The Pajero Sport gets a special friend. pt1

Lets face it, it’s all well and good being the biggest, baddest Pajero Sport on the block ‘my opinion ;-)’, but when it comes to those hard to reach destinations, you know those ones that take 6 months to plan, which feel like a life time of waiting and then before you know it.. it’s over so quick, it”s like you’re back in your bed room…

We all know that despite the Pajero Sports 4×4 capabilities, it does lack that boot space to enable you to live comfortably out of the back for any extended period of time. Now some of you would have previously seen the Sport towing a beast of a trailer (see below),

but as good as it was, it just took too long to setup, so it had to go. It went to a young couple who were travelling to the remote outback working from property to property.

I needed something that was light, capable of extreme off road adventures and was quick to setup. When I say quick, I mean quick like 30 seconds. I could have gone and sold a kidney and bought something flash but I could not justify the expense.

SO HERE IS PT.1 OF MY BUILD.

I started with a trailer that had been around for decades, literally. Meet my 1966 Landrover workshop trailer. Yep that’s right, its 53 years old and still going strong.

I purchased it off Gumtree for $1000, sold the canvas frame and the tub for $400. I replaced the shock absorbers for about $200, shout out to Fulcrum Suspension Stafford who sourced a replacement and with minor modification fit the relic.

I also removed the support braces, welded some extensions, gave it a good sand, some rust conversion and a bit of paint.

Ok so it’s not quite fully painted, I still need to do a little bit more work to the drawbar before it gets painted.

Now I like to make things up just as much as the next guy but I figured that I needed some sort of plan for this build as I did not want it look like I was towing a trailer full of junk to the tip. A quick sketch on the computer and I was done.

Now some of you might have noticed that the trailer did no have any brakes. That is correct!. I did this so that my build could be light, well at least under 750kg according to Queensland Transport.

I quickly got to work. I purchased some sheets of 15mm and 6mm marine plywood. since then I have been to Bunnings about 100 times and purchased what feels like all their screws and additional timber. After I knocked up the base I removed it from the trailer, flipped it over and quickly learnt to fibreglass (thanks Youtube). I purchased some supplies from the ever so helpful AA Composites which cost me about $200.

Worried that the fibreglass would not be enough to seal the underside, I went back to Bunnings to give them even more of my hard earned dollars and purchased 1L Bitumen Paint. I started to seal the wheel arches and then it quickly spread to the whole underside.

Once dry, I flipped it back over and commenced working on the frame. Now remember, I am still kind of making this up as I go. I built the frame with enough room for 2 people to sleep in and the kitchen at the rear. Kind of like a tear drop camper without the teardrop.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Estimated build cost for pt1. = $1500.00

Man hours = Lost count.

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