Hiker Trailer 5x9 Offroad Build

Dana Ramos said:
Not really worried about the rack failing. Even less worried about the hitch. The receiver on the trailer is welded into the frame.
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For clarification, this is with the Hiker Off-Road or Midrange. The Basic or Deluxe trailer have a load limit of 100 pounds according to a recent discussion with one of the owners. As far out as Dana's racks are, Id guess they wouldn't work on the other frame.
 
Lead Dog said:
Dana The Folding Bed I order doesn't need to be cut? It's 58" out of the box! 4" Memory foam sleeps very well to me but i'm a 200lb Guy.
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Can you tell me where you ordered your 58" foam bed from? Just ordered my Hiker Trailer and looking at mattress options. Thanks,
 
Gunner said:
Thank you. That looks like a good price if they are comfortable.
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It's pretty comfy for camping. If we were full time I might want a firmer/thicker one though.
 
Gunner said:
Thank you. That looks like a good price if they are comfortable.
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FYI: as I mentioned though, It did require a bit of trimming to fit well w/the screen doors. I've heard an electric knife works best for trimming but didn't have access to one at the time. I used a sharp razor knife which was sort of choppy but you can't tell once the cover is back on.

Also, when folded into a couch, the back is kind of awkward.

This one looks to be a bit thicker and a couple inches narrower so might work well:

Milliard 6-Inch Memory Foam Tri-fold Mattress with Ultra Soft Removable Cover with Non-Slip Bottom - Queen

@First State Overland had a great idea on his Hiker and used a twin+single size of this one:

Sleeper Chair Folding Foam Bed Choose Color & Sized Single,twin or Full

With this setup you can keep one of the beds folded and the other one laid out. That gives you some floor room and a chair without having to fold the whole bed/bedding up.

In our previous 4x8 we had a full size of this brand and it was pretty comfortable.
 
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Dana Ramos said:
Probably still go through the wall. Without the pump on, there will be no water in those hoses other than the time it takes to fill the tank.

Oh, and if I do go under the frame with the pump, I'll probably make a shield for the pump with some sheet metal or something.
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Dana I'll have everything ready to ship Monday! Finally if you still want it!
 
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Dana, I have ordered my 5X9 off-road from hiker and starting to decide my build options. I have purchased two 100 watt solar panels, inverter, charger, two 6-volt batteries. I ordered the same 21 gallon water tank as you and most of the same options including the spare tire carrier swinging to the divers door. I've already received almost everyone I ordered through Amazon so now I can practice putting it together even before I receive my trailer.

I read in First State Overlander's posts that he used a Pelican 1520 as the box for his water heater. Once I received both in and checked size I returned the Pelican and ordered a larger one. I have not seen how you have mounted yours but he mounted his water heater on the door side of the Pelican so everything would have to be attached every time he used it.

I wanted to mount the water heater on the inside so that I could permanently plum the gas line and the water intake (through the bottom of the Pelican case) and have room to stow the hand-held shower inside.

My concern then was the heat deflector being able to fit inside so that the heat could be focused out. I have seen some other pictures here where folks had the water heater inside the case but could not see how in the world they could still use the deflector.

Finally, on the water header issue, I want mine on the drivers side so it is not in the middle of the awning area. I figure I could fabricate some sort of a privacy curtain around it (possibly include the porta-potty too).

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
 
Finally got around to installing the electrical, plumbing, and water pump for the 21 gallon water tank.

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I decided on mounting the pump on the inside of the trailer as opposed to underneath. This eats up a bit of storage space but we're eventually going to build a set of drawers in the bottom shelf of the galley and so this space would be mostly unusable anyway. Having the pump inside should keep it better protected from the elements too. I also cut and fit a panel to cover the space where the pump is to protect it and the plumbing from things sliding into it and knocking something loose. I may cut in an access door but there are only 4 screws holding the panel in place, so removing the whole piece isn't very difficult. Only major mishaps were one of the screws holding the outer ring of the fill port stripped out and so I had to drill a new hole in the ring and relocate the screw. Oh, and I suck at silicone. My seal job looks a bit messy but I'm pretty confident there won't be any leaks. Overall, not too difficult of a project after tracking down all of the parts other than having to make multiple trips to the hardware store for random sized hole saw bits that weren't in my kit. And I ended up buying another set of 1/2" thread to 1/2" barb adapters for the Shurflo because it came with straight fittings and after lining it all up I decided 90 degree fittings would be better.
 
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Thank you for the pictures and write-up. You have given me some additional ideas. One of the things I am considering is plumbing to the water heater (outside in a pelican box) and then back to two locations; one outside shower location and one inside location in the back that could be used with a sink. That would give me on-demand hot water at various locations. Trouble is running additional hoses inside the trailer and each bend and connection is a possible future leak. Something that I need to be concerned about. Again, thanks very much for your thoughts.
 
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Gunner said:
Thank you for the pictures and write-up. You have given me some additional ideas. One of the things I am considering is plumbing to the water heater (outside in a pelican box) and then back to two locations; one outside shower location and one inside location in the back that could be used with a sink. That would give me on-demand hot water at various locations. Trouble is running additional hoses inside the trailer and each bend and connection is a possible future leak. Something that I need to be concerned about. Again, thanks very much for your thoughts.
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Water heater is next on the list. Probably won't get to that project until end of the summer though. I also thought it would be great to run plumbing for a basin or even propane to the stove through the wall but with all of the hookups being that close to the back corner, it's really not a big deal for me to run hoses under the trailer when needed. And like you said, just more chances of it leaking.

When/where do you pick yours up again?
 
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Wow love the looks of this hiker build. I have been looking at tears for some time and this looks very close to exactly what I want. How much is this one with your extras? 10,000 for the standard off road package so how much did the extras cost? We have built out hikers 3 times and keep playing with the price to fit our budget. I wish they would list how much the options are next to them so you had some idea. Hiker has to be sick of all our requests. [emoji846]. I am guessing the screen doors are high cost and add diamond plate? How about cost of the water tank option or under bed storage?


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mattd said:
Wow love the looks of this hiker build. I have been looking at tears for some time and this looks very close to exactly what I want. How much is this one with your extras? 10,000 for the standard off road package so how much did the extras cost? We have built out hikers 3 times and keep playing with the price to fit our budget. I wish they would list how much the options are next to them so you had some idea. Hiker has to be sick of all our requests. [emoji846]. I am guessing the screen doors are high cost and add diamond plate? How about cost of the water tank option or under bed storage?


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Hi Matt, Ours ended up being about 4k in extras. That included the extra door + screen doors, in floor storage, roof rack, propane holder, wheels + tires, electric brakes, rear tire carrier, full electrical w/solar, lots of lights/switches/outlets/fan/etc., several cabinet mods, water tank (not including pump, electrical and plumbing which was around $100 in parts to do myself), hitch, probably some things I'm missing. The roof basket, awnings, and ground tent were all carry overs from the truck before we had the trailer. Those items would probably add a a couple grand to the total if purchased through Hiker. Throw in a mattress, curtains, and you are up a few more bucks on the total. Even then, we ended up spending less to have this built than we would've spent on a bare bones model from anyone else.
 
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Dana Ramos said:
We actually went 2' deep on the rear galley. The top shelf is only 13" deep because we had it split across the width of the trailer so there's an 11" deep cabinet on the inside.which is separate from the galley.

The sleeper floor is 80" long with this configuration. You would fit fine! We could have gone a couple inches shorter on the sleeper, cutting that off the length of the mattress, and still would have plenty of room to lay down. This would've left room for a small fridge longways in the galley.

The in-floor storage box is 6" deep, 27" wide, 38" long on the bottom, 48" long at the top (tapered on the ends).
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I love your build. How wide is your sleeper floor?
 
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