Build Your Own Adventure

Cargo Trailer Camper: Axle Lifting Blocks

One major difference between a cargo trailer and a manufactured camper is the ride height. Campers seem to sit high up off of their axles, making them look top heavy and downright dangerous to pull. Cargo trailers are made to sit low. This makes loading and unloading equipment or vehicles a breeze. I’m a huge fan of the low ride height and the look it gives to the trailer!

That is, until we traveled to an area with lots of hills and steep campsites. We live in eastern North Carolina, an area with no hills and lots of flat ground! When we were installing our waste and fresh tanks under our new build, I was a little worried about them hanging a few inches lower than the trailer frame. After a few local trips, it appeared that everything would be fine as long as we took our time getting in and out of each campground.

When we decided to venture further west from our home, we found out exactly why that extra height is needed! As most water front sites go, there is normally a grade change from the roadway to the campsite. Our site proved to us that we were too low on that trip. As we backed in, we scraped the outlet pipe of our dump tanks on the asphalt. We made it in, but it was a nasty sound and a terrible feeling to think that all that hard work could have been ripped out from under our build.

I immediately went online and began my research on how to lift our trailer. Facebook groups are a life saver in these situations. Several folks had added axle lifts and posted all the information needed. After figuring out what axles we had on our trailer, I ordered 2 7/8″ lifting blocks.

The install took about half a day and was fairly straightforward. I used our truck to pull the trailer’s front axle up on blocks high enough to get the back wheels off the ground. I unbolted the axeles and lowered them down with floor jacks. Once down, you simply insert the lifting blocks, bolt everything up and extend the trailer brake wires. Once the back blocks were installed, I repeated the steps for the front. After the install was complete, I backed off and admired my work.

I have to admit that I wasn’t as excited about the new look of the trailer, but after a few drama free trips, I can report back that it was well worth it. We’ve had the kit for quite a while now and we have had no issues! The peace of mind has been well worth the small price tag and half a day’s work.

Big Red Update: Installing Our Awning

From the beginning of our build, I couldn’t wait to add an awning to the exterior of our trailer. I guess I think of it as the cherry on top accessory. It just gives the outside of the trailer the look of being a camper instead of a utility trailer.

Since we owned a few other travel trailers before, we had an idea of the weaknesses of modern awnings. It seemed as though the slightest wind or rain would buckle an awning. Because of this, I knew I wanted a better built system.

I started looking at motorhomes and what they used. In my mind, a quarter of a million dollar RV wouldn’t use an awning that would fail so easily.

This led to a company by the name of Carefree of Colorado. They manufacture an awning that looks like a rectangular box with no vertical legs. It uses folding arms to hold the awning out horizontally and it just looks like magic. I had to have one! That is until I priced one… $4,000 for a magical awning box?? Not happening.

I decided to go down to our local RV store and check prices there. To my surprise, the local store was able to get an awning for not much more than what I could find online and the freight charge was free!

I didn’t go with the magical box style, but I did purchase a Carefree of Colorado Awning. It’s an Altitude Series and it uses a scissor style arm that appears to be stronger than the style we owned in the past.

Once the awning arrived, I pulled Big Red to the local store and loaded it up. I spent that night reading the installation instructions and I think I slept only a few hours due to my excitement.

The next morning, I began the install! It was not terribly difficult, and with a little help from my parents, we had the majority of it completed in the first day! The most complicated part of the install was welding braces to the frame of the trailer to support the awning arms. That really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, considering the fact that I haven’t welded since high school.

Day 2 was spent wiring the awning. Normally this wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it included a bluetooth module to allow us to control our awning from our phone. The extra wires and module were tough to hide in our thin walls, but we made it happen. After a few hours of wiring and re-installing wall panels, our awning was completed!

What an awesome addition to our trailer!! It completely changed the appearance and I couldn’t wait to get to our next campsite and relax under it!

Please continue to visit the blog to find our more about our build and to get updates on the awning. Almost two years after our purchase, I’m not sure I would do it over again. I’ll fill you in on that later!

Check out the full install video on our YouTube channel.

Why YouTube??

Our family isn’t exactly one to share tons of information with everyone. It’s safe to say three of the five of us are introverted and the other two have their moments! So why in the world would we want to start a YouTube Channel and share things with folks we don’t even know? I’m not really sure I have a clear answer for you..

I think it started way back when I was a kid. My parents purchased a giant camcorder to record our school functions. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Any chance I got, I was holding this monstrosity up on my shoulder and trying to film anything I could. I remember watching music videos on MTV and thinking that I could probably make my own. I do remember having a buddy over and trying to make a few. We thought they were great, but I’m pretty sure they were no where close to it.

Then there was the Gateway Desktop we had. I couldn’t tell you anything about Gateway now, but at the time, I thought it was as amazing as a new MacBook Pro is today. This beast had music editing software installed from the factory! My brother-in-law and I became obsessed with mixing music imediately. I’ve always loved music, but this changed the way I saw and heard it for the rest of my life. I could imagine the wave forms in every song I heard on the radio. I could pick out exactly where I would cut it and start another song. We learned to blend the transitions and we would sit there for hours listening to our masterpiece! I still get pumped up thinking about it.

During high school and college, I spent lots of time filming wakeboarding trips with my friends. At some point, I purchased my own desktop and found Window’s Movie Maker. It was the most basic editing software, but that didn’t stop me from editing our wakeboard footage and adding music. This led to posting videos from local tournaments on a forum called End of Rope Gang. It was always a challenge to make my videos better and more exciting to watch. Unfortunately, my desktop and End of Rope are no longer with us, so all of those videos are just a memory.

This brings us to present day. Many things have changed since I was making wakeboard videos! We carry video cameras in our pockets and there’s a magic app called YouTube. If only it were around when I was in school!

As I’m sure you’ve seen or read, we’ve been camping for years. Like many RVers, we enjoy watching full time families travel and see the country. As a family, we have always dreamed of traveling further and more often, but maybe not living full time in a camper. The time came when we got a crazy idea to build our own camper. That idea led to the idea of creating a channel to share our build. Once the channel began growing, it really gave us a way to express ourselves creatively.

Editing videos and sharing our adventure has been almost therapeutic for me. I get lost in the editing process and picking music just like I did back in the day on the old Gateway. It’s a lot of work outside our everyday work life and school events, but it’s absolutely worth it. I enjoy the freedom to post whatever we want and to create at our own pace. It has been a great place for inspiration for myself and my family, and I hope that you find it to be inspirational as well.

Big Red Update: New Tires!

How much can be said about tires? For most folks, not so much. However, If you are a member of a camping group or forum online, then you know the controversy surrounding them.

The tires that were on Big Red when we brought it home were the originals! They looked fantastic for nine-year-old tires, but that’s where tires will get you. Sitting out in the sun takes a toll on any tire. With the original owner only using the trailer for one season of racing and not so much after that, it just made sense to replace them.

After much thought on going back with 10-ply or upgrading to 12-ply, I did what any over thinker would do. We had Blacklion BF155ST 14-ply tires installed.

These tires are rated at 3,640 lbs. when used in a dual axle setup. They max out at 110 psi of air. That’s more than enough for our trailer and it sure gives me peace of mind when towing. The treads look like something off of a tractor trailer and the sidewalls appear to be made of titanium because I rarely see them flex. We’ve already put thousands of miles on these and they still look brand new!

Tires can be as controversial as what motor oil you are using. One thing I can tell you though, is that when maintained properly, they will normally last longer than you think. With all that said, you will be much more confident and comfortable towing with well maintainted equipment and that makes for a much more relaxing trip!

Big Red Update: Sliding Barn Door and Paint!

Once our kitchen was mostly ready, it was time to tackle another challenge. Our bathroom desperately needed a real door!! For our first few trips we used a curtain to cover the entrance, making it way too easy for the kids to bust in at any moment. Not an issue for a mom apparently, but for this dad, I was over it after my first bathroom visit!

We knew early on that we needed to come up with a compact option for our door. Ashley also knew early on that she wanted a sliding barn door for the bathroom!?!?

There were quite a few challenges with a barn door. First of all, it uses rollers that are only held down by gravity to keep the door in place. Knowing how much things move when traveling had me questioning if we would find a door smashed through our refrigerator when we got to our next campsite.

The second problem was figuring out how to fill the gap around the doorway but leave enough space to let the door slide freely. This would also keep nosy children from peeking through the gap!

But the problem that stood out the most for me was that I had never built a door! Like every other part of this build, I was going to wing it and hope for the best.

I jumped on Amazon and ordered this barn door kit, a floor guide and a handle. Then I went down to Lowe’s and picked up the lightest and cheapest trim boards that I thought could be strong enough to build a door. Luckily, we had collected a few free pallets for our build, so I decided I would use those to give our door a nice contrast to the white wood trim boards. With my trusty pocket hole kit and a miter saw, I got right to it.

I have to admit that when I started this build, I really didn’t care for woodworking. There’s something about sawdust that reminds me of beach sand. It gets everywhere and it drives me crazy when it gets in my sandals. 😆

Much like the beach, once I got over the sawdust, woodworking is actually pretty awesome. It’s a beautiful thing to take a few straight pieces of wood and create something functional. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m pretty happy with how our barn door turned out!

Like most other processes during our build, I learned something new, and I have so many ideas on how to build a better door if I ever need to. As for filling the gap between the wall and the door, well I just used standard trim around the doorway and spacers on the mount to adjust the slider out enough to keep the two from touching. It works like a charm!

While I was working on the barn door and also what seemed like weeks after, we were painting.. Probably the most boring and annoying process to me, but it had to be done. Ashley really took control of the painting and knocked most of it out while I was working on other parts of the trailer.

As with any paint project, the hard parts were the fine details and trim work. We are so lucky to live beside the best caulk installer there ever was. My dad came in and caulked all the trim and any other areas that needed it. What a difference that made! Overall, the paint really turned the look of our build around. Instead of looking like the inside of a cargo trailer, it was actually starting to look like a real living space.

Starting a build is a huge undertaking that can really make you question if you have lost your mind. When you get to certain points of your build that really change the look, it gives you a new level of confidence you need to keep going. It’s all about breaking a giant project down in to smaller pieces. Just remember that each small piece is part of a giant puzzle that has to work together. In other words, be sure the run all the wires before the walls are up..

Check out our barn door video by following this link.

Blog Update!!

It’s been nearly two years since our last post…. I would say it’s time to catch up on this blog!

We are obviously way behind on our cargo trailer build updates and all the other events that have taken place during that time. Our plan going forward is to post a mix of past and present day events. I want to fill you in on what it was like to build each part of our camper conversion and I also want to keep you up to date on what we are working on these days. This revival is going to be a team effort. I hope Ashley and I can offer different perspectives on our projects, travel and maybe thoughts about life in general.

Buckle up and hold on tight, because you have a lot of catching up to do! In the meantime, check out our YouTube page for updates on our projects. Also check out MomFeedsFive.com for Ashley’s awesome recipes and helpful tips on feeding our busy family.

Big Red Update- Kitchen

It’s been a while since my last Big Red update. There’s been a lot going on! We have many projects happening at various stages of completion. But my favorite part of the trailer is almost done- the kitchen!

Those that know me know that I am an avid cook. Whether we’re at home or out adventuring, I (almost) always cook and prepare meals for my family instead of going out or ordering takeout. I try to keep it simple when we’re camping, and cook outside as much as possible, but I knew I would need a functional kitchen in the trailer to keep this crowd fed and happy.

We toyed with a few different layouts for the kitchen, but we settled with an L-shaped design because it proved to be the most efficient use of space. We got this regular residential sink and faucet and put it on the other side of the bathroom wall so we could use the same plumbing and tanks.

After much consideration, I opted not to get an RV range/oven combo because of the cost and weight. We went with a set-in cooktop, and my mom got me a really nice toaster oven for Christmas that I will use for baking. The fridge was one of our first purchases for the trailer. It’s just a larger dorm-style fridge, and we hope to modify it to run off of solar when we are traveling.

I really wanted butcher block counters, but those dudes are super heavy and kind of expensive! We ended up going with a thinner board that had the butcher block look, and my mother-in-law coated that thing with what seemed like 50 coats of polyurethane(it was probably more like 10).

Adam built the cabinets himself using lightweight wood. We painted them a light sage green to add a pop of color to the kitchen, and we left some of the wood bare to tie into the counters and give it a kind of farmhouse look.

Instead of doing upper cabinetry, we went with open shelving to keep the weight down and leave the space looking more open and airy. I bought some pretty baskets and Adam added a small board to the front to hold them in place while we are traveling.

On the opposite wall from the kitchen we used the same wood from the counter and built a long, narrow bar that will serve as a dining table, work space, and junk holder. My guess is that this will probably be the most-used space in the trailer. It ties the kitchen together and makes the entire space look large and homey.

Overall, I am thrilled with how the kitchen came together and I can’t wait to get in there and really use it! I still have a few details to finish up, like the backsplash that I just can’t seem to decide on. But it’s beautiful and functional, and it just makes me smile when I walk inside.

Jordan Lake- Poplar Point

We’ve made a lot of progress in Big Red over the last several weeks. The kitchen is coming along, and we put most of the wall panels up and painted them. It’s actually starting to look like a camper inside, and we’ve been itching to take it out of town for a few days. Our buddy Eric has been wanting Adam to detail his camper, and he happens to live just a few minutes from Jordan Lake- a perfect excuse for a camping trip!

We all took a day off from work and school so we could spend an extra day away. We loaded Big Red up with all our camping supplies AND all of Adam’s detailing equipment, and we headed towards Raleigh at rush hour! Thankfully, traffic wasn’t too bad, and we got to Jordan Lake- which is about 20 minutes outside of Raleigh, North Carolina- just before dark. It had been several years since we had camped there, going way back to our tent camping days! There are several campgrounds around the lake, all of them state-owned. We tried one we hadn’t been to before, but had been highly recommended, Poplar Point. We were not disappointed!

The campground felt huge. It is pretty densely wooded, and the winding road through the campground seems to go on forever. There are several different camping loops off of the main road. We stayed in Loop F, which has about 60 sites, 20 or so that are waterfront. Our site, F45, was not supposed to be a waterfront site, but the water levels were so high that the lake had crept out to about 50 feet from our site! It was an awesome site, probably 80 feet long, with a few little steps leading down to a separate picnic area. There were trees all around us, and especially that first night, we felt like we were alone on the lake.

Friday morning, we lounged around, enjoying making coffee INSIDE Big Red for the first time! We walked and biked for miles around the campground, enjoying the wonderful fall weather and the beautiful views of the lake and falling leaves. We left the campground and explored a bit that afternoon, forgetting just how close we were to civilization!

Adam’s sister and her family live only about 20 minutes from Jordan Lake, so they came to visit us Friday evening. I enjoyed cooking dinner for everyone on my new Blackstone that Adam got me as an early Christmas present, which I absolutely love! The boys got an awesome campfire going, and the adults spent the evening laughing and reminiscing by the fire while the kids ran and played. It was a great night.

Saturday morning, Adam left for his detailing job and the kids and I got caught up on some schoolwork we missed on Friday. We spent the afternoon with my sister-in-law and nephew, and when Adam got home we made an easy dinner on the Blackstone. We enjoyed one more relaxing evening, knowing we would have to pack up and head home in the morning.

When we left on Sunday, we promised ourselves that we would be back soon! It is a beautiful, serene area, on the water, close to friends and family, and only a few minutes from the big city. It was the perfect weekend, and we can’t wait until the next time!

Big Red Update- Flooring and Bathroom

Okay, guys. It’s been a while. My life has been taken over by public schooling in the time of COVID-19. But I don’t want to talk about that today. Today, I want to talk about Big Red!

Since you last heard from me, Big Red has undergone quite a transformation. He has new flooring, which really took him from looking like a cargo trailer to looking like an actual camper. We went with vinyl sheet flooring because we thought that would be the most simple, affordable, and durable option. And it looks amazing! After looking at several options, we finally decided on a gray/tan wood-look flooring, and I couldn’t be happier with the results!

After the flooring went down, Adam started working on the bathroom. I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we decided to build a bathroom from scratch. Luckily, Adam did, because he built a bathroom in his barn last year. But putting a bathroom in a trailer proved a lot more difficult than putting a bathroom in a building. It took a lot of time, patience, and money ( a lot more money than we thought!), but I think we’ve finally got it mostly figured out. It’s still not 100% done, but it’s pretty close, and everything works!

Just laying out the components of the bathroom proved to be quite a challenge. There is a storage area with an exterior door located in the front corner of the trailer, which is where we wanted to put the bathroom. So we had to work around that box when trying to lay it out. We also knew we wanted a shower big enough to actually use comfortably, which takes up a lot of valuable square footage in such a tight space! We tried probably a dozen different configurations before we finally settled on the final layout. But we finally figured it out, and we’re quite happy with the results.

Adam framed up the walls first and we started to get a sense of the space we were working with. We got a great deal on a corner shower pan on Marketplace, and we used waterproof sheeting from Lowe’s for the shower walls. Once the shower was in place it started to feel like a real bathroom!

We bought this toilet from Amazon, which is super nice, and has a porcelain top that feels like a real residential toilet. We wanted to put the sink in the corner of the bathroom so it would take up less space, and Adam’s parents found us a tiny cabinet to use as the base. We had the great idea of using a stainless steel mixing bowl for the sink, but so far we haven’t quite figured out how to make that work! I’ll have to update you later on the progress of the sink…

Adam and his dad did all the plumbing work. This proved to be a bear of a job and I was glad I was not involved in that. Trying to get all the plumbing to the tanks and making sure everything drained properly took a great deal of planning and ingenuity, especially considering the low ground clearance of the trailer. Adam spent hours laying under the trailer in awkwardly uncomfortable positions, and I’m afraid he may have suffered permanent damage to his back!

We used thin paneling sheets for the walls, which are very lightweight and don’t look half bad. We tried whitewashing for the first time, and I think they look pretty good. You can still see some of the grain from the wood, but it is light and bright inside. We are planning to install a sliding barn door, which I am super excited about. I think it will be very functional in the tight space, and it will give it that farmhouse feel we are looking for.

Even though we’re not quite done, I’m amazed at how we were able to take a blank slate and design and build a whole bathroom that (mostly) works! I have to give all the credit to Adam. He has spent hours and hours working so hard to build a functional space for his family. It may be a luxury to some, but for our family, having a bathroom in the camper is pretty much a necessity. We are so excited that it’s done and so happy with how it turned out!

Big Red’s First Trip- Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Tabor City, NC

It has been a rough few weeks. Remote learning has been tough, both as a parent and a school employee. To say I was ready for a break is an understatement! It has been a big adjustment for the kids, too. We were all ready to get away for a few days.

Adam had been working hard to get Big Red ready for the trip. As you probably know (if you don’t, start reading here), we still have a huge amount of work to do on our cargo trailer conversion. But we were antsy to hit the road, and we had planned our annual Yogi Bear trip with some good friends months ago. So Adam pushed hard to get the air conditioning installed and the walls back up. We figured if we had air conditioning and electricity we could at least get by for a weekend.

Adam’s sister generously gave us a futon she wasn’t using anymore, and we had an extra mattress in storage. We loaded them up into Big Red (that big door in the back really comes in handy!) and packed all our necessities into plastic tubs. Getting packed up was a lot more work than we were used to; usually everything is already nicely stored in the camper. It reminded me of old times when we would go tent camping, and something about that just made me happy.

When I finally got off work that Friday afternoon I was so excited to leave! Everyone else was at home waiting for me, so we hit the road immediately. We were a little nervous about how Big Red would do on the two hour drive, but thankfully, the trip was uneventful.

As soon as we pulled into Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Tabor City, North Carolina, the kids went wild! This is their second favorite place to visit, followed only by Fort Wilderness at Walt Disney World. There are all kinds of things for them to do, and the place is full of kids and families.

We got set up quickly, and we spent the evening riding the golf cart we rented from the park and spending time with our friends who had come down, too. Since Big Red isn’t really set up very well for cooking quite yet, we ordered pizza from the on-site café. It was delicious and satisfying, and I was grateful for the break from cooking for the night.

We had designated Saturday as water day for all the kids. The campground has an outdoor pool, indoor pool with a water play area, and the most amazing Aqua Play area I’ve ever seen. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, we had to sign up for hour time slots at each water location, but we still had plenty of time for swimming. It was actually kind of nice because the pools were not as crowded as they would usually be.

After we tired out the kids at the pools, we went and got ice cream at The Creamery. They make their own homemade ice cream on site in all kinds of creative flavors, and it’s delicious! No trip to Yogi Bear is complete without a scoop of ice cream, and the kids never let us forget.

Usually they have a “Hey! Ride” through the campground for all the guests on a retired fire truck, but again, due to COVID-19 restrictions, this was a little different. Instead, Boo Boo rode on the fire truck through the campground, blowing his horns and waving at all the kids. I was a little sad that we couldn’t take our usual ride, but it was kind of exciting to see Boo Boo riding through, and kids started following the fire truck on their bikes and it turned into a kind of parade through the campground.

On Sunday morning, Boo Boo delivered breakfast to the kids at their campsites. This was also new for us. It was a great way for the kids to see the characters up close without the usual lines and crowds. Each child got an individual bowl of cereal and carton of milk, and a souvenir color-changing bowl that my kids were super-excited about.

We packed up shortly after breakfast and headed home, tired but refreshed and excited to continue our work on Big Red. Everything went so well with the trailer and we didn’t run into any problems. However, we all agreed that the next step is the bathroom. We are not big fans of bath houses! So I guess we know what’s next…