New member, new trailer design!

[saywhatthat]

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[reaver]

as you're doing a squaredrop why not a fiberglass panel? no water. no time-wasting frame? If the gap is not that tight no big deal. 50% are more faster to build .lighter.
Harder to tie a shoe than the trailer build. If any damage a few bucks to fix. Under $100 in tools . Too build. Just need panels. DIY fiberglass angle, glue, pop-rivets. A few can foam to blow up the seams
The glass angle on the outside makes the frame. with the 2-inch wet lay up on the inside part of the frame then you fill the gap with can foam makes a strong flexible frame for hard inpack. To build. Cut side profile . tape top panales in .Add angle outside glue and pop rivets on . Can remove rivets after glue drys . Do a 4inch wet lay-up inside seam then fill with can foam

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While I understand that pure fiberglass panels will be exceptionally light, that is NOT the finish I'm going for. I may look into figuring out how to build some sort of foam/fiberglass composite down the road, but for right now, wood backed is the way for me to go.

That being said, since I'm fiberglassing, I maybe do the sides in 1/4 in ply for weight savings. If I keep the only 1/2 in panel to the exterior of the floor, this should really help with weight savings. I think if I add a 1x2 furring strip down the middle of the floor, so I have a grid of foam and 1x2's sitting on the 1/4 in floor, that should be plenty of support for my 6 in mattress.

[saywhatthat]

1x2 furring strip down the middle of the floor, so I have a grid of foam and 1x2's sitting on the 1/4 in floor, that should be plenty of support for my 6 in mattress. Yes that will be great. With the matters spreading out the load . A little flex in the floor does not hurt anything. Any inside bulkhead help so much also. the door jams add a lot of support to the walls

[reaver]

Ok. I've been working on learning Sketchup, and trying to work out how best to put this together.

This is what I've come up with for the cabin:







I can't seem to figure out how to do a 2x2 spar roof to get the support I'm looking for, without doing 1.5 in insulation. So.....the roof and the front walls will get 1.5 inch insulation. The walls and floor will get .75 inch insulation.

Unless I'm completely off base here, I think this thing will be very solid.

Door center is 28" from the front wall. Doors are 24" wide. The exterior dimensions of the cabin will be 96" long x 60" wide, prior to fiberglass/epoxy followed by bedliner. All plywood is 1/4", with the exception of the outer floor board. This will be 1/2", and will be sitting on an expanded steel mesh on the trailer.

[ghcoe]

You will want to move the door back farther if you can. It will make it easier to get into the bed without scooting.

[reaver]

You will want to move the door back farther if you can. It will make it easier to get into the bed without scooting.

I absolutely have room to move it back. I measured and came up with 26 inches from head to hip. I wonder if I put the center of the door 32 inches from the front of the trailer, if that would work.

Also, I realized as I was trying to place the mattress.....that the original design was done with the trailer being 48 inches wide!! Doh! Currently fixing that as well.

Edit:

I didn't realize that I had created the initial design at 4x8 dimensions. I've adjusted the design, and can now fit my 58x78 inch mattress inside.

[ghcoe]

You will want to move the door back farther if you can. It will make it easier to get into the bed without scooting.

I absolutely have room to move it back. I measured and came up with 26 inches from head to hip. I wonder if I put the center of the door 32 inches from the front of the trailer, if that would work.

You want to be able to sit in the doorway and then pivot on you butt into the sleeping position with little to no scooting. Are your heads going towards the front or towards the back. It can make a bit of difference, but not by much.

I just measured mine and it is 33" from the center of the door to interior wall. 32" would probably work fine for you.

[reaver]

You will want to move the door back farther if you can. It will make it easier to get into the bed without scooting.

I absolutely have room to move it back. I measured and came up with 26 inches from head to hip. I wonder if I put the center of the door 32 inches from the front of the trailer, if that would work.

You want to be able to sit in the doorway and then pivot on you butt into the sleeping position with little to no scooting. Are your heads going towards the front or towards the back. It can make a bit of difference, but not by much.

I just measured mine and it is 33" from the from center of door to interior wall. 32" would probably work fine for you.

Thanks George! You are a little bit taller (and much skinnier) than I. 32 should work well then.

[reaver]

I've been refining my design over the last couple days. I think I've got the basic layout of the galley figured out, as well as where all the electrical components will go.

Galley Layout


Cabin Layout


Sidewall Framing


Overall Design


I had to adjust the angle on the front of the trailer. The solar panel I've chosen hung over the angle. Which, if I didn't want that front box there (which is where the fridge will live), it wouldn't be a big deal.

So, I made the angle not as steep to accomodate the fridge box, and the solar panel.

In the galley, I've layed out all my electrical devices, and the diesel heater. I'll put the diesel heater on a mounting plate that goes through the floor, and seal it all up using high temp sikaflex or something like that. I'll be recirculating the heater through the cabin so that it's not always blowing in cold air. I'll build a shelf on top of the heater to put the battery (it doesn't weight terribly much due to being lifepo4). DC-DC and solar charger will be on the wall between the battery compartment and the storage to the left.

As far as lower storage, I've not decided if I want drawers down there, or shelves, or a mixture. I'll have to consult the wife to see what she thinks would be best for that.

Up above, will be my Progressive Dynamics PD6000 Distribution panel, along with the display for the battery monitor, solar charger, and a secondary control for the stereo I'm planning on putting in the trailer.

I've started ordering parts.

Today, fedex showed up with the first of the hatch doors.



This one is for the kitchen box (the blue box on the side of the trailer). I'm trying to mimic what off grid trailers does with their kitchen:



I just ordered the doors for the front fridge box. The box will be plenty big enough to house a 60L fridge, maybe even bigger, depending on how wide it is. The opening of the doors I ordered is 30x20, so most fridges should fit through there.

[Pmullen503]

Nice design. I have a couple suggestions for better aerodynamics. First, consider inseting you stove box so it's flush on the outside. You lose some cabinet space but you just have a door instead of a box hanging in the wind. Second, narrow the very front of the fridge box so it's narrower than the width of the tow vehicle if it isn't already.

[reaver]

Nice design. I have a couple suggestions for better aerodynamics. First, consider inseting you stove box so it's flush on the outside. You lose some cabinet space but you just have a door instead of a box hanging in the wind. Second, narrow the very front of the fridge box so it's narrower than the width of the tow vehicle if it isn't already.

While I appreciate the suggestion for the kitchen box, this on is staying how it's designed. It's designed to be removable, as I want to play around with prototyping a few things.

Now, the box up front.... I can certainly look into narrowing the front of the box. I'm less concerned with aerodynamics on those two parts, and they're modular and not built into the actual trailer, though I'm designing around them as well.

[ghcoe]

Just a suggestion. Do away with the roof vent. Just another weak point for water to get in. Also, condensation will collect there and drip on you and/or your bedding. Windows in that small a unit is more than enough ventilation. I have built in vents that don't close in mine in the side walls. Of course, they are there to keep me alive because foamies are so air tight.

[reaver]

When thinking about the sealing process, I had a thought. Would there be any harm in doing a hybrid between standard fiber glassing and pmf? What I'm thinking is coating with cpes to first seal the wood, then wrapping with canvas (due to cost over actual fiberglass), then coating the canvas in epoxy instead of glue.

I'm really leaning towards this method, but want to get some options from folks who have more experience than I.

[Pmullen503]

You should either use resin and glass or glue/paint with canvas. Each works as a system.

Resin and glass isn't than much more expensive than PMF and is more waterproof. PMF is probably more forgiving if you've never done anything like this before

Mixing components tends to give you all the disadvantages and none of the advantages.

[reaver]

You should either use resin and glass or glue/paint with canvas. Each works as a system.

Resin and glass isn't than much more expensive than PMF and is more waterproof. PMF is probably more forgiving if you've never done anything like this before

Mixing components tends to give you all the disadvantages and none of the advantages.

Well poop. So much for my brilliant idea. I'll stick with the fiberglass method.