As many of our readers know, I’m a huge fan of custom-built campers. Not only do you get something far more personal than what you’d get with any of the plain white boxes getting churned out of Indiana, but many custom campers are built on solid foundations. In looking for a custom build, you might also find something pretty affordable, like this 2016 Haulmark Transport 5×8 trailer, which was converted into a highlighter yellow camper. You get almost everything you need for a cozy camping weekend for just $12,999.
Many readers have been asking for more custom campers and your wish is my command! A wonderful thing about custom-built RVs is that you never really run into the same thing more than once. Over the past few years, I’ve seen everything from a school bus camper built with a firepit on its roof to all sorts of old buses turned into brilliant cozy homes on wheels. Recently, I wrote about a Gillig Low Floor with slides, a gigantic bathtub, and a wine cellar. You’ll never see creativity like this with campers built in a factory. Not even independent manufacturers go that hard.
Another fantastic thing about homebuilt campers is the variety of donor vehicles used. Of course, I’ve long fallen head over heels for bus builds, but they’re hardly the only ones. People will convert cars, minivans, airport catering trucks, box trucks, ambulances, military trucks, milk tankers, or really anything you could fit a bed in. Another variation you’ll sometimes see is a converted cargo trailer.
This 2016 Haulmark Transport trailer isn’t the first converted cargo trailer I’ve seen. In fact, I usually run into at least one of these a week, but I haven’t run into one that looked this convincing.
Haulmark Trailers
Years ago, I remember reading a joke online about how there are cargo trailer companies that sound like Hallmark, the greeting card company, and Wells Fargo, the scandalous bank. In the trailer world, you have Haulmark and Wells Cargo. It sounds like the trailer companies are playing on the names of Hallmark and Wells Fargo, right?
Wells Fargo certainly thought so when Wells Cargo tried registering its name with the Patent and Trademark Office in 1955. Wells Fargo opposed the registration, arguing that in the past, it used the Wells Cargo name for freight transportation services and that there might be some confusion. Wells Cargo was created by Maynard W. Wells in 1954 and Wells named the company after himself.
Meanwhile, Haulmark Industries Inc. was formed in 1977 and so far as I can tell, Hallmark the card company didn’t have a problem with Haulmark the trailer company. Though Haulmark did get heat from Pace American Trailers for using the name Race Trailers, a name that was in use by the former company.
Anyway, Haulmark was founded by Lewis Michael “Mike” Arnold. Born in 1939, Arnold served in the Army in the mid-1960s before coming home and opening Mark Line Industries Inc. in Elkhart, Indiana in 1968. He reportedly believed that it wasn’t right to ask any of his employees to do something that he wouldn’t do himself. In 1977, he expanded into building steel-framed cargo trailers. Haulmark started in a small shop before eventually growing into one of the top-selling utility trailer builders in America.
This Haulmark Transport Conversion
Today, Haulmark sells a lineup of different trailers that are still built out of metal like they were so many years ago. This trailer comes from Haulmark’s Transport series. These trailers feature steel framing. Walls made of PlexCore–a type of dense wood panel that resists moisture and promises far better durability than plywood–are mounted to those metal frames. Protecting the PlexCore is an aluminum exterior wall. Up at the top of the trailer is a one-piece aluminum cap that promises longevity. The roof is rounded up front and uses a front cap made of TPO.
In other words, this unit should be a bit more durable than the typical camper coming out of Indiana right now, which usually comes with paper-thin walls, fiberglass sheets for exterior protection, and roofs with rubber membranes to keep leaks out. Cargo trailers can eventually leak, but at least you shouldn’t run into the kinds of catastrophic failures that come with common travel trailers.
The seller states this one has gone through extensive modifications to become a camper. It features two large windows, which offer more than enough natural light that the interior won’t feel like a prison cell. On the roof sits a vent with a fan for ventilation and a cargo rack for a generator, gear, and additional solar panels.
Speaking of solar panels, you get two 100-watt Renogy solar panels, one of which can be adjusted toward the sun. The electrical system in this camper is pretty comprehensive. You get 200 Ah batteries, a 2000-watt Renogy pure sine inverter, a refrigerator and freezer setup, and a 30 Amp charge controller. It gets better from there as the trailer also features residential-style outlets, USB ports, a 12V port, and the electrical system goes through a fuse box so you don’t burn your gear up. There’s even a shore power connection on the trailer so you can feed from power at a campground. The seller notes that the electrical system has kill switches for storage or if you need to do some work.
Inside, the trailer is minimalist, featuring a removable bed, television, lights, and a cabinet to store your stuff. On the wall sits a charge controller monitor and the aforementioned kill switches. There isn’t a bathroom, but you do get a cassette toilet.
Something I like is that the trailer was built with expansion in mind. The hole is already there if you want to add a roof air-conditioner, but you can just as easily plug a portable air-conditioner into one of the trailer’s outlets. The cargo rack adds space for more solar panels, and there’s plenty of room to add stuff like a portable kitchen. Or, you can temporarily remove the bed and use the trailer as a cargo trailer.
Another neat note is the fact that the hatch locks from the inside and from the outside, so you do have some security while you’re camping. It’s unclear what kind of insulation you’re dealing with here, but the cargo camper definitely has custom interior wall panels. And did I say it comes in highlighter yellow (or green, depending on your eyes)?
At least in my eyes, the $12,999 price seems pretty attractive, too. One of the cheaper hard-sided trailers on the market right now is the Runaway CoolCamp, which starts at $5,995, but what you get is a smaller box with literally nothing in it. This is like one of those CoolCamps, but you can stand up in it and go camping in it today if you wanted to. Oh, and it could still haul a dirtbike if you needed it to.
This trailer should still be pretty light, too. These weigh about 880 pounds empty and I bet the modifications didn’t add more than a few hundred pounds. If you’re smitten by this highlighter camper, it can be yours from the Facebook seller Dayton, Ohio. Now, pardon me, I must see if I can find the least camping-related vehicle turned into an RV.
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Is there anyone out there making off the shelf phase-change cold storage systems?
The reason: Given enough solar panels it’s relatively easy to make AC run off solar panels duing the day.But at night you’ll need a large battery pack and that’s expensive!
Storing the cold air for night time use would be far cheaper.And of course phase change salts are the best option for that.
I’ve found companies who make these materials but dont know anyone who is selling off the shelf systems
Sorry i bet you get more room in an old Cadillac trunk for sleeping than this trailer.
If I was going to do one of these custom small trailers, a toilet and standup shower would be top priority, along with refrigeration and an A/C for sleeping. Would not waste space on cabinets or built in beds – you can fold down a cutting surface from the wall and throw an air mattress or cot on the floor to sleep.
At what point is someone going to build a pop-up, appliance-only camper trailer (food on one side, porta-potty and shower on the other), with a simple platform sliding out for placing a tent on the other side? Most people want their conveniences, but tents are not bad once you get a decent place for your bed. Have a low-speed fan blowing air through your tent as needed and things will be great!
Interesting story, love the RV articles, keep them coming. I’d like to point out a few things. I own a one-off Ford Transit cargo van that I converted into an RV on the inside.
Also, I think people need to understand why they’re buying a cargo or a one-off. There’s good reasons, and there’s bad. The good is that you can decide the floor plan, or buy something that’s not available (like a moto RV or an office).
The bad. Even when done right, there’s problems as you go down the highway. Remember, a road trip is a serious earthquake. Anyway, you will often struggle with getting people to work on these things. And it’ll be costly if you find a rare bored tech looking for work, as they figure out where the wires go. For those not inclined, stick with an RV with an RVIA sticker to maximize your serviceability.
Trust the RVIA?
That’s a hard no.
You can run a smaller AC off a 2KW inverter ok, if you add an Easystart to it and don’t run any other significant draws. Not sure lead-acid batteries would keep up with the current demand though, and definitely not for long.
The interior reminds of some home made campers made on Kei trucks. I can’t remember the channel but there was a Japanese guy on YouTube who showed a build of an insulated body in a parking lot and then touring Japan and cooking.
The interior actually reminds me of an execution chamber. I’m sure it’ll seem even more like one after someone uses the cassette toilet.
My experience: Nobody over 35 wants to hit a cassette toilet in the middle of the common area for the morning session (particularly when the meals-on-the-road experience tends to be, uh, uneven) and the spouse/partner/whatever trying to sleep in 3 feet away doesn’t want them to either. Those things make raiding an outhouse at a construction site along the highway seem like luxury. At least tear out some floor and use the space between frame rails to make a halfass black water tank and install an RV toilet, some sound-resistant walls and a roof vent. Having a bathroom along is one of the best reasons to have an RV.
As always the RV articles are great.
Trending into TMI, but cassette toilets are fine for #1, horrible for a #2.
Cmon what guy doesnt take a few steps out of tent or trailer and piss in the woods? It keeps the wife from bitching
I thought the consensus on this site is the correct answer to any automotive question is “Miata.”
I’d go this route if I had to camp in a trailer again. As Mercedes mentions, travel trailers are flimsy as heck and assembled with little to no care.
Cargo trailers would make an excellent blank slate to start TT projects because the walls are square. Having a huge door would be awesome for a toy-hauler build. The disadvantage would be weight per volume, but that’s a trade-off to gain durability.
$13,000? Again, I’m going to very much enjoy the implosion of the “I wanna start an RV/Traveltrailer/truckcamper/vanbuild company and get rich!” bullshit….
There was an article a week ago on Financial Times that mentioned Thor / Winnebago might be seeing some head winds (1/3 drop in revenue).. I don’t have an unpaywalled version (read it on print).. but the article can be found here https://finance.yahoo.com/m/94ab8b88-258d-3d10-8237-bf6f2b0554d1/thor-winnebago-the-wheels.html
Has anyone ever tried making an RV or camper thingy out of an old stretch limo? Plenty of square feet to work with, and you could hike the roof somehow.
Renogy is a pretty legit comany, right? There’s lots of sketchy inverters and solar controllers on Amazon et al.
General consensus is – they’re OK and a solid entry in the imported inverter market.
Yeah, pretty much this. They’re a “good” cheapo brand.
I think Victron is probably the best.. the problem with these controllers for off grid use is they themselves use power, so you really have to select the right one for your application, especially if your setup is small, you don’t want power to get wasted because of inefficiencies.
I have Renogy “smart” LFP batteries, charge controller and display. The Bluetooth attachment for the display worked once. Can’t complain about the rest.
The Renogy smart battery line is pretty cool, and has a feature I’ve not seen offered elsewhere. Each battery has two RJ-45 connectors, which allows the installer to daisy-chain the battery BMSs to each other and a low-cost display. The first-gen display is nothing to write home about from a UI perspective, but it displays the state of charge, rate of charge or discharge, error conditions and voltage straight from the BMSs. Reading data from the collective BMS is better than a shunt, as far as I’m concerned.
As another commenter mentioned, the gold standard is Victron, but at a significant cost premium over similar products.
Is that bed supposed to be a bunk bed? God forbid you draw the bottom bunk straw.
Also, god forbid the toilet leaks and soaks into the bottom mattress.
ProbablyHopefully slides out.Still not great.
It’s a slide out.
Maybe I missed something, but how do you get in and out, other than the big door on the back? If you close yourself in at night, how do you open it in the morning? Or is there some kind of screen that goes in there and the door stays open?
Alright, I re-read and found the part about the interior latch.
Now how to get out if some prankster decides to engage the exterior latch.
Typically those latches allow you to lock the latch closed OR open. It would definitely be a good idea to padlock it so that you couldn’t be locked in.
Ah, yes. Good point.
There’s always the window