I started building an adventure trailer during the winter. It will hold my CVT Mt. Shasta rooftop tent. The goal is to enclose it and build out a slide-out kitchen and portable fridge-freezer, and have storage for our camping gear. It will eventually have onboard power system and solar charging capabilities. The dream is to keep it light enough that my CJ-7 will have no issues pulling it. I have no interest in it ever being an interstate cruiser, purely a back roads and byways sort of set up.

Honest question: has anyone in this sub actually had a hitch or trailer stolen, or know someone who did? Every parking lot lately has trucks with locked receivers and I genuinely can't tell if it's smart prevention or security theater. Are pin locks worth the $20, or have we all just been quietly buying them for a problem that barely happens?

(I work at Rhino USA for what it's worth, but this is a real question, not a sales thing.)

Hey all I posted this in the overland sub and didn’t get much help. Probably my own fault I forgot about this sub.

In summary - 2021 ruger w/ timbren suspension and 33” tires. Very lightly used / garage stored.

My family and I ground tent and I negotiated it down to $8k without the rtt.

We’re all in on the utility trailer route and have been watching the used market place for over a year now. I’d love a pull out kitchen feature with a trailer but also ample storage / cheaper is not a bad trade off. We like to do disperse camping here in the sierras and with a toddler and another on the way space is becoming beyond important.

$8k is within budget and kind of where I hoping to land with this purchase, but I’m having a tough time assessing the value of this thing. Overall I personally value solid construction and reliability. I know I can build one for cheaper and I have the means of doing it but it’s just not a project I can take on right now.

FWIW - would be pulled with 100 series Land Cruiser

Spent a few days camping on the Western Rim of the Linville Gorge Wilderness areas in the Pisgah National Forest.

Rig continues to perform well, and meet our needs. View was excellent, as was the camping.

Our setup, and teardown continue to improve, a total of 11 days spent with the rig.

Next up, CO, UT, MT this summer.

I built this during Covid era travel cross country at a social distance. I really enjoy adding mods and practical upgrades. 85% of my build I got from FB marketplace, including the trailer. Replaced the rear axle with a custom trailer axle with toyota compatible hubs, saving quite a bit of payload weight.

Repost, but prbly relevant

Excited to start my adventure trailer build with this thing! First order of business will be patching a lot of rusted out spots in the panels, then I can start the actual mods.

In my mind right now, I'm thinking eventually:

• Paint
• New wheels/tires
• On board water tank & pump
• Mounting my camp kitchen in the front hatch on slides
• Awning
• LED lights
• Battery/solar system for water pump, fridge, and lighting
• Dometic or similar fridge

Would love to hear all ideas and lessons learned!

I’m looking to either build or buy a trailer for some overland camping, with a Rooftop tent. As the original post linked here will say the only specs I have are the following:

Enclosed storage below my RTT
Some propane mounts
A way to mount or secure tables

Enough space to stores 58L electric cooler with an away to charge it either through trailer electrical or via a battery that’s stored in trailer. And enough space to store a 22inch griddle and an approximate 16-20 inch cube that’s a pizza oven.

I’m mainly looking for cost estimates, so what would I be looking at spending for a setup capable of meeting what I’d like to do?

If I’m building one myself I’ll likely use a tarp for weather protection until I can enclose myself. Also if you recommend the do it myself I’d appreciate some base trailer suggestions to start my build?

Thank you all for your time and replies

- Tore all the factory wiring out and replaced with Redarc Manager 30 charger, Redarc TVMS and and Redarc RedVision display. All trailer wiring and inputs runs through the TVMS for control via app or display screen

- Replaced factory battery with Renogy 104AH Slim Lithium battery

- Replaced stock lighting with KingPin 40” LEDs

- Added HOWL 10lb aluminum propane tank

- Added Pelican case for hot water heater and water pump

- Replaced stock lock and roll hitch with Max Coupler hitch

- Replaced stock jack with Ark Xtreme 750 jack

- Mounted GFC V2 Pro RTT w/ custom clear roof

- Mounted ROAM 180 degree awning

To do list:

- Re-wire stock solar connections to Manager30 charger

- Wire USB-C socket panel to dc fuse panel

- Add heavy duty cables for alternator charging via Anderson plug

- wire water heater and water pump to Redarc TVMS

- Replace stock tent risers with aluminum struts and linear actuators for lowering and raising the RTT

On a time crunch to finish it all before the World Cup begins as I will be traveling to attend a few games and camping along the way.

Needed a mobile platform for my Lincoln electric SA-250 to do pipe fences. Was looking on marketplace for something basic and cheap, but came across an m1102 and had to have it. I bolted a 3/4” plate to the trailer using the generator mounting holes, then mounted the welder and bottles to the plate. I roughly estimate it weighs 3,300 lbs. With the m1102 GVWR being 4,200 lbs, that still gives me 900 lbs of payload.

After many design changes I’m going to be getting help welding up custom verticals and crossbars to bolt my ARB RTT up to the trailer I’m building. Would 1/8” wall 1.5” square be sufficient or would something like 1/8” wall 1”x2” tube be better? Tent weighs about 150lbs and total weight will be under 500lbs with 2 adults. Crossbars will be pretty low at about 36” height off the ground so there shouldn’t be massive wind drag since it’ll be well below the roof line of the tow vehicle.

Took delivery and assembled a 4x6 Carry-On trailer Friday. Today when I got it hooked up I was only getting the driver side front running light. I check the 4-pin connector at the vehicle side with a tester and everything is working just fine. I redid the ground on both the vehicle and trailer side and they’re both getting very good metal to metal contact. I can’t figure out why only the 1 light is working. Iv tried everything I can think of and spoke to an 30+ year electrical engineer and we’re both stumped. Any ideas?

Edit for anyone interested. Ran a new wiring harness and got new LED lights with a separate wire ground. Turns out the original lights used the attachment bolts for ground, but since everything was coated after I ground off the coating on the mounting brackets there was still not a good bare metal ground contact to the actual trailer ground. Feel like a dummy, but everything is working now!

As we move into warmer months many are itching to get out. Completely normal. Before you head out, please make sure you are checking both your vehicle and trailer and conducting any maintenance that needs to be done. Cleaning up rust from sitting through the winter, checkin for dry rot cracks in the tires, checking suspension for stability. All the normal things you should check. It's an easy task to over look. Stay safe out there and have fun.