Jeep's Budget camper trailer

[Jeeps]

I thought it's about time i post up some pictures of my budget camper trailer.

About 2007 i decided that i needed a trailor for camping. I purchased a brand new offroad trailor for about $1700. I think it was another $200 for the trailer manufacturer to add 3x jerry's, 1x gas bottle holder, upright spare, rear recovery hitch etc so the total was about $1900:





Then put a tonneau and toolbox on it ($500) and went camping like this for a few months:



Then i decided to get a drifta DPOR kitchen ($1100) to make things easier to manage with the kids and went camping like this for about a year:

[Jeeps]

After using the trailor for those 2 years we decided to think about putting a cheap camper tent top on it. We looked at the few that were available at the time and the best value one was the Austrack camper top. Back in 2008 it cost us $1800 and came with a phenomenal amount of accessories:



I then purchased a pair of drop down legs ($150) to make sure it was stable:



It was about this time that i realised that the very large, very heavy steel toolbox on the front was adding too much weight to the drawbar. I would say that with all that space filled with junk the drawbar was about 90-100kg's and i couldn't lift it. I took the large steel toolbox off and put on a smaller aluminium toolbox which reduced the drawbar weight to about 30-40kg's which i can lift. It has also helped control the ride and braking quality of the jeep due to the jeep's very short wheelbase:



We then did some more camping:

[Jeeps]

In the ever continuing quest to maximise usable space due to having such a small 4wd, i decided i needed to place a few items outside the camper to reduce damage inside during travel. I don't keep any camping items or similar in the jeep, just passengers and things for the kids to help with the journey. Everything else goes in or on the camper trailer. Last year I bought some quickfists ($30) and attached my shovel and axe to the outside of the camper:





Due to the sidewalls of the trailor being very tall and the taller tyres, the corners of the Austrack camper started to tear slightly. I took the camper into GD Canvas Repairs and Modifications up at Beaudesert for repair. The guys there did a great job of repairing the camper they increased the height of the camper's walls by 100mm to prevent future damage and to make it easier to deal with when setting up. I also got them to make me a mesh floor which has been excellent for beach camping, dirt campgrounds or freshly cleared areas with sticks and roots as seen here:



This year, i decided that i wanted power in the camper trailor to power &/or charge lighting, mobile phones, dvd players, ipods etc. After doing a fair bit of research on the internet and particularly myswag, i bought a 60w solar panel ($399) to charge the car's battery to see how it would go. I gave it a go during a trip a few months ago and the cheap Juta style regulator that came with it promptly failed within 3-4 hours. I decided that i would need something better in the power department. I bought a cheap 105amp/hr deep cycle battery ($160), a battery box ($20), a decent regulator ($120), a fuse junction ($40) various cables, cig sockets, anderson plugs and other items ($100) and went to work...

The system i came up with is designed only for lighting and recharging light draw items. I do not run a fridge or inverter and do not plan to. I wired up the battery box with a 30amp master fuse and a master switch. This it connected via anderson plugs to the solar controller:



In order to save space and weight i attached the solar controller, fuses, a flushmount twin cig socket, 12v outlet andersone plug and a 19v solar input anderson plug directly to the underside of the bedboard and above the drifta kitchen. As you can see in the pics there is ample space:



I used 6mm twin sheath for the cable from the battery to the controller and from the controller to the fuse distribution block. I then used 4mm twin sheath which was fused with 10amp fuses from the fuse block to the accessory cigarette plugs of which there is a twin outlet at the rear of the camper and another inside next to the matress. I used cable conduit which i had laying around at home to keep the cable runs neat and protected. I plan to run another cig outlet to the front near the drawbar to power the camp shower. As you can see on the regulator's LCD display, the little 60w solar panel is easily capable of providing well more than 3 amps:

[Jeeps]

Over the years i have moved away from gas lighting to dual fuel lighting to rechargable fluoro lanterns and 12 volt fluoros. I havn't really been happy with any of them as i don't find them bright enough, with kids and family running about i like a lot of light at our campsites as our camps are usually isolated with no-one else around to annoy. I had recently read on a forum about 5050 LED strip lighting. After reading up i decided to get a 5 metre length in warm white with 60 LED's per metre and give it a go. A few camping trips ago i plugged the full 5 metre uncut length into my camper trailor's independent power setup to see how bright it would be and how much power it would use. I simply uncoiled it and used cut lengths of velcro tape to attach it to the ridge poles in my annex. I turned it on and my wife and i were astonished by how bright it is:



The photo really doesn't do it justice. It's like sitting in the lounge room at home with a 100 watt bulb. I would have to say that it's borderline too bright. I probably should have gone with the 30 LED's per metre instead. Either way it's absolutely awesome to cook, eat and read under and the kids love it for homework and drawing and painting and stuff in the evenings. I tried to use my fluoro lanterns but i can't go back to them. The best part is that the powerdraw for the full 5 metres is 2.6 amps which is nothing! I'm running the strip with a 5amp fuse and it gets a bit warm at the start of the run length but not hot at all. I have gone from taking all these lights (1x dual fuel and 2x rechargable fluoros) to taking that one roll of LED strip:



And it rolls up and fits neatly in the Drifta's kitchen drawer next to the mini LED lantern i use for the camp shower/toilet:



After using the LED strip lighting for 4-5 hours a night, charging phones and DVD players and such, the little 60 watt solar panel had no problem getting the 105 amp/hr battery back up to full within a few hours during a completely overcast day last weekend:

[Jeeps]

Being an offroad motorcycle enthusiast and competitor, i wanted a way to carry my competition bike with me with my current setup. After thinking about it for a while i decided to ditch the toolbox on the drawbar and get a rack made up for the bike. I was a bit concerned about the bike fitting between the canvas cover and upright spare and also the drawbar weight. After a few measurements i decided to get it made by Greg at Scenic Rim Trailer Modifications up the road in Beaudesert. He knocked this up in about 2 hours i can't recommend his work highly enough!











Due to the bike's highly specialized design it's not very heavy and although solid steel and steel chequerplate, Greg's bike rack is minimalistic and isn't as heavy as i thought it might need to be. With the camper fully loaded and with the bike on the rack i can still lift the drawbar by hand and i would guess that the drawbar is about 50-60kg's.

I'll still be modifying the camper trailer in the coming months but it has served us well and we've managed to get a lot of use from it.

cheers

[Jimmyb]

Awesome writeup there Sam, thanks for sharing. Last time I went camping in the tent, with everything else involved, I also decided enough was enough and toying with idea of a camper.

[jeep112]

Great read mate love how it slowly evolved over time. is there anything else that needs modifying?