Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

OK, not Seattle but close... Marysville, WA.

My wife and I were set on building a 5' 6x12 teardrop... Had it all planned out, plans drawn, etc... Then the wife realized she wasn't going to be able to stand up in a 5 foot tall teardrop, ever... unless we cut off her legs at the knees... As that wasnt an option in her mind, I showed her some of the cargo conversions on here, and a few random pinterest/google searches... And the teardrop morphed into a cargo trailer conversion.

We have a few requirements with a precedence order depending on which one of us you talk to.
1 - Must fit a queen mattress lengthwise (60x80)
2 - Must not look like a horse trailer when completed.
3 - Must have a small hot water tank
4 - Must fit a queen mattress
5 - Heater (It's Washington, lets be real here...)
6 - Be able to stand in
- I'm 6 foot\
7 - Small sink with hot/cold water
8 - Onboard water tank and grey water tank below
9 - External shower (just the sprayer/knobs )
9 - Dry flush toilet
10 - Electric brakes
11 - Wired for Air Conditioning in the future
12 - Mood LED lighting (my idea)

I figured by the time I built a frame, walls, new tires, brakes etc I'd be near the cost of a used cargo trailer so the craigslist searching began. Wanting to fit a queen sized mattress/futon etc the way we did I had to find a 7 foot wide trailer, So i kept my eyes out for a 7x12 cargo trailer. I came across a 7x12 Pace America with a single 3500# axle with electric brakes, side RV door and rear drop down deck, Exactly what we wanted.







The plan is fairly simple... Complete it by July 12th to go camping, just needs everything done by then.

The first thing to do will get the wiring and lights laid out so i can begin cutting a few windows and insulate the trailer. I'll start gathering parts here pretty quick, with some hard work and luck we'll be camping by July 12th. I'm not too shabby and fabing up stuff, and have a whole cabinet shop at my disposal so this should be a lot of fun!

So the first question - Insulation

I've been scouring the CT Conversion forum for "the final say" on rigid foam insulation, and the proper vapor barrier needed to minimize condensation.

I plan on using
1 inch rigid foam on the sides,
2 inch in the floor
2 inch on the ceiling

As the Pace trailer has "Z" bar for "studs" and seems to have a depth of 1 inch, I should be able to slide some 1 inch rigid foam between the Z studs, perhaps a slight trim needed in places.
The floor should take the 2 inch foam with no issues.
- I'll pull up the 3/8th inch plywood flooring and install 2 inch rigid foam between the metal flooring (24 inch centers 68 inch wide)
- I'll put down some 1/2 inch plywood and glue the rigid foam to this plywood. I'll follow up with a few screws with fender washers underneath to ensure it doesn't come down.
- I'll probably also fill any cracks below with spray foam to ensure water doesnt pool between the rigid foam and the steel frame or floor.
- The Pink rigid foam says it's exterior rated,and OK below ground level so I feel it will be OK exposed under the trailer.
------ Do i need a vapor barrier here, if so how???


I'll be following this post for my window installation -
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=36215

Vapor barrier on the sides? As the sides are aluminum and the studs are steel should I use the aluminum tape and tape teh seams?

I wanted to spray the roof/aluminum sides with a sound deadener from second skin ( http://store.secondskinaudio.com/spectrum/ )
- I have used this to quiet cars with great success (Loud azz supercharged 350z)
- This should also bond the external aluminum to the steel Z bar studs to eliminate places for condensation to get stuck possibly???
---- Has anyone done this? ( I'll only do a thin coating as I have a gallon of teh stuff left over )

The inside walls will be covered in 1/8th inch luan over the 1 inch rigid foam. Some bracing will be behind the luan in places for lights/shelves etc.
Not sure on the ceiling yet
- I need to figure out how to deal with the rounded wall/ceiling joint and how to properly insulate it

Looks like you have a good plan. Good luck with the build.

Nice looking trailer. I wound up buying a Haulmark, but Pace was the other one I had at the top of my list.

My trailer isn't under construction yet, but my plans are similar to yours, with the exception that I don't plan to lift the floor. I'm just going to fasten some 1" or 2" foam, glued and screwed. my floor is 3/4" plywood.

As far as sound-deadening goes, your spray will probably be fine, but I doubt it would be necessary. I once paneled the inside of a cargo van with pink insulation in between, after first painting undercoating to the metal walls for the insulation to stick to. ( Maybe, though, the undercoating would be similar to your spray). The stock van was horribly noisy when I got it, but after the insulation, it was as quiet as a Cadillac.

Dave

walkrdg wrote:Nice looking trailer. I wound up buying a Haulmark, but Pace was the other one I had at the top of my list.

My trailer isn't under construction yet, but my plans are similar to yours, with the exception that I don't plan to lift the floor. I'm just going to fasten some 1" or 2" foam, glued and screwed. my floor is 3/4" plywood.

As far as sound-deadening goes, your spray will probably be fine, but I doubt it would be necessary. I once paneled the inside of a cargo van with pink insulation in between, after first painting undercoating to the metal walls for the insulation to stick to. ( Maybe, though, the undercoating would be similar to your spray). The stock van was horribly noisy when I got it, but after the insulation, it was as quiet as a Cadillac.

Dave

Hey Dave,

I don't plan on raising the floor but attaching the 2 inch foam below the deck, between the support beams. I'll cut a 24" x 68" piece of foam and glue it to the flooring underneath the trailer.
I'm 6 foot, I need all 6'2" inside the trailer.

The Sound deadener spray just adds a little rigidness to the aluminum. It will take the "ping" out of the raindrops on the roof.

Doublacola wrote:Looks like you have a good plan. Good luck with the build.

Thanks!

I have that exact trailer and am planning/ dreaming of a similar conversion. I will be following along with your build. Best of luck to you. Go Get Em'

Yours will be another cool one to watch. Keep us going with some pictures. Welcome aboard!

A quick question....is your flooring really only 3/8", or is that a typo? Good luck with your build - and can you send some of your wet weather down to northern Nevada?!

svu3r93 wrote:A quick question....is your flooring really only 3/8", or is that a typo? Good luck with your build - and can you send some of your wet weather down to northern Nevada?!

I guessed at what is currently on the floor; it's whatever came from the factory and could very easily be 3/4.

Think we may change the dry flush toilet to a standard water toilet, with black tank below... for the 420 bucks for the toilet, i can put in a better crapper...

Holding tank is 160 bucks,
Crapper is 175

No poop bags to dispose of.

I'll already be dumping a grey tank

Could you post some links for the toilet and tanks?
Thanks, McDave

I can post some links to what I'm looking at, as the parts are not purchased quite yet.

For the tank, i needs to fit between 68 inch frame rails, and be no more than 24 inches wide. The trailer has a depth (floor stringers) of 6 inches, but 10 inches to the axle roughly.

I found a tank on amazon (available several places) that meets my requirements, and has a side drain. You add your own "poop" holes where needed. It's 19 gallons in size and you can find it with the sensor installed.
http://www.amazon.com/Holding-Center-HT ... B007NZVGDA

Search google for more details on this specific tank - HT703ED
The do make slightly larger tank, but this is just black water for us.

Lots of options on toilets, but this one seems like a real winner
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/it ... hite/49446

I'll need some misc parts to hook up the draining of the tank etc.
We plan to enclose teh toilet in a cabinet that the top and front open up to expose the throne. When closed up, you'd never know there was a toilet there.

I'll find a similar tank in a larger size for grey water for the sink.
These will mount on either side (front and rear) of the axle, attached to the floor with 1 inch of xps foam insulation between them and the floor. The rest of the floor will still get 2 inches minimum of foam board.

Dometic is the best way to go. If you forget to winterize the toilet valve is always the first to go. The Dometic valve is the easiest to replace and can be done without pulling the toilet unlike other brands.