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I know a lot of people enjoy following build threads, so I thought I'd post this up for anyone interested.

I do a lot of cross-country travelling to go hiking and back-country backpacking, and in the past I've always stayed at hotels or even crashed in the car at trail heads or camp grounds, and while that worked fine for me, it doesn't work well for the girlfriend and limits us on where we can bring the pup. I've had the idea of a small pull-behind camper, but they get so damn expensive to buy pre-built. This will allow us to crash pretty much anywhere if needed, utilize camp grounds for frequent and hopefully eliminate hotels all-together.

The idea behind this is a small, lightweight, pull behind design that's large enough for the girlfriend and I and the pup, easy to set up/break down, and off-road capable for any overlanding in the future. I was originally going to build the cabin out of wood, but as you'll find in a later post a good friend stepped in and offered to help build everything out of steel. He has a metal fab and welding business and is very good, so we can laser cut and form everything.

- 5x8 trailer for the base and the "square drop" teardrop design.
- Independent torsion axles, 15" wheels 30" all-terrain tires.
- 4ft exterior height will give me about 40 inches interior height.
- Aluminum skin, 1.5" foam board insulation, FRP interior panels.
- Basic rear galley for storage and bench top surface.
- Telescoping stabilizers
- Tongue toolbox and full size spare
- 20 gallon water tank built into the frame and an external camp shower (unheated for now).
- 12v electrical. For now planning to run a 12v battery in the tool box and some LED lights, USB charging sockets, and water pump for shower.
- 14" ceiling vent fan
- Roof rack with basket and awning

I plan to add solar at some point, but that might be a next winter project.


I started off with my "professional wing-it" ideas in my head, but afterwards I downloaded a trial of Sketchup Pro and built the trailer and sent my buddy the designs to draw out the parts and have them cut out. On weekends I will be going to his show and assembling.

Started on the frame. I searched and searched for a 5x8 trailer to build off, but all I could find was drop gate utility trailers that would have been $1,000+ before modifications for a used one, so I decided to build one instead. 2x2 .120 wall steel tubing with Flexiride 2,000# Torsion Half Axles. 2x2 .120 is probably overkill, but I wanted to make sure it was sturdy and robust enough for anything off-road. The torsion axles should give a much smoother ride over solid axle leaf spring, and will give me more ground clearance and adjustable ride height. I haven't completely decided on wheels/tires yet, but leaning towards Falken Wildpeak 215/75R15 on black steel wheels, but as a temp solution I'm using wheels/tires from my car hauler. With todays prices I have $536 in steel from a local shop. Another $491 for axles after shipping. I need to pick up one more cross-member piece tonight because I didn't take into consideration the axles would need their own. I fully expected to have to fight with the frame since I'm not a professional builder or welder and I'm not using a jig, but to my surprise the frame has stayed square and true after welding, I even tacked into place the tongue last night (no photos yet) and thats within 1/16th from side to side. Hopefully thats a sign of things going well moving forward.

Also don't judge me on my welds. I've seen much worse!