Paul Elkins of Washington state designs and builds all kinds of cool things including this lightweight travel trailer he put together for his trip to the Burning Man festival. (This year’s event is taking place Aug. 31-Sept 7, 2009)
Elkins chose to live the nomad life for the week he was at the annual desert event on the Black Rock Playa in Nevada.
The Burning Man bicycle camper was not designed for road use, says Elkins. “This unit had to endure winds of 60 mph, heat of 100+ degrees … The camper is about 100 pounds dry weight. The skin is 1/4″ flutted plastic, like what’s used for election signs. This was riveted and screwed onto 3/4″ square aluminum tubing salvaged from an old satellite dish. The base was made of 2×2 fir. The 30″ square door frame, made of 1×2’s was skrewed to the side panel, cut on the sides and bottom. The upper part was left uncut to act as a hinge. The bed hinges in a lounge attitude. On the outside resides an herb flower box, a urinal funnel (sanicans were a ways off) and 13″ wheel-barrel wheels on a 1/2″ axle mounted with 1/2″ square tubing made up the running gear. I used 3/4″ steel for the tow bar, a recycled card table for the corner camper supports, and misc. this and that. It’s whatever I had kicking around at the time, and that’s how anyone would have to do it if worst came to worst.”
There are many more pictures on Elkins’ High Mileage Trikes blog.
If by chance you get a wild hair and want to attend this year’s Burning Man in your RV … click here for helpful information and tips on the care and feeding of your RV.
Photo: Paul Elkins and his bicycle travel trailer. High Milleage Trikes.
