Preparedness Trailer

By Thomas E On October 23, 2017 · 1 Comment

Being able to hook-up and evac with “most critical” gear is….priceless.

REQUIREMENTS: Multi-use trailer for every day use & emergency response. This is NOT a convert to RV and NOT convert to tiny-house.

MULTI-USE:

Store Motor sports
Store evac gear
Help folks move, including self.
storage shed with wheels.
hook-up and evac if needed.

March 2018, added a 30′ motorhome!!!

I will be adding to this blog as I build-out my prepper trailer.

Bed-liner Trailer Ramp Project

EQUIPMENT LIST:

USC Defender Pro Epoxy Truck Bed Liner Kit

OR Rust-Oleum Professional Grade Truck Bed Liner Kit

Anti-slip Paint Additive

air compressor

Painters tape

A nice surprise, the trailer came with a nice-thick primer. After doing research, I determined the primer would need to come off. I spent an hour pressure washing the ramp!

LESSONS LEARNED:

roll bedliner on, one gallon barely did the ramp sprayed on. Rolled on, I had enough for the entire trailer, ramp and custom fab rack (hanging from rafters) (see UTV article).

Bug Out Trailer Shelves

Please note with these shelves, d-rings on top and bottom with ratchet or cam-straps. ALSO, for home-made shelves, ENSURE you pre-drill or you will split the wood!!

ply wood is recommended over particle board for strength & weight. Use of hardware is a good idea, adds strength…w/o the weight of all steel construction.

For my trailer, I want to be able to remove the shelves quickly for motorsports and hauling large items, so I went with rubbermade/lowes shelves.

Please note d-rings with self-tapping screws and bungee cords. These shelves are rated at 350 lbs. I can also use the d-ring for LED lanterns, drying clothes, helmet hooks etc.

Here is my setup:

I also built a work-bench, but its high enough to not get in the way of motorsports…and I’m too tall, so the workbench works. I plan to do a battery bank under the workbench. I used cardboard to fit the 3/8 plywood and predrilled ALL screw holes so as to not split the wood.

SPARE TIRE

I mounted this on the inside, a bit harder to get to, but on those tight turns, it is worth having inside the frame.

ATV HITCH

I was going to use my UTV, but its too big to properly backup the trailer, with the street facing ramp, I need my smaller ATV to get the trailer out of my side-yard. So, I welded this up. I anchored into the differential with 5 bolts. I used cardboard to get it fit’d right, then I cut it out and welded it to a 2×2 receiver hitch.

Preparedness Trailer Evac Ideas and likely future projects

Huge generator? Or store small generator?

SecureIT gun cabinet? I installed it, but then decided I’d rather have a workbench.

Solar & battery bank

Water storage, filters

⅔ of storage is taken up by side-by-side

Gas cans on outside of trailer.

Food & a way to cook it.

Shelter

Sleeping bag bin

Firestarter kits

Tie-downs

x Shelves

x Hygiene – toilet.

Action pack – of food prep & non-perishable food items.

Weather related.

Volcano 1 burner stove. And propane tank

x Big buddy heater

Ham radio -base station. And built in antenna.

Tools – axe, mini-aircompressor, car-kit.

Winch – come-along or hand winch

hunting/butcher items

Prepper Trailer v2

Well, I lent out my trailer and it got totaled. So, here is version 2.

I decided not to put in a work-bench, but to just use a table. This will give me more space. I hope to fit two dual-sport motorcycles and my UTV in the trailer, thus clearing out my garage for the winter.

Today, Oct 20, 2018 I put bedliner on the trailer. More than a week ago I pressure washed it and ran a fan for 24 hours. It felt bone dry after 24 hours, but it sat in the sun for a week.

Prep-work, just a quick painters tape around the edges. I wanted to protect the siding.

Last time I used an egg beater, but this time I tried the purpose built mixer.

Believe it or not, the egg beater was way better at mixing. But once it was mixed, I used the longer mixer. I put about 1/4 cup of “play sand” in the 1 gallon and mixed it well. Then rolled it onto the floor of the trailer. When I got to the ramp, I put in about 1/4 cup of sand for non-slip on the ramp. It was pretty gritty, but seemed ideal.

After bedlining the trailer and tailgate. I had about 1″ of bedliner left in the 1 gallon bucket. I also had some brackets for my UTV, that I forgot to do last time, so I brushed it on there and hung them up to dry for a while. After a few hours I put them in my “oven” for about 20 minutes with the door open so it didn’t get too hot.

Again, rolling the bedliner is much much better because it doesn’t take as much material and I believe you get better coverage.

While I was at it, I re-bedlinered my pickup truck tailgate. Turned out great!

Once it was completed. I shut the doors and it was 90 degrees inside. about 12 hours later, it was cured and hard enough to walk on. The heater shutoff, likely cuz not enough oxygen. So, I cracked the doors and started the heater before going to bed.