Camper/Toyhauler Conversion
 

I finally sold my camper about two weeks ago. Now on to my new project. I've been wanting to do a camper/toyhauler conversation for a few years but need to sell my camper before doing so. I've literally had no one interest in the camper for a few years. All of a sudden it became a sellers market. New campers have gotten very expensive so the used market came to life. I literally had people waiting in line wanting to buy it. No haggling on prices on what I wanted for it. I made out very well on selling it. Now the hard part. Trying to find any cargo trailers over 20' long available. Due to Covid restrictions most of the factories are backed up for months. If you ordered one today it would take anywhere from 12 - 18 weeks. So there is one dealer I've been talking with since December of 2020. Back then he had 20 trailer loads on order. The day i sold my camper i contacted him to see what he had available. He only had two little trailers on his lot since January. He told me everything he had on order was sold and would have to place an order and wait 12-18 weeks. So I told him I'll look around for a few more days and if I didn't find anything I would order one. Within 10 minutes after getting off the phone he called me back. Told me he had a trailer coming at the end of the month. He said it may be more than you were looking for but had a 8.5.x28' Black-out edition coming at the end of the month that he forgot he ordered. So he sent me some pictures of what it will look like. It was exactly what i was looking for. :D He said he forgot about it so no one else knew about it. Otherwise it would of been sold. Put my deposit down and all i need to do is wait a little for it. :yay: I have just about everything in to start the conversion. The cheapest toy haulers start @ $30,000. This one will cost me $7200 plus another $4,000 for all the stuff like AC, HW heater, tub, stove, frig, holding tanks and so on. I'll be able to lay it out exactly how I want it for a fraction of the price. Most toy haulers I looked at wouldn't fit everything we bring when off road riding. I'll be able to fit the UTV, 4 wheeler and Hawk with room to spare.

Damn, that thing is large enough to take a US ChinaRiders.Net tour and pickup riders along the way :)

One of the main reasons for doing the toy hauler is so that we can go meet up with some of the group rides that come up here on Chinariders. One trip will be with the guys in Arizona. There are all kinds of places that you can camp for little to nothing if you boondocking it. It will be completely self contained including generator.

I've been having parts for the conversion coming in just about every other day. Hopefully the trailer will come in before the end of the month so i can get started. I'll probably take a weeks vacation so i can get most of the important stuff installed like AC, tub, toilet, hot water heater and wired and powered up and of course beds. I have a friend that just retired who is so bored that he offered to help. Anything that will get him out the house. lol

Hey Jerry-- just curious as to what will you be using to pull that beast.

2014 Ram 1500 w/5.7 Hemi. I'll have no problem pulling it. The camper i just sold weighs more than this will weigh once completed.

Yep-- that'll definitely pull it.

Have fun building!

I sure will. I've been wanting to build one for a few years. Now that the camper sold and paid off my truck I have two less notes to worry about. The whole family is excited about getting it. During the summer we usually spend the day out at the spillway riding. In the past we would load everything up in the truck and trailer with just a canopy. Now we will be able to bring the toy hauler and have the convenience of having a place to cool off, eat and get cleaned up after spending the day in the mud.

Our usual setup.

Always great when a guy has a hobby that the whole family is excited about.

Keep us posted on the build and the trips you take with it!

Don't forget to leave room for the heated floor Sauna and the hot tub...


Also the circular rotating bed...


:clap:

Well I'm still waiting on my trailer. It should of been here a week ago. The dealer got a call from the manufacture and told him the trailer is built and been sitting in the lot for weeks. Only one problem. No floor. The factory is completely out of 3/4" plywood for the floors and don't know when they will be getting more. It's a custom cut length plywood and the plywood mill is only producing standard lengths. I'm in the construction business and know what they are dealing with. There is a shortage of resins which are used to make things like plywood, glulam beams and so on. Speaking with one of my lumber suppliers, he tells me it will be like that for a while. Anyway the dealer told me they gave him a couple of options. They could use an OSB floor which we both don't like or they could send it without the floor and I could install whatever I want. I need to get this trailer quick if I want it to camp in. I think I'll go with option B and pick up plywood from the local lumber yard.

Nice!!! I’ve built a couple RVs in my time like this. You’ll love the results being able to use higher quality components than the RV manufacturers use. They are building for profit.

Exactly.

If I converted the back of my travel trailer to a toy hauler, I would lose the kitchen.
-I could still use the outdoor kitchen. it is mounted midship.

We never used our kitchen in the camper we sold. I think once to boil some water. We always cooked on the outdoor kitchen.

We used the microwave a lot. Rarely used the cook top or oven.

I just got some good news. My trailer will be here towards the end of next week. I guess I need to schedule a weeks vacation so i can get the main stuff done ASAP. As long as i have AC, Hot water, a tub and toilet installed so I can use it for Memorial day weekend, I good. After that I can work on it after work and weekends. :yay:

Well my trailer finally came in after all the delays. I got upgrades that even the dealer didn't even know about for the same price. I got the 7' ceiling height that i really wanted. Semi screwless with thicker aluminum sides. And best part is it did come with the plywood floors instead of the resin base OSB floors that i wasn't really crazy about. I'll have to make a 2 1/2 hour trip in the morning to go pick it up. :yay:

Very nice!!! Insulate well!!!

That will be our first mission to accomplish this weekend. That and wiring.

Have you drawn up any kind of floorplan sketch or are you just keeping it all between your ears?

I've drawn up a few in Autocad. But nothing is in stone. Now that I have the trailer here we're getting other ideas. Lol. Going to tackle the insulation and wiring today.

Well It's been a long weekend. i got up at 5 am to picked up the trailer. It's about a 2 1/2 hour ride one way. On the way home i stopped at Lowes and picked up the insulation. By the time we got home it was time to clean up and head to the Harbor Light Marina which is another hour ride. My daughter is in a band so being the proud parents we have to go watch which put us getting home about 3 am. So Saturday morning i manage to drag myself out of bed and start working on installing the insulation on the ceiling and fab up a frame for the AC unit. By 3 pm i had to shut it down to get ready to head back down to the marina to DJ. We got back At 3 am Sunday morning. Well let me tell you. I wasn't out of bed till about 10:30 am. I headed back out to the trailer and started installing the wall insulation which involved removing the plywood and reinstalling the plywood after installing the insulation. Needless to say i didn't get it all done but did put a big dent in it. A couple of afternoons i can get that finished up and move on to framing up the bath room and installing tanks. I got a lot to do before Memorial day weekend to get it in usable condition. I do plan on taking a weeks vacation next week so i should get a good bit done. I have one friend that just retired that is more than happy to come help. He's bored out of his mind and is a good carpenter as well.

I've considered doing a conversion, but I don't have the time. We found a toy hauler we really like but delivery is next year. No camping for us this year I guess. We sold ours this time last year for about a grand less than what we bought it for new 3 years prior. sellers market for sure.

Are you going to duct the air or just use the main return? Good time to go solar for boondocking.

Well we looked at new toy haulers and they start at $30 grand for the least expensive with fiberglass sides. This will cost me less than half that and be built exactly how we want it.
Yes it is definitely an sellers market. We sold our 2016 camper for about $2000 less than we paid for it and had a few people trying to out bid the other to buy it. lol

The one we are looking at is from a wholesaler, about 24 out the door. But its a new floor plan and they didn't build many for this model year. FR wasn't sure if they would make another production run this year so if we put a deposit down it might not get built until '22, no thanks. Big enough to fit a bus of a CanAm x3 max and tall enough for the Yamaha rmax4 1000 without being a 40' 5er lol. The little cfmoto 800 trail will look tiny in it until we get a 4 seat.

https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/trave...sx/270RTK/5816

I've been busy working and working on the toyhauler. I've have got some progress on the project. AC and lighting installed, wiring and electrical distribution panel installed. Black, grey and water tanks installed, Bathroom built with toilet, lavatory and tub, hot water heater and water pump installed. Next will be kitchen cabinets and beds. I'll have it in usable condition by Memorial Day weekend. After that i can tackle finishing it up with painting, wall paneling and flooring.

More pics.

more....

Even more pics.

Thanks dirtbkr188. Keep in mind that this was all done by a three man crew (Me, Myself and I) :lmao: My daughter did help with taping up all the seam on the insulation. I got more done without any help. They just kept me hydrated with beverages and well feed.

Some highly skilled impressive work there! Who needs a house!

I've been in construction for more than 45 years. I picked up a few skills along the way. :hehe:

That thing is a beast! It’s huge! Looking good. I can see quality work.

More progress over the weekend. Install door on bath, installed kitchen cabinets and sink, finished and painted bath, floors will come later. I hooked up propane so got hot water. :tup: I plan on building beds this week.

Careful with the weight! Sorry. I’m a really big proponent of lightweight construction.

Building a palace! Go Jerry go! Huge energy and motivation for this project I see

Yes I'm definitely watching the weight. Cabinets are the heaviest items. All other materials are light weight. 5mm plywood on bath room walls and ceiling, 3/8" plywood on counter top, 1x2 and 2x3 stud framing. That hollow core door weighs next to nothing. The trailer itself only weighed 3600 lbs to start with. It has 5200 lbs axles with E rated tires. I don't think I'll come close to reaching the limits. lol

More progress last night. Built one of the fold up beds (queen size). A fence gate latch works perfect for locking and holding bed in the up position. Still need to install fold down legs. Wife put final details on bath. still need floors. FYI, those pieces of plywood on the storage are not the actual covers. I just placed some scrap pieces on top so i could work on the bed. I should get to making permanent cover tonight or tomorrow night.

Well we took the trailer out for her maiden voyage over the Memorial Day weekend on a camping trip. Although it's no where near complete, we did have all the necessities working. Everything else is all cosmetic. The 3" memory foam mattress was so comfortable. AC was nice and cold. The Hot water heater works great. Never ran out of hot water after taking a long shower. UTV fit perfect. Only issue I had is I don't have enough tongue weigh and I did get a slight sway anything over 68 mph if a truck passed me, but nothing drastic that I couldn't handle. I filled the water tank and put our ice chest and few other heavy items towards the front for our trip back and was a much better ride home. I still have some cabinet and ceramic counter top to install in the kitchen so that will resolve that issue. We had so much fun we forgot all about taking pictures. lol Oh well, we'll have to remember on our next trip.