101 CAMPER.....

back>>>>

Well it was bound to happen.  I've been toying around with the idea of trying to make my camp life a little more "luxurious" ever since I started restoring the 101 trailer.  For some reason I like the idea of towing the trailer up to the camp, setting up, and then taking trips from there.  In Ontario, where this trailer lives, that is pretty much the best way to go about it.  The best part of this set-up is that I haven't changed the capabilities of the trailer so it can still follow me just about everywhere Helmut decides to drag it.

                   

    

The first problem was the standard aluminum roof which is too weak to carry the weight of the tent, along with me in it, so I had to devise a sort of "roll bar" to hold the weight of the tent and the rack.  A few pieces of tube solved the problem, and allowed me to also create a ladder which helps when folding and unfolding the tent.  I also had to bolt on the rear trailer leg as well, since every time I sat on the tailgate the front could lift off the ground.  This was also a good time to upgrade to LED lights all around.

                             

To make the trailer camp friendly, I installed an Eezi-Awn 1400 tent from Pangaea Expeditions in Colorado, a Wilderness Rack with shovel mount, and an aluminum tool box bolted to the front A-frame to hold odd and ends.  The best part of this set-up is the ability to still use the trailer bed for cargo, wood, etc. or even sleep in the bed when the weather turns cool. 

              

Here are some pics of the tent folded open.  I chose to fold the tent over the side so it would act as an awning as well.  The Eezi-Awn tent is extremely well built but I was surprised at how much work it takes to open and close it.  It still is less than a regular ground tent, but it requires more work than advertisements would suggest.  Once up though, it is a solid unit made of heavy canvas with plenty of windows and ventilation.  The block of wood under the ladder was needed since the tent is quite high on top of the trailer.

                        

         

Click here to check out the 101 Trailer Restoration.....

Helmut takes the M101 out for a test drive around the farm:

                        

                        

CAMPER 101 - 2007:

Here's version two of the 101 Camper.  Since Helmut is so tall I needed to lift the trailer about 4 inches in order to gain the proper ride height, and to cut down on the overall height I removed the sides of the aluminum cage dropping the height two feet.  The finished product is below:

                 

Here you can see the fuel can mount and Sceptre diesel can along with the painted Pro-comp shocks that were needed because of the extra four inches in ride height. 

                        

              

Here's the final photos hooked up to Helmut.  We'll see how it works this coming long weekend.