Hello from San Diego!

[IcedTeaNinja]

Hey Everyone,
My wife and I just purchased a 4'x8' travel trailer from BuggOutTrailers.com (Jim is the owner). We bought the lowest end model and its basically just a plywood box on top of a harbor freight trailer (The one option we purchased was a roof fan). We added an Ikea Storage System (Trofast Toy Storage) at the rear end of the trailer, painted the inside and attempted to shove a full size air mattress inside (More on that later). We tried to figure out a heater and ended up using a dehydrater fan that runs at 350 watts. We have a bunch of small 12v batteries and hooked them up to a 400w converter. The fan worked at home fine with the converter, not so much on the road.
Our first trip was recently to the Utah National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands). We departed San Diego, stayed in Las Vegas in a hotel then landed in Zion where we camped at the Watchmen Campground. Beautiful campground. However we quickly found that our converter couldn't handle the the heater. Thankfully I brought an extension cord and ran it out the door. Our too big air mattress also kept the door from closing fully. We only slept on the air mattress for a night. After that just blankets.
Next stop was Bryce Canyon where we got snowed on. We stayed warm throughout the night. After that Capitol Reef where it was easily in the teens at night with strong winds. Stayed warm as well but didn't exactly sleep well. Then onto warmer weather in Moab where we visited Arches and Canyonlands. Ran the heater all night but with much less clothing. After that we stopped by the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (I'll admit we stayed in a cabin that night), then back home to San Diego.
Our trip made us realize we have a lot of things we want to do. The wife wants insulation badly. The rear door was super thin plywood which I replaced with 3/4" plywood just yesterday (Paint needed). I'd like to run solar for electricity and probably a regular electric hookup. And also a real mattress (thinking a foam topper cut to size. Also I'd like to run bigger wheels and tires (12" tires currently).
I've already read a bunch of the threads and you guys have given us a lot of ideas for our trailer. Looking forward to learning from all of you guys and seeing your trailers!
Chris

[IcedTeaNinja]

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[Bill n Robi]

Welcome. Lot of great sites in San Diego/Imperial counties - from full hook up to dry camp, desert to mountain. Just finished a week at Black Rock in Joshua Tree, heading to Lake Jennings for a get away before the Redwood Gathering in May.

[halfdome, Danny]

Welcome to the forum.
Check out Guajome Park in Oceanside.
All the years I lived in San Diego I had to come back for a high school reunion to camp in Guajome, much better and cheaper than camping in Mission Bay.
Never heard of it before and a lot nicer than places like Coyote Creek, etc.
Danny

[ratrod71]

http://www.amazon.com/InnerSpace®-RV-Mattress-48-X75/dp/B001664JOA?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Check out this Innerspace mattress from Amazon in the dimension you need. Bryan

[IcedTeaNinja]

Hey Guys, thanks for the replies! Our next trip may be Memorial Day in Ventura. My wife is running a marathon up there. Looking forward to Joshua Tree as well. We will definetely check out the Oceanside spot too!
And thanks for the link ratrod!