Gildos cheapass camper.

[Gildo]

OK, my plan so far involves rebuilding a 60+ year old WWII Jeep trailer, adding a lid and a "rooftop" tent.
Using all my existing camping stuff that will be usefull, stove/engel/lighbts etc and building it all into a flash looking but HD camper trailer.

SO far I have the trailer, its been used and abused by me for the last 8 or so years hauling eveything from Beer kegs to rock, fire wood building/demo debris to Ikea boxes.
It needs rust repairs, a new hitch, LED lights, new guards and a new tailgate.
Possibly could use newer springs and plenty of extra fab to tidy it up and keep it nice.

The roof top tent is a Chinese one from Ebay and so far looks the goods, I think I'll be coating the canvas in some kind of scotchguard or snoseal, the flexi rods that came with it are steel, these will be replaced asap with fibreglass.
Its huge inside and will be a dry comfy bed, no more inflation/deflation issues

With the addition of a battery, existing stove, gas bottle, water tank, pump and sink this will have all the basics loaded on-board for well under $1k, including the trailer VERY cheap from the trading post.

A few pics below, will post more as I go.

[Jeff]

You'll still be able to fit the keg right??

How skanky are the night time photos ;)

[Steve F]

Looks like it should end up pretty neat, although I dont think that tent is really suitable ;) You should have bought a different one.

(Welcome to the home made camper trailer world ;) )

Cheers
Steve

[Gildo]

Jeffy, thats why I chose the smaller tent, still plenty of space @ the rear to fit a keg and what knot. Kind of a pre-requsite for the trailer to accommodate both myself and my pleasures..... May not be the Wheeliebar you know and LOVE, could be reconfigured to be part of the new rig.
Can ya tell the night time pics were taken on the wrong side of town? Good thing it was darkish, cant see any of the used piks, foils, and condoms. Ive found people asleep parked there.

Why Steve, is it the colour? The Size? The shape?
Can't just make statements like that without referring to a web page.
I want Specifics here! ;)

[XJ 98]

Night pics looks like the trailer is up to no good.... expect a durrie to hang out of it somewhere.

I like the idea Gildo, and will be watching with interest.

One quick thing though, shouldnt you have a diesel to tow it :o

[junglejuice]

These home made campers always take longer than you first plan and cost more as well once you start tidying up this bit and then the next bit and then redoing something else....

[Gildo]

Just an update.

Camper hasnt cost any more so far.
Done nothing on it since the last post.
Getting no closer to completion.
Spending way too much time "researching" on the web and NO time in the shed.

[CherokeeXJ95]

Gildo do you still have the link to the tent from ebay or the username of the seller, it looks good to me, regards chris

[xjrob]

Chris,

i have a roof top camper purchased from ebay, decided not to use as i am going to put spare wheels on roof and bought a tent.

Will take photos on weekend and post them up.

it is the same as Gildo's except that where the fold in the floor i have installed some over center locks to avoid the floor join moving if you happen to kneel directly on it.

Looking for $850

[Mooreyfiveo]

Can ya tell the night time pics were taken on the wrong side of town? Good thing it was darkish, cant see any of the used piks, foils, and condoms. Ive found people asleep parked there. ;)

Of course you can't find any of that sort of stuff around St Kilda!:rolleyes:

Where exeactly is the wrong side of town?:)

[Gildo]

If you do an Ebay search for Roof top tent, you'll find plenty of them, mine isnt listed right now but there are plenty to choose from, Kwality will vary as will warranty/features/materials etc, but unless you can go look before you buy its a bit of a gamble.

[xjrob]

This is a series of pictures of my roof top tent. Currently mounted to a 5' x 3' table frame. After I decided to go to a tent so I could mount 2 spares on my roof, my son in law talked about putting it on the tray of his landcruiser ute.

So we bolted it to the table frame, were going to weld feet onto the table and bolt them to the tray. Never got around to it.

I live in Brisbane feel free to have anyone you know come and look at it, have never been used, you may notice I have 3 over centre catches. This is to hold the centre aluminium extrusions together even when knelt on. Would be ideal on a trailer, as the frame could be removable to allow the trailer to be normal use when not camping. Due to the fact they fold could go on a very small i.e. 5x3 trailer which would be good off road behind a jeep.

Asking $850

[Gildo]

Nice pics rob but if ya wanna flog your tent, start ya own thread! ;)

EDIT

Looks like you have already!

http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70198

[xjrob]

Sorry Gildo, you will notice i have posted it for sale as well.

Only put it in here as there were questions, did not mean to take over.

Have been reading your build with great interest. Only that my wife wants to stand up to change i would be coping what you have done, it is the way i think would be best, as it is small easy to tow and will be great off road.

again,

my appologies.

[Mooreyfiveo]

Keep the updates coming Gildo, I would love to do something like this myself but lack the funds and time (like most). That trailer looks bomb proof is much heavier than a conventional 6x4?

[Gildo]

Rob, I'm sure she could stand up outside the tent......
No fuss re your ad, just a bit of friendly ribbing.
Gotta say this thing is roomy inside, bigger bed than I have @ home.

Morrey, the trailer is lighter than most 6x4s the frame is fairly light gauge channel and the tub has its strength in the pressed ribs. I have a few additions to make, the lights are crappy truck fittings and are pretty trashed, they were a temporary fix about 7 years ago....
I have drawings of how I want it to look, the guards will also be replaced, and new wings for the LED lights on the rear, a few pieces of bent tube to tidy it all up and mount some extras. I do have plans to extend the drawbar or to make it extendable just to make the trailer itself even more flexible.

This weekend I picked up a battery box that will find a home somewhere on board with an Anderson plug to hook up to the Jeep, an inverter and perhaps a solar panel, I love the idea of bright warm sunshine cooling my beers.
Bought some fiberglass flexi poles to swap out the steel rod things that came with the tent, after setting it up the first time the rods were bent.
Also in the basket was a tin of canvas waterproofing stuff, for the cost i reckon its worth spraying the whole thing just for piece of mind.
I'll post pics when theres something worth seeing.
Tonight I plan on attacking some of the existing holes in the tub with the welder and hopefully making them dissappear.

[Gildo]

Had a hack at the rust and holes through the tub, and with a bit of grinding and more welding, some of them are now non existant.
The rust holes are a major PITA, the edges are very thin and the holes get bigger before they get smaller but with a copper block behind and plenty of persistence I did make an impact.
Looking closer at the guards they are seam welded, and wont come off easily, except where they are rusted through.... Shining a light from inside the guard revealed a plethora of pinholes through both the guards and the tub. There is probably 10 coats of paint on the ole girl and all the existing welds are rough as it takes plenty of prep to get to some decent steel that will ignite a spark.
It was probably built by someones grandma in a WW2 welding shop and just sent out to the front, never expected to last a year in service, now its lasted 60!
I ran the grinder over the front corners seams and they already look better than what was there, with a lot more sanding and a decent coat of paint it will look pretty flash.
This could be a LONG process.
I'll post some more pics, when theres something worth seeing.

Bought the Anderson plugs and some other electrical bits yesterday, found the best place online was this dood. There may be cheaper out there but the convenience of online buying and delivery sold me.

http://www.sidewinder.com.au/index.html

[junglejuice]

This is why when I started doing rust repairs on my trailer I gave up on chasing the rust and just made new panels and guards of my own design out of zinc sheet which is very rust resistive and gave me a good starting point to do what I wanted to do.
It is much easier with fresh new metal......

[Gildo]

Only time will tell weather it was worth it.
There are only a few spots that have large rust holes through, I replaced the entire floor years ago, Id rather retain some of the original "character" and update and improve as I go.
I will probably look back in a month or 2 and wonder why I bothered....

[junglejuice]

Yeah time will tell, but I decided that I only wanted to do it the once so I just replaced everything. Though it does help when you get the sheet metal for cost and have access to all the machinery to do the work. It saved me a lot of time and the end result is that all the metalwork is new....

[Gildo]

OK, anyone wanna buy a brand new roof top tent?
Set up once for the pics above.
Im starting a job in CHINA in October for the next 2 years.
The Camper will have to wait.
Anyone interested can PM me.

[Gildo]

Update time.

Still no progress on the camper or repairs on the trailer.

Still in Macau and missing the shed time and quality jeep hours.... :-(

[Timmy]

I actually bought one of these roof top tents with the same idea in mind, I think its been sitting in the shed now for 2 years...I just need to get around to building a trailer...I think I saw somewhere one of these mounted to the top rear of a CJ8 also, didn't look too bad.

[Gildo]

No progress update- Hmm does that even count as an update?
Trailer has been in my brothers back yard for over a year and is now worse condition than ever. May find a new home soon.
Tent is still packed up in a storage container and all the other bits are still waiting.

[KJ_andy]

Don't forsake rooftop tents as campers

[XJKEE]

Don't forsake rooftop tents as campers


I like that setup.
Think will do something like that at some stage.

[Lushy]

I had to go the full 4x4 Camper from Downunder, all the basic mod cons just to get the wife motivated and she is a big girl so the roof top tent would need some re-enforcement!!:)
No she isnt in the room at the moment lol

[Gildo]

Update,
No news, no more improvements, EJ has had more nights sleeping in his rooftop tent on my trailer than I have.
Still in Macau, still watching all the other builds progress while mine get out dated before completed!

[timbotrog]

I guess nothing has happened in a while on this ?

[Gildo]

I guess nothing has happened in a while on this ?

Yeah, NAH.....
Looked at the tent and moved some stuff around in July, still its kinda more like a kit waiting to be assembled. Plenty of sketches and ideas, just not in the same country.

[XJKEE]

I like that setup.
Think will do something like that at some stage.

Yep is sure has been some time Gildo when I posted that nearly3 years ago and have made one and used it.**)