A 12 ft. FEATHERLITE conversion

[hunter535]

A couple of people have asked why I didn't put plumbing in my cargo conversion.

I've built full plumbing into two prior builds, both of which I used for 5 or 6 years and traveled as far as the tip of Baja. Dealing with black water and gray water is a pain and then there's the smell, the volume limitation, the weight...and (yuk) the foul dump station procedures and the occasional leak.

I now highly prefer the Zen-like atmosphere of a plumbing-less RV.

Confession: There's a peat moss, double plastic bag porta-potty in the trailer's closet if it were ever needed. I'd rather walk to the restroom, outhouse, pit toilet or into the woods.

Hand washing? Five gallon container with a spigot goes on the picnic table.

After adapting to a bare bones teardrop (before the cargo conversion) I like the simplicity of no on-board plumbing.

Prem

I am right there with you Prem. Planning on a sink for the kitchen area but will K.I.S.S. and possibly a portopotty for the midnight breaks my boys seem to take just when I am getting comfy in bed.

[Prem]

hunter,

You should have seen the 35 ft. bus conversion I built in 1985. I raised the roof 3 ft. 9 inches (all metal) using an abandoned crane and the winch on my 4x4 pickup truck. I put all the sleeping upstairs in two big lofts. I put instant hot water in it, a full shower and an RV flush toilet. It had a 72 gallon fresh water tank. Both the gray water tank and sewage tank were 33 gallons each.

About 550 miles down in Baja on the Sea of Cortez, where there were no RV dump facilities, I had to leave the beach and the family behind, drive the behemoth out into the remote desert, and pull both dump valves. About 10 days later I had to do it again. Because the sun was so intense and the ground so dry, there was almost no sign of the first mess! But I hear a palm tree grove grew up there shortly after.

The Mexicans had built two outhouses about 80 feet back from the water at the beach where we were all camped (60 trailers and motorhomes). Porta Potty people were dumping in them. Flies were everywhere. The people with the big factory motorhomes and trailers just dug a shallow septic tank (3 feet deep and only 50 feet from the shore) ran their dump hoses into the sand and buried them. They left the dump valves open all winter long. YUK! The ocean was the leach field. Not good!

My solution was the more sanitary as it turned out. But...

A cargo trailer without plumbing is very nice!

Prem

[hunter535]

Prem,
That sounds like quite a bit of work on that conversion. If you have any pics of that I would love to see them.

I had a running joke with some of my family members out west that I was coming to their wedding with a converted school bus and it looked exactly like the "Partridge family bus". If I can find a pic of it, I will post it. I had them going for a while.

As far as the waste disposal, at least you didn't "%$^* where you slept". That was digusting what the other folks did with their waste.

P.S. The palm tree must be pretty good size by now! Heck, there might even be a "Tropical Paradise there now".

[Prem]

hunter,

I don't have any digitized photos of that rig or the two after it that I built. It will take some looking even to find the prints.

Hey, the people who had the best time all over Baja in those days were people in converted school buses or who slept in campers on pickups beside palm thatched huts (palapas). We went fishing in small boats and soaked in hot springs near by. Campfires every night on the beach. Shrimp, bass, tamales, beer and lots of stories.

Nobody had a converted cargo trailer, a teardrop or a Dutch oven.

Confession: I really like my teardrop friends and I now cook in a Dutch oven!

Prem

[hunter535]

Doesn"t get any better than that.

[Prem]

hunter,

A few photos of my bus and my jumbo metal camper on a 2-ton flatbed (before the bus) are in this book:

http://www.rv-busconversions.com/turtles.html

My rigs tend to be painted and shiny, so they didn't get major placement in this book about funky wood house trucks, but they are in there. There's one photo of the bus when it was painted gray and we were camped out in northern California under a massive, 200+ ft. tall pine tree and another when it was metallic purple, blue and green with a white top.

The book is also on Amazon.com :

http://www.amazon.com/Some-Turtles-Have-Nice-Shells/dp/0971410364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271699853&sr=1-1

Prem

[Prem]

QUESTION

I want to insulate the floor of my trailer from the underside.



I am contemplating using 1 1/2 inch block foam (pink or white) glued in place. It will need a covering that I can only apply by putting the trailer up on blocks and jack stands and then working upside down underneath using a creeper. Sheet aluminum with rivets seems to be overkill and would add a lot of weight and be hard to fit. I thought of bed liner, but applying a liquid upside down is probably not going to work well against gravity. Whatever it is, it has to resist high wind speed going down the Interstate.

ANY IDEAS anyone

Prem

[ARIZONA GUIDE]

I do not see anything else that would work other than some kind of fiber glass sheeting or a carbon fiber of somesort. it will still have to be hooked by riv ets or self tapper screws. It has to be something solid to keep water out. Doing this will also help with drag and fuel millage. Like nascars and my r-vission trail lite camp trailer. they are fully sheeted in underbellies for the purpase of not drag.

[hunter535]

What ever you put underneath, I would think that it would have to be able to breath. That is to allow any moisture that can build up between the floor and the covering/insulation can escape through the covering. I have thought some about this myself with little success so far.

[Prem]

hunter,

Well, if it can breathe, it can let in lots of moisture. Not good. It needs to be sealed during dry weather (which we have here until later this month).

I used to use pour-in, 2-part, expanding foam. The stuff is fabulous! I poured the steel floor entry wells of my teardrop with it. It expanded 3 inches. Unfortunately, it requires gravity to hold it down while it expands! Can't do it upside down. Argh.

I'm thinking about using the jumbo cans of spray foam and putting the covering on first, then injecting the foam.

What do you think?

Prem

[ARIZONA GUIDE]

Heck if you are going to enclose the underbely you could run duct work for your heating. I am not sure if had a furnace But you could put one duct to the rear and one up front. It would warm up fast in the coldest days.

[Prem]

I just use a tiny electric block heater when power is available. Works great. But just body heat and the solar gain from the bubble skylight with good floor insulation will keep the place warmer inside in the fall and spring when camping.

Prem

[hunter535]

Prem,
I have seen professionals on the tube use a spray foam product and they do ceilings with it. Let it expand and then trim it with a long blade on a sawzall. You can also buy this foam product in farm supply catalogs. All you need to supply is some compressed air. Not sure if this would work or not.

Yeah your right about the breathable cover. I was just thinking if h2o got in there some how, how it would get out. I am sure whatever you use to cover the insulation will work as long as the seams are sealed up good. Lighweight and waterproof! And fairly inexpensive!

[Prem]

hunter wrote:

Lighweight and waterproof! And fairly inexpensive!

Yeah. That's a tall order and could be very laborious!

What are you going to insulate your floor with?

Prem

[hunter535]

That is the million dollar question Prem.
I am going to hold off for now on insulating the bottom of my CT until I am completed with my build. Just in case I decide to install a tank, more electric, plumbing of some type, etc. But I am thinking when I do it will probably be 2" Dow foil face polystyrene. I used the 1" in the walls and I like the product so far. It seems to insulate the trailer really well. I have not had the chance to use it in cold conditions but in the mid day sun, the inside is bareable. Warm but bareable.
As far as the covering for the bottom, ?????
I stopped on the way home to peek at the bottom side of some Forrest River campers and they seem to have a cover that looks alot like house wrap but thicker.? Not sure what it is. I think I may send a email to one of these manufacturers and see if they can tell me what it is. If I get an answer, I will post it.