fishhouse

I've drooled over the Mopar camping trailer for the last year…but the $5-10k they cost is insane. Lots of other pre-manufactured ones on the market as well that I researched but they were all too expensive and/or would still need modifications to fit my needs. So, I decided to build my own and thought I would share with my fellow Jeepers.

Basically I wanted something compact, 4x4 capable that could follow me on the trails and matched the overall look of my Rubi.

I started construction in Fall of 2013 with plans for my first camping trip in April of 2014. I only worked on it a weekend or two a month for about 6 months and have about $2,500 invested. Ended up with a spacious, comfortable, rock solid and VERY offroad capable camper with plenty of sleeping room and storage.

It was a blast to build and a great learning experience - well worth the time and cost. Had help from some awesome Jeep friends as well. I welcome any questions about the project for those that might be interested in building their own.

You can check out full details over on my build thread at the TVenturing forum.

Snakevenom85

First off, great looking trailer! I love the way it matches the Jeep. I've been thinking about getting a setup like this sometime in the future. Do you have any good recommendations for someone looking to design one as well? Is there anything you would have done differently had you known?

Desert Snow

Subscribed with hopes to tackle this project this summer.

Desert Snow

Oh, great job too. Completely impressed.

ronjenx

I went to your build thread. Very nice work!

bad1chad

Great work. Looks good. Enjoy your camping trip.

fishhouse

Check out the TVenturing forum if you haven't already. It's heaven for all kinds of DIY camping trailers (offroad, onroad, motorcycle…you name it) - lots of good info and examples there.

The guy who runs that forum is named Scott. He's like The Godfather of homemade camping trailers. He also owns a small company called Compact Camping Concepts in which he sells everything from plans to build an Explorer Box (wooden box like mine on top of a trailer to hold gear and form the platform for your tent), to pre-built aluminum versions, fiberglass M101 replica tubs (like old Jeep trailers…which are pretty sweet), tent tops (mine is the MOAB that I got from him), trailer frame kits, all the hardware you might need, etc. He's a wealth of knowledge and has some great stuff for inspiration on his CCC company site as well.

I pretty much just researched online a bunch and figured out a rough plan of what I wanted. Then started buying stuff and putting it together. Some things went as "planned"…many didn't. But hey, that's the fun of DIY to me!

Next time I might want power on board - so maybe a battery box somewhere or compact solar panels. I'm sure as I start actually using it, there will be a few "Ah man, I should of done this instead" things. I figure I'll use it for a few seasons and probably sell it and build another one with all those things in mind.

All and all it was a blast to build and well worth it.