Camping is a good pastime activity that families should partake in at least once every season year. Taking your family out for camping has got lots of benefits and therefore most family people need to think about taking their families to camping grounds whenever they can. Taking members of the whole family to a camping trip usually creates good memories that last long. Camping usually occurs in places well away from the hustle and bustle of cities where there is nature all around. This helps the family to have more time to connect deeply with each other. Another advantage of camping is that it helps both the parents and children to learn important life skills that will help them later in life.
What better way then can you go camping than with a cool camper trailer? Yes, you need a good camper trailer that will help make your camping sojourn as seamless as possible. While there are various ready-made camper trailers that are being sold in the markets, most them are usually expensive and may be beyond the reach of most families on a budget. The good news however, is that, you can still custom design your own DIY camper trailer.
To help you get an idea of how best you can design your very own camper trailer, we highlight for you some of the coolest DIY camper trailer ideas that will help you create a good camping trailer for your family below:
DIY Camper Trailer Ideas
1. Create a list of the materials you will use in the construction
The first thing you will need to do is to create a list of the materials and items that you will be using to create your camper trailer from scratch up. This way you will get a rough estimate of what each items and material that you will use will cost you. But even as you plan to construct everything all by yourself, you will need to have a high quality vehicle that will be used to tow the camper trailer. One advantage of creating your very own camper trailer all by yourself is that you have the choice to choose what amenities you will be putting in it.
2. Design
The second idea that you will have to take into account is the overall design of your camper trailer. The design of your camper trailer isn’t something to be rushed because if this goes wrong everything else is going to be spoiled. Once you have got all the list of the material that will be used in the construction, it makes sense to look through some of the camper trailers that are already in the market to get a rough idea about design. This way you will be able to get ideas about important features that your camper trailer must have and those that aren’t. With all these, you will be ready to start your construction and know exactly what you will be putting up.
To get a good design you can do the design with a pencil on paper or use one of the CAD software packages that are now available. Some of these are TurboCard or Sketchup.
Once you have completed your design and have it on paper, you can then talk to friends who have experience making camper trailers and show it to them. Your friends or family will help you by giving you some ideas that perhaps you did not know about.
Important things that you have to bear in mind during the design process should be the wheels/tyres and suspension. The specifications of these things will definitely affect the overall body design and chassis of your camper trailer.
3. The budget and timeframe
Even as you plan to construct a camper trailer yourself rather than buying an already made camper trailer having a budget and timeframe is good. Just as you go through the design process it best to research the costs of the prices of the basic components that will be used in the construction of the camper trailer. This will greatly help you to refine your ideas and be able to come up with the best possible value for your money. Some the best possible materials that you can use include steel, aluminum, and wood. Steel is the perfect material for you to use in the construction of the chassis. It guarantees strength and durability because the chassis should be strong as it is the part that bears the overall weight of the trailer. Aluminum is a good material to be used for the construction of the body because it is strong but light.
Back to the main theme of this sub-topic which is budget and time. Once you know the materials you will be using in the construction such as steel, wood and aluminum and have researched the costs involved you will obviously have the total cost of the materials needed. You will then have to set a timeframe because time is really of great essence in such a big project such as putting up your very own camper trailer all by yourself.
4. The legalities involved
Every country or local authority has its own regulations regarding the construction and use of camper trailers. It is therefore best if you do research about the possible regulations that you need to meet in order for your camper trailer to be compliant. Some of the legal issues you will want to acquaint yourself with include; the legal requirements for a trailer construction, dimension requirements, lighting, brakes, axels, tyre and weights. You will have to research everything so you can be sure that you putting up something that will be compliant and be allowed on your country’s roads.
Once you will have finished the construction process of your camper trailer and you are sure that your trailer meets the relevant legal standards you can then take it to be registered with the relevant authorities in your country. If your camper trailer passes the test you will be issued with a license allowing you to use it on roads.