https://expeditionportal.com/the-caracat-floating-camper-trailer-the-sky-is-the-limit/?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-expeditionportal&utm_content=later-29535355&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio

Let me know your thoughts.

December 2021:

Merry Christams To Me! Happy Birthday to Me! Merry Christams to Meeeee! Happy Birthday tooo Meee! LOL!

Well my 60th birthday gift, may turn out to be My Merry Christmas to Meeee! 

Back in September, after my Humphreys Peak Escalation, I attended the Overland Expo in Flagstaff to scope out a major addition to my Contractor to Overlander Project! 

My birthday gift may turn out to be a Merry Christmas to Me!! Instead!!

Here is a sneak peak at the 3 models I have decided to review and decide on one. 

Give me some feed back on which one you would pick. I am putting together a video to show each ones features as well, which I will share ASAP!

Then I will unvail soon what Santa might put in my Stocking!!

Very Merry Christmas to you all! Or should I say Merry 4Xmas!!!  And a Very Happy New Year, with a Properous and Expanding 4Xpedition!! 

John Paul T.

 We made the decision to order one in late December. These trailers are built in Lagrande, Or.  by Outdoors RV manufacturing. In the RV world they are a small outfit only pumping out 1500-2000 units a year. They are a true 4 season RV with heated tanks, 2" foam/aluminum walls, sealed underbelly and it's lifted with an upgraded suspension and shocks. Very solid. I got the call late March that the trailer was done and on the way to the dealer. Picked it up on April 5th.

Now that all our gear has been transferred from the garage to the trailer, I can't wait to get started in this rig. Our style of adventure usually has us picking a destination, setting up our base camp, unhooking the truck and exploring the area from there. This rig serves that purpose to a T. I have a quick shakedown trip planned next month at a local State park and it's maiden voyage is this summer on a long, Nevada trip with Northwest Overland. Stay tuned for more.

Oh and I've added the first mod.

Here are a couple things I've seen that are practical & innovative,  post up cool trailer ideas if you see 'em!

The Littleguy Meerkat -
I think the pictures explain it all.   Combines ultra-lightweight, low profile towing with standing room.   I've been inside one of these and at just over 6' tall it's comfortable,  the room that little pop-up bit provides is sufficient for an adult to go about the business of preparing food or dressing in comfort or for two adults to shuffle out of each others' way while reconfiguring the bed to a seating area. 
In other words I think they struck a very nice balance - it's under 1000lb and you can make breakfast indoors while standing up, while your travel companion stays in bed if they want (or flips the bed to seating) without having to go outside to set it up or strike camp.    That makes it 1/3 lighter than an A-liner,  lighter even than almost every tent trailer and more convenient to use than either of those  - with the caveat that it's probably only comfortable for two people who like each other a lot. 

The next one looks like a vaporware design exercise but apparently is a real product available in Europe and for a while there was an importer in Montreal - still I've never seen one in the wild and it strikes me as maybe easier to look at than live with. 

Pretty self explanatory, it's part ultralight trailer part houseboat.   A lot of us who travel light understand the value of a well executed multipurpose tool and this might or might not fit that description.   I love the idea at least and if one was available to rent I'd jump at it.

And last (for now) going from the absolutely attainable to the possibly attainable to the probably-not-attainable,  this is just a clever idea.   It looks like some architect's design exercise but the photos and videos on their facebook sure make it look like they're actually building them,  built tooling for the molds and will be manufacturing at least a few of these for the type of customer who can drop a half million dollars on something futuristic and beautiful  https://www.facebook.com/Romotow/

What's caught your eye?

The trailer is a "Patriot" model that I purchased through TrailersPlus in Phoenix, but in actuality, it's a Carry-on trailer, which are carried by Lowe's and Tractor Supply, among others. I chose TrailersPlus as they had the pricing I was looking for (just under $3K) and it came with the optional side-door already installed.

My goal with this conversion was to maintain the "cargo" feature of the trailer, so everything is removable in case I want to use it for its intended purpose.

The updates I've made to date include:

• Flooring (interlocking gym mat material)
• Interior paint and waterproofing
• Roof insulation (reflectix)
• Ceiling (4x8 vinyl bathroom panels)
• Side window
• RV-style side door lock (removed OEM swing-arm system)
• Ventilation fan
• Storage cupboard
• Bed platform
• Kitchen counter/storage complete with a sink and faucet
• Wall shelves
• Electrical access hatch for use with my solar connector
• Slide-out plastic bins for use as drawers (IKEA hack)
• Spare tire mount
• Back door-mounted swing-up table

Instead of including photographs of everything I've done, I'm including a shared link to my Trailer Build Progress album on Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZAi78jyYNpM7mEv76

I've tweaked a few things since some of the photos were taken, but the last few show the current state of the build. I'm pretty much done, but eventually, I would like to rebuild the cupboard, as I am not all that skilled with woodworking and my tools are limited. I had Lowe's do all of the cutting of the 4x8 sheets I used to construct the kitchen, so at least those are straight! 🤣 

Fire away if you have any specific questions on anything I've done, and yes, I am proud to say, I did all of this by myself, with no help from anyone. Everytime I do something like this I thank my late father, who taught me how to use tools and build stuff. I owe it all to him.

Cheers!