Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

After a dozen edits, I think I finally have it. Thanks for your patience.

Bought the trailer in June of 2009. It was a minor custon build. Added 6" in height, flush lock on the door, brakes and rear jacks. Threw a futon bed in it and went camping.




During the winter I planned the conversion and started accumulating materials. First thing was to gut it and insulate.




After wiring, the original plywood went back up on the walls.











When I was by the dealer one day, I bought another cam bar hasp. It was $6 I think. I liked the idea of using an eyebolt, but that meant buying a lock with a longer hasp and one more key to keep up with. This way I can use the padlock I already had.




Walls were painted with paint left from upfitting an office space and an old base cabinet was repurposed from the basment.



Supports added for the bed.



Ceiling panels.



Bed platform, 3/4 inch plywood recycled from a basment closet, with plenty of room for storage beneath.





Wiring routed to where I will build a closet and install the AC/DC power center.





Built an enclosure to support the air conditioner.



Added wall cabinets, smoke detector and small fire bottle.



Ceiling



Countertop painted with Rust Oleum countertop paint. Half steam table pan for the sink which drains beneath the cabinet to a 5 gal paint bucket with lid.















And there you have it. It is a very comfortable little home away from home. Everyone who has seen it has been very complimentary. There are still a few tweaks to be made, likely some I won't discover until I use it more freqently.

Thanks to everyone in the forum for the ideas. Watching your builds really inspired mine.
Best,
W A Wells

Very nice I like the green painted cabinets I too want a 7X12 trailer.

I like the V-nose and ramp I need a ramp for my mobility scooter.

How wide is your bed looks like a single?

pete

TOTALLY livable! I like the 'less is more' attitude. That's what pulled us toward TD's.

Very nice.

Very well done. I like it.

Great job!

Nathan

WA,

Great looking build. I especially like the cabinet layout and color scheme. Thanks for sharing and enjoy!

Nicely done! You'll enjoy it...

Thanks for the compliments everyone. It really is a very comfortable trailer. The green is a Pittsburg Paint color called Teal Zeal. In my mind it was very retro, which is why I chose it.

Pete, the bed in the picture is a double. I am 6'4" tall. I bought the 7 wide with 6" additional height so I could put a queen mattress in and be able to stand up. The double sized futon was already in the basement and didn't require the additional outlay of dollars at present. We will be replacing a queen mattress in the house later this year and the bed platform will be reconfigured to accomodate that footprint.

I do all of my cooking outdoors, save for making coffee each morning in my Aeropress (which I wouldn't have discovered if it had not been for this forum!) There is enough storage space under the bed for my stove (Camp Chef) and an EZ-Up, plus other totes that are carrying what I need for that particular trip.

On mothers day 2009, I woke up in my tent at the race track about 6:00AM. There was dew on my face and my butt was on the ground because my air mattress leaked down overnight. While I struggled to get dressed for work that day, I was determined to find an affordable solution to that predicament.

I had a blast building this thing, and my decision to do this is reinforced each time one of the guys at the track with the $150,000 plus motorhomes ask to look inside and and say that "...this is all you really need."

Most folks don't realize that they can do this on their own. It doesn't take skillsets that are out of reach of the average person who has desire and perseverence. You just gotta do! And when you get stumped, ask this forum. Folks here will help you. Thanks again!
Best,
WA

Awesome build! I love the counter top... might have to use that idea for my build. Thanks!

Wow! Great job, love those cabinets!!!! I have a question maybe you can answer. I am going to do a 7 x 14 v-nose with a very similar layout except I plan on having a 2' deep storage area in the back. I will have a room a/c thru that back wall into the storage area. I don't want to have that storage area open at night. If I put a 12" x 12" vent in one of the back doors, will that be enough for the a/c to work properly?

thanks,

Mike

One question ,, what is the tongue weight? Nice build ! Simple & clean.

dudleydoright, I would bet that you will need some type of fan to pull the hot air from the AC exhaust out of the storage area. The hot air will build up pretty fast without some help getting it out of there. You might also want a fresh air vent in the lower part to draw in fresh cooler air as you pull out the hot AC exhaust. Just a thought.

Boodro wrote:One question ,, what is the tongue weight? Nice build ! Simple & clean.

Boodro,
Thanks for the compliment. I honestly don't know what the present weight is. It is a bit more difficult to push around the driveway with the addition of the cabinets tho. When time permits I want to take it over to a buddy's race shop and get it weighed on all three points.

Thanks again, best,
WA

dudleydoright wrote:Wow! Great job, love those cabinets!!!! I have a question maybe you can answer. I am going to do a 7 x 14 v-nose with a very similar layout except I plan on having a 2' deep storage area in the back. I will have a room a/c thru that back wall into the storage area. I don't want to have that storage area open at night. If I put a 12" x 12" vent in one of the back doors, will that be enough for the a/c to work properly?

thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike,
My understanding, and I am not an expert mind you, is that you need a side draw for fresh air and a rear vent for the heat. Ed Casey is the first one that I recall (although I am sure there are others, this is the first that came to mind) that has demonstrated this. See his pics at http://s1000.photobucket.com/albums/af1 ... C03618.jpg

There was another build I recall that put a vent in a side wall for fresh air and out the rear door for the vent, but, memory fails at the moment.

You will figure it out. Go build it!
Best,
WA

If I had looked more closely at the bed I would have seen it had two pillows.

When I did another look I now wonder how the bed supports are held onto the sidewall? do any of the screws screw into the wall studs or just into the plywood?

a very nice build thanks for the pics.

pete