Chateau Le Cargo (A cargo conversion ski cottage)

[TurboandMe]

Greetings from Denver CO. We in the obsessive planning stages of a Cargo Conversion.
We, my girlfriend and I, love to ski and even though we are so close to the mountains it seems we are always working or busy with other things...school, work, house projects, work. Thus was born our idea. Sometime after Jan. 1st we will be renting out our house and spending 6mon on the road skiing, climbing and in general just relaxing.
We started by looking at current production models but were very unhappy with the build quality, insulation and exposed plumbing. Since we plan to camp regularly in subzero temps we decided the best way was to build our own.
We have on order a 7'x12'x6'6" Haulmark V-nose with ramp gate. The factory will be insulating the floor and ramp, installing three windows and a vent. The rest we will be doing ourselves including a shower, A/C, heat, cabinets, etc. GPW has been kind enough to sell us his unneeded appliances so now we will be lucky enough to have a range and refrig! Thanks GPW
That sums up our plans for now, though they seem to change on a weekly basis. I will start a build journal as soon as there is something to share.
Thank you all for sharing your builds and ideas.
Eric and Val

[Weirdnerd]

Greetings from Denver, it will be nice to see your progress, don't forget to post pics..

PS, I have a two burner stove and a gas heater ( both are to connect to a 20 lb propane bottle..bottle not included) from an old popup I " liberated" to make my teardrop, you are welcome to them if you need them.

[jimqpublic]

Welcome to the group!

I too would love to head out on a winter ski safari- unfortunately the pesky kids keep me at home.

A few ideas on your conversion:

Insulation: If you're not careful you'll lose most of the heat by conduction through the metal studs of your walls. In addition to insulating between the ribs, I suggest at least 1/2" of rigid foam over the ribs and under your internal wall material.

Electricity:
Do you need to exist for more than a couple of nights without electrical hookups? If so I suggest the best solution for providing enough electrical power is a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries; a good quality 45+ amp power converter; and an inverter-type generator such as those made by Honda, Yamaha, or Robin.

Heat:
A 20,000 btu RV furnace will do a nice job of heating your abode, but it draws 3.5 amps when it's running and is somewhat noisy. I wouldn't use an unvented furnace due to the possibility of waking up dead. Catalytic heaters are the safest unvented propane burner, but they still use oxygen and put out a lot of water vapor.

If it were me I would seriously look at the Dickinson Marine Newport Propane Fireplace. They come in both 9,000 and 12,000 btu models, provide a fireplace ambiance, and don't require any electricity unless you want to run the blower to help distribute the heat. They're quiet too!
http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/propheat.htmlList prices are pretty dear at over $1,000, but street prices more in the $700 range at places like "boatownersworld".

If you go with the Dickinson heater and LED lighting, you might not need the fancy generator and second battery.

More on heat here:
http://tinyhouseblog.com/heaters/tinyhouseheat/

[TurboandMe]

Thanks for all the advise. I will be insulating with at least 1" of ridged foam and possibly 1 1/2" if i can figure out how to fit it in. I checked out the Dickenson heaters and really liked the solid fuel heater. I'm not sure I will have the space or the desire to cut another hole in the roof. Plus Weirdnerd just offered a free furnace! So anyway that is still in the works which way we will go.
LED lighting is already ordered and should be here this week.
We will be almost completely without hookups for our trip so a good battery or two and a generator are going to be a must.
Thanks again!
Good to hear from my fellow colorado camper folks too!