I have been looking to find some time to figure out a plan with my trailer and the current world situation provided the perfect opportunity to get a project in motion. I needed to make my setup easier for track weekends. If you own or have owned a roof top tent, they are not the most convenient piece of gear to attach/remove from your vehicle. I decided to put together something that would fit the bill. I measured the car's bumper, hood seam, roofline height and fabbed up a rack to hold the tent (I still need some long bolts to secure the tent to the rack) and VP jugs. The Hobart 140 did the job using 75/25 argon/c02 (what a great little hobby mig). After the rack was all welded up, I primed it and sprayed it with some bed liner. The rack fits into the stake pockets tight front to back. Then I took some J-hooks and nyloc nuts to snug it down to the trailer frame. Pretty happy with the results! With the tent deployed, it will provide a nice shaded area underneath for those hot track weekends in August (nice place to keep the cooler out of the sun too). Now the setup is ready to go with minimal prep and no more fuel jugs in the car or the 4runner (E85 STINKS)... she is good to go. I have a few more addons that I am working on that will complete the package but this takes care of the fuel and sleeping arrangement trailer mods for track weekends =-)
For the most up to date info check out my instagram account @dublocivic

Stay safe and healthy out there!

 

Dig it, nice work.

 

looking good... is your ladder going down to the trailer?

hopefully we can get back out there and both start laying down personal bests.

 

Thanks man! home away from home haha =-)

 

Yep, it opens onto the trailer and is 8x4 deployed. Ill take some pics of it setup at some point but it should provide a decent amount of shade.

Man all this "send" saved up we will both be sub 2:10.

 

wish i knew how to weld...

 

Pick up a used 110v mig, pair of gloves, cheap helmet, and some shielding gas or just flux core if you don't want to fool with gas. You just have to get the voltage and wire speed right and practice weaving on some scrap material (use scrap the same thickness of what you are working on). Its a lot of fun, you should give it a try.

 

Dirty has two welders 220 & 110 But doesn't really know how to weld either.
Would love to learn tho !
Nice job on that contraption Most clean!

 

I am still learning myself, seat time/torch time same thing in my book
I have found that when I am at weird angles, good bracing (both hands) and a practice run to ensure braced smooth weaving or sweeping actions before actually committing usually produces better mig welds for me.

Thanks for the compliment Maybe this weekend Ill deploy the tent and take a few pics.

 

cleaning the metal and having your settings right are key. i'm limited to 110v with a Lincoln electric hobby welder. sometimes it comes out super clean, sometimes not... the duty cycle is super low on it also... so it gets better if i cut and prep one piece at a time. i spent 2.5 years welding for a living and i can still find myself welding upside-down in a tight space and hoping it comes out nice.

 

Yeah man its tough to stay smooth and consistent at weird angles when you either A. cant see what the puddle is doing or B. aren't braced right for good smooth puddle control or C. both A and B.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, flap or wire wheel all of your joints so they are good and clean before you stitch them together (thanks Kaan).

fwiw.. this was all 14 gauge metal, I found the best consistency with the Hobart 140 set to 4 on the voltage and about 38 for wire speed. When welding edges, I knocked the voltage back to 3 and slowed the wire speed to 30-33 ish as to not burn through the material. The gas was set to about 17 on the gauge.. If you are welding out doors like I was and its at all breezy, turn the shielding gas up or at a minimum try to position yourself to block the breeze when you are welding to keep the gas on the puddle.

 

Yeah, that's the sad part. I've got a Hobart 140 brand new still in the box, and it's been there for at least 3 years. Learning to weld is on the list!

 

I guess we need to find someone who can teach us.
Funny thing a former friend of mine years ago took a 220v harbor freight flux core welder and put some D-rings on my trailer.
Aside from a little spatter and i mean little he absolutely nailed the welds.
He told me its not the welder itself its the person using it.
He started off in his dads shop stick welding when he was young.
Envy

 

YouTube has some great videos to get started mig welding. Just practice on scrap and run some beads, it wont take long and you'll get used to the machine.

If you have an auto dimming helmet, set it on the lightest setting for using a 110v machine so that you can see the puddle well.

 

any action shots with the tent in use?

 

Yep thanks for the reminder! I gave it a test run this weekend. Everything worked out well. Threw a hammock underneath and that worked out nice. Perfect for beer thirty after the sessions are done for the day.



Track home




Beer Thirty

 

you start ball'n harder in #princessthecivic you will want to move those fuel jugs to the sides and add a tire rack where the fuel jugs are.

 

I've got a solution for the second set of wheels, should work well, still sketching that one out.

 

Penthouse tentage! so very very cool

 

Now you'll be eye level with your paddock neighbors in their $1M motorhome....peasants.

 

but he'll be parked right next to my tent and pop up shanty town lol

 

Haha Tenthouse.. Thanks Dirty! I have some LEDs that I need to incorporate with my 12v source. Still a few things to do!

Yeah lol ballin' maybe I should add extensions to the legs and call it the Crow's Nest so that I may look down upon them <:-**D
Its pretty comfortable though, I have a 3 inch foam mattress and a blow up pad in it. I also have some R factor pads that I made out of reflective bubble wrap used to insulate HVAC. This is under the mattress and helps to keep it a little warmer for early spring/late fall events.

 

One of my Armageddon projects is to insulate my enclosed trailer. I have a portable home AC unit in it that works pretty well as is, but it could be better for when it's August at VIR and 4 dudes are sleeping in it

 

that looks sketch af. is there support under the cantilevered part? I assume so but couldn't see from the pics. What keeps you from rolling over and falling off in the middle of the night?

 

the sameones that keep it on the roof of a car... this is a repurposed automotive roof top tent.