You may remember Kevin from his video showing how he built a large teardrop-style camper in only two weeks.
He’s now working on another teardrop build, this time based off of a motorcycle transport trailer.
I wanted to share with you an interesting video he made in which he talks about why he chose this motorcycle transport trailer over the commonly-used Harbor Freight cargo trailer.
Kevin advises against using Harbor Freight trailers if you’re thinking about building your own trailer-based camper. The reason has to do with how the frame is built.
He says that most cargo trailers are bolted – rather than welded – together. Kevin says,
Those people that have built small campers on those Harbor Freight frames…they’re going to have to eventually unbolt the carriage bolts on the trailer, take the body of the trailer off that frame, and re-bolt it to another frame.
Watch this video below to hear more of his reasons for going with a welded versus a bolted trailer for your next camper build.
httpv://youtu.be/Id9i3iLXs-E?list=UUaVqn96PQ8MGufsRabnFfNQ
You can watch the other videos in Kevin’s teardrop build by visiting his YouTube channel here. Below is the complete list if you’d like to watch selected parts.
- Part 1: Beginning of the build – and showing the new camper frame
- Part 2: Painting and finishing the frame
- Part 3: Finalizing the design for the teardrop
- Part 4: How to source camper doors and other parts on the cheap
- Part 5: Working on the body of the camper
- Part 6: Putting on the Luan plywood siding
- Part 7: Adding aluminum siding over the plywood exterior
- Part 8: Adding doors and windows to the teardrop camper
- Part 9: Uh oh! Kevin talks about how he put the “cart before the horse” and what he did about it
- Part 10: New wheels and rims for the camper
- Part 11: Quick video showing how he made his own custom RealTree curtains
- Part 12: Finishing up the outer skin and installing the bed riser
- Part 13: Overview of the build so far
- Part 14: Adding insulation
- Part 15: Which frame is best for your camper? (shown in this article above)
- Part 16: New graphics on the outside of the camper
I completely agree. While the bolted frames have their purposes. …why spend all the time and money to bolt your hard work to a POS.
Hi Brian, thanks for sharing your tip on using locktite and lock washers for the trailer bolts!
While I agree the trailer should be properly painted, a properly bolted together trailer is fine. The whole point is making it light weight, also I myself use locktite on the threads in addition to the lock washers. The problem is most people do not properly torque the bolts so obviously in that case they will loosen up. When properly assembled and painted they work great!
Thanks for the info Ric. That’s an interesting point about it being helpful to have a little flex in the trailer. And the locking nuts sound like they would make the bolted trailers just as sturdy.
I personally like the Harbor Freight trailers. They now come with locking nuts, to help keep them tight. Using good undercoating beats the rust problem. I like the flex of the trailer, considering some of the roads I travel. My TD is around 550# total weight loaded to travel. I’ve known too many people to haul loads for thousands of miles on these little trailers to worry about it.