Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi everyone. I've been looking to do a conversion for a while. I've got a lot of inspiration from this site so I thought I would post it here. I have a wife and newborn son who will also be camping/traveling with me. I looked for used trailers with no luck, and with a newborn I won't have the time to build and do every little modification. So I finally came across a new trailer at a dealership to go with. They had a customer special order a trailer and they hit the order button twice so they ended up with two identical trailers. Worked out great for me as I really like it. Its is a 5x10 slant front v nose. It can with a roof vent, wall insulation, Rv door, two windows and rear barn doors. Its a Covered Wagon brand. First order of business is insulating the ceiling and cover with luan, interior paint and e-track system. Stay tuned

Sounds like you found a deal!! Good luck with your build and looking forward to any progress. You got your hands full with the new baby.

Earnest

Maybe you should let us know what dealership is stuck with that extra special order trailer they will surely want off the lot.

I bought the extra one they ordered. The guy that had it ordered is using his for a mobile deer stand. But I purchased it at Trailer country in Cabot Arkansas.

How tall is that trailer looks to be about 7ft from pic and Welcome to this great site

It is 6'4". It is taller behind my rig than I would like it. But being able to stand upright is a must(I'm 5'11"). Also I plan to do a queen bed that lowers from the ceiling as a top bunk(using the vertical E-trac system) and leave it mostly open below for storage and a play area for our son.

What a great find. Score! No window or door work, its all ready to customize! I'm definitely staying tuned.

Got to start on the trailer today. Didn't have a lot of time but I did get all of the factory plywood and trim out. I wasn't going to pull the factory walls because it was insulated from the factory. After I read some builds that had owners dissatisfied with the factory job I decided to make sure. It was basically aluminum coated bubble wrap. So I'll be putting 1" pink foam board in the walls and ceiling. Also picked up some luan for the ceiling. My vertical e-trac also came in with some attachments for bed frames and tie-down d-rings. Its great quality and I'm excited. Shipped fast from cargo UScargocontrol, I would use them again. Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! Here a two quick pics I took tonight.

Check to see if there is a local supplier of polyisocyanurate; R 6.5 per inch vs R5 for the pink or blue. Where I am I can buy it for a couple % points less than the big box stores pnk/blue. From an independent insulation suppler; NM / TX locations.

All our local builder supply store has is expanded polystyrene and Extruded polystyrene.I bought the pink 1" r5 I think it was around $27 a sheet. Got one sheet half off because it had a small piece broke off the edge. I was thinking about doing bubble insulation between the polystyrene and plywood to seal everything off.

This is what I bought. I was thinking the 5 R value of the board and the whatever the bubble insulation would get me over 5. Im not sure how much the bubble wrap will help though. Thanks for the input though, I thought they only made the two boards.

Extruded (pink/blue) is better than expanded (white). Polyiso (off white, yellowish) is not common in retail oriented big boxes and small dealers. Polyiso is all foil faced, silver one side and white the other. It is used mostly in commercial buildings than homes, but a knowledgable home builder may use it as it is highe r-value.

That's all they sell? That is good XCPS foam but they are selling the high density stuff that you don't need. It is meant for insulating under high mass concrete floors. Foamular 150 is the standard stuff, which should be less than $20 a sheet; $18.27 local to me, $17.65 at my insulation dealer for the polyiso. The 150 can support 15 lbs per sq inch, the 250 is 25 lbs per sq inch. In reality the 150 is all that is needed under a one story home concrete slab. But that is more than you need to know.

Nothing you can do about it I guess, and I don't mean to make you feel bad, but I just thought you should be informed.

It's my personal opinion that the bubblewrap type does little good. If there is room for it there is nothing to lose though since you already have it. The foil faced bubble stuff can be effective in increasing R value in some circumstances, but it really needs an air space between the foil face and the exterior wall to work.

No bad feelings at all. I'm here for the input and help, so I greatly appreciate your help. I can return the 250 if need be. I haven't used board insulation before. What are the top options for these trailers? I can call around Monday and see if I can get something else ordered in.

Either 15# or 25# will work; they have the same r value per thickness. 25# is just more dense, stiffer foam. If there is 15# available it should save money.

IMO, it is also very important to seal the air gaps between the interior space and the outer aluminum skin. Caulking every foam to rib seam with a foam friendly caulk will help to keep air borne water vapor from condensing on the inside of the aluminum walls and roof. Taping with a foil tape also helps. Our trailer is going to get a second layer of foam over the first layer that is between the ribs. The seams on the second layer will also be sealed and taped.