Toy Hauler Fifth Wheel convert to horse trailer?

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Ok, we have been debating on getting a toy hauler to go camping with. 1, we can take the golf cart. Nice… 2. i can take dogs and keep them back there when we are out of the camper.

But we would like to do more camping with the horses… So to do that, we then need to take two trucks/two trailers.

I’ve been looking at horse trailers with living quarters and can not find floorplans that work for us. Well, that dont come with a $375,000 price tag… :lol: (I’m needing two bedrooms and/or master bed and loft, residential size fridge, actual bath tub (need not be large, but a tub for small kid, not just a dinky stand up shower) and i want a washer/dryer combo in it.)

So i keep looking at a toy hauler (which comes with a much more budget friendly price tag of around $40-50k for what i want) wondering, can i possibly build in stalls in the back and reinforce it enough to handle 2 large ponies and a mini? I would even have room to still put the golf cart in.

Has anyone done it? Am i just losing my mind? Most say they can support 2500lbs back there… I would be pushing that number with ponies and golf cart. No way would i put a big horse in it or anything… But heck, if i run down the road with generator on, they would even have air conditioning…

I’m assuming i would have to line the stall part with half-inch plywood to protect my walls, its got rubber floors, but i could put extra mats on top, though that adds more weight. It might be interesting making a set up for stall partitions, but i’ve got a friend that welds and could figure out something for us that we could remove when not in use. My ponies haul very well, i’m not concerned about them dancing around or kicking holes out the sides…

There has got to be a better option than living quarter horse trailers that break the bank! They are gorgeous and all, but come on, i dont need a palace to camp in, i just need space and storage.

[weasel1088]

What are the floors of the cargo area made out of on a toy hauler?

[wsmoak]

I’d go the other direction and get a stock trailer with a big dressing room, then finish out as much LQ as you need. It might even be cheaper.

Look for one with the big gates that separate the back into box stalls, then the golf cart can go in one, and you can easily get three horses in one box.

I’d also get a walk-through door from the dressing room to the horse area. Once the cart is unloaded, that’s extra “living space” while you’re camping.

[butlerfamilyzoo]

I’m not 100% what the floors are constructed of in the toy haulers. I know its steel frames and insulation in there, but it might be just a layer of plywood over top and then rubber floor. It might be something we can take the flooring up and lay down wood planks. Some have drains in them, but otherwise, i’m figuring i would bed heavy for the long hauls in case anyone has to unload a bladder and then power wash it out.

I’ll look into the stock conversion. I’m thinking i would need at minimum a 23ft long dressing room, and would have to have slides installed, which run 6-10k depending on length. Have to do some searching to see what i can find like that.

OK, so maybe i dont need a palace… but i need a darn good living area… And i sure dont mind finishing the inside how we want it, it would be a fun summer project. The big thing with this is that my husband is required to travel now and then for his job, he could take this and stay in it, and we may visit him on long trips, so thus we would need fairly decent living space for longer term if needed. Some of the toy haulers i’ve looked at are gorgeous, but horse trailers for the same price are hideous and not set up for our needs at all.

I was also thinking of maybe a used car hauler trailer and modifying that, again, i would probably have to take up the flooring to reinforce it though.

[tle]

I don’t remember the company, but we saw converted toy hauler type trailers at QH Congress this year. They were really cool looking. 3 stalls in back (straight load) and over the stall area was a bedroom loft. They were beautifully decked out. sorry I don’t remember the company or the price tag on them, but maybe they’ll be listed if you hit up the QH Congress website.

[cyriz_s_mom]

tle - that sounds cool!!

I was surfing horsetrailerworld.com the other day and saw a 5th wheel RV with a 4th horse in the back. The front was much nicer…real life sized than any LQ I’ve seen. Want to say is was a Foretravel???

Another option might be, depending on why you need two bedrooms, is a LQ trailer with bunk beds. I’ve seen some where there’s a separate room on the back side of the bathroom with two bunk beds. It even has its own outside door.

I drive by a bunch of RV places on my way to the barn where Cyriz is and see those toy haulers. I’ve had the same thought myself.

Good luck!

[butlerfamilyzoo]

I went through the QH congress site and googled all the places that sounded like trailer/conversion or otherwise trying to track down that dealer that had the modified toy haulers. No luck. Darn it! But at least i know someone has done it!

I did find a few more living quarters options with a second bedroom (bunks as mentioned above) and that would be a fine set up. But the price tag is 90k or more…

Seriously, i can get a REALLY nice toy hauler brand spanking new for under 50k that offers everything i want (including that washer/dryer combo) and even some extras, like a second bathroom, and still have 12x8ft of cargo area in the back for the golf cart and ponies. I can fit 3 straight load stalls in to fit mine with no issues. I think mostly its going to be, can it handle the weight, and is the floor strong enough. Not so much can the trailer handle the weight, but that’s putting a lot of back end weight to pull on the truck frame and it may not be the most pleasant to haul around.

I know its going to be huge and bulky to get in places, but previously we were hauling a three slant with dressing room behind a 32ft motorhome… We are used to big and bulky. We sold the motorhome to upgrade to something more living friendly. You can get a lot more bang for your buck in a fifth wheel camper, then that led us to looking at toy haulers, and now i’m here…

Because this would need to be liveable for more than weekend excursions, i need that second room for kids. I dont want to be folding out couches or dinettes every night/morning and having a mess everywhere. I think we would feel cramped real quick and it wouldnt be as much fun. I know you plan on being outdoors most of your trip, but i know the issues we had with the motorhome, it really was a pain in the rear. Doesnt help that we travel with dogs too…

[PRS]

I saw some pictures awhile back. Someone on one of the lists I belong to did exactly what you describe. They took a toy hauler and made a place in the back to haul minis. I tried to find the message but can’t. They even included pictures so I know it is possible. They even had the loft above the minis.

[Lady_Counselor]

Hate to pee on your parade, but toy hauler/campers are NOT made to carry horses. The framework and structure is significantly different. If it was that easy to convert a trailer to have bedrooms and hauling capacity for horses that was safe, you would see them all over the road.
Horses can be very powerful creatures. A horse can kick the snot out of a trailer that is built to hold him. What do you think they can do in one that is substandard?
Campers are built pretty flimsy. Go to any camper yard and look at the structure then look at the average horse trailer. Is it worth the risk?
Unless you want to have a huge budget for it, go with taking two trucks, get a camper that suits your needs, buy a decent bp or stock for the other one and have the best of both worlds. It won’t be the perfect setup you want, but it will be a damn sight better than spending money on an expensive toy hauler only to find you can’t safely use it the way you want.

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Lady Counselor… Have you ever looked at a brenderup? You cant get much thinner/lighter weight/odder construction than that and that type of trailer has been extensively used in europe for a few decades now. You can get yours shipped here in pieces flat in a box with a nice fancy price tag.

Gotta be my favorite trailer of all time too, just wish they made them in a 3 stall. I know 4 people who own them, one of them has a 1981 model that still looks like brand new.

I helped a friend install a new floor on hers (had to order it) and the construction on that thing couldnt be much different than the flooring on a camper.

I think its us US people that think we’ve got to have steel monsters to haul around our horses. I’ve got one of those myself. About sick of it. Sucker rusts, paint jobs are half the price of a new one if you want it done right and only hopefully last 7-10yrs.

So looking at the floor on my steel trailer, i’ve got some steel cross beams supporting 2x6 planks. That’s it.

I do have a friend that used a small toy hauler (set up for motorcycles with loft overheard) that uses it for her minis, but minis are a bit smaller. I would have no fears throwing my mini in there for a trip. Its my 900lb girls i am more concerned about. I have large ponies, so again, its not like i’m looking at putting a 17h 1800lb horse in there. I would be concerned if one were to lean on a wall and think i would have to weld in some supports/stalls to prevent them from that. But i’ve never heard of a horse leaning on a brenderup and falling through.

[cyriz_s_mom]

The trailer I saw was a Forks. The website is www.forksrv.com. They are expensive, but they look like regular 5th wheels and they make RVs, so perhaps a place to get some info.

At www.horsetrailerworld.com, I saw a number of 4 horse, with bunk beds for under 50k. They were 2005-2007. I would think that you could find a 3 horse as well.

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Forks RV has exactly what i would want. I’m scared to ask the price…

I’ve searched horsetrailerworld, i’m just not finding good longer term living space. If all i wanted it for was the weekend camping trip, no problem. But i really need something liveable for more a month or more at a time if my husband uses this for work trips too. If no kids/dogs, they would be fine. I’m just seeing us trip all over each other for our couple weeks of straight camping.

[mypaintwattie]

Try a search, there was another thread about this not so long ago, I think the general consensus on that was that it just wouldn’t work. I’ve thought about it too, but like others would worry about the construction and weight distribution, and I’m a person who likes the Brenderups;)

[Spotted_Pony]

LQ Trailer

I have a 4H LQ with bunk beds that my DD and I lived in for a whole summer on the road a few years ago. It was very comfortable and I never really missed the comforts of home.
We felt like we had plenty of room - and she always had a friend sleeping over. It has a mid tack that offers extra storage, and probably could have a w/d installed in it. I could do regular grocery shopping and cooked “real” meals every night.
In the back we packed all our trunks and horse show paraphenalia, 2 VERY large horses and a golf cart.
Might be something that would work for you with just a few relatively inexpensive modifications (bathtub and w/d). DD is off to college and DH keeps bugging me to get rid of it. I

[butlerfamilyzoo]

If it doesnt have slide outs in the living/kitchen area, it wont work for us.

We lived in our 32ft motorhome for 2yrs. (Well i did, my husband was in S. Korea the first year). It did not have slides. And while fine for me and the animals, that second year was really rough, and that is a good amount of living space. With kids now however, i just cant see us being happily cramped up that much in a smaller living area if there arent any slides to give some more elbow room.

Loved living in that thing though, it was so nice to just unplug and go to a show, travel to clinics, go camping, etc… I hate being tied down! I’m a gypsy at heart.

Its really looking right now that we’ll just have two trucks and trailers for horse trips. Bummer, but price wise, i just cant beat a toy hauler for all it offers living wise. I’m also looking at getting an even bigger fifth wheel camper and selling my 3H and getting something larger to put the golf cart/horse carts in that instead. I can still go cheaper than the LQ options and get way more bang for my buck.

Maybe in another 10-20yrs the horse trailer companies will start making LQs without all the wacko expensive interiors and bring prices down some. Why on earth i would want to put an expensive leather couch in my horse trailer is really beyond me! It would scream chew toy for my dogs…

[partita]

I’m going to venture a guess that a Brenderup horse trailer is built much more stout than a toy hauler. I see those toyhaulers heading up to Mt. Rainier every weekend and those little axles and tires just scare the snot out of me. I’ve never looked underneath one, but I seriously doubt the floor supports are strong enough or close enough together to support a horse, not to mention how the floor is constructed. They are designed for hauling snowmobiles or motorcycles, etc. No way would I put a horse in there. I agree with the idea of buying a large horse trailer and building in your living quarters. Although I’ve heard some horror stories about doing that too! Maybe you could look into a custom made horse trailer with just the bare bones living quarters, built to your specs, and you can finish it out later?

[JustTrails]

As a toy hauler owner, I would never ever put a horse in it. The struts are not strong enough, neither are the floors. I’ve seen first hand what happens when they crash, they basically disentigrate.

We had a tire blow and were amazed at how it took out the underside, exposing plywood flooring.

Perhaps you could find a used PlayMor motorhome/toyhauler combo, and use it to tow the horse trailer.

Good luck!

[JRG]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=toy+hauler+turned+horse+trailer&view=detail&mid=32E7B554041049346EC232E7B554041049346EC2&FORM=VIRE

[Christa_P]

@JRG

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=toy+hauler+turned+horse+trailer&view=detail&mid=32E7B554041049346EC232E7B554041049346EC2&FORM=VIRE

Old thread, but this looks interesting.

A few things I would like to see changed are the mangers and the openings in the doors under the mangers - they should be solid. Personally, I would remove the mangers and put in full height escape doors with a breastbar a few feet back. It also should have chains or butt bars inside the rear doors for added security.