Post by JWP on Oct 8, 2007 10:30:52 GMT -5
rsmith said:
I had an idea this weekend. I found a trailer in the Tradewinds that used to be a fifth wheel camper - 2000 model. The camper itself had caught on fire and extinguished before the lower half was burned. In order to salvage what he could the fellow stripped the camper off and made a flatbed trailer. I can get the trailer for $2000 which includes a Warn 8274 winch built in. It has trailer brakes and 2 10000# axles with 8 lug rims. My question is: Does anyone know what kind of material these frames are made out of? I can't imagine it would be too heavy since weight is of concern in a camper, but I may be badly mistaken.
I also found a fifth wheel camper in the Tradewinds that has hurricane damage for $600. I could sell the appliances, make my money back and have a trailer frame to build on. Just an idea I wanted to throw around.
I think that most gooseneck trailers use a minimum of an 8" I beam. Mine uses 8" channel. I think that those fifth wheel trailers used all kinds of different designs. You would have to just look at it to see what was there. I probably would not fool with anything less than 6" channel and I would plan to beefing it up if it was that small.
The first camper hauler that I saw was built by Ken Blume and he had taken a fifth wheel camper and built a frame out the back of it that tied into the camper frame. He actually used the camper fifth wheel hitch to pull it with. That would mean that his fifth wheel certainly had enough of a frame under it.
