Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

That should fix it. You get your ground through the box at the campground.
Here's a good video.
https://youtu.be/Q2zctGoAR60

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Happy Holidays everyone.

Installed flooring and the last cabinet. The flooring is vinyl planks. Hopefully this works. I left plenty of room around the edges, so maybe it won't buckle when the summer heat gets here. It's floating, so not a huge problem if I have to rip it up and try something else. Guess I'll know in June, LOL!

Cabinet is a tall wardrobe cabinet in the back passenger side corner. There's room to hang a few things, a little mini-cabinet that holds the porta-potty in the bottom, and a little cubby for whatever up top.

All of the cabinets are frame and panel, with 3/4" pine for the frame and 1/4" plywood for the sides. The doors and drawer faces are made with 1/2" plywood. That helps keeping the weight down, but a lot more construction work.

So I just have a few finishing items and it's ready for it's first trip next week.

Fred

Well it's more or less finished.... as much as these things are ever finished. LOL!

The pendant light was a cool find on eBay.

Took it out for its first outing last weekend to a local state park. Everything worked pretty well, no real changes to consider for now. (My wife loves it! So bonus!)

Temps were a bit chilly, but not too bad, highs in 50's, lows in the upper 30's. Stayed nice and comfortable inside. Used a Little Buddy heater that brought the inside temperature up to 65 in about 20 minutes. It took an hour for the temperature to drop only 5 degrees, so maybe all that work insulating paid off. I got a little USB fan and placed it behind the heater to help spread the heat around. (Yes, I cracked a window and the top vent for fresh air, although the heater says it's safe for indoors.)

I don't the final weight, yet. Need to investigate on how to get it weighed. I do know that the tongue weight is appx. 300lbs. Tacoma towed it pretty easy, although it really kills my MPGs, (around 15mpg.) I can see adding electric brakes just to take some of the pressure off of the TV. And once I start taking longer trips, I'll add solar and a bigger battery. For now, my 35Ah battery did fine for a 3 night trip.

Fred

That last photo is what makes this whole adventure worth every penny! Ever smashed finger and the late nights in a trailer.

Looks amazing


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Thanks Dave.

It took about twice as long as I planned and cost about twice as much as I hoped. But that's all a faded memory now.

Just happy trails and good times ahead.

Fred

Looks great inside. How did the electrical work out for ya?

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I REALLY like what you have done with your trailer .... looks great!

These conversion projects are never really finished,.... RIGHT??? LOL. I've had a few good trips, and everything has worked out pretty well. So far no regrets. My coldest temps so far was about 26F one morning. Trailer temp inside was about 46F. After burning a Lil Buddy heater for about 20 minutes, I got the cabin up to about 65F, and it stayed comfortable for about an hour. So I guess all that work insulating paid off.

The only slight disappointment is that it seems a little heavier towing than I had hoped. But keep in mind that I'm used to towing a 13' Scamp. My Tacoma handles fine, but towing really kills my MPGs. I haven't weighed it yet, but I did measure the tongue weight which is about 300lbs.

Anyway, I used some of my stimulus money to install a solar system. I just started with a single 100W panel, and I'll see how that works for me. It'll be simple to add another panel if I feel the need for it. My power demand is pretty low, and there's plenty of sun here in the desert. The biggest challenge was routing the cables inside. Wished I had thought ahead more last fall before I closed the ceiling. But it worked out fine. Here's a couple of pics.

Stay safe.

Fred

First outing with the solar system. Very satisfied. It's only a single 100W panel charging a 35AH battery, but my needs are pretty low, all LED lights and a water pump. In the summertime, I only need lights for a couple of hours. I had one day where I charged 4 camera batteries, an Anker battery for my audio recorder, and charged my laptop. No problem at all. Of-course, living in Nevada, I have plenty of sunshine.

Fred

Seems like you never stop working on these things. There's always something to change or improve.

The first photo shows a small stereo system and shelf. It's just a basic amplifier and speakers. Where I frequently camp there's no radio reception, so that's why I didn't install a car stereo system. Also, I didn't want to create another hole in the roof for the antenna. I tried a wireless speaker, but I just don't like the sound of those things. The shelf has also proved to be very handy.

In the second photo, I built steps that easily slid into the mounts that I attached to the frame. I could have bought steps, but I would have to wield steel to the frame underneath, and I really didn't want to do that. The steps have adjustable feet for uneven ground and remove easily to store in the trailer when traveling.

Happy Trails All,

Fred

Hi Fred, great looking trailer you have there..
about those steps you've made,, I like those.. Is that just black galvanized pipe?
How do you adjust them? Could you show a couple more pictures of them, please?

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the kudos.

That's the only pic that I have. The step frame is made of regular 1/2" galvanized pipe and fittings painted black. The step is 1" pine, and each step is attached with a total of 6, #10/24 bolts tightened with nylocks. I cut a filler piece of wood to bridge the gap between the fittings and the underside of the step. That might not have been necessary, but it made be feel better. The steps are adjustable with a 1/4x20 screw at the bottom. I drilled and tapped threads into the pipe cap. The whole step unit slides into a mount that I attached to the frame. The mount is 1 1/4 tube steel with mounting holes drilled into the side.

The step seems to be sturdy enough. I thought I might need to add a cross piece between the 2 frames, but the bolts used to attached the step seem to be adequate. If the steps start to loosen over time, I may have to revisit the cross braces. Also, the length of the pipe will vary depending on your particular trailer.

Fred