Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Bought a brand new Leonard 5x8 V-Nose in September specifically for converting to a camper but retaining the ability to carry a motorcycle. Ordered it in Silver Frost with a curb side 12" x 18" window, a side door, roof vent, front and rear flow vents, drop axle, single rear door opening to curb side, and a wheel for the front jack. It comes standard with insulated roof, LED tail lights, 3/8ths walls, 15" wheels, and cargo light. Probably for getting a couple things there.

I didn't take a day one photo as it was raining and I just wheeled it into my driveway at my Yorktown VA cottage. Well, there isn't enough room around it to take a good shot of the whole CT and that kind of kept me from starting a build thread. Today I figured you could get the full outside shot after I'm done.

I have to explain a couple things so everyone can understand why I did certain things to this CT build. First off, my name is Jim and I am 50 years old. I am self-employed since 2003. Prior to that I retired from the U.S. Army and was a SWAT cop in Knoxville TN. Still just outside Knoxville, I have a pretty wife and six kids, ages 25 down to 5. Five girls and a son (the oldest). 4/6 are still in the house.

We have a 2010 Class C motorhome (our 3rd RV) that we take on long multi-week vacations. We love it and the trips keep us close as a family. I have a nice home in TN with a fully-stocked garage (my cave) and, in addition to the RV, we have five Toyotas that I maintain. The problem is that I make most of my money AWAY from home. I am in Yorktown VA enough that it warranted getting the riverside cottage that my White German Shepherd dog Zoey and I share. I work elsewhere, including overseas, sometimes too. I am a security consultant and generally teach folks about guns, high performance driving, survival, personal security, and other tactical subjects. I only work 40 weeks a year so I can be home enough to make a difference, but the 500 mile spread is significant. My cottage is nice but has no garage, hence the choice to build a CT and have some weather protection as I did this. I marvel at the creativity I find here. I joined this forum in 2006 and swore I'd build my own someday. Last September I took the plunge.

I generally have weekends off and have been tent/car camping until now. The CT will give Zoey and I a weekend retreat at one of the many mountain, beach, or battlefield campgrounds within a short drive. Additionally, I sometimes work elsewhere in the U.S. and could potentially spend a couple weeks at a time in the CT as a work base station. Because that time may or may not be "camping" in the traditional sense of the world, I felt like luxuries such as BluRay and HDTV, running water, microwave, refrigerator, and other nice to have things would not be out of linbe. I know those items rustle the feathers of a few traditionalists but I'm the one that has to live in it/ Well, besides Zoey...who only asks to be near me and maybe the occasional bone to chew on.

My tow vehicle is more than adequate and deserves its own thread actually. During one of my many trips to Iraq I bought my wife a brand new 2004 Toyota 4Runner 4WD V8 SR5. It was hers but I lusted after it until 2009 when I stole it from her by dazzling her with a Sequoia. The 4R only had 31K miles on it when I stole it. I know it is beyond the scope of this forum to spend time describing my tow vehicle but suffice it to say it is way beyond the average 4Runner. It used to seat seven, but I removed all rear seating and built a storage bed, though I can add one of the two jump seats in less than a minute without losing bedspace. Zoey likes the bed and loves riding with me. Should I ever sell it, doubtful since I rarely sell anything and more drivers in the house soon enough, it can be restored back to its original format.

Here is a list of what I've done to the 4RNR as best I recall;

Cornfed 3" lift, Spidertrax wheel spacers, Nitto Terra Grappler 265/70/17, Dimpled/Slotted Rotors with Ceramic Pads, Borla Dual Exhausts, K&N Air Filter, Sure Power Isolator and Dual Battery setup with Optima Red and Blue Tops, Edgestar 12v/115v 43qt Refrigerator/Freezer, 750w/300w Inverters, eight 12V Outlets, PIAA 520's Driving Lights, Rear Fogs, Silverstar Ultra (Low/High/Fogs), Blue V-LEDS in every socket, Hunter Light Bar, Yakima Load Warrior w/extension, Hitch Bar, Kenwood 5140DNX Head Unit with Garmin GPS, Rearview Camera, iPod, DVD, Bluetooth, etc, Rear DVD/Gaming Entertainment System, Garmin 400T w/topo maps, Samsung Fascinate (Android), Custom Sleeper/Storage with Tier III Survival Kit, Tier II Bag, Recovery Gear, Scan Gauge II Monitor, 20% Tint, Yaesu FT-2900R 2M HAM Radio with Comet Antenna (KJ4VVA), Cobra 19 CB Radio with Wilson K30 and PA, Weathertech Floor Mats, Wheelskins, Iggees Seat Covers, and a Guinness Bottle Opener.

A couple pics of the TV then I'll get to the CT build (I promise);

The 5 x 8 pics are not very organzied. I don't think I did things in any logical order and I took pics when I remembered to. I reckon I'm 2/3rds done with her. I haven't named her yet either, but I'm sure she's female.

While it was still warm enough in the Fall, I did some outside stuff. Tonight it is 27 degrees and snowing, tomorrow probably won't be much warmer but, light permitting, I'll try to catch up with some additional photos.

I screwed and glued 3/4" blue foam board to the bottom, then coated the bottom with the black fence post paint that is so prevalent on this forum. I did it laying on my back and it was quite the experience. Five months later and I am happy with the results under there. Pics soon

Finding a tongue box that would fit my abbreviated frontal area that was also short enough to fit under the hand crank, that wasn't $200, was tough. So I used an Action Packer and installed a Group 31 Deep Cycle from Walmart. I vented the bottom and used blue conduit to run the wires from it to inside the CT nose. The wires never face the weather that way. I installed a battery cutoff too. I changed the flat four connector to a round seven, mainly to be able to charge it while towing from my 4Runner. I used 10ga wire for that.

Inside, the 8 ga wires from the battery go to a battery box power center that I decided was too useful to leave laying around. It already had a 30 amp fuse and two 10 amp 12V sockets. I added a Blue Sea Fuse Block with 12 circuits and a 500 watt inverter. Everything is fused. Some stuff is soldered, some I chose to crimp, some have only wire nuts (gasp!) that I taped. Everything that could be heatshrunk was heatshrunk. My 120V is a 12 ga 50' extension running inside via a cable hatch on the port side to a GFCI and out to three fused power strips. Not sophisticated but beyond adequate and I am sure it is safe.

In October I put 3/4" blue foam board everywhere I could. I sprayed the minimally expanding foam everywhere else. When I was done, there were no drafty areas that I could detect.

I started some cabinet work, but have no idea what I'm doing. I can't believe I didn't take a pic of the almost finished port and galley cabinets. It looks good from say 10 feet or so I'll get those pics taken real soon too.

Eventually I added a vinyl floor.

Zoey likes to inspect my work, but doesn't lift a claw to help. Sometimes she steals a freshly cut piece of woodwhen I'm not looking. Mostly she just gets in the way.

I added a water inlet on the front port side. Today I got the plumbing working on city water, hand pump, and 12V water pump. No leaks. I was slow and methodical, like I was with the electrical, but found plumbing to be harder than electrical. Go figure.

Here is a side view. The window is exactly where I ordered it to be. I want to be able to sit on my yet to be built bed and look outside. A curtain will be installed to use when I feel the need. Up high you can see the amber LED porch light I installed with an inside and outside switch.

If the sun shines tomorrow, I will have pics to post in detail. MAybe a video too

I plan to use this Champion 2000 Inverter/Generator I picked up for $200 on Craigslist. It runs just great and the poratble 7000 btu A/C works good too. The portable A/C was in the back of my 1996 Tacoma camper and really worked well then. It was just a camper shell with no insulation, this CT is fully insulated. Still, I'll keep my fingers crossed that it'll be adequate for this build. Idouble insulated the exhaust hose and put a computer fan on it to cool it even more.

The 500w inverter. Don't plan to use it much as the HDTV is 12V already. Still when you need one you need one, so there it is. The tow vehicle has a 750w running off the dual battery setup, so I think I'm good in the inverted power realm. What I really like, and discovered quite by accident, is the USB on this inverter is always powered, even when the inverter is off. So my iPod speaker can run without unnecessary battery drainage. All lights are LED to keep the amp draw smaller too.

It was only in the high 20's with a stiff wind today, but as clear a day as one could ever ask for. So I took a few pics without unloading all the construction materials I store in the CT.

Here are pics of the tongue box. The battery is strapped down and the 8 ga wires run inside the CT via blue conduit. The two clips that aren't attached are for the tow charging. I'll attach them as needed.

The Battery Cutoff

The conduit runs inside to a power center that no longer holds a battery but does have the 15/10/2 smart charger. The smart chargers wires also run thru the conduit and are attached to the battery terminals. Though this may look a little messy, I have marked all wires and fusing, wire sizes, etc are done to the best pf my ability with knowledge I gained from reading your posts. The Blue Sea Fuse Block has 12 circuits. I really like it.

The hitch is like most any. I did buy the Reese lock set for it.

The sink, faucet, and drop-in two burner. Pics of the propane setup are to follow as I take pics. The plumbing all works as does the propane setup, but somethings were dismantled while I worked on other things and needed the room. The mess is because I generally cleanup at the end of each day and the funny way I bounce from one task to another with no apparent plan.

I installed a Vortec fan with three forward and two reverse speeds. I have Fantastic fans (two) in my motorhome and they are the best, but this one was less costly and I had a coupon. Easy install. Next to it is one of the several LED overheads.

Again with the mess. I'm flying home next weekend, but in a couple weeks I'll have some better interior pics when I have time to remove the clutter. Thank you for looking!

A couple exterior shots. Have to find a way to get farther away for better pics of the exterior.

Well, I'll take the silence from everybody as either my work is too ghastly to mention in public or too awesome for words. Either way thanks to all that have looked.

Goatdog wrote:Well, I'll take the silence from everybody as either my work is too ghastly to mention in public or too awesome for words. Either way thanks to all that have looked.

how about neither? somewhere in the middle, actually more toward the awesome side than the ghastly.............

fine looking trailer, I too like to be able to see out while sitting, more in tune with travel trailers than cargo trailers
but I think we are in the minority on that most people like them higher up on the wall that's the beauty of "doing it my way"
only one you need to please is yourself.

Zoey is living the good life nice looking puppy........

Pete

Just getting back onto the board. Good looking CT. I know you and Zoey will enjoy it.

Looks great! I love your ideas.
I just want to point out one small thing. The battery you chose gives off gasses and should be stored outside of the sleeping area.
Not trying to be a Debbie Downer.
I really like the floor.
Jeff

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Taco Jeff wrote:Looks great! I love your ideas.
I just want to point out one small thing. The battery you chose gives off gasses and should be stored outside of the sleeping area.
Not trying to be a Debbie Downer.
I really like the floor.
Jeff

The battery, in its box, is on the tongue. The power center, with wires running from the battery box thru blue conduit, is inside. No gas concerns there. I can see where that might look like the opposite. Thanks for watching out forme though.