Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am drawing my plans for a tear drop and am looking for built in ideas of what to use for hot water.
Thanks, Eric.

Eric

Will you be camping mainly at fully improved camp grounds or boondocking (dry camping)

I'm a boondocker, 90% of the time camping with no hook-ups at all, so my hot water comes from a 36cup boiler on my stove

But, if ya really want to have hot water, one member on the board, like you, planed on hot water right from the start John B. or JHB as he is listed by his profile, added an extra 12 inches or there abouts to the length of his TD and installed a RV style hot-water heater, now when I first saw it, I really thought that it was way over kill, but while camping together this past November, along Route 66, it was really convenient and with the privacy screen set-up, the hot shower is right at his wifes door to the TD, I know she and a couple of the ladies that were with us, really think it is the best.

I know my wife, decided it would be a priority, when we build our next.

John has a few pic's in his album, but I'm sure he can describe just what he did, if ya drop him a PM

We will be camping both styles, I don't mind boiling water when roughing it but when I do have power I would rather not, I was thinking of installing an Insinkerator Instant Hot water tap since I don't want to plumb in any propane for water heater and don't have the room anyways.
Thanks for the info Al, Eric.

With shore power, we use an electric kettle for hot water. No shore power, we just boil a pot over the fire.

Well, since Al implicated me, I'll chime in on this.

It almost seems like there is a religious war when it comes to hot water in a teardrop, if so, then I'm the devil.

I'm 6'3" (or at least used to be), a 4x8 didn't interest me, so I started with a 5x10 design to have plenty of room for the bed. That also leaves 3' in the galley, and since part of our idea of a TD was to have a easy place to cook (rather than being tempted to drive into town and go out to dinner), a large, well outfitted galley was the other requirement. With my back, bending over washing dishes on a pick nick table was not on, nor was carrying a stove, so a built in sink and stove were a must.

With a 3' deep galley and a bad back I can't reach past 2 feet in, so in that last foot I put a 20 gal tank and a 3 gal RV style hot water heater. The sink is a standard bar sink with a tall, but otherwise standard faucet. Of course, you have to have a pump, I went with the small 12v RV style with built in pressure switch. That, of course, takes 12v, so I have a 120 watt solar panel and two 6v deep cycle batteries, which is enough to keep the Engel refrigerator running as well.

Hookup? we don't need no stinking hookup...or a generator.

I made a brown water holding tank out of 4" ABS pipe, holds about 5 gal, that fit just aft of the axle under the floor.

For the shower, I rig a privacy tent (no roof) that runs nearly the full length of the trailer (covering the door so you can shower and pop in the cabin without offending the neighbors) and attach a standard hand held shower head to the faucet, which is fitted with a standard hose thread rather than the aerator.

Yes, that added about $2300 to the build ($800 for the Engel, $1100 for the solar panel, controller, and batteries), but compare that to how much we spent sleeping in B&Bs and going out 3 meals a day for a month trip to Canada the year before I built the trailer... Ok, I was over budget, so it took 8 weeks of camping (rather than B&Bs and dining out) instead of 6 weeks for the thing to pay for itself.

I think my wife put it best: After our third night of sleeping in the TD she said "I think I'm ready to give up on hotels all together." And we have, because no matter where we camp, the dishes are easy to do and there is always a hot shower.

My URL is below for pictures.

I know when I get around to building my trailer hot water is going to be a must my only concern is how much water do you normally haul and is water weight classified as part of the trailer weight??

I've got 20 gallons, I usually travel with it full because the tank is behind the axle and the batteries are on the front, the full tank cuts the tongue weight down about 30 pounds to around 235. But my TV has 3.72 axles and 275 HP, so it really doesn't care (the mileage doesn't change) if it has the extra 160 pounds.

As to counting the weight, I would, because when you need to stop all the weight counts, size your trailer brakes accordingly. But when showing it to the DMV for the license, some how I didn't quite have the battery box, LP gas tank, hot water heater, and the stove installed yet... (what they don't know won't hurt you).

This is hard to beat for space , weight and thriftiness ... Easy to heat water ... pasteurize it too ... http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Wind ... lar_Cooker

Looks like that will work great in the Canadian rain... (or here on the coast in the fog)

planovet wrote:With shore power, we use an electric kettle for hot water. No shore power, we just boil a pot over the fire.

+1

eric wolf wrote:I am drawing my plans for a tear drop and am looking for built in ideas of what to use for hot water.
Thanks, Eric.

This what I'm considering to use, simple and portable.

Zodi Extreme

THANKS FOR ALL THE INPUT!!!!
ERIC.

I guess I'm the devil, too. If the campground has water and electricity, I'm there.

I just installed a 4 gallon Ariston hot water heater in my TTT. It's 120VAC but the hot water is instantaneous. I ran it for five minutes in the sink without any loss of heat. I'm installing a shower head in line with it and a removable shower curtain across the top of the back doors for those more than overnight trips. I'm converting an old plastic freight pallet with a drain for a shower floor that'll slide up under the TTT when not in use and it will drain to the camper drain while I'm showering. Who ever said camping had to be uncivilized? If these consistent weekend rain deluges would ever stop, I could get it finished and get the cabinet faces and doors in.



Eventually I'll get a generator for those few weekends where electricity isn't available, but I usually camp at places with water and electricity.

The unit cost $180 and I got it at Lowes: http://www.lowes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/ ... er%20GL4.0

Just another option should you be interested. Good luck.

Nosty wrote:I guess I'm the devil, too...Eventually I'll get a generator...

Generator??? Yep, the devil! Especially when dressed in the grass skirt and coconuts! (you have to look at the build blog). I guess if I camped where it was hot and humid (if it's hot out here in the west you can just drive another 2000' up the hill) I'd go for the AC to. Looks like a great build! Enjoy!

The grass skirt and coconut bra are real ice breakers, John. Makes people think you're nuts, (which is actually the case), so they want to get closer and engage you in conversation.

I couldn't imagine camping here in SC without AC or heat. I camped in mine over the Thanksgiving weekend and the New Years weekend and it was downright, inhospitably, cold both weekends. On Thanksgiving my water supply hose actually froze up overnight. And I don't even want to talk about summer. I just like the idea of knowing that I have a place to get warm/cool regardless of the situation, and, regardless of the weather, sleep comfortably. Makes year round camping so much nicer.