A mini popup toy-hauler!?

[Drew G]

That was the best way I can describe it. My original plans for a squaredrop fell through, but the frame stuck around. I decided to go a different direction with it...

It is a storage box with a 6ft wide roodftop tent on top ("rooftop" as in a vehicle roof rack). Behind that is a flatbed section of composite decking to bring along a motorcycle, mini golfcart, or (for now) a bicycle and an e-trike I built for the wife.

The box and back side rails are welded angle steel with 1/4" HDPE pop riveted on. Got it finished enough to use it for an overnight stay a few weeks ago sofar. That was before I got the awning and tongue box mounted.

The box will hold the folding chairs and coffee table, lanterns, cooking equipment, smokeless firepit and pellet fuel for it, the ARB room enclosure I've got for the awning, etc.: The stuff one must lug out of storage to the car each time going camping. The tow vehicle can handle stuff that is not long term stored like water, food, clothes and cleaned bedding. Minimizing prep so hopefully less to forget, less to stress over.

[Drew G]

I mounted a 5000btu window unit in the storage box and plumbed the outlet up out the box and into the tent floor, using a residential roof pipe boot to seal the gap in between.







The initial install is just the louvered grill in the floor at the "head" end. It fortunately does also have a fine mesh behind it to prevent things falling in. I'm planning to add a stacked plywood trim ring so it will lift up closer to the level of the mattress that fits in the tent. And I can incorporate some charging stations into it to make it sort of like a mini center console.



That first night I just ran the shore power and A/C cord up into the tent so I could plug/unplug it manually. I have now wired in a 2nd cord to control the compressor seperately from the fan. I ordered in a pair of switched recepticals that are controlled from one wireless remote. That way I can control the fan and compressor from within the tent via the remote. I had my doubts that a traditional thermostat would work well in a tent. In testing I found the switched units seem to work fine when one is daisy-chained to the other. That way the compressor cannot receive power unless the fan already has power. I may or may not use it this way, as there will already be alot of plug connections in-line in my wiring design.

[Drew G]

My old utility trailer seems to perpetually have issues with the lighting/wiring. I did not want to have the same issue with this one. I ran individual 4-wire jacketed cables to each light point and protected the connections in small electronics project boxes. In the reduced chance there is a connection failure, it is isolated and can't propogate out to half the trailer. I tried to keep all connections above the frame. I was not able to do that for the license plate light due to it's short pigtail. So I mounted a project box for the connection under the decking. But it also got it's own dedicated cable run from the main junction box.

[Drew G]

I had an 8ft bag awning designed for mounting to a car roof rack. I added brackets off the side of the trailer and used legs (from a defunct easy-up canopy, flipped upside down) as telescoping poles to mount the awning to.





Mounted up a rotomolded tongue box.



Tested out the awning





And that is pretty much where I'm at with it up to this point.

[Swag Man]

The bacon is sizzzzzzling!

[DJ Davis]

Drew,

Bravo on the concept of "building a new box" instead of thinking outside of one! Well done!

DJ

[Drew G]

Thanks guys! Working on the wiring setup and other odds n ends. Just doing basic shore power only (no battery). Adding a power supply brick for 12v items. The power strip was quite the find I thought: It has GFCI and I tested it to verify it does have working 15A overload protection. Along with the hoops on the side I can tie wires to.

[Swag Man]

I keep looking at this project and have decided this toy is going to be fun in epic portions! It just looks fun.

[Drew G]

I got some cam-lock straps and shortened the straps for the intended purpose. They will stay on the tent to strap it down to the deck for more stability in the opened position. Otherwise the tent fabric doesn't want to let the floor fully flatten without enough weight, making it a little springy. Sometimes that made entering/exiting feel more sketchy than it needed to be.





I mounted up some lights under the rear section of the trailer frame to aid visibility entering/exiting the tent at night. They have white and amber LEDs. Selected by energizing different wires. I wired up the amber for now, which is relatively dim compared to the white. Hoping for just enough light to see where you are stepping without demolishing night sight. These will probably remain on at night, along with the rear deck light. All those lights should be shielded from direct view in almost all directions. So I'm hoping it should not be a neusance to other campers.

[Drew G]

12v wired up.



I mounted a project box just behind/other side of one of the exterior convenience lights on the storage box. I ran wires into/out of the box from there and added switches to control the tongue-side light on one switch, then the deck side light and rear under frame lights on the other switch.





I had an idea of using a pvc bulkhead to run wires up into the tent. Instead I found some inexpensive PVC conduit fittings that could handle the task. A "liquidtite" fitting that uses an o-ring on the connection that comes up through storage box ceiling. When the tent mounting bolts are tightened up, the tent floor goes over the small tube section. Then a "box adapter" bushing slides down the floor hole from above. Creating a tube with flares at both ends to protect the wire runs. I squeezed some silicone down the floor hole around the fittings to seal everything up and adhere the bushing to the floor.



I'm keeping it simple for wiring in the tent. 3x 12v sockets made from $2, 6' 12v socket extension plugs. I just clipped off the plugs to get sockets with 6' pigtails. Plenty of length to run down and direct wire to the fuse block. One socket will have a smaller fuse for a light in the tent. The other two will probably get usb charge adapters for phones and the wife's tablet. But, the plugs being universal keeps other options open for future needs.



I just need to figure out grounding the trailer and box frames, as well as the tent floor/frame. Once that is done I'll consider the core wiring done.

[Drew G]

Added grounding straps and reinstalled the A/C unit with some reflectix around the duct for a bit of insulation. I just need to make a spare tire bracket and it will be done enough for the next gathering. I still eventually want to make a slim light fixture for inside the tent. And figure out how I want to fully finish the A/C duct outlet so I can sew the mattress cover.

[Swag Man]

Is there any chance you filmed this project and put it on utube for us to watch? I would sure like to hear you and see the work as it is going together!

[Drew G]

Swag Man No video, but I have a more thorough build log on tnttt that I updated as I went along. The thread here on tearjerkers I just posted the current progress in a more condensed form.

If someone were to build something similar, but just the box, omitting the rear flatbed section. It would make for an ultra compact trailer. Mount roof rack rails/bars on top of the box.. It would still accomodate a tent like this, but could also be used (sans tent) for other stuff like canoe or kayaks on the cross bars and haul all the wet/messy gear in the box. Would be a very versatile design for someone who is active but only has a small car. My design isn't ideal for a small car due to the tongue weight, unless something is in the flatbed with enough weight to balance out some of the forward weight.

https://www.tnttt.com/threads/mini-popup-toy-hauler-using-rooftop-tent.1109400/

Current status: I added grounding straps, then reinstalled the A/C unit + duct and wrapped it in reflectix. You can see the hole I put in the floor for a fresh air intake. That way the hatch doors can be closed to keep critters out. And with the doors closed it cuts down the A/C noise to the point you can only hear the air flowing through the tent vent when you are standing outside the front half of the trailer. I cover the hole back up by slipping in the original cutout over the grill/mesh and clamping down a block over it with some large knob nuts on the protruding threads.



Next up I want to make a bracket for the spare tire, and fab up a low profile light for inside the tent.

[Drew G]

I fabbed up a spare tire mount:

[Drew G]

Tested the exterior lighting:



Made a low profile interior light out of a couple LED strip lights (the kind that have their own slim enclosure). I mounted them on either side of a strip of 1/8" aluminum flat bar, then attached it to the center tent rod with some p-straps. Ran a wire down the rod with a few wraps and put an inline switch, terminating at the 12v plug.





You can see the horrific miscut and hack job on the mattress to get the hole for the A/C vent. Still finalizing on how I want to approach finishing all that.

A 12v socket in either corner with usb charger adapters. Easy enough to shove them down next to the mattress to hide the light.

[2HappyCampers]

Looks great! Cool idea!

[Drew G]

Thanks!

May get some real use out of the flatbed soon. Going to a gathering next week and I think I'll drag the smoker along. The low height of the trailer bed should be way easier to load than the truck bed.

[Drew G]

I didn't realy get pics that weekend until I started packing up. But here was the setup roughly.. I put the smoker at the back of the paved pull-in (out of shot) since the power pole was right there.



The trike is in, covered and strapped down. Here is my pellet smoker. Not a huge unit. But plenty big enough for any of our carnivorous aspirations.



Ready to hitch up.





The slope of the site did point out the limitations of the leveling/stabilization setup. It sloped up towards the back end of the pull-in. The rear stabilizers were almost at their upper limit. Much more and I would have needed blocks under the tires to lift the whole thing up so the rear stabilizers could swing down. Then the front stabilizers may have needed blocks too if that caused them to reach their longest setting. I need to either cut some 2x6" wood scraps for blocks or pick up some of the lego-style blocks.

[DJ Davis]

Happy to hear the shake-down went well. Looking forward to more pics with everything set-up, next time!