Yet Another Bolt-Together Fiberglass Trailer Kit

[jscherb]

Here are some details of a design for a fiberglass hard camper cap that could be an option to go along with the fiberglass military replica tub kit I'll be building soon. The cap would also be installable on original military M100 or M416 trailers.

The photo/drawings below have concept views of the cap mounted on the 72" version of the tub kit (although these are photos of the 1/4 scale model ). The cap could also be built for the 4' version of the tub.

The sides could be solid or could have windows, perhaps sliders. The rear panel would have a swing-up liftgate which matches the width of the tailgate (the fiberglass tub kit will have a tailgate, obviously the original military versions don't). The liftgate could have a window or be solid. Since the cap would be modular, and symmetrical front and back, the same solid or liftgate options would be possible on the front.

The roof would be constructed with appropriate reinforcements so that a rack system or even a roof-top tent could be installed.

The photo/drawings show the current state of the concept design, any and all comments and input are welcome as I finalize te design.

 

[jscherb]

Here's a rough idea of what the cap might look like on the "MiniM416" 4' version of the trailer tub:

And without windows:

 

[JAvendan]

oh, dang!

get better.

joel

 

[jscherb]

Recovery from my accident/shoulder surgery hasn't let me start on the molds for the military replica trailer tub kit yet, but I have been collecting parts and finalizing design details for the first prototype trailer I plan to assemble out of the molds.

Here's a drawing showing roughly how I plan to build the prototype. I'll be building a 6' long tub version, matching the length of the M416/M100 trailers, although the molds will also be able to be used to make a 4' long version that'll mount on a 4' Harbor Freight Mini Trailer.

I'll build it on an 8' 1720-lb.-capacity HF frame shortened to 6'. It's shown in this photo in it's original HF red, but I'll probably paint the frame olive drab.

I'll use military tail lights from an M416A1 trailer, and I'll also install military-style side marker lights, even though the military trailers don't have side markers - they have reflectors instead of side marker lights.

I've done this drawing with M416-style fenders, which I'm leaning toward, although it's still a possibility I'll install M100-style round fenders. Haven't made a final decision yet. The fenders in the drawing are the identical to the stock M416 fenders, except they're several inches wider. The M416's had something like 7.00-16 tires, so if you put "Jeep sized" tires on that trailer, say 31x10.50's, they'd stick out past the fenders. I plan to make exact-fit replica fenders that are a few inches wider to accommodate tires that match the Jeep.

I'll do graphics/markings more or less as shown in the drawing, these aren't exactly 100% correct military spec, but they're not far off. And on the rear, they work with the fiberglass Jeep-style logo-less fiberglass tailgate I'll probably use for this project.

A tongue box and jerry cans will be included, but what I've drawn here is a placeholder, I haven't decided on the final design for that yet.

Instead of the military-style "landing leg", I'll install a much more useful HF tongue jack as shown.

Also not shown in the drawing is the camo tarp I plan to set up as a cover, and the related tie-down hooks for the tarp.

And I haven't yet decided on the best place to mount the license plate. Centered or offset on the rear frame crossmember? Under on of the military tail lights? On the back side of on of the fenders?

 

[jscherb]

Finally my shoulder has healed enough to enable me to start construction of the molds for this trailer tub kit.

I'm planning for this tub kit to molded in both a 6' version (same as the original military trailers) and 4'version (for a very budget-friendly installation on a Harbor Freight Mini Trailer frame.

Some 1/4 scale concept models of the design I built before my shoulder injury:

I'll be starting a build thread for the full-scale fiberglass molds and prototype trailers soon, I'll post a link to it as soon as I start the thread.

 

[jscherb]

Jeff,

Will you be making fiberglass trailer tops for distribution (will you sell them) or do you intend on selling the rights to a aftermarket company? I'd buy a trailer cap for my M416 if you made one.

I just do these designs as a hobby, so typically I'll build the molds and make one or two prototypes and if there's enough interest, then I might try to find a company to market what I've built. For example, my Jeep-tub trailer project was licensed by Compact Camping and has been on the market for about seven months now, and it's doing very well (www.dinoot.com):

The first thing is to get the molds for the basic military-style tub done, that's what I'm working on now. Once those molds are done, I'll build one (or maybe two) trailers from those molds to serve as prototypes, and then I'll decide what, if any, additional fiberglass components I should build, like these tops or maybe a hard cover like one of the designs below.

Beyond the basic tub though, I haven't yet made any decisions about other components I might build molds for - to a large degree that depends on the feedback in threads like this - I'll likely build whatever options and components there's a large interest in.