truepath
Minnesota
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I finally finished the enclosed trailer I've been working on for months. I used it for the first time in a trip from Minnesota to Texas over the past couple of weeks. It worked great hauling two bicycles, a dual purpose motorcycle and a bunch of other stuff. The trailer didn't seem to impact gas mileage at all. It is pretty small and I tried to incorporate a little aerodynamic design. Here is link to some photos:
Small utility trailer
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Gene in NE
Omaha
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Joined: 09/15/2003
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truepath - Nice job, enjoyed the pictures. Your design is interesting and appears very aerodynamic. The next trailer you build might included a hinged roof constructed similar to a lid on a shoe box. That would allow you to stand up in the trailer while loading or unloading. Great work!!
2002 Trail-Lite Model 211-S w/5.7 Chevy (click View Profile)
Gene
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truepath
Minnesota
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mlts22 wrote:If I got a class B for boondocking, what would be great would be a supply trailer that would provide a 100-200 gallon black water tank, a gasoline tank/fill station, a fresh water tank, and a place for storing 20# propane bottles. This would allow for very long stays in the back woods, especially in the Texas summers where having A/C is a must.
Even cooler would be adding a 4000 watt Onan generator which would give the ability to use this trailer for outside stuff, or just use it for "shore power", to give the inboard genset a rest, if one wants to kick back and use both the A/C and the microwave.
Right now, it is just a pipe dream, but it definitely would be a nice companion for a 4x4 class B to take out in the back country for very long stays.
I've considered this same idea and I think it has merit. I think the amount of liquid you mention though is probably too much. Just 100 gallons of black/grey or fresh water will weigh in at about 800 pounds so if one were to carry 100 gallons of fresh water, 100 gallons of grey/black and say 40 gallons of fuel, that would add up to close to 2000 pounds (not counting the tank pump weights). An enclosed trailer capable of carrying that much weight would by itself weigh another 1200 at minimum and would have to be a double axle. This starts to be a pretty big load to tote around behind a B. I think I'd be looking at maybe about one third of the volume, say 40 gallons of each kind of water and 30 gallons of fuel which still comes to about 900 pounds. This amount plus another say 600 pounds of generator and propane could be handled by a single axle trailer and is realistic to pull behind a B.
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mlts22
Austin, Texas
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Joined: 11/15/2010
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If I got a class B for boondocking, what would be great would be a supply trailer that would provide a 100-200 gallon black water tank, a gasoline tank/fill station, a fresh water tank, and a place for storing 20# propane bottles. This would allow for very long stays in the back woods, especially in the Texas summers where having A/C is a must.
Even cooler would be adding a 4000 watt Onan generator which would give the ability to use this trailer for outside stuff, or just use it for "shore power", to give the inboard genset a rest, if one wants to kick back and use both the A/C and the microwave.
Right now, it is just a pipe dream, but it definitely would be a nice companion for a 4x4 class B to take out in the back country for very long stays.
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Gale Hawkins
Murray, KY
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Joined: 07/22/2007
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Hey that turned out very nice.
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truepath
Minnesota
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Gene, I forgot to mention that I did design the top to open kind of like a car hood. It hinges in the front. I should have had a picture of that. It makes loading and unloading much easier--no crawling around in an enclosed space.
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truepath
Minnesota
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mlts22 wrote:I can see someone making a mint from utility trailers designed for class Bs.
Instead of permanent tanks, I can see having a ramp for 1-2 Barker "blue boy" tote tanks, a vented shelf for 5 gallon containers of gasoline, another shelf (perhaps on the tongue) for a couple propane bottles, a secure place for twin Hondas with an extended run tank. Of course, someplace to put various items like vacuum cleaners, tents, and other items that take up a lot of space.
I like the idea of having removable utility items in the trailer like you suggest. That would allow the trailer to be multi-functional.
It might very well be that someone could make money on specially designed trailers. At this point I have not seen any trailers that focus in that direction. I am pretty happy with the one I built. My idea was to make it as large as it needed to be to carry what I want, but no larger. There might be a place for custom designed trailers that serve the specific needs of a particular person (couple). I don't think that they have to cost very much. I didn't keep track of exactly what I spent, but I don't think it was over $1,000. I did though put a ton of time into designing and building it.
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mlts22
Austin, Texas
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I can see someone making a mint from utility trailers designed for class Bs.
Instead of permanent tanks, I can see having a ramp for 1-2 Barker "blue boy" tote tanks, a vented shelf for 5 gallon containers of gasoline, another shelf (perhaps on the tongue) for a couple propane bottles, a secure place for twin Hondas with an extended run tank. Of course, someplace to put various items like vacuum cleaners, tents, and other items that take up a lot of space.
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truepath
Minnesota
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Austin, I like the idea of a second small generator that can easily be fueled from fuel from the trailer. I've found that my generator is used mostly for recharging the house battery, although I don't spend time in the very warm states during the hot season so there air conditioning might be the big power user. I have also found that I can get by in the boondocks with pretty limited water if I don't take full water showers and instead clear up with a small water basin. I think that with maybe 10 gallons of fuel and 25 gallons of extra water in a trailer, I could get by for a couple of weeks beyond the basic capacity of my B and that would keep me out in the middle of nowhere longer than I would want to stay there anyway.
Beyond the generator I use fuel for a small motorcycle that I use for basic transportation when camping. I get about 70 mpg with that so its fuel use is pretty insignificant.
I've thought about installing a water tank in my trailer. J.C. Whitney has a whole collection of different sized ones available. I would not, however try to install a built in fuel tank in a trailer. I think it would take some serious engineering considerations to mount it safely, vent it, and provide a way to load and unload fuel. I'd also be concerned about DOT requirements. Instead I'd just use approved 5 gallon fuel containers carefully secured in the trailer.
The possibilities opened up by towing a utility trailer are large. It is somewhat surprising to me that you don't see more people using them.
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mlts22
Austin, Texas
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Very true. The sizes can be adjusted. The goal is to have an addition for boondocking, which if done right, can help extend one's stay for a significant amount of time.
I also have been toying with the idea of fold out solar panels on top, as well as a battery bank in the add-on trailer. Even if the generator is off, this would give enough wattage if plugged into the B's 30A connector to at least power the converter, perhaps a couple low wattage appliances. However, at night, there would have to be a switch to either cut electricity off completely (so as not to drain the batteries in the trailer setup), or flip on the trailer's generator.
As for a generator on the trailer, the fuel tank would be useful for a fuel station for the RV, but with either a pair of Honda eu2000is with extended run caps and pairing kits if the class B does not have an onboard APU (or has a LP gas genset and the user doesn't want to drain all the propane), or just a small 1000 watt inverter generator with an extended run kit, so the main generator doesn't have to be flipped on if one just wants power to charge house batteries.
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