Fridge on Camper Trailer A-frame

Agree with Robyn, it's all about ball weight (although with the fridge in the back of the wagon, you've still got that much weight on the back axle I guess).......as well as what's good for the fridge itself. It's gunna get a pretty rough ride on the drawbar and you'd need to make sure you had a sturdy and DUSTPROOF box for it to reside in.

Robyn J.

thanks for your feedback.

In my case weight shouldn't be an issue, as the fridge would be replacing - weight wise on the draw bar - 2 x 20 litres of water, which can be more easily accommodated in the rear of the 100 series, without giving up 2 seats - there is six of us, plus on occasions, one or two of the kids mates.

As Roachie has mentioned below, I think the real issues are with dust, probably water and maybe vibration.

Brian

Roachie,

I agree re the location of the weight - maybe 6 of 1, half dozen of another.

Do you reackon it would be a much rougher on the draw bar? Interested in your opinion.

The Penrith camping show - western Sydney - is on in a couple of weeks. Probably do more research then before deciding.

Thanks
Brian

Quite a few commercially available camper trailers have the fridge situated in a special enclosure on the draw bar, from memory I think they have filters on the air vents.

Thanks Shaker.

I wonder how they manage the air circulation for the heat generated from the compressor, with regards the air in and out. As you say, must be some serious filters.

Shall check it out at the Penrith show.
Brian

G'day Brian,

I would imagine there may not be too much difference (between being on the trailer or in the 4by), if the trailer is fitted with coil springs and shockers. If it's a 7x4 box trailer (as described originally), I tend to think it's probably got leaf springs and no shockers....so the ride on the draw bar or any other part of the trailer could be quite harsh. However, if a sprung base (like what Engel sell for their fridges), that would cover that problem.

Cheers

Roachie

You've pretty well got it in one Roachie. Leaf springs and no shockies.

As I'm in the process of modifying the draw bar - as we speak, I'll make an allowance to fit the fridge, and decide at a later date, as to what will actually go in the space - fridge, jerry cans and gas bottle, or whatever.

I'll do some research on the "sprung bases", and go from there.

Thanks Roachie,
Brian

This is great Spliney. Sounds like we have a similar setup with head count.

The 12v fan is a great idea - have a few of those from old PC cases - new units aren't much anyway.

I'm not very familar with the B&S mower. Is the filter a flat unit that mounts flat up against the box? Where did you score the insulation foam from? What faces of the enclosure do you have the filter and fan mounted to - front, rear or side?

Lots of questions, but your feedback has been most welcome.

Thanks
Brian

Brian

The foam came from Clark Rubber: silver-foil backed. Comes in a range of thicknesses and can be purchased by the metre. I used "liquid nails" style of glue to fix it to the underside of the lid, foil-side glued to lid.

In terms of vents, the camper was delivered to me (new) with a vent cut into the upper rear face of the box with a louvre-style stainless cover rivetted to the outside. I bought a 125mm ball-bearing equipped computer fan (I think about $30), a switch and a fuse. I mounted the fan over half of the vent and blanked off the other half with an aluminium off-cut. Wired it back to the on-board battery.

I went to a mower specialist and asked for the slimmest air filter he had. He came up with one about 15-20mm thick, in two parts - a foam pre-filter and a paper cartridge.

I cut an inlet in the lower front side of the box - diagonally opposite the outlet. Mounted a louvre style cover on the outside. Trickiest bit was fabricating up a retainer on the inside to hold the filter in place. I started with light aluminium angle and bent one face at right angles to form a "zig-zag" that I rivetted in place on three sides of the vent. The filter slides into the resulting bracket from the top.

We just did a trip to the Diamantina including 600km of dust. This setup worked well.

My fridge is the one Tim refers to below. The manufacturer is quite happy for it to be mounted straight to the draw-bar! However I'm much happier having it in the box! The other thing I did was cut three pieces of timber (batten size running front-to-back of box) and with a strip of rubber glued to the top. The fridge sits on these. Two reasons - allows air to pass under and provides a little cushioning.

We carry an evakool icebox in the trailer as our "fridge" and use the Trailblaza as our "freezer". No broken eggs - in fact no evidence that anything had bounced around at all.

Overall, tho not ideal for weight distribution, I'm happy with it.

Hope this helps

Spliney

Thanks heaps for all the detail Spliney, as I have a pretty clear image of how you've done it. This is extremely helpful.

As suspension has been mentioned a few times, what is your camper fitted with, coils or leaf, with or without shocks?

Thanks again
Brian

Mine is 7 leaf shackle-shackle rebound springs, no shocks.

Thanks for that.

Safe travels.

Brian

Thanks for your comments Tim.

Sounds like a fairly robust fridge.

If I wasn't a bit short on space, the back of the cruiser would be the prepared option. Spliney's setup sounds like it works quite well.

Thanks again for your input.
Brian

Thanks Geordie.

It appears that it may have a lot to do with the type of suspension setup.

Don't normally have my eggs with a beer. Prefer a few rashes of bacon and a mug of billy tea.

I asked the kids whether they'd travel in the trailer. Got a mixed response.

Brian