Meet "Final Meridian": 7x7x16+2 Cargo Conversion

[stabatha]

This is Final Meridian. She's a 7x7x16 plus V-Nose cargo conversion, a Quality Cargo trailer

Hopefully she will ultimately look like a Romani Vardo on the inside, but be very stealth on the outside. Right now she's still getting insulated in 100 plus degree heat.

I started this project feeling uneasy about my future after some horrible medical issues, and sure enough I ended up losing my job, the hunt is miserable and I'm now looking at her as my lifeboat, or as I like to tell my friends, Strategic Homelessness.
Recently disabled, the progress is slower than I would like, but it's moving forward at least. I'll pick up her floor insulation and ceiling insulation today. The spray foam for the harder to reach places came in yesterday.

This represents the progress over the last three weeks. End of June 2026, through July 11, 2026.

 

[gearsoup]

This man here living in the future!
End of June 2026, through July 11, 2026?

 

[stabatha]

[Wo]man.

Sorry, getting ahead of myself. Maiden voyage for July 1. End of May through June 11.

 

[gearsoup]

That's ambitious ma'am. What do you plan on doing in the inside, other than insulation? Bare necessities? What about cooling, is there a concern that you'll bake in there?

 

[stabatha]

I just picked up my wood paneling for the walls today. For cooling, I will have a 2 hose, 12,000 BTU, air conditioner. . Primary heat source will be a diesel heater. The interior design is intended to look like a Romani Vardo wagon.

Here's that wallboard and a few design pieces.

The green carved wood cabinet, for example, will be my kitchen, and the hammered copper bowl will be attached to it, drilled out, and become my little sink.

I still have to work the design is primarily based around that little roll top desk when I'm done with work, I close it up and work goes away.

 

[stabatha]

...for the minimum viable project on July 1st, I will have air conditioning, refrigerator, roll top desk, bed, and maybe kitchen in. I'm planning on the entire build taking another six months probably

 

[stabatha]

Unfortunately, job loss and probable loss of everything have compressed that scale. So the six month build is now going to be a two to three month build. It's brutal out there.

The ceiling first layer of insulation is in as of June 17th, June, not July, not May, June, June 17th.

It'll get another one inch at some point here, but this is kind of close enough to test the trailer on July 1st, so I'm going to move on with spray insulating the hard-to-reach places.

Speaking of spray, insulation, all the gaps I could get to are now filled by gap filler.

Working in the Sacramento heat definitely does not make this any easier. Pre-noon and after 2200 hours are the best hope.

Tape those seams, spray foam the tough to reach places, and reconnect the ground wires after terminating them in ring connectors, I think that is what I hope to get through today. Then probably a couple of days of putting the original plywood back on the walls to stiffen it and not doing the paneling yet. I need to get electrical and AC in as a priority. Probably just a very basic electrical tap for the next two weeks. Oh gosh, and an e-track bed frame. It's going to be a tough two months.

I think it should go faster once all the insulation is done and the panels are back up on the walls.

 

[stabatha]

June 19: I'm not sure if I'm insulating hard-to-reach places or just making a mess. Maybe both. Probably both.

Indisputably, we can say that this looks like half a smurf village exploded in my future bedroom. Gargamel would be proud and Azrael would cringe.

Let's go with "what a smurfing mess!"

 

[stabatha]

June 20-
Smurf guts wrangled, second layer of insulation there where my bed will be. Thinking I'll build a soffit to enclose the spring cavity

Oh, and got rid of the stupid scotchloks

 

[stabatha]

I got the original plywood back up on one wall. That will be the underlayment, the prettier wood paneling will go up over the top of it. About 6,000 degrees outside right now, so the next wall will need to wait.

June 22nd

 

[stabatha]

I'm not sure if anybody cares, but as of June 23rd, the original plywood is back up, and now I can actually start building something!

 

[Wolfgang92025]

Glad to see you are making progress.
Keep at it and you will manage the whole mess life is dealing you right now.

 

[stabatha]

Glad to see you are making progress.
Keep at it and you will manage the whole mess life is dealing you right now.

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[stabatha]

My thousand-plus dollar toilet arrived. I paid over a thousand dollars for a toilet and it doesn't even talk!

 

[stabatha]

You can see the aesthetic I'm going for here, a little darker than most people. If I can get two more sheets in today, then that unlocks putting in my bed and my desk, shore power, pass-through, starlink pass-through, solar, etc.

 

[stabatha]

So this is how the evening of the 24th ended up.

The heat was brutal, I can't wait until I get my air conditioner in a few days.

 

[stabatha]

June 25, not pretty yet, but Meridian has a bed!

It's 5x 2x4's into an etrack system with a 3/8 platform. Very comfy!

Tons of space underneath, although a couple inches of height will disappear when I insulate the floor

 

[gearsoup]

How close does that put you to the ceiling? Coming along nicely!

 

[stabatha]

Thank you. Not very finished look yet, but livability first as the priority, trim second, I suppose.

There will be one more layer of insulation on the ceiling. So after that I'll have 30 inches of headroom above the bed. The mattress is 12-inch ultra plush hybrid. I had to order a ship letter because I don't have time to build one. I've been up there by climbing a large stepstool and it's really comfortable. Tremendous amount of storage underneath, have to be cautious because that's a lot of area behind the axle.

 

[Camping Cur]

Gotta say, M'Lady, that is really coming along! I totally get the working in the heat since I live in SW Florida! You have made amazing progress! The A/C will make a huge difference in how you feel about completing the project. The 2 hose was a wise choice. I started out with a one hose job, but had to rig a second conversion hose since the negative air pressure was either pulling in hot air from the window or...when all closed up I could not open the door!! Keep up the good work. Hope your situation improves and things settle down a bit for you. Be careful on the ship ladder!! Don't fall overboard! LOL