SnoWest Project Trailer 2015: Building a "MORE" perfect trailer.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

In October of 2014 I set out to build "The Perfect Trailer".
This thread will be a continuation of that journey.

Original Thread (550+ posts)
http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353312

My original goal was to build a custom one of a kind trailer that met three very different purposes.

#1. It had to be an every weekend sled hauler that would hold
4 Long Track Mountain sleds with ease, with loads of left over free space
5 Long tracks with just a little work
6 Long tracks when push came to shove for international trips.

#2. It had to be MULTI-PURPOSE.
Considering the amount of money that goes into a custom trailer, it had to work all year long for a variety of different uses.
It had to haul RZRs and ATVs in the summer

#3. It had to be FUN and PLEASANT to be IN & AROUND so my entire family/friends would enjoy it.

Those three goals were all met in the custom trailer that Mirage built for me

We packed that sucker full of Sleds all winter.

ATVs in the Summer.

And used it as a PARTY TRAILER for trips to the lake on weekends.

All in all I was SUPER HAPPY with the trailer.
And all of that is well documented in the original thread.

If you are considering ordering a custom trailer, you REALLY owe it to yourself to read that MONSTER THREAD from start to finish and extract HUNDREDS of great comments from other SnoWest Trailer owners on all the little INS and OUTS of building the perfect trailer!

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

So why the new thread?

In early August Mirage Trailers contacted me and said they would like to build me a new updated 2015 trailer that took into account all of the comments and feedback I offered them over the last 6 months. The owner of Mirage told me to SELL MY NEW TRAILER and he would build me a new one.

So I posted it for sale here on SnoWest and sold it a couple days later to a member up in Montana.

I now have NO TRAILER and am beginning the process of building the MORE PERFECT trailer (MK II), and hoping that Mirage can get this one build in short order so I have it in time for the SnowShow to show off!

Several members have asked me to document this 2nd edition trailer just like I did the first one, so expect this to be another huge thread over the coming months.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

For starters I will begin with the exact same configuration that we settled in on for the first trailer, and then make modifications from there. As I said, I was SUPER HAPPY with the overall trailer, it fit my needs darn near perfectly!

===

Here is my current build list.
30ft, 8.5' Wide Extreme Sport Dual Axle.

Mirage Model Number: MXSP8.530TA3
GVWR: 9990
Dry Weight: 3990
Payload: 6000
Overall Length: 32' 8"
Overall Width: 102"
Overall Height: 106"
Platform Height: 25"

Frame: 8" I-Beam
Floor Crossmembers: 16" o/c
Wall Crossmembers: 16" o/c
Rear Opening: 92"w x 75"h
Interior Height: 80"
Interior Sidewall Height: 70"
Interior Length: 28'
Interior Width: 97"

Bolt Pattern: 6 Lug on 5.5"
Tires: ST225/75R15 "D" 15" Radial
Brakes: All Axles
Axles: 5200# Torsion Brake
Hitch: 2 5/16" Adj.
Hitch Weight: 389
Hitch Height: 17" - 24"
Jack: 5k Drop Leg

Base price = $12,767

Highmark Package

24" Stone Guard
LED Clearance Lights
(2) 15"x15" Fuel Door (roadside)
(2) Side Wall Air Flow Vents
6" ATP Exterior Trim
12" ATP Interior Skid Guard Along Bottom of Walls
(2) 12v Power Roof Vents w/ Exhaust Fans
(6) 12v LED Dome Light and Switch
(2) Rear, (1) Front Ramp Door LED Loading Lights w/ Switch
(2) Floor Tie Downs
(4) Heavy Duty D-Rings
Nylon Ski Guides Over Tapered Fender Box
Spare Tire (Mod Style)
Under Chassis Spare Mount
(2) 4' Aluminum Helmet Cabinets
Front Cabinet Heated w/ Expanded Aluminum Bottom
Wall and Ceiling Insulation
6" ATP Trim on Front and Rear Ramps
Deluxe Graphics (Specify Color) (Current Year Only)
(3) Coat Hooks Below Each Cabinet
Aluminum Wheels w/ Chrome Hub Covers
30k BTU Ducted Forced Air Heater w/ LPG Bottles on Tongue
38 Gallon Fuel System
Fold-up Aluminum Work Bench
Fold-up Aluminum Sitting Bench
CD/AM/FM Stereo and 4 Speakers
Alike Keyed Security Hasps Each Ramp
15 Amp Motorbase
110v Electrical Outlet
Certification Sticker
Boot Dryer
Recessed Battery Box

Blackout Package

Black ATP Stoneguard
Black 6" Exterior ATP
Black 6" Interior ATP
Black ATP Cabinets (When Ordered)
Black ATP Heater Ducts (When Ordered)
Black ATP Fuel Door(s)
Black Front and Rear Wraps
Screwless VHB Exterior in Your Choice of Color
Custom "Stygian" Graphics
Custom "Stygian Reaper" Graphics (Availalbe at Extra Charge)
Boot and Glove Dryer (Available at Extra Charge)
Black .080 Roof Wraps

Interior Accent Color Package

Fuel Door Trim Rings
Smooth Aluminum Roof Coving and Cabinets
Front and Rear Spring Assist Covers
Interior Corner Post Wraps

Upgrade Packages = $8,645

Custom Upgrades.
+6" trailer height for Side by Side ATVs $605
Wide Side Door $25
Interior wired for 110volts $765
Interior wired for TV $109
LED Load Lights by Side RV Door $81
20' Awning $742
2 Additional Load Lights $150
2 Roll Over Sofa Seats $1,743
LED Strip Back Up Lights $105
Custom Overhead Cabinets $425
Dual Deep Cycle Batteries in floor $345
Rear Internal Drain System $320
2 Windows $395
2 External Flood Lights $165
Fire Extinguisher and CO Detector $260
6" Extended Tongue $270
2 External Speakers $90

Custom Upgrades = $7,265

+ a full set of SuperTrax "Superglides II Pro" Glides.

TOTAL TRAILER COST = $31,250

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

This was the final floor plan of the fist trailer, and will be the begining point for the 2nd trailer.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

As the months rolled by after taking delivery of the trailer last winter we kept a log sheet in the trailer and would try to write down something on it every time we used it.

The Good
The Bad
General comments and thoughts about anything related to the beast.
In the middle of summer I finally pulled that log sheet out and transcribed the whole thing for Mirage and fired it off to them. Those comments are what triggered the offer for a new updated improved 2015 Trailer.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

1. Wall Mounted Fire Extinguisher

I had decided that my trailer had to have a fire extinguisher and that I wanted it right out in the open where we could get to it Fast and Easy.Mirage did exactly what I asked them to do and mounted it down low right next to the door. And sure enough, the VERY first time I loaded the sleds I broke the Fire Extinguisher right off the wall!

I still think this is a MUST HAVE ITEM.
I would however prefer to have a HALON extinguisher as it makes one heck of a lot less mess if you ever have to put out a sled engine fire.

Comment I sent to Mirage.
Raise the Fire Extinguisher from ground level to chest level
Sled ran into this on day one and broke it off the wall
Its been living inside the front cabinet every since.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

2. Heater Thermometer

For the most part it was really little more than an ON-OFF switch.
When it was cold, you wanted the heater ON pretty much all the time.
The trailer, even with insulation, really isn't able to retain much heat when the heater goes off, so I am not sure the thermometer ever really turned "off" the heater during the winter.

Message sent to Mirage
Thermometer really didn't work very well, the slide didn't want to hold any particular temperature setting on the low side.
It was basically either ON high or off.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

3. Steel Shelf Tray

I asked Mirage to install a general purpose steel shelf.This was one of the most used pieces of furniture in the trailer.
it was ALWAYS FULL and incredibly useful. But because we right mountain sleds that have raised handlebars that mounting point for the lower support brackets was just a little bit too low and allowed my handlebar grips to make contact with it if I wasn't paying close attention. In the next trailer I intend to have a 2nd shelf installed. Just too useful not to have another mounted to the wall!

Message sent to Mirage
Sled handle bars hit the supports beneath the tray and sliced open the hand grips.
Shelf needs to be a couple inches higher.
This was one of the most used features in the trailer.
Would HAPPILY have a 2nd one if room could be found to mount it!!

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

4. Better Stereo
My Number one user comment

Without a doubt, one of the most FUN features of the trailer was the sound system. Who would have thought that playing some tunes before and after the ride would be SO DANG NICE. Talk about setting the "Tone" for the day's ride. The inside speakers rocked the trailer all winter long, and come Spring the outside speaker picked up the slack and lit up all the area around the trailer for lakeside parties. Absolutely LOVED having sound!

BUT.
There were some serious shortfalls on the road to acoustic nirvana..

1. This is a LOOONG trailer.
With a pair of speakers in the front and a pair in the rear, the middle had a huge difference in volume that either of the ends. Trailer needs at least 6 speakers inside of it to cover all the square footage.

2. As much as it needed "more" speakers" I think it needed BETTER speakers as well. My last job was manufacturing performance lake boats, and sound systems was one of the things all of my customers DEMANDED, as tunes on the lake were an absolute necessity. So I have a little background in wet environment sound systems. This trailer needs some upgrade marine 3 way speakers. That would hugely change the overall quality of the sound. BUT, the skin/walls of the trailer, even with being insulated are VERY thin. So I am not sure there is a way to mount a cone based speaker IN the ceiling. My guess is that we will need to hang the speakers in enclosures and let them be exposed in some manner.

3. Because we are dealing with a trailer, the inside is SUPER reflective. There is just nothing to deaden the sound waves from bouncing off every hard flat surface. With that in mind I felt that 1-2 small subs, mounted inside of the cabinets in the very front and very rear of the trailer would add a tremendous amount of "quality" to the over all sound.

4. The trailer came with an acceptable stereo head unit, but it was nothing to write home about. I would like to seriously upgrade this to something MUCH more cutting edge and feature rich. At the very least we desperately needed a multichannel head so we could isolate the inside sound from the outside sound.

Message sent to Mirage
a. 6 speakers instead of 4
b. High quality speakers and a sub woofer
c. Couple 3 way speakers
d. Better head unit

So the stereo was a mixed blessing.
We LOVED having music in the trailer, made the trailer user experience MUCH more fun! We didn't love the way it sounded.
With the speakers in the front and the rear the sound dispersion was very poor. Very loud in front and rear, kinda dead in the middle There needs to be a 3rd set of speakers in the MIDDLE of the trailer to balance out the sound from front to rear.

The speakers in the trailer sound "Tinny", they are shallow and without a well rounded sound. What would be REALLY nice are some higher quality 3-way marine speakers. (and I fully understand the size limitations you are working with in the ceiling mounted speakers)

One thought we had was to add a small sub woofer inside of one of the storage cabinets at the front and rear of the trailer to overcome the shallow speakers mounted inside the roof.
If we can't mount better larger speakers because of depth limitations, then perhaps a small 6-8" woofer mounted in the cabinet facing down would do the trick.?

We also needed a 2 channel speaker control so that the Inside Speakers could be isolated from the Outside speakers. Channel A and channel B. Lots of times we want to crank up the OUTSIDE speakers, which made it impossible to be inside the trailer.
Likewise, better outside speakers would be Greatly Appreciated by the crowd. People absolutely LOVED having sound on the outside of the trailer! Who would have guessed how nice that was.

In general we found the head unit to be less than desirable.
Would really prefer to have a better overall unit to work with.
Found it a real pain to use the Blue Tooth link as that was THE primary way we brought sound into the trailer. Would just like something a little nicer, more modern, better looking and more user (technology) friendly in general.

kevinm7 · Aug 30, 2014

Hey Christopher. Did you ever sleep in the trailer trough the summer or spring while using it with the ATV's? We are looking at a new trailer this winter and I want mine to be an all around trailer as opposed to seasonal use. If you did sleep in it, what was your experience? Good or bad? What needs to be done to make it comfortable to use as a sleeping quarters? Obviously it will never be as comfortable as a camp trailer, but is it bearable for use as strictly sleeping in if need be??

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

Absolutely!
I slept in it as did another couple.

Twice this summer we used the trailer as a "Troop Transport" to haul a ton of kids in our youth group. On both occasions the trailer was used to sleep in.

I slept in it by myself in the middle of a RAGGING STORM.
Howling wind, pelting rain, cracking lightning all night long.

I did NOT deploy the stabilizers in the rear of the trailer.
When the wind howled hardest, the trailer would gently rock, but not enough to keep me awake. All in all it made for a delightful camper.

I slept on the fold down seats.
Only thing I found is that I needed to stuff a big beach towel down into the crack between the two couches to smooth it out so I could sleep on it.
The couches are pretty firm, clearly made for Sitting.
If I was going to do it a 2nd time, I would take along my Thermarest Air-Mattress and lay that on of the fold down benches.

The other couple just set up camp on the floor using some fold up cots.
They slept in it for several days.

mountainhorse · Aug 30, 2014

christopher said:
1. Wall Mounted Fire Extinguisher

I had decided that my trailer had to have a fire extinguisher and that I wanted it right out in the open where we could get to it Fast and Easy.Mirage did exactly what I asked them to do and mounted it down low right next to the door. And sure enough, the VERY first time I loaded the sleds I broke the Fire Extinguisher right off the wall!

I still think this is a MUST HAVE ITEM.
I would however prefer to have a HALON extinguisher as it makes one heck of a lot less mess if you ever have to put out a sled engine fire.

Comment I sent to Mirage.
Raise the Fire Extinguisher from ground level to chest level
Sled ran into this on day one and broke it off the wall
Its been living inside the front cabinet every since.

Good to see another interesting build.

For a "More perfect trailer" .... fire ext system... My 2 cents.

For a fire extinguisher in a closed space with gasoline... two decent sized units mounted up high... one near your rear door... one near the front. (you don't want to walk through a fire to grab the extinguisher)

Halon has been discontinued since 1994...but still legal to sell/use recycled Halon.

Something like the Halotron units from the world-standard mfg. KIDDE.

With your family boating contacts... you should be able to purchase these for a considerable discount.

They are expensive... but well worth it should a problem arise. You definitely don't want to come up short. Not a place to skimp.

I'd recommend the KIDDE 11 lb. 466729 extinguishers along with the KIDDE 23131 extinguisher bracket (2 of each).

Actually...With this stout of a bracket... you could still mount it low on the floor if you wanted.... It would probably break the sled before it did the mount.

Personally I like the 15 lb units... but they are a bit on the expensive side for most.

I've had to use these on a closed space fire of a generator on a boat.... when you have a lot of fuel (like on a sled)... then you want a lot of capacity.

Good luck!!

.

DUKHTR3 · Aug 30, 2014

christopher said:
4. Better Stereo
My Number one user comment

Without a doubt, one of the most FUN features of the trailer was the sound system. Who would have thought that playing some tunes before and after the ride would be SO DANG NICE. Talk about setting the "Tone" for the day's ride. The inside speakers rocked the trailer all winter long, and come Spring the outside speaker picked up the slack and lit up all the area around the trailer for lakeside parties. Absolutely LOVED having sound!

BUT.
There were some serious shortfalls on the road to acoustic nirvana..

1. This is a LOOONG trailer.
With a pair of speakers in the front and a pair in the rear, the middle had a huge difference in volume that either of the ends. Trailer needs at least 6 speakers inside of it to cover all the square footage.

2. As much as it needed "more" speakers" I think it needed BETTER speakers as well. My last job was manufacturing performance lake boats, and sound systems was one of the things all of my customers DEMANDED, as tunes on the lake were an absolute necessity. So I have a little background in wet environment sound systems. This trailer needs some upgrade marine 3 way speakers. That would hugely change the overall quality of the sound. BUT, the skin/walls of the trailer, even with being insulated are VERY thin. So I am not sure there is a way to mount a cone based speaker IN the ceiling. My guess is that we will need to hang the speakers in enclosures and let them be exposed in some manner.

3. Because we are dealing with a trailer, the inside is SUPER reflective. There is just nothing to deaden the sound waves from bouncing off every hard flat surface. With that in mind I felt that 1-2 small subs, mounted inside of the cabinets in the very front and very rear of the trailer would add a tremendous amount of "quality" to the over all sound.

4. The trailer came with an acceptable stereo head unit, but it was nothing to write home about. I would like to seriously upgrade this to something MUCH more cutting edge and feature rich. At the very least we desperately needed a multichannel head so we could isolate the inside sound from the outside sound.

Message sent to Mirage
a. 6 speakers instead of 4
b. High quality speakers and a sub woofer
c. Couple 3 way speakers
d. Better head unit

So the stereo was a mixed blessing.
We LOVED having music in the trailer, made the trailer user experience MUCH more fun! We didn't love the way it sounded.
With the speakers in the front and the rear the sound dispersion was very poor. Very loud in front and rear, kinda dead in the middle There needs to be a 3rd set of speakers in the MIDDLE of the trailer to balance out the sound from front to rear.

The speakers in the trailer sound "Tinny", they are shallow and without a well rounded sound. What would be REALLY nice are some higher quality 3-way marine speakers. (and I fully understand the size limitations you are working with in the ceiling mounted speakers)

One thought we had was to add a small sub woofer inside of one of the storage cabinets at the front and rear of the trailer to overcome the shallow speakers mounted inside the roof.
If we can't mount better larger speakers because of depth limitations, then perhaps a small 6-8" woofer mounted in the cabinet facing down would do the trick.?

We also needed a 2 channel speaker control so that the Inside Speakers could be isolated from the Outside speakers. Channel A and channel B. Lots of times we want to crank up the OUTSIDE speakers, which made it impossible to be inside the trailer.
Likewise, better outside speakers would be Greatly Appreciated by the crowd. People absolutely LOVED having sound on the outside of the trailer! Who would have guessed how nice that was.

In general we found the head unit to be less than desirable.
Would really prefer to have a better overall unit to work with.
Found it a real pain to use the Blue Tooth link as that was THE primary way we brought sound into the trailer. Would just like something a little nicer, more modern, better looking and more user (technology) friendly in general.

I have been following your thread for ideas on my trailer. I just can't afford $30,000 trailer so I will be finishing the interior myself. My trailer is suppose to be done next week. I have a ton of supplies sitting in the shop ready to put in it. Here are a few ideas. The insulation they use from the factory is not top of the line stuff. Plus they only use 3/4 instead of 1". I would have them use 1" with foil back in it. I would stay away from Jensen sterio. They are for a retired 65 year old in his rv. They have no place in a snowmobile trailer. I will be putting a kenwood sterio with 5 channel amp. 2 speakers inside, 2 outside outside and a sub. All kicker speakers. I am using marine 6.5 for the exterior. What about a tool box, air conditioner, and a tv. Nothing like watching sled videos before a ride.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

DUKHTR3 said:
I have been following your thread for ideas on my trailer. I just can't afford $30,000 trailer so I will be finishing the interior myself. My trailer is suppose to be done next week. I have a ton of supplies sitting in the shop ready to put in it. Here are a few ideas. The insulation they use from the factory is not top of the line stuff. Plus they only use 3/4 instead of 1". I would have them use 1" with foil back in it. I would stay away from Jensen sterio. They are for a retired 65 year old in his rv. They have no place in a snowmobile trailer. I will be putting a kenwood sterio with 5 channel amp. 2 speakers inside, 2 outside outside and a sub. All kicker speakers. I am using marine 6.5 for the exterior. What about a tool box, air conditioner, and a tv. Nothing like watching sled videos before a ride.

Not sure there is much they can do to alter the insulation.
I will ask, but I would be surprised given that the walls and interior frames are pretty well standardized at the factory.

As for the stereo.
I would think the sky is the limit on that one.
We will be having a discussion on that this week.

christopher · Aug 30, 2014

I guess I missed the memo on halon being discontinued, didn't even notice the subtle differnce.
Bought this new one on the internet last winter.

Scott · Aug 30, 2014

I'll be watching and reading this thread also.

So the big question is (if I didn't catch it)... What's the color scheme?

I think you need a meat locker curtain at the back.

skibreeze · Aug 31, 2014

I have been thinking about one of those curtains, I hadn't seen the moveable ones before.

christopher · Aug 31, 2014

Scott said:
I'll be watching and reading this thread also.

So the big question is (if I didn't catch it)... What's the color scheme?

I think you need a meat locker curtain at the back.

I am requesting that they do a custom color this time, but do not know if it can be done or not.

ELECTRIC BLUE with blaze orange trim.

And YES, would love the freezer door, but that will be on me not Mirage.

Scott · Aug 31, 2014

christopher said:
I am requesting that they do a custom color this time, but do not know if it can be done or not.

ELECTRIC BLUE with blaze orange trim.

And YES, would love the freezer door, but that will be on me not Mirage.

Well if they can't then I guess a giant wrap is in your very near future.

mountainhorse · Aug 31, 2014

If you choose a "custom" color... Choose an actual automotive color... if you need to touch it up... you can match it perfectly as it will be a stock color.

There are LOTS of blues/oranges in the range you are looking for.

Just find out what brand and specific paint the mfg uses... and then go to your local bodyshop supply house that carries that line...
pick from the color book what you want...Mirage can put it on for you.

Heck... It will match your new Klim boots!!

Yea... you can still buy new units...but they fill with Recycled halon.

That is a nice little extinguisher.. I keep one like that in cab of my truck...but for a trailer full of gas powered machines...
something with capacity is what you need IMO.

I really like those curtains like they use in the race trailers... good add-on.
The one you have in the back of that semi trailer is pretty cool.
I've seen some that have an L-shaped track that allows you to pull it out of the way to the inside-side of the trailer.

.

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