Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I picked up a used 2012 6x10 Continental Cargo Value Hauler in the spring of 2014.


it came with a spare tire, a group 31 deep cycle battery and gobs of hooks.



One of the first things I did was to install a small tongue box and relocate the battery.


Fantastic Vent installed and almost there with the ceiling insulation.

I camped in it twice in 2014 sleeping on a a double high air bed.
Each night the outside temp dropped into the 30s and I was very cold.

Due to a very busy spring 2015 I was not able to get back to working on the trailer until 4th of July weekend when I decided to take the walls down and install insulation.



There was some rust on the vertical frame rails so I hit them with some rust inhibitor before I started stuffing the insulation in.








Because the gap between the plywood walls and the exterior skin is 1.25" I used 1" insulation sheets and filled the 1/4" gap with that overpriced reflective bubble wrap.

Here is the front counter, sink and upper shelf prior to any plumbing work.

The counter and shelf surface are 1/2" plywood with 2x2 and 2x3 framework. I picked up a piece of scrap Formica for $6 that was just big enough and I got the sink from a craigslist ad for $10.
I'm trying hard to keep the weight down so I don't destroy my tow vehicle which is my only car.

Because I need to haul motorcycles I had to come up with a fold-up bed.

I decided to insulate it and support it with milk crates as they are very strong and I can store stuff in them at the same time.


Because it sits so high on the double milk crates I can store a heck of a lot of stuff under the bed while I'm camping.
With a trailer this small it's very important to maximize every square inch.

The 3" foam mattress is very dense but I could sill bottom it out so I glued some Harbor Freight anti-fatigue mats to the OSB surface. This helped quite a bit.

To keep the mattress in place I stapled a Harbor Freight movers blanket snugly around the bed frame. I don't have a good picture of that right now.

This was my first attemp at the fresh/gray water system.

The blue Aqua-Tainer is the 7 gallon fresh water tank and the taller green jug is my 6 gallon grey water tank.

This design was a failure do to vibration noise even though I cushioned the pump with a piece of foam mat.

I figured out that a lot of the vibration noise was being transferred via the 250PSI line I had running from the pressure side of the pump to the faucet in the sink.
After relocating the the pump I got rid of the 250 PSI hose section and replaced it with a much longer and softer 40 PSI hose and looped it a few times.

This is much quieter.



My first time out in 2015




This was dry camping so I picked up a 750 watt inverter from Harbor Freight and connected it to my spare group 27 battery to power my little 650W 5 cup coffee maker.

After making three pots of coffee the battery still had enough juice to jump start my buddy's truck before we left camp and a co-worker's car the following Monday.

The camp site was pitch black dark at night so I pulled out my little LED pico projector and played some video clips on the side of the trailer.

It reminded me of the good times I used to have at drive-in theaters.

Back in the driveway and it's time to install some electronics.

The car receiver was $45 from Amazon and has USB, SDHC card slot and Bluetooth in addition to AM/FM radio.

This is the bottom side of the shelf with it's own fuse block, some 12V accessory sockets, USB power ports and the power injector for the King Jack antenna.


Front section painted and ready to head to the coast two weeks ago. I'm thinking about painting light grey everywhere else other than the ceiling which will also be painted white once I put something up there.
I still have some wiring clean up to do.

All settled in at the Vista Park Campground in Skamokawa, WA. Not quite the coast but very close.


Fully deployed and all systems functional!

Looks a lot like my desk at work.

I hope to take it out a few more times before winter and install brakes next spring.

Awesome stuff!

It is amazing what you can put into these trailers and the use. You are doing a fine job and enjoying it. Great job Alpha One Nine.






Bob

Great job. looks fun and since you built it, it suits your needs.

Awesome!

What a beautiful campground too.

Thanks for the comments folks.
It has been fun to build and even more fun to use.

Alpha One Nine wrote:

Expropriated milk cases notwithstanding, that there borders on genius.

Let me preface by saying "I know nothing"... but I've read a little about thermal breaks on this site. Would it help, when installing the bubble insulation, to continue it across the studs? Popping the bubbles would make it lay flat at the stud line.

rebapuck wrote:Let me preface by saying "I know nothing"... but I've read a little about thermal breaks on this site. Would it help, when installing the bubble insulation, to continue it across the studs? Popping the bubbles would make it lay flat at the stud line.

I don't know how much it helps but that is what I did.

warnmar10 wrote:Expropriated milk cases notwithstanding, that there borders on genius.

I had to look up Expropriated
I'll have you know I paid $5 each for those milk cases.

Alpha One Nine wrote:

warnmar10 wrote:Expropriated milk cases notwithstanding, that there borders on genius.

I had to look up Expropriated
I'll have you know I paid $5 each for those milk cases.

Well, I built a similar bed in my old trailer but it didn't occur to me to use my expropriated and tool-stuffed milk cartons for the purpose. I did shove them under the bed to get them out of the way but I like your two birds/one stone approach better.

warnmar10 wrote:

Alpha One Nine wrote:

warnmar10 wrote:Expropriated milk cases notwithstanding, that there borders on genius.

I had to look up Expropriated
I'll have you know I paid $5 each for those milk cases.

Well, I built a similar bed in my old trailer but it didn't occur to me to use my expropriated and tool-stuffed milk cartons for the purpose. I did shove them under the bed to get them out of the way but I like your two birds/one stone approach better.

I'm glad you like it.
Like I said earlier, my goal has been to keep every square inch as multi-functional as possible.

A few pics from a few weeks go up the St. Joe River in northern Idaho.


Camping mode.


Travel mode.


The reason I went to the trouble.

Damn that's pretty country. I really love that Salmon area and the "River of No Return". If you ever get a chance to get over to Montana, check out the "Big Hole Battlefield" area. Really pretty and some great folks, too. I can't remember the name of the place right now, but they've got the one-stop shopping. Gas, chainsaws, ammo, BBQ, beer, whisky and billiards. A couple of HOT waitresses, sawdust on the floor and dead animals on the walls. Is this Heaven? Maybe. It's close enough for me.
McDave

sweet rig and bike.

I ride a KLX250s, KLR650, and a Ruckus.