Enclosed Trailer - Toy Hauler Build

Well with my wife and daughter out of the country it gives me plenty of opportunities to ask for forgiveness as opposed to asking for permission so I decided to speed up my purchase of a trailer before they come back as well as my annual Birthday ride to Windrock in April.

Since I have bought a lot of stuff from Gatormade over the years one of the Mosley boys gives me wholesale pricing on most anything I want so he made me a really good deal on a 20'V-Nose, Torsion 10K dual braking axle trailer with spare tire and RV style latch on Friday. I had planned to pull the trigger on that this past Monday but playing around on Craigslist I found a contender down in the Smoky Mountains.

I found a 2004 18' converted East Tenn Trailer that was worth taking a look at it. He wanted $8,500 for it on the ad and I was able to talk him down a good bit through email to make it worth my time to drive down. Went riding on Saturday and decided to head down to the Smokies on Sunday to look at it. Loaded up the Cummins and took a wad of cash with me and ended up buying it.

Specs:
2004 East Tenn Trailer

2 - braking 3,500 lbs braking torsion axles

Goodyear Radial Trailer tires in good shape and no dry rot

Set up with 4 bunk beds and one fold down couch/bed

Fridge, AC/with heat strip, double sink, fresh water tank, 3 burner stove, plenty of cabinets, hot water heater, shower, toilet, load levelers, weight distribution hitch with sway control, dual LP gas tanks, deep cycle battery, RV Door with screen and some windows.

The bad, over the winter the seam cracked on the roof and it had some water leaking in by the back door so this helped me with negotiations on price.

So I paid the man and he gave me all of the manuals for all of the purchased parts for the appliances.

The unit was set up for a guy that rode a 4 wheeler so my RZR won't initially fit in there. So I brought it home and started some demo work on it. I didn't find any real surprises luckily and the water damage was less than I though so that is good. I will need to replace 1 sheet of ply wood on the walls and some insulation as well as 1 sheet of flooring plywood.

I took down the beds on the right wall since I needed to have enough space to get the RZR in. Pulled the wall apart for the water damage and removed the fresh water tank and fold down bed since the tank was under it. After 2 nights of demo I was able to get the RZR in and it fits snug but it will work. I can even go up to a 4 seater and have it fit if need be.

So currently plans for mods are to do the following:
Run some more wiring for additional AC110 outlets (only 1 duplex box currently)
Replace the 2 slot breaker box with a 6 slot.
Fab up a way to get the fold down couch to work up against the wall for storage
Put the bunk beds back on the wall
Add a microwave
Change all the 12V incadesent lights over to LED
Put down the Northern Tool rubber coin flooring
Add CD/DVD player with flat screen TV in the front
Redo the location for the fresh water and add black and gray water tanks. Already plumped but previous owner had it dumping into a wheeled honey do bucket.
Inspect and repack the bearings.

All-in-all, pretty happy with the purchase. Just need to get it "nice and pretty" for the wife before they come home at the end of the month.

Nice setup. Thanks for sharing

nice setup. i like it. but i have a question how do you have your fire extinguisher attached. looks kool, can you post a better pic

It is a velcro style that attaches to roll bars. I stole it off of my Jeep since I had an extra one laying around. You can pick it up at most of the catalog houses.

http://www.4wd.com/Fabrication-Tools/Fire-Extinguisher-Holder.aspx?t_c=86&t_s=496&t_pt=7755&t_pn=RUG13305.21

Looks like you got a pretty dern good deal. By the looks of it he must have found a wrecked camper or two and salvaged the cabinets, appliances, ect from it. Which is great if you can find one. I'm guessing with the fridge no way to get an XP in there. Thats a little bit of a bummer.. By looking at it I can almost bet you money you need to go ahead and get some lifting blocks for the axles so you can get your tanks under it.. Thats probably why he just used a honeywagon. Its great though that it already has most of the plumbing, shower and toilet in it. That will really save you some time. Hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like the guy did a good job with the work he has done. Does all the plumbing go to a single drain? You will need to mount your black water tank directly under the toilet but the greywater tank can go pretty much where ever. You said you need to relocate the freshwater tank. You can if need be mount it under the trailer. Thats where both of mine are. Its a little more trouble if you want to insulate it, But it really saves space. I got a HVAC guy to bend me some sheetmetal in the shape of a U with a 2 lip at the top on both sides. I added 3/4" to the tank size for foam insulation. My tanks are hung under the trailer between the axles. I also capped the ends with the same foam and square pieces of metal. I can't remember what he charged but it wasn't much at all. The shear and break that stuff all day long for duct work. Most RVs just have them hung with plumbing strap. But I wanted the tanks insulated and the insulation protected.

I didn't see it in the pictures but I'm guessing its got a power converter with breakers and fuses already? Just make sure its a decent one with a 3 stage charger so your battery lasts. I used MC wire for all my 110v. You can use romex I just prefer MC stuff. Ignore some of the stuff DIY guys post online.. Solid core wire is the standard for AC in RVs.. They don't use stranded for 110v only the 12v and stranded going to a breaker is a no no. If your main power cord is wired directly to your converter box just check to make sure he either tinned the ends before connecting to the breaker or used a piece of solid core between the breaker and cord.

Thanks. Yeah, I wasn't planning on going this way but the price was too good to pass up. So it leaves me with a bit of money to add some stuff to it.

Yeah, there is no way a XP would go in here as it sits. The fridge and part of the sink cabinet would have to be moved/relocated. That is what I was going to do until I took some more measurements.

Yeah, the piping all goes to a single drain currently basically under the toilet at the front of the trailer. I haven't gotten home early enough to crawl under it to see about relocating and or placing tanks as of yet. Currently I don't have plans to use the water in it. Well at least not until this summer when the girls go out with me. Sadly, without a lot of work I will not be able to lift it up since it is riding on torsion axles. I would have to grind off the welds for the axles and then raise the trailer. That isn't beyond my capabilities just not something that I want to mess with currently.

The power is on two different circuits currently. Basically the 12V stuff is running off of the deep cycle battery that is connected to the tow rig for charging and the AC110 is on a seperate circuit all together. So basically only 1 duplex outlet, fridge (2 way 110V and Gas) and AC/Heat. Do you have any recomendations on a 3 stage charger/converter? Since I am into factory automation at work, I snagged a couple of 110V AC to 12V DC power supplies from my left over project supplies to use. They are low wattage but will be perfect for lights and LEDs.

Basically the trailer looks to be in good shape and the work was done pretty well. A lot of it was overkill so I want to eventually redo some of it and lighten things up a bit.

Amazingly all of the appliances (fridge and AC/Heat) are brand spanking new with factory manuals so that was a bonus.

It is not the perfect toy hauler but it will do for the time being and a nice new little project. I guarantee that I will be asking you some questions as I haven't really found any forums online that are geared towards converting these things and I have never had an RV before so don't know a lot about the ins and outs of "home away from home" camping.

Hey. WVregulators. I bought one of those extinguisher holders at O'reilly's auto parts off the shelf. Reeko that's a nice trailer and looks like a lot of room for the family.

ahh ok I thought maybe it had drop axles.. Yeah that adds a little bit of work with the axles. You for sure will need to cut them off the frame and add some blocks to get the trailer up some before you can put tanks or plumbing under it. Honestly even with out the tanks for some of the roads we drive on or fields we park in you will want the clearance. Glad thats something you can do yourself. A welding shop probably wouldn't beat you up to bad on price though if you didn't want to mess with it.

Thats Awesome about the appliances. Even just a 2 way fridge that size is pretty pricy! I would say that easily off sets having to deal with the axles.

As far as converter. Yeah your going to want something like this http://www.adventurerv.net/8900-series-electronic-converter-center-amps-p-7229.html You don't have to get that exact one. But something like that will make life much easier on you.. Its a breaker box, Fuse panel, 12v converter and 3 stage battery charger all in one. Pretty much what that means is you run your main 110V AC cord into it and you also connect your battery to the 12v side. This works as a distribution panel for both. Also anytime you plug the trailer in it not only charges the battery but it also powers all the 12v in the trailer.. Unplug the trailer and all the 12v goes back to running off the battery. Sounds complicated but its really not.. Its also good to have the fuses and breakers in one spot along with most of the wiring. Flip a switch or plug something in and it doesn't work you know exactly where to look. You also might want to add a 12v plug or two in the trailer if you don't already have them. They come in handy for charging cell phones, ipods, ect. Even more so if you dry camp where you are running on battery power a lot of the time. Its silly to crank a generator up or have to stick your phone in your truck just to charge it.

And I don't mind questions, ask away. I know there are a couple of other guys on here thinking about rigging up their own redneck toyhauler. I'm sure they have or will have some of the same questions..

That looks awesome!! Great work!

Nice setup. That's what the wife's wanting already.

Did some price shopping this afternoon and after looking at prices, size of rolls, and mil thickness I pulled out the credit card and ordered some Coleman Rolled diamond plate flooring.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-77753-Flooring-2-Feet-20-Feet/dp/B004RP3AW4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365022450&sr=8-1&keywords=coleman+roll+floor

Good looking set up Reeko. You know you are in for a when the boss comes home and did not approve the buy.

Yeah, did a Skype call with the wife yesterday morning. She wasn't happy at all. So after 15 years of wheeling Jeeps, I have been instructed that one of them (Jeep or Toy Hauler) will have to leave. I am hoping she forgets about it before she comes home from Japan.

Reeko wrote:

Yeah, did a Skype call with the wife yesterday morning. She wasn't happy at all. So after 15 years of wheeling Jeeps, I have been instructed that one of them (Jeep or Toy Hauler) will have to leave. I am hoping she forgets about it before she comes home from Japan.

Back in 1987 I told my wife for 2 weeks that I ordered a Suzuki 250 Quad Racer and had a sponsership with the dealer and Suzuki that I had to race it. She thought I was bull ing until I pulled in with it. She told me the same thing, either it goes back or she goes. I went and got her suitcases out of the closet, unloaded her hanging stuff in the closet onto the bed. She then said for me to do something with it by tomorrow. I did, I rode it all day. Still married after, I think 38 years now.

you da man gimpy!

Towed it down to Windrock last weekend. It towed really well but it is heavy. I'd like to run it over the scales to see what it weighs with the RZR in it. Sleeping on Memory Foam mattresses really helped with a good nights sleep!

Gonna be putting in the PVC garage floor liner this weekend.

Looks good Eric!

8ball_99 wrote:

As far as converter. Yeah your going to want something like this http://www.adventurerv.net/8900-series-electronic-converter-center-amps-p-7229.html You don't have to get that exact one. But something like that will make life much easier on you.. Its a breaker box, Fuse panel, 12v converter and 3 stage battery charger all in one. Pretty much what that means is you run your main 110V AC cord into it and you also connect your battery to the 12v side. This works as a distribution panel for both. Also anytime you plug the trailer in it not only charges the battery but it also powers all the 12v in the trailer.. Unplug the trailer and all the 12v goes back to running off the battery. Sounds complicated but its really not.. Its also good to have the fuses and breakers in one spot along with most of the wiring. Flip a switch or plug something in and it doesn't work you know exactly where to look. You also might want to add a 12v plug or two in the trailer if you don't already have them. They come in handy for charging cell phones, ipods, ect. Even more so if you dry camp where you are running on battery power a lot of the time. Its silly to crank a generator up or have to stick your phone in your truck just to charge it.

And I don't mind questions, ask away. I know there are a couple of other guys on here thinking about rigging up their own redneck toyhauler. I'm sure they have or will have some of the same questions..

Thanks for the heads up. I just scored a NIB one of of eBay. WFCO 3 way for 94 bucks.

So are you still in the dog house or did your wife get over the trailer purchase?

Don't know yet. Picking them up at the airport this afternoon. Guy logic at the time mad total sense to buy it but I should have paid off a car with the cash. She is use to me bringing home stuff that costs money but with a Jeep, ATV and RZR it is a bit hard to justify a new toy.
Good thing is both the Toy Hauler and my dog house are big enough to sleep in if need be.

I did however last week get new flooring down, replaced a lot of the paneling and trim, and picked up leveling blocks, 3 way breaker box/power converter and a reversible fan vent combo replacement for it.

The boss said that I have too many toys so this will be up for sale as soon as the title comes back from KY DMV.

Oh well.

Reeko wrote:

The boss said that I have too many toys so this will be up for sale as soon as the title comes back from KY DMV.

Oh well.

Your kidding right?

Ouch

Yeah it sucks. I think what really sent her over the edge was tonight was a Jeep gathering at hooters and I decided to drive the Jeep at the last minute. She hasn't been in it in a few years and was not happy to be taking the Jeep. We we went to leave to come home and my 9 year old Optima Yellow Top decided that it is no longer strong enough to start the Jeep.

The fun started to roll then. Good thing is with selling a few of the toys we will be debt free by the end of summer so that will feel good.