Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

...finally underway!

Hi y'all. Finally found a cargo that 'should' work for me...ha ha, guess we'll see when it's done. Lotta great ideas on here. Kinda wish the board was even more active as my brain has been like a sponge soaking up the ideas. Anyway my background is in the RV industry for the past 24 years. I have built them and designed them. Currently I am the CAD manager/Lead drafter for my company so this build will be easy for me albeit my first cargo conversion. My approach is going to be be very minimalistic. Going to haul up to two quads with a large fold down bed, cabinet for storing the regular camping gear with a bar like counter top to eat at and prep/cook when the weather is crap. I still prefer my camping experience to be 'outdoors' so my interior will only be the basics...no toilet/shower, no holding tanks, no 120 volt. Power will be 12v only with 6v batteries and solar charging. My kinda camping is pretty remote with no hook-ups. Here is the basic floor plan (more pics to come)...

The day I brought it home...



...I hate the way the sheetmetal is so wavy on some of these. I'm hoping once I get it insulated and put the panels up inside that it won't be quite so bad.

Let the fun (work)...lol, begin.
Started removing some of the factory decals. Man those are a pain in the butt!
Put on new wheels and tires from product we build at work...





Yeah!...look better already!

Interior gutted and ready to do the floor...

Good start. Is the minimalist approach due to the fancy dancy stuff you've designed for so many years?

rebapuck wrote:Good start. Is the minimalist approach due to the fancy dancy stuff you've designed for so many years?

Hi Judy

Nah...Mostly because I like to keep camping simple. I like to spend my time outside while camping. My idea with this project is that it is a quick shelter if I get there and the weather is nasty basically my 'tent' is already set up. Gonna use foam pads for the mattress (no air mattresses deflating)...yeah! I prefer to cook and eat outside anyway. And the last thing I wanna do is have to go to a dump site to clean out my holding tanks after a long relaxing campout, know what I mean? The other reason is that my truck doesn't have enough stuff to pull all the fancy dancy things you can cram in a trailer these days + 2-3 quads so I'm try'n to keep it on a diet When I used to design toyhaulers I would think 'man this would be cool to have a dry shelter that I can haul my quads in, but I really don't need all that stuff'.

Exterior lighting done. All LED. Still thinking about adding one to the front over the battery area.

Nice lights. Are those 12v white led lights? Are they all on one switch?

Rainier70 wrote:Nice lights. Are those 12v white led lights? Are they all on one switch?

They're kind of a bright white with a bluish color to them. I don't have them wired yet but each side is gonna be on a separate switch.
...yes 12 volt.

That will be nice. Do you mind posting where you got them? Thanks!

Rainier70 wrote:That will be nice. Do you mind posting where you got them? Thanks!

Sure...this is the company that we get them from...
http://www.optronicsinc.com/pdfs/Sell_Sheet_ILL70_71AWN.pdf

Convenient for me since we get them by the case The ones I'm using are the 9".

Door catches installed at each door...

Got the floor done. It's a product called 'Restore' made for decks and concrete patios. Seems pretty tuff but not super flexible. I have a feeling it will crack at the decking seams as the trailer flexes.....guess we'll see how it holds up.

Quadriderdad wrote:Got the floor done. It's a product called 'Restore' made for decks and concrete patios. Seems pretty tuff but not super flexible. I have a feeling it will crack at the decking seams as the trailer flexes.....guess we'll see how it holds up.

Quadriderdad,
I like the looks of your floor. Do you know if Restore is oil/gas/chemical resistant?

Earnest

I'm not sure if the deck restore is oil and gas resistant. They do make a product called 'Extreme Concrete' that is. I'm kinda having buyers remorse wishing I'd got it instead but to late now. My quads don't leak oil so I think I'm ok there.