Since we moved out into the styx, my neighbours have introduced my wife and me to the joys of quading and camping. Free camping to be precise…. No campsite… you just pick a spot in a pre approved free camping area (like Dutch Creek)
So we did this last year with a tent…. and as much as I enjoyed my morning trek, shovel in hand, to befoul the woods, I’m going to enjoy having 4 walls and a door even more.
With that in mind, we began to search for a trailer… but with 2 quads, we need to have a way to haul them both and have a place to live. Only real option is a truck camper and a trailer or a tow behind camper and a flat deck for the truck.
I wasn’t keen on getting a flat deck, it raises you center of gravity, and it’s always on… can’t haul anything in the bed anymore. So all that left me was a truck camper and small trailer for the quads.
I’m not even going to mention the toy haulers that are more than 50k as I’d need a diesel duelie 1 ton to haul it….
Anyhoo, truck camper and trailer it is… but putting the camper in and out each trip is a lot of work. but good ole neighbour Dan came up with a solution… put the truck camper on a big flat deck with room for the quads… damn if I didn’t like that idea.
Ok, 10′ truck camper and a 20′ flatdeck would fit both quads: camper in the middle of the deck, one quad in front (under the overhang) and one behind. Great part about that, is you have a nice flat deck to set up a table/bbq on after you pull the quad off.
I was telling the father in law this one day, and he says “I got one of those I’m not using anymore… I’ll sell it to ya” wtf?! And here I thought Dan’s idea was the coolest/originalest thing around… as it turns out, there are a few of these contraptions around.
But back to the camper at hand…. it’s on a 16′ trailer, so we’ll have to put one quad in the back of the truck. Now that’s not bad, as weight in the truck is a good thing… especially on the crappier roads…. but the camper/trailer had some other modifications that needed attention (Sorry Dale)
and you know; I hate buying used… I just know i’m going to get screwed… I hate buying from family even more (money and family == bad ) but as it turns out, I’m a lazy, lazy fucker…. and there was a trailer righ there, just beggin to be bought, so we bought it.
Had to clean it up to get the quad under the front and to pull it off the trailer. Have to pull it because on her maiden voyage (Sort of a test flight) we discovered a a leak in the septic system.
So this camper was originally put on the trailer with a forklift or front end loader or something like that… All I had was the camper jacks. But I wouldn’t be able to jack up the camper and pull out the trailer… the front jacks were right in front of the tires… so I flipped the jack mounting bracket from pointing forward to pointing to the side… now the jack was beside the camper instead of right in front of it, but still didn’t clear the trailer tires.
So I added in an extender plate. Thanks to Brad The Welder for his contribution of cut-to-the-right-size 1/4″ x 6″ plate… beers to follow Brad… thanks again.
So here it is, ready to be jacked and the trailer pulled out. Just need to build a couple of saw horses to set it down on, and wait for the weather to break…
It’s snowing again…
