Camptrailer Build

[garfield]

G'day all,
Been a member for a while now and absolutely love this forum. I'm a camptrailer owner, just a standard road not off roader. The family and I usually do the caravan park camp at the moment, but would love to venture more into the rough down the track.

The reason i'm writing this thread is because of some of the camptrailer builds I have viewed on this forum. It amaizes me the thinking and ability of some of the forum memebrs, and I have loved some of the builds I have followed.
The question I ask myself is are these done by professional boiler makers, engineers, trailer builders - or just every day blokes who have welders in their sheds and have only ever done small jobs prior to the big one? I gather that most must have some sort of idea as to the specs of a trailer and what is required when it comes to springs, what steel to use etc.
I'd love to build my own one day, I have welding experiance (not a pro) from a few years of stick welding and for the last 12 months I've been mucking around with the mig that I bought last year. Thus far I have only done small non structual jobs around the house and my welds have certainly become better with time, and what can I say about mig.... love it!. I'd love to start with some mods to my current camptrailer before taking anything too huge on, which is a customline camptrailer. I'd love to build a boat rack for my tinnie to start with but wouldn't be 100% comfortable that welds are secure and that I have built it the way an engineer/trailer fab would have.
Be interested to hear from anyone who is just the average Sunday handy man (like myself) who decided to take on a camptrailer build. Just what your experiance was and how you knew that your welds were good enough and how you understood what the proper postion of the draw bar should be, the springs etc etc.
Thanks
Geoff

[Azz]

I am like yourself. I have a trade background, Marine Trimming / Upholstery and grew up with many other trades in the family.
I couldn't weld and bought myself a welder and learnt by watching youtube vids and asking my mates lots of questions and watching them work when I could.

I have now just bought a TIG welder and am slowly learning to weld alloy.

I say go for it, have a good look at "pro" trailers and compare your work. Maybe do a few test welds and belt the crap out of it with a big hammer, see how strong your welds are.
I did a few tests and was pleased as to how much belting it took to destroy a weld.

[DannyG]

Hi Geoff
I can only speak for myself of course, I built mine being reasonably confident it would not fall apart but knew I was bordering on the fine line with a few things as far as strength vs weight goes. But being mindful of these things and easing the trailer into the rough stuff and testing before any major trips is the key I think.
Anyway, I have a trades background which did cover some basic mig welding very briefly but realistically Im just an everyday bloke with a few welders in his shed, albeit growing up in the country we were always building something as a kid and through my life so thats where the experience comes from.

I would suggest that if your not confident of your welding then tac the job together and get a competent welder to finish it for you. And likewise if your not sure of spring placement or drawbar geometry then you need to start researching and asking lots of questions but generally the average hack like myself will pretty much copy a tried and proven design and hope the for the best

[garfield]

Thanks for the replies .

I might start with a boat rack for now. I'd like one that can swing on hinges to the side and not tinterfereer with the tent when its up. That would take structuralal welding and some stealing ideas from others threads regarding boat rack builds if I can find some.

[nelso]

It might not be in the true spirit of DIY but what about starting with this site?
http://www.trailerplans.com.au/

[garfield]

Thanks for that Nelso.
I guess once you've made one you learn and get better down the track.