r/overlanding • u/No_Entertainer3845 • 2d ago

OutdoorX4 Built a little camper to tow behind the Jeep.

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258 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

20

u/throwawaymylife112 2d ago

Congrats. I built one years ago and it keeps me so excited to keep exploring and using it. A heated blanket can make it a year round experience too. Offroading with it is a fun learning curve that I feel like isn't often talked about.

8

u/No_Entertainer3845 2d ago

This was our first trip out with it after finishing it Friday morning. Didn’t do anything too crazy, but gave it a good shake down. Getting later in the season here in BC, there was snow on the ground when we woke up. Opted for a diesel heater, kept us comfortable at -2 C.

5

u/PotatoTwo 2d ago

What's your wall skin / insulation setup?

6

u/No_Entertainer3845 2d ago

1.5” XPS in the roof and floor, 3/4” in the walls. 1/4” pre finished birch panels on the interior walls and ceiling. 1/2” G1S Birch ply on the exterior, skinned with 1/8” ACP. Floor is built with Baltic birch for the 5ft width. 1/2” on top, 1/4” on the bottom.

1

u/PonyThug 1d ago

I’ve had just a heated blanket and down blanket to -9C. We were still to hot with it turned on while trying to sleep.

I’d be too worried about the heater going out to rely on it 100% not freezing.

2

u/Fun-Debt4815 2d ago

That scenery is unreal, looks like the perfect spot to test the learning curve. How long did it take to get comfortable backing that thing up on a trail

6

u/MidnightMain7598 2d ago

Have any build specs or pics? Looking to build one as well

1

u/PonyThug 1d ago

I’ve seen a few other people do full build albums on here. One guy had like 45 pictures each in 4 different steps of the build

6

u/Useless_Engineer_ 2d ago

Man, just finished mine a few months ago! They look very similar!

https://www.reddit.com/r/overlanding/s/TWcsBQQZGr

1

u/Weekest_links 1d ago

What did you build your walls out of?

2

u/Useless_Engineer_ 1d ago

Steel frame, exterior is black finished aluminum skin for trailers blind revitted and then used a palm router with a roller bearing to cut off the edges we didn't need and cut out the windows.

Lower portion is just diamond stamped version, same method, and blind revit together as well as to the steel.

Interior used Owens corning foamular 1" between all the steel bars, then used Baltic plywood to finish the inside

Here's some other links, it's not great being separated but they're there.

Let me know if you have questions:

https://www.reddit.com/r/overlanding/s/XhOxdvB1IL

https://www.reddit.com/r/overlanding/s/yyOeZOrQXt

https://www.reddit.com/r/RVLiving/s/htCXHuGIU1

https://www.reddit.com/r/RVLiving/s/4eVlo6vQxR

https://www.reddit.com/r/4Runner/s/wI3inWGc49

2

u/Weekest_links 1d ago

Great welding work. Thanks!

2

u/Far-West42 2d ago

Ohh that’s awesome

2

u/wawaboy Expeditionary 2d ago

very cool. What are the specs?

2

u/methusula3 1d ago

How does it pull on the roads at what speed? Up and down hills controllable?

2

u/No_Entertainer3845 1d ago

I was cautious about towing with the 2 door wrangler. A lot of work/planning to ensure the weight distribution was correct. We tow it with my wife’s Jeep, which is our more mild Jeep. 33 inch tires with no lift. Tows fine safety wise, doesn’t pull the jeep around, stable in some high cross winds we experienced on the highway. Just need to re gear a bit deeper to get some acceleration back and stop it wanting to hunt for gears on steeper grades. We also added electric brakes to the trailer and a proportional brake controller to the jeep.

2

u/methusula3 1d ago

I was thinking about building one big enough to sleep next to my KTM 500 and gear or just a short 5x10 enclosed trailer with electric brakes with Jeep LJ. Full time living in. Can't afford a 4x4 or awd high roof van. The LJ has 35s and 4.88 gears but I guess I might need to bump up to 5.12 to pull trailer. It's a manual transmission. Do you think it would work?

2

u/No_Entertainer3845 1d ago

I think you’d be fine with the 4.88s. I run the same tire/gear combo on my manual 08 JK. Opted to tow wth the wife’s rig as its overall newer and has not been abused nearly as much as my wheeling rig. Just be carefull about the weight distribution and don’t skip the electric brakes. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

2

u/methusula3 1d ago

thanks will do.

3

u/MilkAnAlmond 1d ago

Hey, I think you're on the wrong sub. This is for people to post pictures of their $5k in bolt-on racks and lights and call it a 'build'.

Sick trailer!!

2

u/KodaKingdomofficial 1d ago

Its cute! We just got the coleman rubican 1200RK but building one would be so fun!!