Trailer living quarters, grassroots style

Getting off topic a bit but I would upgrade security first. Lojack and ID numbers on the roof. That is a nice looking trailer.

I use one of the outdoor showers. I think I got the tent part at walmart for about $20 and the bag for $10. Works fine for hillclimbs. I take a shower after running in the evening, and the water is nice and warm. Fiancee took a shower in the morning and the water was nice and cold. Just something to remember when using a solar water bag. They also make small propane water heaters, and I have seen several people using them with the nozzle hooked on the side of the trailer.

I'll be following along with this. I'm interested in doing something similar when I get an enclosed trailer.

There is a water heater setup that the expedition crowd uses, where you basically plumb in a water to water heat exchanger into your vehicle. Crank the engine and you now have hot water.

put a drain in the floor in a corner, hang curtain rods and build a little bit of a lip to keep water from spreading, and for the actual water, just fill a jug if necessary.

DILYSI Dave wrote: There is a water heater setup that the expedition crowd uses, where you basically plumb in a water to water heat exchanger into your vehicle. Crank the engine and you now have hot water.

I wonder if you could do this but instead of using the tow vehicle's engine, use the generator's engine? That way you're running a motor that you would plan to run at the track any way. The catch might be finding a water cooled generator, but it might be worth it.

dculberson wrote: I wonder if you could do this but instead of using the tow vehicle's engine, use the generator's engine? That way you're running a motor that you would plan to run at the track any way. The catch might be finding a water cooled generator, but it might be worth it.

It probably would be cheaper to just use a propane water heater than buy a water cooled generator.

Definitely some good ideas. With the inside of the trailer being plywood, not sure I want a shower in there that isn't self-contained. Would need some sort of shower stall, maybe could get one from a RV junkyard. Although the outdoor shower idea would be easy.

Generator exhaust runs through a coil that runs through a 10 gallon water tank. Capture the waste heat.

Time for an update. Towed the trailer loaded this past Sunday for the first time (4/30/12). Weight is a factor as the 350 had quite the workout pulling the trailer. No real issues with wind, pulls nicely, just can't be in a hurry to get there. Did turn the once rusty exhaust manifolds a dark gray, think they got a bit warm? Looking into possibly putting a TPI setup on the engine for more torque or bitting the bullet and just find a 454 to replace it. Money is tight so neither idea will happen for a while.

I now know how much room I have to work with. Max space is 8' x 7.5' (6.5' tall) not counting the 3' v-nose section (FYI, trailer is actually 28 ft long, not 30). Winch is mounted up in the v-nose, centered. Not a ton of room but doable. With the weight issue, not sure putting water tanks in is a good idea, or a full on living quarters either. I may for now just setup a work area for the car, with some cabinets and storage space.

FWIW, I love sleeping on hammocks. What about just stringing a hammock up inside it. I bet there's enough framework to do that. If not, we could fab up something that mounts in the E-channel that would work.

Sell your trailer and buy a Work & Play toy hauler. Best thing I've ever done hands down for racing. Tops all motor and car changes. It's so nice to come off the track go inside cool down grab a freeze pop out of the freezer and sit on the couch and turn on bluesville and relax http://www.forestriverinc.com/nd/default22.asp?page=feat&choice=worknp&series=20TravelTrailers&nav=rec

I got a 2007 model 28BD in 2010 new left over and love it. Wife really love no skeeter bites or unzipping the tent to go pee at night.

44

44Dwarf, I would love to do that, just not in the budget. Thanks for the site, some good floor plans on there, at least I can get some ideas on what can fit in my trailer if I do a living quarter setup.

A hammock is a good idea. I had always planned to make the bed (portable, air mattress, hammock, etc) portable or easy to take down, so I could sleep in the middle (when the car was outside) and take down the bed for travel. I guess the main things I was wanting in a living quarters were storage, cooking and shower/potty area. Bedding and seating were going to be portable/fold down stuff to save room.

In reply to 44Dwarf:

I wish those plans and specs listed how large the cargo area is. Some look fine for an ATV or maybe a small formula car, but don't look large enough to haul most cars other than maybe a classic Mini. The weights on the ones large enough for a car would require a pretty serious truck to pull it.

This project might interest you some.

I seem to remeber a thread on pirate4x4 where a guy bought an extra-long car trailer and plunked a small camp trailer (think Boler or small Scotty) on the front of it with enough room for his jeep at the back.

Might be a simple solution to a common problem.

Shawn

Trans_Maro wrote: I seem to remeber a thread on pirate4x4 where a guy bought an extra-long car trailer and plunked a small camp trailer (think Boler or small Scotty) on the front of it with enough room for his jeep at the back. Might be a simple solution to a common problem. Shawn

This? The pirate 4x4 thread

No, this was a different unit, less redneck looking.

I remember it was a VERY long bumper-pull tailer, 28 feet or so.

Shawn

They used to list the cargo area and all so used to make about 20 other models....but times are tuff. We paid less then 1/2 for our "left over" It truly had sat on there lot 3 years but came with factory warranty from day of payment! We went looking and talked with many rv dealers for 4 year before buying and thought buy truck 1st then after its paid off buy toy hauler....when a realeaste deal feel throught and my old truck tried to kill us we got the truck then went looking and could not turn the deal up. My garage area is 13ft 8 inches but the box is only 28ft truck and trailer are 59ft end to end. Mines a bumper pull. There is a brand that a open trailer with a pop up at the front on sideways so when open the tent area is on left and right side. Nice units but I don't have that kind of room at the track we park tight like 3ft side to side.

sachilles wrote: This project might interest you some.

Thank you, that is a good link.

44Dwarf, I would need more garage area, Camaro is 16ft long and needs close to 20 ft including tie downs. That leaves me 8 ft left. Those are nice trailers, if I could afford to I would think about it. I am kinda keeping an eye out for a small popup camper for cheap to get some RV stuff from, but that will be later on.

I had an enclosed trailer that we would sleep in sometimes. Make sure you insulate the walls and celing before you even think about ac or heat. I had the ac unit in the celing and it was only $300 new and I could get heat for $50 more. Make sure you use the thickest extension cord you can find. I melted a $50 cord when I plugged in at mid Ohio.

I used small electric heater that I used to warm the garage. I also used a air mattress bed that had a frame to keep it off the ground. With the air compressor that I kept in the trailer, I could set it up quickly.

I put a alarm on the trailer (used the trailer brake battery for power). It had door and motion sensors.