Yet another camping trailer build

singleslammer wrote: Sweet. I am looking forward to seeing the final product.

Hmm... A lot depends on your perspective. By tomorrow, Phase I will be complete. That is, it will be a weatherproof box, sleep-able, and ready for a maiden voyage. As time goes on, improvements and amenities (such as ventilation and lighting) will be added.

But just like a car project, is it ever really finished??

looking good... i've been enjoying seeing your progress, I love the idea of a small trailer for camping

It's really coming along. I've wanted to do this for a long time with a HF trailer.

Interested in seeing the interior take shape. Do you plan to insulate it at all? The pink/blue polystyrene sheets, or maybe the foil backed styrofoam stuff - both available at your local big box store, would probably do a decent job. Covered with some simple luan paneling, I think it would be a pretty decent place to sleep (both from a sound and a comfort perspective).

4cylndrfury wrote: Interested in seeing the interior take shape. Do you plan to insulate it at all? The pink/blue polystyrene sheets, or maybe the foil backed styrofoam stuff - both available at your local big box store, would probably do a decent job. Covered with some simple luan paneling, I think it would be a pretty decent place to sleep (both from a sound and a comfort perspective).

Design considerations were taken into account for the future of possible insulation. The 2x2 framing will allow 1.5" foam board to be installed fairly simply, should I choose to do so. I tend not to camp when it is too cold out, but that may change.

EvanR wrote: I tend not to camp when it is too cold out

Probably because you never had a well insulated camping trailer

A dedicated inverter, a trickle charger, a spare car battery, and a small space heater, and youd probably be able to get away with am hour or 3 of heat in there...enough to keep the chill out with a good sleeping bag

4cylndrfury wrote:

EvanR wrote: I tend not to camp when it is too cold out

Probably because you never had a well insulated camping trailer A dedicated inverter, a trickle charger, a spare car battery, and a small space heater, and youd probably be able to get away with am hour or 3 of heat in there...enough to keep the chill out with a good sleeping bag

how much heat did those older camp lanterns put off?... a quick look though and they are much more expensive then they used to be... but I bet it would take the edge off... or an indoor propane heater or something.

but I was thinking a battery going to a vent fan would prob be beneficial for warmer weather

Still too windy to do the final roofing, so I occupied myself with door hardware today. Some camper shell bits, some random junk from my collection of random junk, and some heat shrink tubing for pretty, and it comes out like this:

Phase I is complete! Wahoo!

The roof skin is on! Coroplast! Yep - it's cheap, light, waterproof, and UV-resistant. What more could you want in a trailer roof? Held in place with shingle roof drip edge. Also light and cheap - easy to work with, too!

Bit of a detail shot here on how all the trim goes on and holds everything in place and covers my sloppy seams.

Don't have a metal bending brake? Couple of pieces of angle iron and a couple of clamps makes a passable brake, at least for .040 aluminum.

And voila! We have nose protector!

Now we have a sleep-able, sealed (enough) box for sleeping. It's been a longer haul than I anticipated, so I think I'll give it a rest before tackling ventilation and electrical.

did you use some sort of silicon under the drip edge to prevent water leaks and stuff?

still like it :) not as purdy as a tear drop... but it certainly looks like something I could build myself and be usable

I advise sealing EVERY exposed screw before the water finds its way inside. An ounce of prevention and all that.

oh yeah, there's a whole caulk gun tube worth of silicone under that trim.

Hey, remember this thread? I needed a little break, so I took one. Got back at it in the past week, so here's the update.

Part I: Electrical

Bunch of junk from the junk bin at work, and I have a complete electrical system :)

2@ 6V, 12Ah batteries from emergency lights, wired in series for 12VDC, mounted in a tray I fabbed up from a chunk of diamond-plate aluminum:

A switch box I threw together. All switches have pilot lights:

Here's the actual lighting. the green circle contains a LittleLite reading light, converted to LED. The blue circle is a strip of 15 SMD LED for general area lighting (it's WAY bright!), and the red circle is a piece of 1/2" square tube with 2 ordinary red LED, for night lighting/night vision.

Part II: Additional exterior work:

Cut, caulked, and installed a bit of aluminum angle to seal the lower front joint:

Then I solved a problem with the Coroplast roofing. On hot days, it was expanding and ballooning up, a good 3" from the subroof! I tamed that with some 1/8" x 1" aluminum flat bar:

The outer two ends are done, the center will have to wait until the roof vent goes in.

As for heat, you can heat up a terracotta pot to red-hot in a campfire then bring it inside on a cooling rack or cast iron pan etc. and it radiates heat for quite a while.

Nice work!

I would suggest putting some indoor/outdoor carpeting on the front lower edge to prevent rocks from bouncing off and chipping the paint on the rear of the Xb. Had that problem on a home built trailier years ago and did that to correct. Took me a while to figure out what was chipping my rear bumper and trunk...

Looks great!

admc58 wrote: Nice work! I would suggest putting some indoor/outdoor carpeting on the front lower edge to prevent rocks from bouncing off and chipping the paint on the rear of the Xb. Had that problem on a home built trailier years ago and did that to correct. Took me a while to figure out what was chipping my rear bumper and trunk...

Interesting tip! Thanks!

ebonyandivory wrote: As for heat, you can heat up a terracotta pot to red-hot in a campfire then bring it inside on a cooling rack or cast iron pan etc. and it radiates heat for quite a while.

or something like this perhaps... although open flame inside a small wood structure is questionable

http://youtu.be/brHqBcZqNzE

I just need to gloat. It rained hard today, first time since I finished off the roof. And it's bone dry inside!

That isn't gloating, that is valuable, data-driven, performance related feedback!

Woo! Remember me? Now all the idiots on the road can actually see my trailer! In the pics below, heavy circles are LED lights, medium circles are reflectors, and fine circles are 3M Conspicuity Tape. If they don't see me now, it's their fault, not mine!

Very nice

Timeormoney wrote: Very nice

Thanks!

Good work, keeping a running tab on the budget?

Slept in it yet?