hours ...

Have just finished re-sealing around the lid to trailer tub join, and folded the tent away (again, by myself). One of my mates came back and helped me with putting everything back where it should be.

I'm now completely rooted, like a good tree ... :iconwink:.

One of the cats is sitting on my hands, purring, helping me type ... :ebiggrin:. Judging from the nose stuck in my armpit, methinks I might just need to have a shower ... :rotfl:.

Photos tomorrow ...

Is it Wednesday already..........?

^ :lol:

Yeah. Bath day comes around remarkably quickly each week, doesn't it?

:rotfl:

Damn nuisance in my opinion.
Waste of water, self sloughing is the go......

^ Some people reckon I already do that ... :biggrin:

Now that I am close to finishing the trailer completely, I am turning my mind to properly attaching the travelling cover cover.

The travelling cover proper also needs to have some extra shock cord lashing hooks riveted along the rear of the trailer lid.

The "disposable" protective cover also needs lashing hooks to be fitted. These are a different kind from the CT tent ones.

Maybe I'll contemplate this further tomorrow ...