Building Your Own Travel Trailer?

profdant139 wrote:
The other issue is whether the chassis is sufficiently beefy. A hard-side trailer is a lot heavier than a pop-up, with a higher center of gravity. It would ruin your day if the trailer were to come apart on the highway.

This is a very important point if you do the build. I reinforced most of the frame on the one I rebuilt so the weight increase was ok and I put a 3500 lb axle under it. I went from about 1700 to 2400 total weight. The old trailer was sticks and aluminum, the rebuild was 1/4 luan inside and out and most all of it was double coated with Rot Doctor 2 part epoxy. I wouldn't consider any wood trailer/tear drop etc that's made of wood and not epoxy seal it or some similar product. That stuff is incredible. If you use alum or filon still treat any wood that has any chance of water contact.