Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Grumblebums Corner

[Kenfab]

Tubs look great mate! Labels are a top idea, really like the whiteboard/number idea too

 

[Grumblebum]

Tubs look great mate! Labels are a top idea, really like the whiteboard/number idea too

Thanks Ken, I liked the idea too but wifie didn't concur. Maybe you will have more luck.

If it wasn't for her needing access to some of these tubs it wouldn't have been a drama.

Cheers GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

Looks like we might finally get a camping weekend in soon so spent most of the day on the camper trailer today. I've had this for about 18 months but it hasn't done a *proper* trip yet. One of those situations where I was thinking about getting a camper and just happened to be talking to someone I know one day as they had upgraded to a tandem axle caravan....so you know how those situations turn out

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Main job was fitting the new tyres. I'd found the BFG's online for a pretty good price over the christmas break and I'd arranged my local 4x4 shop to get in the rims and fit them up for me.

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I've had these bearing protectors since around 2000, originally they were meant for my other trailer when I first built it but never ended up putting them on. So while the wheels were off the camper today I checked the bearings and popped these on. Basically you pre-pack the back side full of grease (thought I had a pic but didn't) then when you install them you pack the front with a grease gun until the spring is all the way towards you. So they keep your bearings nice and greased up

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Got the pressure washer onto some other grime and gave it a good clean. So it's packed and ready to go pretty much. The top metal frame needs to be removed, repaired & modified and powder coated at some point. A lot of paint came off it with the pressure washer.

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I've done a few mods to this trailer in terms of storage and water pump etc, so if anyone is interested I can show some photos.

That red poly-block coupling on the front will hopefully be changed tomorrow back to a normal 50mm ball hitch. Just waiting on the correct hand brake lever arriving as the one they sent me was for a boat trailer.

Cheers GB.

 

[Kenfab]

Looks killer on the black rims and bfgs are great! Show us ya mods! I like the idea of camping but i doubt the missus would ever go.

 

[jon72vega]

Looks like we might finally get a camping weekend in soon so spent most of the day on the camper trailer today. I've had this for about 18 months but it hasn't done a *proper* trip yet. One of those situations where I was thinking about getting a camper and just happened to be talking to someone I know one day as they had upgraded to a tandem axle caravan....so you know how those situations turn out


Main job was fitting the new tyres. I'd found the BFG's online for a pretty good price over the christmas break and I'd arranged my local 4x4 shop to get in the rims and fit them up for me.



I've had these bearing protectors since around 2000, originally they were meant for my other trailer when I first built it but never ended up putting them on. So while the wheels were off the camper today I checked the bearings and popped these on. Basically you pre-pack the back side full of grease (thought I had a pic but didn't) then when you install them you pack the front with a grease gun until the spring is all the way towards you. So they keep your bearings nice and greased up


Got the pressure washer onto some other grime and gave it a good clean. So it's packed and ready to go pretty much. The top metal frame needs to be removed, repaired & modified and powder coated at some point. A lot of paint came off it with the pressure washer.

I've done a few mods to this trailer in terms of storage and water pump etc, so if anyone is interested I can show some photos.

That red poly-block coupling on the front will hopefully be changed tomorrow back to a normal 50mm ball hitch. Just waiting on the correct hand brake lever arriving as the one they sent me was for a boat trailer.

Cheers GB.

Grumblebum,
Camper trailer is looking good!

 

[dlcwent]

Looks killer on the black rims and bfgs are great! Show us ya mods! I like the idea of camping but i doubt the missus would ever go.[/QUOTE]

Just heard this yesterday. "Camping, something you pay for to be able to live like a homeless person."

Except with that pop up GB, I think it's a little more comfy.

 

[taumac]

Camper looks awesome. I like the wheel choice. I've have couple sets of those on my trucks. They are IMO best tires around.

 

[taumac]

Looks killer on the black rims and bfgs are great! Show us ya mods! I like the idea of camping but i doubt the missus would ever go.[/QUOTE]



Just heard this yesterday. "Camping, something you pay for to be able to live like a homeless person."



Except with that pop up GB, I think it's a little more comfy.

LMAO, i never hear it that way. Camping to me is great way get away from everything. The place we go there's no cell service so its get to unplug from everything I tent camp right now but someday we want to get a small pull behind.

 

[1/2 Cup]

That is one great camper GB

Where are you headed for your trip?

I would really love to do camping but Mrs 1/2 Cups idea of camping has hot and cold water, airconditioning, 4 walls, a roof and bathroom all in one.

Regards

 

[rmalkow2]

Heavy duty looking pop up camper there. Will you be pulling it off road into the wilds?

 

[Denwood]

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....

Cheers GB.

Nice find. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Sold the 1990 VW Westfalia, so the hunt is on for a small trailer. By all means, show all your mods.

How heavy is the trailer?

 

[Terrick down Under]

I agree with the others....."show us your mods"
Some very smart ideas come from these situations.
We went half way between you and what MRS1/2CUP wants, its called glamping and weighs 1.5tonne, and wont go half the places you will be able to. Go on....mod to your hearts content. We are all eager to see what you come up with.

 

[Grizz1963]

That trailer is a bit WOW !!!

 

[Grumblebum]

Looks killer on the black rims and bfgs are great! Show us ya mods! I like the idea of camping but i doubt the missus would ever go.

Ken, some mod posts up next and I am partial to the BFG's too. To my surprise it looks like we will be going somewhere with a port-a-loo as the only amenity - wifie is on board so I'm going to run with it. For sure I thought the only way I'd get her out would be hitting caravan park campsites! Might be hope for you yet

Grumblebum,
Camper trailer is looking good!

Thanks jon - just needs using as it's been in the garage long enough now

Some more

 

[Grumblebum]

Looks killer on the black rims and bfgs are great! Show us ya mods! I like the idea of camping but i doubt the missus would ever go.[/QUOTE]

Just heard this yesterday. "Camping, something you pay for to be able to live like a homeless person."

Except with that pop up GB, I think it's a little more comfy.

although it's been a good while since I've been out camping, I haven't really roughed it.

Won't be going without good coffee

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[Grumblebum]

Camper looks awesome. I like the wheel choice. I've have couple sets of those on my trucks. They are IMO best tires around.

Thanks Gerard, my Hilux is into it's 3rd set of BFG's it's travelled 260,000 kms on those 3 sets so far. The ones on my truck are the 31"x10.5" R15.

I tend to look after them and do a 5 wheel rotation every 5000 kms.

Cheers GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

That is one great camper GB

Where are you headed for your trip?

I would really love to do camping but Mrs 1/2 Cups idea of camping has hot and cold water, airconditioning, 4 walls, a roof and bathroom all in one.

Regards

Thanks 1/2 Cup. Current plan is to head down to Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast. About 1.5 hours away from me. Will just be an over-nighter this time, but should be a good "shake down" trip for the camper without being too far from home.

 

[dlcwent]

I will give you a big thumbs up. Coffee is one of the most important "camping" items in my book. I strongly dislike instant coffee, it starts the day out wrong.

 

[Grumblebum]

Heavy duty looking pop up camper there. Will you be pulling it off road into the wilds?

It may see some basic dirt track this time. I think as wifie and kiddies get used to getting away they will become more adventurous but time will tell.

Cheers GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

Nice find. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Sold the 1990 VW Westfalia, so the hunt is on for a small trailer. By all means, show all your mods.

How heavy is the trailer?

Cub I believe did export to the US, I am not sure if they still do but I have seen them pop up on the web when I was looking at photos etc.

Tare (empty) weight is stamped at 510 kgs. Max is 750 kgs according to the compliance plate. It has a 60 odd litre water tank underneath (pic in next post), so that along with what I have stored in there will be pretty close to it's max weight.

Normally here the max weight of a trailer without brakes is 750 kgs. My trailer does have disc brakes but in order to legally increase the load you need to have an engineer certify it and you pay more for road taxes etc. Really want to keep the weight to the essentials.

Cheers GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

I agree with the others....."show us your mods"
Some very smart ideas come from these situations.
We went half way between you and what MRS1/2CUP wants, its called glamping and weighs 1.5tonne, and wont go half the places you will be able to. Go on....mod to your hearts content. We are all eager to see what you come up with.

Hi Terrick down under, thanks for stopping by....

Always wondered how the removable body campers went. On some vehicles they just look way wrong with weight distribution, looks like you have a good size rig there for your one however.

A few mods up next...

Cheers GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

That trailer is a bit WOW !!!

Hi Rian, thanks for stopping in mate. I loved your tear-drop build.

The camper is a 2000 model Cub Kamparoo - Weekender - Offroad, and it was one of those right-place right-time things as a guy I know had just upgraded to a dual axle caravan. He'd just put new canvas on this and had only used it a few times himself.

Thanks GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

Camper slide out drawers mod

One of the first things I did was pull out the old slide out kitchen thing (sorry don't have any pics) and replaced it with some more usable full length slide out draws.

Basic 12mm ply wood frame. The slots in the top are so you can access the stuff from inside the camper as you can lift up the bed due to it being on gas struts.

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You can just see the blue HDPE/teflon runners I used as the sliders. This is just the sliders they use on boat trailers and you buy it at a boat type outlet. Works great and there are no metal sliders to get clogged up with dirt and dust etc...

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...first test fit!

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...tidied up with some automotive carpet

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...and open, they pull out further but at this length they will sit on the inside supports and not fall out.

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[Grumblebum]

Camper water mod

The camper has a 59 litre water tank underneath. I pulled it all out, cleaned it up and fitted the correct breather and new hoses to it.

It originally had one of the hand pumps (like you see in caravans) but I replaced it with a 12 volt pump instead. The kitchen now has a tap and sink (will get photos of that when I hopefully get it out in the next week or two) and there is a tap at the front so that you can wash hands/feet off when you get back from a beach say. Also can connect a hose to the tap to move the washing off away from your camp setup as needed.

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[Grumblebum]

Camper front box mod

When I got this there was a dodgy-barely penetrated welded on box. So that went and I made up a frame to mount a good size aluminium box. The wings on the edge that you see in the photos earlier are to mount Jerry can holders onto. they are not fixed yet but I've put one there to show. Not sure if I'll change this again yet.

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At the back of the aluminium box I have installed a 4" PVC pipe to store the poles etc for the annex.

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The frame for the box does not weld or bolt through directly to the chassis rails, I have instead welded some 30mm angle iron up the inside of the rails and bolted through that instead so as to maintain the rigidity of the main frame.

 

[Grumblebum]

Camper hitch replacement

...and that brings us to tonight's job which was replacing the old poly block hitch with a 50mm ball hitch. I won't be doing the kind of off road the poly block hitch was designed for, and apart from that with the hitch receiver needed for this I can't get the chains to bolt to the back of my truck without extending them which I'm not a fan of.

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So now that's done and I tested it up on the back of the Hilux, chains are now good ! woot woot!

Tomorrow night will be checking one of the rear indicators that is not working then I think she is ready to test out.

Thanks for reading so far, hope it's useful information ???

Cheers Grumblebum...

 

[Carves]

Camper looks great.

I much prefer that type to those with a soft floor annexe.

Was hunting for one when this little thing came up,

Still ended up with a soft floor annexe ... but its usable without unfolding it.


Thought about doing this,

... but ended up doing a spring over axle mod ... which gave it more than enough capability for, real world, "offroad" scenarios ..

When I took it in for its first rego ... got told the brakes dont work ...

Naturally I tried to explain that its factory, rated/ registered/listed - for the same max weight as my box trailer ... that doesnt require brakes.

... but we all know what, reasoning with beaurocracy is like .. ..


If I may .... I'd suggest you bang a piece of ply under those plastic jerries ... as corrugations will rattle that bottom support through over time.

.

 

[BBChevro]

Ah, all this talk about camper trailers reminded me that I have an old abandoned project at my brother's place - I had totally forgotten about it (well, I guess it's still there...it was fine when I dropped it off there about 16 years ago. ).

I like the mods GB, and the BFGs look great - the old T/A Radials were always my choice of rubber back in the day.

 

[BBChevro]

I used to go camping every chance I could, but like some of the other wives here - whenever anyone mentions camping to Lyn, she says "Why would I want to go somewhere to sleep in a tent, when I have a perfectly good bed at home?".

 

[Bob Heine]

When our dearest Aussie friends retired they gave up their stationary life and toured the continent. They use a modified off-road Nissan as the tow vehicle for their home (also designed to go off-road).

The wife retired from 9 years of off-road competition(she was the first woman invited to compete in the Outback Challenge). Her first car was a Suzuki, second was a Nissan.

 

[xtremek]

The trailer's not my style, but it looks like it's well set up and wicked cool.

 

[anth]

Good to see you're a real coffee drinker! I have four of those caffettiera in various sizes.

 

[Lyndon]

Rod

That trailer looks great. I'm planning on another Outback Trek in September if the planets align. You ought to look into this one: http://www.outbacktrek.com.au/about/home/

I did it last September for 2 weeks and it was a blast. 45 cars, 4500 kms (and that's just from Bourke, so 6500 km by the time we got to Bourke and back). I did it with a mate in his 80 series Landcruiser, with a tent attached to the side.

Here's me on the edge of Lake Eyre:

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They go on a different route every year. You can look at their FB page, but because it has "Police" in the name it gets a bit of stick, so it's now a closed group. They haven't advised where this years one is going yet, but I will keep you informed.

There were about 50 kids on the Trek as it's in School holidays, so good socialising for the kids. The thing is organised by the Police Sergeant at Cobar, and a committee out of Bourke. It has a full Paramedic ambulance with the Trek, 2 mechanics in a 4 T truck and trailer with more spares than you can poke a stick at, and is very well organised. The wife is coming this year, so I am looking for a 4 x 4 at present, but for the next one we probably won't have a van yet, so will be either tenting it or staying in cabins (which you can do at every stop).

I'll talk to you some more about it later, especially once I know where they are going this year.

Lyndon
Your local tour guide.....

 

[hewey]

Nice work on the trailer Grumblebum!

 

[Terrick down Under]

Just a suggestion for your water pump/battery life, try fitting a small accumulator after the pump. Because the pump uses 6 times its run current to start, which can shorten your battery life. e.g.

http://caravansplus.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5749

Love your slide out draws, did you use wax/silicane to make them slide real smooth.
You could take the longer way home and run up thru Fitzroy Falls and Kangaroo mountain, then onto Moss Vale with some really beautiful pics from that area. We used to go that way on purpose to pick up treatment plants from south Nowra.
Terrick

 

[Kenfab]

Ken, some mod posts up next and I am partial to the BFG's too. To my surprise it looks like we will be going somewhere with a port-a-loo as the only amenity - wifie is on board so I'm going to run with it. For sure I thought the only way I'd get her out would be hitting caravan park campsites! Might be hope for you yet

Sweet! i got stuck with cooper at3's cos i got them for super cheap, but i really wanted bfgs!
Awesome that your wife is on board, i think i might be able to twist my missus arm, because we could take the dog on holiday.

although it's been a good while since I've been out camping, I haven't really roughed it.

Won't be going without good coffee

Haha have you seen those coffee pod things with a 12v plug on them, i thought that would be the go. I dont drink coffee haha ill stick to energy drinks and beer

Thanks Gerard, my Hilux is into it's 3rd set of BFG's it's travelled 260,000 kms on those 3 sets so far. The ones on my truck are the 31"x10.5" R15.

I tend to look after them and do a 5 wheel rotation every 5000 kms.

Cheers GB.

Thats great KMs!

 

[Grumblebum]

Camper looks great.

I much prefer that type to those with a soft floor annexe.

Was hunting for one when this little thing came up,

Still ended up with a soft floor annexe ... but its usable without unfolding it.


Thought about doing this,

... but ended up doing a spring over axle mod ... which gave it more than enough capability for, real world, "offroad" scenarios ..

When I took it in for its first rego ... got told the brakes dont work ...

Naturally I tried to explain that its factory, rated/ registered/listed - for the same max weight as my box trailer ... that doesnt require brakes.

... but we all know what, reasoning with beaurocracy is like .. ..


If I may .... I'd suggest you bang a piece of ply under those plastic jerries ... as corrugations will rattle that bottom support through over time.

.

Hi Carves, that looks like quite a nifty little unit. I like that you can get into it without having to flip the whole thing over like mine. Although I can get to anything in the draws ok, but the other internal storage I have to open it up to access. Not a big deal but annoying just the same. Any chance of an inside shot of your camper when you are in there again ?

I think that when I get to mount the jerry can holders more permanently, they will serve that purpose but I was also thinking of making up a couple of storage devices (maybe with an old jerry can) that can store rubbish to keep possums out at night and also carry a small amount of firewood. Will definitely need to put some ply or conveyor belt mat at the bottom thanks for the tip.

Cheers GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

I will give you a big thumbs up. Coffee is one of the most important "camping" items in my book. I strongly dislike instant coffee, it starts the day out wrong.

Funny story (well to me anyway)...

Years ago I was a member in the local Volunteer Bushfire Brigade as I grew up in a rural bushland area. Anyway in the fire trucks (they were all 4x4 Isuzu's) we had our tea and coffee kit (as sometimes you had to wait for stuff to happen so you would make a brew). It was instant coffee, International Roast - horrible powdery stuff.

One day we were out somewhere (I forget where) and it was time to make a brew. Just happened to pull out the tin of International Roast and looked at the expiry date on it....was at least 5 years past expiry (might be an exaggeration there as I can't remember) but it had all clumped up and was near impossible to get a teaspoon into to get any out.

Old captain wanders over, ahh what are you on about ?, she'll be right - just crushes some up in his hand and away he goes. Coffee made.

 

[Grumblebum]

Ah, all this talk about camper trailers reminded me that I have an old abandoned project at my brother's place - I had totally forgotten about it (well, I guess it's still there...it was fine when I dropped it off there about 16 years ago. ).

I like the mods GB, and the BFGs look great - the old T/A Radials were always my choice of rubber back in the day.

I used to go camping every chance I could, but like some of the other wives here - whenever anyone mentions camping to Lyn, she says "Why would I want to go somewhere to sleep in a tent, when I have a perfectly good bed at home?".

Hi Mark, thanks for the comments. It sounds like you need to go and scope that old camper out. See what's left of it. I dare say with the Queensland humidity she might be a bit far gone if it's been out in the weather all that time

I grew up camping and all that too, my goal is to make sure the kids experience it and get a feel for the outdoors while they are young. I think wifie is more comfortable with the notion (at least this time) as we are going with some other families in the circle of mothers groups/swimming groups etc etc. Hopefully it sticks

Failing that I told her I would take them myself...

Cheers GB.

 

[Grumblebum]

When our dearest Aussie friends retired they gave up their stationary life and toured the continent. They use a modified off-road Nissan as the tow vehicle for their home (also designed to go off-road).

The wife retired from 9 years of off-road competition(she was the first woman invited to compete in the Outback Challenge). Her first car was a Suzuki, second was a Nissan.

Hi Bob, there are some seriously ********* 4WD people around these days. I don't keep up on all the latest but a few years back I did attend a competition weekend with some friends to see what it was all about. Some of the capabilities of the vehicles is incredible. If they fail they basically roll back down the hill

I don't think you can climb to the top of the rock anymore. I was there on a school trip some 24 years ago and we were allowed to go up it then.

Thanks for stopping by.

GB.