New guy from Cali

[Stopher]

Hey everyone,
This looks like a great forum with a great helpful vibe!

I've been loathe to give up tent camping as well as towing something, but times, they are a changing! So tiny trailer here we go!

Looking at building my own tiny trailer. Right now planning a really low profile pop-up thats a little wider than most. Been sketching some things up and going to have a few Q's that i will eventually post in the appropriate forum. Questions such as.

1. Is 7' too wide?
2. How much water for how many days?
3. How much propane for stove and water heater?
4. How much battery for small fridge/water pump/lights/etc for how many days?
5. How much solar for same?
6. Does the ACM skin hold up?

Just a small sampling. I'm an engineer and a DIY kinda guy so nothing is off the table.
Cheers

Chris

[Onajourney]

welcome Chris!

Your answers pretty much depends on one big decision you need to make fairly early..what size trailer do you want to build and that may or may not be dependent on your TV (Tow Vehicle). All the answers to your questions need to be answered with that in mind and the next is your budget that you will blow. You will find the design phase of the build is a huge step that needs to incorporate many of the items you asked about. This place is a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Welcome.

Chris

[Onajourney]

welcome Chris!

Your answers pretty much depends on one big decision you need to make fairly early..what size trailer do you want to build and that may or may not be dependent on your TV (Tow Vehicle). All the answers to your questions need to be answered with that in mind and the next is your budget that you will blow. You will find the design phase of the build is a huge step that needs to incorporate many of the items you asked about. This place is a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Welcome.

Chris

[chopperwalker]

Welcome, I am also Chris as well as an engineer and a DIY kinda guy.

I agree with Chris before me on that your answers are dependent on your size and tow capacity. I would add duration of stay and number of people to that equation. It seems from your questions that you might be looking for rates (water per day) so you can work it from the other way though.

[S. Heisley]

Hey everyone,
This looks like a great forum with a great helpful vibe!

I've been loathe to give up tent camping as well as towing something, but times, they are a changing! So tiny trailer here we go!

Looking at building my own tiny trailer. Right now planning a really low profile pop-up thats a little wider than most. Been sketching some things up and going to have a few Q's that i will eventually post in the appropriate forum. Questions such as.

1. Is 7' too wide?
2. How much water for how many days?
3. How much propane for stove and water heater?
4. How much battery for small fridge/water pump/lights/etc for how many days?
5. How much solar for same?
6. Does the ACM skin hold up?]

Just a small sampling. I'm an engineer and a DIY kinda guy so nothing is off the table.
Cheers

Chris

Welcome, Chris:
I guess you'll need to figure some of this out yourself as a lot of it depends on what you decide to build. First, decide on your chassis. Are you going to purchase a kit, repurpose an old trailer, or build your chassis/trailer base? You list yourself as being from "Cali". I assume that means California. In California, unless you plan on putting
brakes on your trailer, your weight limit is 1500 pounds. If you plan on moving to New York, the limit there is 1,000 pounds, last time I checked. States in between those two places vary between 1500 and 3000 pounds. Federal DOT requires brakes for anything 3,000 lbs. or more. From your questions, I derive you're going to need brakes so will probably need to repurpose something with brakes, build or have a chassis built from scratch. or replace the axle and wheels to add brakes to a trailer chassis kit.

If you go with 7' wide, you'll need extra running lights. Anything 80" wide or more needs them. Also, if you plan to camp off grid, you'll always want to check the width of the parking spaces for something that wide. Most can accommodate this, but not all.

How much water you need will depend on how careful you are with your water. Most of us are varying degrees of careful and don't need much. Plan on a gallon of drinking water per person per day and the rest you can test for yourself by measuring what you usually use when you camp. The same goes for propane. (I can go at least two years on a 5-gallon propane tank but most people have to fill a 20-gallon tank probably once a year. Add more of both if you have a water heater.)

Battery? LED lights are wonderful and use hardly anything. Water pumps aren't too bad. The same cannot be said for refrigerators and the like. Again, it's up to you. Measure yourself. Solar will also depend on your habits and usage.

ACM? I don't know if anybody here has tried that, but maybe look here: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/a ... l-assembly

You're on your own for your answers but hopefully, this helped.

[eLink]

You list yourself as being from "Cali". I assume that means California.

It's funny you questioned that because it seems that only non-Californians call it "Cali"

As far as ACM, here is a nicely done example:
https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=67211&start=90

[Tom&Shelly]

You list yourself as being from "Cali". I assume that means California.

It's funny you questioned that because it seems that only non-Californians call it "Cali"

As far as ACM, here is a nicely done example:
https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=67211&start=90

I lived in LA for 11 years, and we always called that part "La La Land".

Tom

[S. Heisley]

Aha! The Californians are showing themselves!

[twisted lines]

I'm so close; but Not.
Where's the sketches

[Ron Dickey]

Chris,

Welcome, what part of California it is a big state. Reason I am asking is there might be a fellow teardropper near you who can lend a hand.

I had troubles figuring out my doors, Steve in the next town over showed me what to do.

When you figure out the design of what you are going to call it. Go down to "Build Journals" and start your build page. There are a lot of folks on this forum who will get you pointed in the right direction.

I am on my second build and I did not fully know what I was doing on the first, but they got me headed in the right direction.

You can also put yourself under other titles too.

Up to to the right is Donate is you can afford to give some it will keep this forum alive.

You might put your questions in the "user poll" enter each question individually . It take a while to understand how to get that responses you want but you can later go back and correct them. Some one else might have asked the same question so go up to search and enter each question, it might already be there.

If you can go to a teardrop trailer event, it is worth it. On our first we slept in a tent.

You may find some here or go to tearjerkers ( https://forum.tearjerkers.net ) many of us belong to both. Also click on Jefferson State they are northern Cal and Oregon.

Ron Dickey
Los Osos, CA. halfway between SF and LA on the coast.

[twisted lines]

I had troubles figuring out my doors,

Up to to the right is Donate is you can afford to give some it will keep this forum alive.

Good timing on the door's almost forgot suphthing Today

I am not authorized to Donate (Button Broke)

[Stopher]

Well thanks all for the responses. Got distracted with Sketchup and went and did this drawing (my first) - may have gotten a little carried away!

Camper front.PNG (551.89 KiB) Viewed 557 times

Camper rear.png (549.14 KiB) Viewed 557 times

Some answers to comments,
from SF east bay. Fremont to be specific.
Trailer is for my wife and myself. Hope to be off-grid for 5-7 days occasionally.
Will build from scratch myself. Welded steel frame. ACM skin? Currently in planning stage - may take years before I get into this for real - hopefully sooner than that!
Intend on Timbren axle w/brakes.
7ft width is to keep it as roomy as possible. Not too worried about fitting into narrow space. More concerned about keeping wife happy!
Want to keep it low for visibility and keep the weight down as the add-ons (bikes/water,etc) will add quite a bit of weight. Will pull with a 4WD Toyota.
The width gives some decent counter space to make the kitchen more serviceable, as well as some elbow room in the cabin.

Camper kitchen.png (452.95 KiB) Viewed 557 times

Working on BOM and weight balance. May have to use narrower doors if I need to move axle forward. Could use 32g water tank as ballast to balance as necessary.

A name...Low-wider? Pipe Dream? Wanderer?