HuckFinn410
Kansas City
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Joined: 11/16/2005
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I'm not at the stage of life where I am ready to go full time in an RV. Someday, just not yet. I am more of the weekend warrior with an occasional 1 or 2 week trip thrown in. My needs are far different than someone that intends to fulltime in their rig.
My family spends very little time hanging out inside the camper....most of our time is spent exploring, fishing, kayaking, sitting by the fire or just enjoying the outdoors. We seem to cook outside 99% of the time (love the Dutch Oven cooking). Many times it seems that we just go in the camper to sleep and use the restroom....and occasionally to avoid the rain, although one of my favorite things is sitting under the awning during a rain storm (if it's not too windy).
What I am hoping to find in an RV is this.....
**Well Made
**No frills. For this weekend warrior the last thing I need is frilly curtains and sconces...no wallpaper with 70's flowering...no particle board cabinets....
**To decorate, I can put up a couple of nice photographs from some of the places I've been, if I want to.
**Small enough to be towed by a lighter, smaller vehicle if needed
**good tires and axles
**reasonable price
I am thinking about making my own. Starting with a cargo trailer and roughing in some fold down bunks, a wet bath, a fold down dinette, and some basic storage. I would envision the back doors (no ramp) to have a couple of fold down tables to handle a portable kitchen sink and table for a cook stove. They would fold up out of the way for transit. Next, I would add a basic window a/c (saw some nice exterior trim pieces at the RV show to finish this off nicely). I would set up a 12X12 easy up tent to the back end to extend the living space.
I've priced out cargo trailers and they seem to be reasonably priced. Maybe a lightly used 7x12 trailer (or other trailers around the same size...7X14, 8X12?) for around $3500...add another $1,000 bucks into a conversion and finish it off with a shrink wrap decal of any design I want...or not. I am thinking that I could get away with about $5k to have a sturdy, customized, functional unit.
Has anyone here ever seen one like this or done this themselves? I've searched the web and can not find a good match.
I did see some "Work and Play" trailers from Forest River at the recent show. Great idea, nice units, but ridiculously priced.
Let me know if you have any ideas on how I could make this better...
Thank you
2005 GMC 1500 Sierra Crew Cab Z71 4X4
2005 KZ Frontier 2405
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cm
Dillon, CO USA
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Joined: 08/01/2002
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Two web sites to checkout.
expeditionportal.com Several different forums - even checkout ones like Hard Sided campers, other expedition rigs, etc. Most will have a posting from someone who built their own and will give you ideas, construction tips, etc.
Teardrops and Tiny Trailers www.mikenchell.com/forums/
Same as above. You will get ideas that can be applied to your design.
To get better ground clearance you might want to get a leaf spring style trailer. One with torsion axles may sit closer to the ground.
Good insulation will help in both warm and cold situations. Extruded polystyrene will give you the best combination of R-Value, durability, and is easy to fabricate. Either Dow Chemical Company's Styrofoam brand, blue color, or Owens Corning's Formular brand, pink color, are carried by a variety of suppliers.
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the bear II
Torrance CA.
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Joined: 02/14/2008
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Rather than build it, buy a used trailer. You should be able to pickup a used trailer in good shape for $1500 to $3500. You can then leave it as it is or remove some of the stuff you don't think you'll need. You'll have a nice base to start with and the $1000 to remodel it to meet your needs.
I would look for something with a good sized bathroom, small kitchen, lots of sleeping areas and storage. If you can find a 1976 or newer Nomad or Layton they have some good size bathroom areas. I've seen some of these still in good shape for $1500 to $2500. A 23 footer will give you what I described. It will be just right for up to 6 people.
There are lots of well cared for good used travel trailers out there. It may take some searching. The internet can help make the search quicker by using Craigslist, RV Trader Online, and other RV sales sites.
Based on what I've read in the RV forums and 40 years experience with RVs most folks try to start small and then find they need a bigger RV. Most people go through about 3 RV's before they find the size they like. We started with a 10 foot RV, then a 23 foot and now a 37 foot and we are only two people, no kids. Even the 37 footer gets to be too small sometimes. Don't think small, think comfortable. A 25 foot RV is just as easy and economical to pull as a 12 foot RV once you get used to it.
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bikendan
Napa, Cal.
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Joined: 11/21/2005
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check out the new Cricket Trailer, recently featured on TV.
Cricket Trailer
if i wanted a simple weekend trailer, this would be perfect for me.
Dan- Firefighter , Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur , Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever , 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche LS, 2007 Rockwood Roo 23SS w/Equalizer and Prodigy, and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes
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Francesca Knowles
Port Hadlock, Washington
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Joined: 02/23/2011
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Your "wet bath" requirement makes the project a lot more complicated.
Aside from the necessity for gravity-fed holding tanks, "bathrooms" suck up an amount of room disproportionate to the amount of time a person spends in them.
In your case, why dedicate 25% or so of your available space to a purpose that occupies, say, an hour (total) a day?
If you can content yourself with a porta potty and either using campground showers or sponge baths or both you could make yourself a really nice unit out of a cargo trailer.
" Not every mind that wanders is lost. " With apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien
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sandersmr
Texas
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Joined: 09/08/2010
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DBF and I talked about outfitting a trailer to be a cross between a tear drop and a small TT. He's 6'6" so a tear drop would not work well. Well then, we started pricing cargo trailers. To get one where we could do what we want and then outfit it was going to run in the neighborhood of what our trailer ended up costing. And I have a dry bath, an A/C and kitchen in mine now.
DBF still has to duck inside the trailer though!
Maggie
Sportsmen Classic 16BH
2002 F150 Supercrew 4.6 L V8
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moparmaniac.ca
Here and There
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Joined: 09/17/2004
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cm wrote:.
To get better ground clearance you might want to get a leaf spring style trailer. One with torsion axles may sit closer to the ground.
Not quite. Torsion (Torflex) axles can be ordered with varying ride heights, noted in degrees. For example, a 10up (degrees) would be the same as a 4" drop springer axle and a 22.5dn would be the same as a straight axle, etc. You could even get a 45 degree down, which would give substantial ground clearance, not to mention any axle spacers that could be used. Torsion axles also give an all around better ride, as the right and left hubs operate independently from each other. They do cost more, however.
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vermilye
Oswego, NY, USA
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Joined: 08/11/2004
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Well, I admit to some bias, but you should take a look at Fiberglass Eggs, particularly the Escape Line. I have an Escape 17B - the company is great in working with customers to build a trailer pretty much to order. Have to admit it will cost you more than the $5K you expect to spend, but there are used eggs available in that price range...
There are a number of other fiberglass trailer manufacturers - I have links to Blogs, Manufacturers & Forums at JV's Fiberglass Trailer Links.
Jon Vermilye Travel & Photo Web Pages ... My Collection of RV Blogs & Journals
My Travel Journal - Jon's Journeys
Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, MT
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HuckFinn410
Kansas City
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Joined: 11/16/2005
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Francesca Knowles wrote:Your "wet bath" requirement makes the project a lot more complicated.
Aside from the necessity for gravity-fed holding tanks, "bathrooms" suck up an amount of room disproportionate to the amount of time a person spends in them.
In your case, why dedicate 25% or so of your available space to a purpose that occupies, say, an hour (total) a day?
If you can content yourself with a porta potty and either using campground showers or sponge baths or both you could make yourself a really nice unit out of a cargo trailer.
Great feedback...and a very good point. I could live withouot a wet bath and maybe just use a solar shower type of unit hooked on the outside.
That Cricket Trailer is both creative and innovative! Well thought out.
Although by the time you outfit it the price will be north of $15k.
Very cool unit.
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Chris Bryant
DeLand, Florida, USA
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Joined: 03/26/2003
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I think $1000 is way, way under what it will cost for conversion, unless you go way bare bones. If you want insulation, 120 volt and 12 volt wiring, any kind of water system with sink, windows, screen door- the list goes on and on.
But- if you just want a hard sided tent, $1k would be plenty.
-- Chris Bryant
My RV Service Blog
The RV.net Blog
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