Michael K's Fit-Big-Stuff Construction Trailer

It's all this is, is just, what can we do to make it faster, more convenient?
It's not perfect, but at the same time you have to think about how much time do you want to invest in your trailer, how much time does it save? If you make it too decisive on storage and everything, you lose time down the road.

Not a Paulk Trailer

Michael knows about Ron Paulk builds, but he wanted something that he felt would match his needs better:

You can't take a bunch of big stuff and put them in those trailers.

Paulk-style builds are pretty popular, but it goes without saying that you need to build a setup that works for you. You might do a specific type of work or you have a specific style of working.

Building a truck or trailer is about saving time and making money.

The most important thing is thinking about how your tools are organized, what tools you use, and how you organize them.

Holds a Kitchen

I've had all the kitchen appliances in here at one time.

Michael says that optimizing for space is really important for him. Most things roll around or can be removed so that he can carry large loads.

One of the ways he optimized the layout is to have a slightly over 8' long space under the workbench. This space usually holds tools, but he can easily roll them to the front of the trailer and stack sheets of plywood or 2x4s for framing here.

Appliances, 12' sheets, 16' lumber, or a bunk of lumber will fit in the trailer.

Power Toolbox

Tons of power tools live in a large Menard's toolbox at the rear cargo door. Batteries, chargers and tools have still not filled this thing!

Michael's very happy with this setup.

He points out that you should be very careful about where you bolt your metal toolboxes. Trailer walls and floors are usually not square and you can bend your toolbox. This could potentially make the drawers fail.

He likes the toolbox so much that he plans to get a couple more, stick them in the trailer nose, and build a workbench on top.

Mechanic's Toolbox

Michael uses a large metal toolbox for some stuff.

His favorite feature?

The drawers lock in place once they are fully pushed in. This is a no-brainer for any toolbox that's going to go on a vehicle to keep stuff from spilling all over the floor.

Michael says that this means that no one ever needs to remember to lock the toolbox at the end of the day. This is easy to forget and results in wasted time when someone needs to clean it up.

Beefy Power

This trailer needs to provide juice on the job, so it does that with a bank of 4 batteries and a 2000W Predator generator. The bank of batteries is hooked up to a charger and the 120V system in the trailer then runs off an inverter.

Why only a 2KW generator?

Space. Michael says everything was planned out and a 3KW or larger generator wouldn't fit as well.

The battery plus genny setup that he's got has worked great - he's been able to run an entire loft build job from the batteries where there was no power available.

DeWalt Stuff

A series of DeWalt TSTAK organizers are stashed on some shelves that mostly organize hardware and a few tools. DeWalt Toughsystem toolboxes also hang off one side of the trailer for tools and hardware.

This system allows individual toolboxes to be pulled off arms that mount to the wall. The empty arms can be folded flat against the wall when large cargo needs to be loaded into the trailer.

Both systems will stack on carts that they can simply wheel on to the jobsite.

Michael used to have some open bins hanging on the wall in the back of the trailer, but says that stuff would bounce out of them when driving around.

Also...

Make sure to check out Michael's other video on his trailer build. It goes into more detail on the electric setup.