Venturcraft Trailblazers

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Just found this thread, great info. I purchased a 1997 Venturcraft Trailblazer a while back and have used it a few times now and slept in it 4 nights so far. Neat trailer.

I am now at a crossroads however. I am considering whether I should restore / refurbish it or sell.

If I were to refurbish, I would replace the canvas, axles, repair and recoat the fiberglass, replace many of the rivets/hardware/seals and have a soft top made. Just not sure if it would be worth it if I only use it twice a year or so.

I would like to get the group's opinion on this. I figure I would have $3-4k into it once it's all done.

So questions I have:

Anyone have a good source for replacement canvas? I reached out to Bear Creek Canvas who said they don't make a replacement and recommended their competitor Canvas Replacements.

What about replacement axles? Research says about 20 years useful life on the Dexter axles. Any recommendations for those who have replaced axles?

Is there a source for small parts? Seals, weatherstripping, etc? I know that marine supply stores would probably carry the straps, button snaps, poles, etc.

Any recommendations on refinishing the fiberglass? There is some spider webbing and a couple small cracks at the top lip of the tub where the seal attaches.

One of the aluminum L-brackets just broke so I will have to have that welded.

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@LandCruiserPhil @IslandJ @samtoddlee @ntsqd @Eric_FJ40 @Saddletramp @Rudster @verruckt1
 
Anyone have issues with rain getting inside? I sprayed mine down to simulate a rain shower. The water ran down the canvas, collected along the horizontal surface and made its way in to the opening and soaked the mattress. That can't be right. What am I missing?

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It's either interesting that yours doesn't have the closed cell rigid foam floor insert or that ours does have it.

Have not had ours in torrential rain, so haven't experienced that, but I can see how it could happen. I'll have to open ours up and have a look at that. I'm thinking to add a dam next to the mattress on each side under the skirt. A strip of small AL angle and some 3M 5200 could cure that quick!

Have not replaced the axles. PO did add shocks to them and I suspect that is a game changer.

Ours broke the aluminum perimeter frame at both ends of the piano hinge. I took it apart enough to weld that part back into the frame and then added some miter-cut rectangular tube to gusset those corners and increase the weld bead length at those joints.

I have a marine canvas place picked out to make us a soft cover from urethane impregnated nylon canvas. It's on a rather long list of projects. If I decide to take it on this Fall's big trip I'll need to get that going soon.

My biggest peave is the support for the fold-out foot area of the mattress. I've been pondering a slip-on angle bracket for the custom frame that the PO had built so that the u-bend piece always has the same place to go to.
 
I have a few spare parts that were gifted to me. I may have the L bracket.
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Shoot me a PM
changing to the vinyl cover on top make the whole thing easier to use with just one person.
Bear creek made a new canvas for me because I shipped them mine to cut up and duplicate.

cracks In the lid are not worths fussing over once you have a cover made.

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I don’t het any leaking in mine but here is what the bear creek canvas looks like.
 
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Dexter axles are pretty durable and despite these trailers being old many of them were used a handful of times a year so as to not have that many miles on them. May want to just inspect them for any fatigue. Soft top is the way to go. Find a corner in the yard to put the fiberglass top. I went that route and never looked back.
 
ntsqd said:
It's either interesting that yours doesn't have the closed cell rigid foam floor insert or that ours does have it.

Have not had ours in torrential rain, so haven't experienced that, but I can see how it could happen. I'll have to open ours up and have a look at that. I'm thinking to add a dam next to the mattress on each side under the skirt. A strip of small AL angle and some 3M 5200 could cure that quick!

Have not replaced the axles. PO did add shocks to them and I suspect that is a game changer.

Ours broke the aluminum perimeter frame at both ends of the piano hinge. I took it apart enough to weld that part back into the frame and then added some miter-cut rectangular tube to gusset those corners and increase the weld bead length at those joints.

I have a marine canvas place picked out to make us a soft cover from urethane impregnated nylon canvas. It's on a rather long list of projects. If I decide to take it on this Fall's big trip I'll need to get that going soon.

My biggest peave is the support for the fold-out foot area of the mattress. I've been pondering a slip-on angle bracket for the custom frame that the PO had built so that the u-bend piece always has the same place to go to.
Click to expand...

Where is this closed cell foam insert?

I'll have to come up with something for the water ingress. I could either create some form of dam like you mentioned, or if I do have replacement canvas made add a flap to cover that lip so water doesn't collect there.

Good info on the soft cover material. I do like the idea of a hard top for carrying bikes and stuff, but it's a pain to remove solo. I can do it, but I feel like I am going to break something.
 
Saddletramp said:
I have a few spare parts that were gifted to me. I may have the L bracket.
Shoot me a PM
changing to the vinyl cover on top make the whole thing easier to use with just one person.
Bear creek made a new canvas for me because I shipped them mine to cut up and duplicate.

cracks In the lid are not worths fussing over once you have a cover made.



I don’t het any leaking in mine but here is what the bear creek canvas looks like.
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Thanks for the offer! I am having the bracket welded but if that doesn't work out I'll be in contact.

Cover looks great. It's on my to-do list.

Canvas looks great as well. I asked Bear Creek again if they could make a replacement canvas if I sent mine in. They said they do not make this tent top. Waiting to hear back from Canvas Replacements.
 
The hard urethane foam is inside of the aluminum frame in the floor of the tent. Pretty sure that I don't have a picture of it. Picture the 1.00" thick sheets of hard home insulation at Lowes/Home Depot/etc. and you have it.

I can also remove the hard cover solo and I also don't like doing it. It is hard on me and it is hard on the cover. I think worse might be putting it back on by myself.
 
sdnative said:
Thanks for the offer! I am having the bracket welded but if that doesn't work out I'll be in contact.

Cover looks great. It's on my to-do list.

Canvas looks great as well. I asked Bear Creek again if they could make a replacement canvas if I sent mine in. They said they do not make this tent top. Waiting to hear back from Canvas Replacements.
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If you do get the canvas remade add 2 inches to the overall length to the vestibule height to accommodate for larger tires or off camber set up, you can see the extra in my picture above. Best of luck
 
Ours is OK with a 31" tire, but it did not work well with the 33's that it came to us with. Extended canvas was clearly necessary with those tires.

[SOAPBOX] I think anything bigger than a 31" tire on a trailer is just silly and if I could go narrower that a 10.50 in a 15" rim I would. I'm sure that there are some who disagree and I am unrepentant. It had the 33's on it to match it's former TR, and in nearly 50k miles on the combo, which included many trips to Baja and one to Mexico's Copper Cyn., there was never a need for the trailer tires to match those on the TR. Neither ever suffered a flat, much less many flats. [/SOAPBOX]
 
I have the 31" tires. I can't ever imagine needing to go larger other that being able to share a spare tire with the TV.

Related: the ball on my TV is a few inches higher that the trailer hitch. Any issues with a bit of a angle or should the tongue be mostly flat?
 
On my list to research that further. With a tiny, light trailer I'm not sure that it matters a heck of a lot. The FSB certainly didn't care about this small angle over a 660 round trip for the Parker 425 a couple years ago. Well shoot! That is my only pic of the combo and it doesn't show the angle at all. I'd guess that the hitch is ~4" higher than where it would be with a level tongue.

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Pending further info I don't feel like even this combo of our FJ-60, "Wallace", and the TB trailer, "Grommet", is angled too much. Although I was horribly abused on a extremely snobby Land Rover forum for the pic. Never mind that that the furthest this combo went like this was almost 1/2 a normal city block! Note that this pic is of the trailer on the 33's while the one above it is on 31's.

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It is important to more heavily loaded trailers. With a flat tongue the braking thrust stays parallel to the pavement. If it is tilted up then the braking thrust is mildly trying to lift the rear of the towing vehicle. THAT would be bad! If it is tilted down then the braking thrust will be trying to push the rear of the TR down, which doesn't seem too bad until it is realized that this means that the front will be coming up!
 
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Makes sense. I don't have pictures handy, but I can take some. From memory I would say I am a little more angled than your trailer hitched to the 60. I haven't noticed an issue but the trailer is very light and I haven't had to make any evasive maneuvers.


On another note, Canvas Replacements just got back to me. They can and will make a replacement. Price is roughly $1200 and I would need to send mine to them to use as a template.
 
ntsqd said:
I'd guess that the hitch is ~4" higher than where it would be with a level tongue.
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Just measured mine. The ball on the TV is about 7" higher than the trailer hitch when the trailer is level. With a 83" distance from wheel CL to hitch CL, that would put the angle around 4.8 deg if I did my math correctly.
 
To be honest, I dont think I would refresh mine again if I were to go back in time. I am glad I did it though.
For the cracks on the top and on the sides of the body I used a dremel to dig out the cracks, give them a V profile and taper them out.
I then used a body filler, sanded, and repeated a few times before priming everything. So much work.

If anyone ends up getting a soft top made, let me know. Maybe getting a few made at once would be slightly cheaper.

I havent had any issues with water coming in on the edges when I rinse it off. I should take a closer look next time.

For trim I ended up ordering off amazon as McMaster only sold in quantities that were way too much.

Top trim, Bulb trim
Rivets I used.

If I have to remove the top myself I rest the trailer it on its bumper. Seems easier this way but yeah I want a soft top.

Never knew there was some sort of floor insulation.

Painted some letters on my trailer to let people know. haha

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I fixed cracks in my dune buggy's body with "Corvette Panel Adhesive". Worked great for that.

I don't think the floor panel is there as insulation, though it obviously will do that too. I think it's there to make the floor flat and stiff.

At this point I have no idea when ours was made, early in the production? Late in the production? I've no idea how I could even find out.
 
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ntsqd said:
I fixed cracks in my dune buggy's body with "Corvette Panel Adhesive". Worked great for that.

I don't think the floor panel is there as insulation, though it obviously will do that too. I think it's there to make the floor flat and stiff.

At this point I have no idea when ours was made, early int he production? Late in the production? I've no idea how I could even find out.
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Corvette Panel Adhesive?! Thanks for that info. I bought a 1970 Avanti II a couple months back. If and when I get to painting it I'll definitely look into that stuff.
 
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