Grassroots enclosed trailer

I've been looking for an enclosed car trailer and have not found any within my budget, however I have come across some killer fifth wheel travel trailer deals. Seems alot of people are dumping their big pick ups and have nothing to pull them around.

Opinions on gutting one and using it for a car trailer,are the frame rails strong enough to do this. I want to leave the sides and roof, add a rear loading door and an aluminum diamond plate floor. I'll probably leave the forward upper bunk for longer trips to the track.

Antbody know of anyone ever doing this?

I think you'll find that late-model 5ers are pretty weak. If you find a nice mid-70s 5er, they're usually a heavy steel frame, but most of the later trailers rely on the rigidity of the box for support... and even then they're pretty flexy.

But any of them will get you a frame to start with and a VIN/title. Snag one for cheap, gusset it up, have fun.

So, an earlier model with aluminum siding type walls as opposed to the fiberglassed 1/8" plywood would be a stronger frame? Would a tow behind travel trailer be a better starting point than a fifth wheel ( boxier frame, no gooseneck)?

Biggest problem with a 5th wheel trailer is you need a 5th wheel truck to pull it with. I'd look at a conventional hitch trailer more instead. You can tow it with more things, and you don't have to have a big hitch living in the bed of your truck.

The main backbone of any of the trailers is up to the weight of a car. The problem is the deck and the outriggers. You could make it work though by redecking the trailer with planks. Might get away with plywood, but you'd run the very real risk of punching the wheels through, especially tied down and going over potholes. I've done that sort of thing before. Creates all sorts of interesting problems.

Then there's the matter of making it car accessable, but not turn the box into a wiggly floppy mess. Certainly can be done, but it's not so easy to do it well. Oh sure, it all revolves around cutting the back of the box out. But you don't want it to flop side to side in the wind or going down the road.

Since you're going to want to gut it, and you're going to have to deal with a new deck, I'd go looking at the free ones that are rotted out and listed as a "hunter special".

The other issue I could see with converting any travel trailer is the deck-height. All of the ones I've seen -5th wheel or tag - are considerably higher off the ground than a trailer designed for hauling cars as they need the room for the utilities.

What about just converting an open car hauler into an enclosed deal. You already know its up to the task of carrying a car.

I thought about doing that but I thought it would require more reinforcing than I would have to do to a RV for the walls and such.

Supercoupe wrote: I thought about doing that but I thought it would require more reinforcing than I would have to do to a RV for the walls and such.

I'm not so sure about that... structurally reinforcing the chassis of a travel travel to support a car seems like a pretty daunting task...

I'm having visions of the Top Gear RV racing episode... when race-contact eventually ripped some of the RV boxes to shreds... whereas I've seen pictures of flipped car haulers that while the cars were damaged, the overall structure of the trailer stayed intact and when the cars were secured properly, the damage was mainly cosmetic.

Just had another thought about the deck height issue. The COG would be quite a bit higher than a typical car-hauler... which could make for an unstable load... never a good thing when towing...

Check around before buying. If I remember correctly, you (A and F ?) live on Long Island . A good enclosed is 102" wide and is restricted on many roads. I would think that this could be a real issue up on the Island Man. The RV will have a floor too high and be a real pain to load. Also, it will probably be 96" wide and a real joy to load and unload. You would probably want a side door to match the car door, in order to get in and out of the car. The frames are way too light. Look forward to seeing you guys again in FLA. Andrew

Wouldn't take a lot to string some bows over the top and cinch a canvas tarp down tight to them. Would make a flat trailer look like the back of an Army truck, but it would keep the rain off the car. You could go for some weird shapes too, like a big bulging jellybean, and keep the bows not far off the top of the car for less wind drag.

You would also get lots of people wondering what sort of '50's government experiment you were toting around.....

Most travel trailers have virtually no excess payload.

I realize you'd be removing cabinets, etc, but it's no where near enough.

Even the double axle trailers usually have 3500 lb axles, with a curb weight over 6000 lbs. Car trailers typically have 2- 5200 lb axles, sometimes 2- 7000 lb axles. You can generally tell the difference by the number of lugs (5, 6, or 8 respectively)

Then you are going to SERIOUSLY degrade the structural integrity by cutting an enormous hole in the rear.

I've worked on dozens of campers, and never seen one with a decent sized frame underneath. They are typically a lightweight C-channel with outriggers, and no reinforcing where you'd need it (the car tracks). Also no good tie-down points.

I planned through the entire idea myself, considering a trailer I already own (wanting to haul a car and still have a bit of sleeping space). I decided it would be better to start with a car trailer and add the kitchen. Travel trailers just aren't strong enough, high floor level, high CofG, windows/ doors in the wrong places, etc.

I like OldOpelGuy's canvas top idea.

There is a company that makes a canvas top enclosed trailer, but I forget the name......I seem to remember shark being in the name though. The fabric top is just big enough to enclose the car.

I drove doubles all over the Island and NYC not worried about the 102 issue.And I believe the company you refer to is serpentexpress.com makes an enclosure, maybe I'll go that route. Thanks for the help. And yes,you will see us in Gainesville.

I'd go more for one like this, regular semi tarp: http://www.harpstarps.com/stdlumber.php

Then build a frame to put underneath out of conduit or steel chain-link fence posts, both of which are pretty inexpensive and readily available at your local home improvement store. That particular company has a thinner one for a few $ less, but even this one is under $350 and should last for years. For a standard car trailer I would be surprised to spend over $500 for a road-worthy tarp.

enclosed trailer using fabric going through some old stuff I found a link to the trailer I was referring to.