Raise my tent

[Hudleys Adventures]

Hi
Fairly new to the camper trailer world and have recently purchased a 2nd hand soft floor camper. Loving it so far!
After some advice though on whether i can raise the tent platform on the trailer, and if so what would be best method?
My fridge and slide sit at just over 500mm high and my trailer has 480mm clearance beneath tent. Was planning on removing tent and adding some 40mm box section around the trailer and remounting. I'll then move mounts/hinges to suit.
Obviously drop of tent will be 40mm higher but this shouldn't be an issue as there's a bit of slack there anyway.
Thanks in advance

[Bird]

Would it be easier, and less chance of screwing up to get a different fridge?

Been there done that

[Hudleys Adventures]

Just the expense of a new fridge vs a few lengths of box steel. And if it doesn't work out i can remove them easy enough.

[Bird]

Just the expense of a new fridge vs a few lengths of box steel. And if it doesn't work out i can remove them easy enough.

No probs... sell old fridge to offset the cost of upgrade. Toolbox up front instead?
anyway Im sure few of the others will pop up with some ideas.

[Beachman]

Sounds like you handy with steel and a welder, so can you make the tool box on the front bigger?? Then it's also easier to access the fridge when driving.

[#jonesy]

Use you camper a few times first, before making any big changes.

I bought my fridge to fit in the trailer.  It's never actually been in there, instead it goes in the ute and I lift it out at camp.

[edz]

Another firm believer  for the fridge / food   always stays with the truck .

[geopaj]

What your proposing is certainly possible. The biggest issue you will have to check is if the tent has enough’drop’  to reach the ground after the height of the trailer has increased (most probably wouldn’t). Remember you also need a small bit of slack in case of uneven ground.

pa - like others, I personally keep the fridge in our vehicle, not the camper.

[Bird]

The food fridge stays in car, or depending how long staying sometimes stays with the trailer

The small drinks fridge stays at camp in the trailer.

[geopaj]

What your proposing is certainly possible. The biggest issue you will have to check is if the tent has enough’drop’  to reach the ground after the height of the trailer has increased (most probably wouldn’t). Remember you also need a small bit of slack in case of uneven ground.

pa - like others, I personally keep the fridge in our vehicle, not the camper.

Another idea, as you obviously have the skills and equipment to do metal fab, and only need probably 30mm extra clearance including the fridge slide, could you re-manufacture the fridge slice so the fridge is sits lower? (You should be able to make a fridge slide that only adds 10mm to the total height of the fridge - for example, a piece of 40x40x2mm angle welded up for the fridge to sit in, then externally mount slides to this angle. If you allow, say, 5mm clearance between the trailer floor and the bottom of the 40x40mm angle, This will only add 7mm total height to the fridge. I don’t know what you’ve got, but most  commercial fridge slides I’ve seen seem to waste a fair bit of vertical height).

[Fizzie]

could you re-manufacture the fridge slice so the fridge is sits lower?

We had a 50l Engel in our CT that, while you could close the lid, it was exactly the wrong height to be able to pull the fridge out

I took the feet of the bottom of the fridge & replaced them with two strips of the blue boat-slide poly stuff, which reduced the height by 5-10mm, gave us a slippery base & meant that we could pull the fridge out O with the lid closed