Low Ceiling Height in a Small Toy Hauler

[JoshT_85]

Thoughts on interior ceiling height for a small trailer?

New guy here. Been thinking about building a CTC for several years, but life and indecision have seen fit to delay it. That's not likely to change any time soon. Have the opportunity to buy a mini toy hauler that is ready to use for about the price of the base trailer I'd buy. At 14x6.5 with 10' garage, it's a little smaller footprint than I'd build, but plenty big enough for the toys I have now. The major drawback is the ceiling height. I'm about 6 foot tall, and it's somewhere between 5.5 and 6 foot, so I'd have to be over a bit when standing inside.

On one hand I'm concerned about feeling cramped due to headroom. On the other, I'm thinking how much time should I be spending standing inside when camping anyway. There is no internal bathroom or kitchen, just AC, storage cabinets and a bed. It comes with an awning for the front mount "outdoor kitchen", and a screen porch tent. For the bathroom I'll be using the park facilities, or a tent if somewhere without. Basically a bedroom on wheels that can carry my ATV or Motorcycle. Most of the time inside I would be sitting or sleeping. FWIW, even with the CTC I was planning to do the same for the bathroom and kitchen.

Still want to do the CTC down the road and interior height will be a concern then as well, so it's still a concern about building. 6 foot and be comfortable pulling, but a little cramped. 6.5' and be comfortable to stand on, but bumpy heads on lights, vents, etc. 7' for plenty of clearance, but act like a sail. This little camper would be even more of a trade off, but it would get me going now instead of a year or two, and be pull-able by any truck I have ('21 F-150, '68 F-100, '99 Ranger) even loaded. Unfortunately said trucks are not conducive to hauling the toys in the bed, due to bed size (super short) or height (lif
ted).

 

[JoshT_85]

NVM, I bought the little trailer with the low ceiling height. Still likely to do the CTC down the road if I'm traveling enough to justify it, but this will have me going soon. Unfortunately my inspection was done through the rose tinted glasses (and in in nasty weather), so some heavy repairs to make, but still usable in the interim. More on that stuff in another thread at a later date.

 

[kipa]

Went through a similar thought process with building mine. As much as I would appreciate being able to stand up inside, practical analysis without a kitchen tells me I have no need to. That simplifies things a lot for me with building a popup style on a base that only offers 24" of internal height when stowed since I am dead set on rigid sides when extended.

I figure that anything over 56" inside height is just bonus area, allowing seating in a naturally upright position without hitting my head. It should be plenty comfortable inside for lounging or whatever, but all of the cooking is going to be done outside anyway for several reasons, one of which is simply how much mess it can create from grease condensing on surrounding surfaces.

 

[JoshT_85]

Pretty much where I'm on it. I will have some ability to cook inside, maybe a small one burner stove stove, maybe a hot plate. I'm probably more likely to use a portable camp stove or grill than the built in stove anyway. Cooking inside will mostly be for when and if the weather is too bad to allow cooking outside. More likely if the weather is like that I'll eat a sandwich or go out somewhere to eat.

Ya know... I've had this thing for a week now. Lots of ups and down on the post purchase inspection, apparently I was wearing some pretty good blinders during the pre purchase inspection. In that week, I still haven't taken a tape measure to determine the actual interior dimensions or ceiling height.

Before spotting this thing on Facebook, I was entertaining the idea of building a popup camping pod to mount on my 5x10 utility trailer when I wanted to go camping. The ideal being to have doors on rear, basically the whole back open to drive ATV/bike into, then a smaller one inset for walkthrough. Ramp still attached to trailer for (un)loading and patio. Popup for height when loading or occupying, and lowered for traveling. Enough structure to securely strap down toy and use slide-in style jacks for loading on trailer. Had a mental image of what I wanted, but no idea where to begin on the drafting.

Glad I found this, ignoring it's faults, it's mostly ready to go. If I'd tried to build or convert, I might have something slightly usable over a year from now.