My Off Road Worthy 6x10 Cargo Trailer Camper Build

Nice thread, I just had to chip in here, in about the same time as you, I’ve owned 6 vehicles
I still own three of those

 

I don’t know how y'all do it. I did own my 2nd gen Tacoma for 4 years and that was a record, by many years.

I’ve had the same underwear and socks for longer than I’ve had any one vehicle.

 

"The Tacoma is far from totaled, but I’m not one to let a good excuse for buying a “new to me” vehicle pass me by. The next vehicle will be the 53rd vehicle I’ve owned…in 23 years. I get bored with cars quick."

Wow! I've owned 5 in 55 years.

 

I own right now:
2012 Scion IQ
2009 Toyota Tundra
2013 Toyota Tacoma
2000 Chevy Z28
Motorcycle & camper too

 

All at once? Y’all have the real problems, at least I sell one to fund the next.

 

Ooooo.... I'll play this game too!

Currently I own:
2009 yaris
2011 tacoma
2019 4runner
2022 ram
2023 corolla

Plus a couple trailers and 4wheelers

 

My turn. I currently own:
1989 Isuzu pickup
2008 4Runner
2008 tacoma
2015 tacoma
Have the wife’s 2008 acura MDX I have to maintain
1 4x6 open trailer
1 5x8 closed trailer

Do kayaks count for anything? I have 2 for them

 

My number 53: 2020 Toyota Tundra SR5 with TRD OR package and a couple other good options. Really, it’s my nearly exact spec Tacoma, but bigger (minus a few things the Tundra just doesn’t offer).



Been super busy with other parts of life lately, chilling with the family, returning the Tacoma to stock and selling off some parts, etc, but have worked on the trailer a little bit.

Going on a family vacation this week, have some mods to do to the Tundra, get the Tacoma to the shop for repairs and I’ll be back at it gents.

 

Well, after a bit of a break and a few talks with the wifey, I decided eating the cost of the FRP and ripping it off would make us happier in the end, so I dove in and did one of the most tedious jobs on the trailer yet…scrapping and sanding all of the construction adhesive off.

A flat blade on the oscillating tool was a life saver to get 80% of the adhesive off. I had to be careful not to dig into the wood trying to get too much off at once, yet wanted to get it down to as little as possible as the adhesive gummed up the sanding disks.




Now it was time to just go around the entire trailer…for about 9 hours, oscillating tool….sanding, more sanding, more oscillating tool, more sanding.

I really, really don’t ever want to do that again.




Once that was finally done, I went around and caulked or patched all the wood knots, low spots from sanding, wood chunks I accidentally took out with the oscillating tool and other defects in the wood as I hadn’t picked the highest quality wood for the interior walls as I *thought* I’d be covering them.

Several more hours of filling, sanding, etc.



Finally, in an effort to hide some of the panel issues, I decided to add spray on texture to the walls before painting.



Not sure it was worth it, mainly because of the $22 a can the wall texture costs (and using 4 cans), but I think it helped give some visual appeal to the walls.

Lastly, I came back in and painted the walls. Since we had thought the bright white FRP was a little sterile looking, we opted to go for a slight off white, Alabaster.



Pretty happy with how it turned out, all things considered. It’s far from perfect, but definitely loads better than the FRP paneling fiasco.

The OSB upper cabinet face wasn’t fixable, I left it for now and am debating on replacing it or just covering it with left over black alcantara fabric. Another days decision.

Our Renogy 100aH Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and our Propex HS2000 propane heater arrived, so installing those next.

 

Started in on getting the battery and furnace in.

I built a battery holder that’d fit my battery specifically. Just used angle iron, that’d screw to the floor/wall and utilize a strap to hold it down. Lined the inside edges with felt to offer some cushion to it.



I forgot to take photos of much of the Propex install, but it’s two holes that go through the floor for fresh air inlet and exhaust, then a 1/4” copper line going to propane.



Mounted the intake/outlet vents and control panel.



Then moved on to finishing some little touches, like mounting the bed fan and remounting the bedside lights.



At this point, I started to question why I was keeping the ugly two piece lower bench front when I was going to make the upper cabinet face look nicer…so I decided to take another step backwards and rip that lower face panel (that I had just spent time mounting everything to) off.



Went and bought new wood, which matches the side walls in its medium clean grade. I also decided to add some trim to the front panels to keep it from being so boring.



Going to let the caulking around the edges dry and then I’ll cut the new holes and texture and paint those face panels…again.

I’ve decided not to build a large front landing like I did on the last setup. I don’t need to carry jacks, the shovel and axe can fit inside the cargo area and the extra tongue weight wouldn’t be worth it for the limited use I’d find for it.

With that in mind, is explored how to securely mount my dual propane setup and found the plated portion of the tongue would work just fine.

My mock up and measuring. There’ll be a mirrored tank on the right side too.



Looked at what spare metal I had sitting around and came up with this basic mount for the two tank brackets. The tanks themselves will rest on the tongue.

 

Propane tank holder mock up.



Fresh air inlet and exhaust routed for the Propex. Exited the exhaust on the driver side to keep it away from toddlers hands, fresh air inlet goes to the passenger side so it’s not sucking exhaust. Also remote mounted the propane regulator under the trailer.



Inside painted, trim touched up to match.




Don’t forget an easily accessible fire extinguisher.

 

I don’t see too many people dive into their propane tank mount details and they’re usually either strapped down somewhere with ratchets of one of those big price tag fancy ones. I figured I’d dive into the topic a little more, share my opinions and options I find most appealing.

On my first trailer build, I used a cheap (~$40 at the time) one. It worked fine, but left a lot of confidence on the table for the long term shaking it’d see. It also had a bolt holding the tank in, which meant a wrench was needed to get it off and move it around at camp or to refill.

While it does work, I think there’s significantly better options for not much more $.

Pros: can hold a tank unsupported on the bottom, which opens up the mounting locations.
Cons: Flimsy, bolt and nut holding the tank in.



The most common option would probably be the setup always used in RVs, which is a dual tank setup with a base mount and a threaded rod that holds down the inside edges of the tank brims.

These would probably be fine for most, though they aren’t the most secure for off road use. I had this on my A-liner and the retaining nut that help down tension on the tie downs did loosen up some on washboards. You can fix that, but it’s still a kinda flimsy setup for rough terrain.

Pros: readily available, affordable and basic install
Cons: a bit too insecure of a setup for rough terrain, typically for dual tanks, not single



The next option many might consider is the ultra beef “overland approved” versions. They’re stout, and great options, but have the overland price tag.

Pros: robust, double latches, can be mounted in mutiple orientations, often have built in locking ability for theft protection
Cons: high price



The next best, in my opinion, was what I ran on my last trailer. At the time, it was about $120 I believe, so a notable bit of a savings over the “overland approved” unit.

Pros: well built and stout, has base to it so can be mounted on a flat surface or easily adapted to a vertical wall
Cons: a little pricey, takes up a bit more room with the oversized base plate



Last is a new option I’ve tried this time around: Forklift propane tank mounting kit, customized to specific mounting needs.

These are the same basic tank straps as the above part, but with no base. They’re strong, latch well and can handle work.

Pros: robust, can be adapted to mount in many different ways, budget friendly ~$45 each. I purchased on EBay, there’s a few suppliers though), can be bought as individual brackets or multiples
Cons: needs a custom mount built unless using the included small bracket, doesn’t have an included base mount, not lockable




Examples of the last setup on my trailer:

 

Good information on some many people don’t think about.

 

Subd for the sweet trailer build! Looking to do something very similar. Ive had a 5x8 for the past 9 years and it has moved be back and forth across the country, tons of local projects and even camped out a handful of nights in it. Going to upgrade to a new 6x10 this weekend though and try to build it into a camper/cargo trailer for dual functionality. You are giving me some great ideas. Look forward to updates.

This one should be mine on Saturday!

 

Hoping to go camping in about 2 weeks, so worked on getting a few key things finished up today.

Reinstalled the heater vents and battery access door.




I decided, with encouragement from the wife, to put doors on the upper cabinets for access (instead of open holes with nets to hold gear in.

I started by making a frame of 1.5” wide trim, then used that to draw the cutout line on the inside edge of the frame. Wanting the 1.5” frame to cover the cut outs, I then measured .75” out from the traced line and used my oscillating blade to cut an *kinda* straight rectangle cutout.



Then I glued and brad nailed the trim onto the cutout section and textured and painted them (though I realized I painted them gloss white, not alabaster like the rest of the inside) and installed them with two hinges on the top and a basic roller friction latch to hold them shut.




Next, I needed to finish installing the propane line from the drivers side tank to the regulator I mounted under the trailer and then add some basic reflective insulation underneath to keep a little of the wind and chill off the floor.

Hose goin from the propane tank underneath.




Insulation put up with staples, then taped with Gorilla tape around the edges and over the staples. Not entirely sure it’ll be enough to hold it in place, but we’ll see.



The wife also said the “truckers dash fan” I had installed was too loud and the two settings it had were “super high” and “very low”, so I reluctantly bought the ridiculously priced Sirocco II fan that lots of van campers seem to use. It has great reviews and first impressions are good, but I still struggle to think it’s worth the price.

Anyways, installed that over the bed and installed the mattress and air-flow moisture barrier from Mattress Insider.



Last item today was the supports to help beef up the rear door stays.

I had planed to weld them on the rear doors (and between you and me, I did start to try to weld them on…) but the rear door framing is aluminum, so I changed my plans and just screwed them down with self taping screws.



The CO/LP detector I had purchased was problematic, so waiting on the warranty replacement of that unit, will check the heater for propane leaks and we’ll have the basics needed to head out for our first camping trip!

 

Outstanding job, going to be a great first trip.

 

Thanks for documenting the build. I’m pretty high and I really got lost in that. Cool trailer and nice family. Enjoy those trips brother.

 

Pulled the camper out from the back yard and went for a little test cruise, went well.