It was the back half of about a '68 Dodge truck, with the bed on it. I got it originally at Miramar NAS from a guy who used it to haul his stuff from Texas to SOCAL in.

$250, and it had working lights.

After I got back here - I gave it to a neighbor to haul dirt with. He just gave it back to me, and I'm thinking about scrapping the truck bed and using the frame as the basis for a small camper rig....

I have a bit of structural steel laying around, and the rest is woodworking. The thing won't have a nifty plastic cap on the front end, but I can do fiberglass over wood to get a composite front shell built up.

All it needs to be is a towable (behind a four cyl Ranger) crash-pad for long road trips. There's a lot of leftover RV junk in my garage too - and I still have all of my RV tools.

Concept ideas include storage ahead and behind the wheels, and a B-29 greenhouse-like shape and windows for stargazing.

I'm still kicking around notions here....

What the heck, the chassis itself was as good as free!

*It just occurred to me that I still have a Husky 1K drawbar hitch in my shop - I should look at a reciever hitch for G-1. I bet I can get a straight axle from Tractor Supply Co. or someplace too

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teardrop_trailer

http://www.teardroptrailers.us/GenericBenroyPlans.pdf

 

I suddenly realised something when I saw the lisence tag on the back of this turkey - this thing is STILL permanently registered to me in California...

They don't register trailers in Tennessee, so it seems I have a California registered vehicle of some kind in my inventory! I wonder if that makes me eligible to join the SOCAL Chapter?

* I thought about temporarily mounting the bed from the Project Ranger on it so that I can get rid of this DCP looking thing.

I looked at the "TEARDROP" plans above - and that damned thing is wonderful! But what I have in mind is a bit more advanced.

Here're a pair of "BEFORE" pictures

 

Here's what I did with mine. Kinda a throw together job but basically it has queen mattress, ac and 19 inch tv. I'm redoing it to be a bit more comfortable, the bed was to high the first time and the 19 was to big so I have a 15. All of this was free.



My new plans are the bed across the front. Queen size width and 6ft across, a bit short but we're not tall. Porta potta on the left side with a closet. On the right a basic kitchen counter with microwave. I've thought about dropping the floor so we could stand up but that'll come later. The only problem is it can be a bit heavy but the plus side it should survive in places other trailers won't!!

 

HA HA! The "DROSS" is gone now, and a scrapper took the bed away so I have no yard uglies anymore. Below is the chassis I plan to exploit

4X4 timbers will form the underpinnings of a deck, the rest will be a mainly plywood framed shell if it comes together as I envision it.

Another idea I had was to just deck it and slap on the spare Ranger bed.....

I had an odd notion or two that it could be a boat trailer, but with what boat?


RIPPED AND STRIPPED! It rolls down the road....

It has a million possibilities

 

STAGE II - "Cleaning Up the Frame" is at this link:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ter-notes.html


No need to get into that real deep, I've cut off some brackets that were in the way, and am sandblasting as much as I can and painting it.

Next time you see this frame it will be GLOSSY BLACK

 

My graphics software is not cooperating just now. I think I need to couple my scanner back up to display my freehand notes, they are faster to draw.

I plan to build a level deck that goes the length of the frame as it is, overcoming the up and down truck frame curves. Across it at intervals will be four by four members to support a 3/4" plywood deck. I think four sheets will cover the 12' from hitch to bumper.

-That distance is actually shorter, but the upward curve of what I have in mind allows it.

Unlike a classic teardrop trailer - what I have in mind is modelled after the "GREENHOUSE" nose of a B-29 Stratofortress. Instead of being curved in one dimension, this will be done in 3D. I also am thinking in terms of a four by eight center section ceiling panel of clear plexiglass.

The project name: "STARGAZER ONE"

Purpose: To get back to basic home-built RV stuff, and forget about high dollar bullcrap, while also creating a dream trailer of a kind that can go anywhere behind a 1/4 ton puller truck.

I have a vision I hold thinking about it of camping on a hill far from anywhere with a view for miles, and a starscope that can be turned to the night sky or distant things on the ground at will.

Front and back will be rounded vertically, and horizontally, using a hollow form sandwich type wood framing method. The windows will be plexiglass, including an eight foot overhead panel in the center section.

The fridge will be 115 volt common bookshelf or underbar "SONY" unit. The cook top is a stowaway BUTANE powered unit, that ought to be very familiar to people who frequent Asian markets. Fresh water will be a tank in front under the floor, with a standard RV pump. Microwave is not a thing I think needed.... If you need food that fast - just KILL something and eat it.

The plan calls for an outside shower, and in civilised campsites the potty is the local facilities. Elsewhere, bring a shovel. Not quite an "Uncle Booger" arrangement, but if you can't camp you don't want what I have in mind.

A/C is going to be a very small window mount unit installed in a way that splits the intake and outflow based on the fact that heat rises. I have noticed some bad design here and there - TAKE IN heat at the top. Blow cold out at the BOTTOM. The trailer will fill up with cold air faster, trust me on that! It will require a compartment that lets the hot go outside, the cold go out in the middle, and hot interior air be sucked in at the roof peak inside by a full length vented rib under the center "SKY PANEL".

Parking and storage will mean pulling 'Space Blankets" over it though, or keeping it indoors. I'm well aware that at anything close to 200 degrees, plexi will become "PLASTIC" and thus sag, or as we say "BECOME WORKABLE". Clear plexi panels like I have in mind will need protection, and venting along the way on the road are another thought I have been studying.

The best way to describe what I have in mind for the hull construction is to think of a balsa wood flying airplane model - and then multiply it by a factor of fifteen or so....

Not to mention: You need RV experience to complete it. Fortunately, I have brad and staple guns, and experience with not only fiberglass and acrylic materials but polyester resin as well!!!

Blocking the frame will be step three, following the frame clean up. The decking is next after.

 

Air conditioning? bah!!!

Are you going to put a water heater in it?

 

Haven't toyed with that idea yet - but I did decide the shower would be external. A bigger issue would be blinds, else it could be used as a giant solar toaster oven.

 

Can you say HEAVY? I've seen lots of old pickup bed trailers and all of them are HEAVV..VVYYYYY........

You would be MUCH better served to either build or buy a lighter trailer for such a project.

I understand as well or better than anyone about making do with what you have to work with. In this case, you stand to put lots of your own sweat and pride into such a project. Using this old truck hiney for the foundation of such efforts is a BAD plan.

Find someone to sell the trailer to and start with a better foundation.

My $0.02,

 

OK where is the important things on this trailer - - - "BEER COOLER"

 

I'm waiting for the cold season to end. What happens after that I dunno...

It could become a car hauler, or whatever.

I still like the idea of a closed box I can live in.

 

Why not just put a few rails on it ... Then slide on maybe an 8 foot cabover camper ... You can put lotsa propane and water along the siderails and under the overhang ...

 

UPDATE:
I got it all the way cleaned up and am thinking 4X8 wooden deck flatbed.

I also want to mount the Ranger bed for the project truck on it, at least for now.

1) I can put the bed to some use
2) I can paint it while it's on there
3) I can move it around easier (the truck bed)



The idea of a Ranger truck with a matching trailer fascinates me for some reason they're both '89s

*when the project truck finally has it's bed on I'll still have a flatbed trailer suitable for hauling a boat to the lake

 

First off - I'm having a world of trouble connecting this weekend probably mainly because of my IP even using **** (MOzilla fireFOx) so this will be short.



The cooler will be on a deck on the front of the trailer!

Second; I'm tempted to leave the four by fours in place under the bed for race events and as a fishing deck, but it would be too unstable on the highway lifted like that.

Here's the over-all test fitting shot: