After spending a few hours with beer and Jeremy at Expedition Ops I started to get the bug to do some more work on the trailer.
I have been kicking around ideas for finally doing some expo work to the trailer and need some info. I am thinking of building a module that follows the internal contour of the trailer, and has four corner jacks from a slip-on truck camper to level and lift the module. The module an be jacked up about 2" to clear the corner gusset at the rear of the bed, and the trailer driven/pulled out from under it, leaving the self sufficient unit in place. The jacks are rated at 2000lb each, so I am not, at all, concerned about the integrity of them. I want to build the module as light as possible, but still strong enough to support its own weight, fully loaded with maybe 1000-1200lb of gear/water, plus our bags and bodies in a roof-top tent. While the module will not necessarily be used on site off the trailer all that often, but I want that option if I need the trailer for utility work while on site.
Here is something I just drew up to help illustrate the idea. The green area is the trailer, the dark blue is the frame, while the light is the bits for the module. The left side shows the jack in the down, and right shows it folded. I am thinking the jacks will be mounted to square tube slipped into the frame rails at the four corners, ala receiver hitch. In the stowed position they will point to the center of the trailer. Drawers will extend out from the trailer and contain the kitchen set, storage, etc. Top section will have some sort of slides/drawers/storage etc. The bottom drawers will be held closed by the tail gate in the closed position (not shown in pic).
Would 1.25" .065 square tube be strong enough to self support up to 1200lbs as the main frame, with the jacking rails being 1.25" inner tube?
Thoughts?
