Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

chiefb711 wrote:Adam,
Have you gotten any more work done on your CTC this week? I'm getting cabin fever in this dang hospital, and I have ordered so much stuff in the meantime. I also thought up a few more ideas for my CTC.

Ryan

Nope. Nothing since the earlier post. I feel your pain as I scrounge the cargo trailer for stuff to read and look at. I go way back sometimes as the new posts seem to be few and far (I am exaggerating) between.

Adam

I have noticed that about new posts also. Maybe the older ones are complete and the posters are out there camping.
I will have mine going in Oct after I pick the CT up at the end of the month. But going back to the old posts is very helpful. I still do it.

Been on hiatus awhile on the project, but it was for the best. I had a worker of ours build me a bed base when we were slow at work to keep him busy. I knew it would not flip up fully length wise. After seeing how far it was from doing so I decided to rearrange the layout some. Porta potti water closet is now at the front to the right of the door when you enter. The kitchen is in a straight line ahead of you with the fridge/electrical center to the left. The bed is in the same spot but will flip to the side. I am going to raise it to have storage bins under it. This layout will accommodate my feet hanging off the bed if I want ( I am 6'-9"), but the sitting area will not be set up all the time. The bed will get flipped up when not in use to open the floor for living, but it will lift very easy with the murphy bed brackets I got.

Here is the new layout


I put the bike in for the first time to make sure the P.O's wheel chock location would work for me. Perfect!


If I feel like working via lights , then I may get the fridge vents in this week and the exterior lighting mounted. Once that's done it is insulation time and attack the wiring and interior.

Jiffypop207, Howdy;

Nice diagrahm, you could use a section of plywood to extend the legroom
and drop an extra pillow to fill in the hole at the head after sliding the mattress.

On another note, are you sure you want to place all the weight along one wall???
What about the times when you may not have the bike with you???

hank

Not worried about weight on one side. It is on the correct side anyways. Like pulling a single snowmobile on a trailer....keep it on the drivers side because if it is on the passenger side and the trailer wheel catches the shoulder or slush, then it sucks the trailer right over into it. The majority of the weight will be on or forward of the axle which is my concern if the bike is not in there.

Adam

Bob wrote

Maybe the older ones are complete and the posters are out there camping.

Pretty much. I know one fellow from this forum who sold his a couple of years ago and another who just uses his CT so much that he has no longer posts. Some of us stay around for the idea inspiration and to answer the occasional question to help newbies so they don't have to repeat the same mistakes we made.

And thanks to Mike S. for starting and keeping this website going.

Prem

Prem wrote:Bob wrote

Maybe the older ones are complete and the posters are out there camping.

Pretty much. I know one fellow from this forum who sold his a couple of years ago and another who just uses his CT so much that he has no longer posts. Some of us stay around for the idea inspiration and to answer the occasional question to help newbies so they don't have to repeat the same mistakes we made.

And thanks to Mike S. for starting and keeping this website going.

Prem

X2. It was a life-changer for me. Really. I stick around a little because I won't rule out converting another one some day, there's always new ideas, and I can help someone once in a while. Oh, and because I love my Dickerson heater too!

If it's not too late, try to separate the sink and cooktop as much as possible. It looks like only about 8" between them. That's hardly enough room to lay out sandwich bread.

Certainly not to late. Probably layout it out in real life before I set it in stone.

Adam

A beautiful weekend let me get some things done to the exterior of my trailer with aid of my most excellent assistant Vicki, my girl friend. My window has been in for quite some time as well as the awning. I made it my first point to caulk both the window and the awning rail. I am a firm believer in using tape to make for a nice clean lined caulk job. Here's the window taped, during and finished.







Then I started installing the lights that have been starring at me for weeks since I received them. This is the fun stuff for me. I ordered a led self adhearing strip for under the awning after seeing one in another thread on here for my patio lighting. First Vicki cleaned the area with denatured alcohol to ensure a good stick. I drill a hole to tuck the lead and turns out 1 led into the trailer to make the connection. Then we rolled out the strip down the side and I taped it every 8" or so to get it straight. When we reached the other end of the awning I cut the strip to the desired length at the closest allowable area. You can cut the strip at multiples of three leds. Nice bonus is it works well even when the awning is rolled up so it will be used for setup on dark arrivals. Here it is in the day light lit up.



And after patiently waiting for dark to see it at night.....notice how well my house lights up from it!



I added 4 more run/brake/turn light to the rear of the trailer of the same sort as the existing.

Then I mounted the rear floods that with be wired into the reverse lead from the tow vehicle as well as switched to use as work lights for loading and unloading. Two mounted, but didn't make a lead to test both at once...

Sunday I spent a good chunk of the day making realizations of where things were going to have to been located with my new layout. Hot water heater and furnace cutouts as well as power, water inlets and outdoor shower controls will be installed after cabinets are installed. Now that the layout has been set in stone I could make the cutouts for the fridge vents. I laid them out, then drilled the corners with a 1/2" drill bit. I then removed any skin screw that would aid in moving the skin for cutting frame members. The corner holes allowed me to transfer lines outside for cutting the skin.


Electric shears made quick clean work of that.



Vents installed from the inside


Taped ready for caulk on the exterior...didn't snap a finished exterior picture.


With what I got done this weekend I can now start insulating and wiring!

Adam

Slow progress has been made. Darkness when I get home just sucks the motivation to go work on the trailer right out of me. I have done some since the last post. Primary layer of 1" rigid insulation is in. 110V wires have been run and some of the 12v wiring has been done.




And then got the strapping on...




Wall strapping has been completed at this point.

I have made a decision as I have been pondering my trailer extensively. I am going to pull the roof AC off and put in my Fantastic fan. I will mount the 5,000 BTU AC from my A-liner through the wall. I like camping at state parks and many do not offer electrical hook-ups. So the the AC would be unusable and I gain and roof fan so it will be win win. I will leave the 110v wire i ran in the ceiling just in case.

More progress to come....

Adam

Nice clean work!

Prem

Looking great. I like the use of slats on the ceiling for attaching panels. Might have to incorporate that design instead of using the roof supports since they are not straight.

Looking great so far.