Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hey Folks!
Wanted to share our 8.5x16 Diamond Cargo Conversion. This was a husband and wife project, with a little inspiration from Airstream. We've taken this on a roadtrip from Dallas to Yellowstone, amongst other trips around Texas.

Let us know what you think! We got a lot of great inspiration from this site

Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHskA8uTxo

rmcrist wrote:Hey Folks!
Wanted to share our 8.5x16 Diamond Cargo Conversion. This was a husband and wife project, with a little inspiration from Airstream. We've taken this on a roadtrip from Dallas to Yellowstone, amongst other trips around Texas.

Let us know what you think! We got a lot of great inspiration from this site

Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHskA8uTxo

Nice work! I like the look. Very clean and contemporary looking.

Is there a bathroom or toilet in the build? I didn't see one. What do you cook on? Is there a portable burner you put up on the counter-top?

flboy wrote:

rmcrist wrote:Hey Folks!
Wanted to share our 8.5x16 Diamond Cargo Conversion. This was a husband and wife project, with a little inspiration from Airstream. We've taken this on a roadtrip from Dallas to Yellowstone, amongst other trips around Texas.

Let us know what you think! We got a lot of great inspiration from this site

Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHskA8uTxo

Nice work! I like the look. Very clean and contemporary looking.

Is there a bathroom or toilet in the build? I didn't see one. What do you cook on? Is there a portable burner you put up on the counter-top?

We dont have a bathroom / toilet in this build - this was our first build so plumbing isnt our forte yet. We have a Stok Portable grill (the Gridiron Model) that we carry with us under the bed as well as a Coleman gas stove. We're currently working on running LP inside so that we can use it both indoor and outdoor.

I certainly understand... but the plumbing is easier than you may think. It can be rather simple depending on your needs. In any case , you can get a good Thedford or Dometic Portable toilet. No plumbing involved. It's sure nice not to have to go outside the trailer in the middle of the night when you have to go. In my first CTC, that is all I had and it worked great.

Anything else planned for this build or are you done? I discovered I was never done... So I sold the first one and started a second one.

Nice looking build! Congrats!

I agree with flboy - a porta-potti is the way to go - no plumbing.

When I started our build, I used 5-gal "portable" holding tanks under both sinks (kitchen & bathroom) and a portapotti in the bathroom.

As time went on (we've been travelling and living in "Ali" for over a year now), we found not having a proper sewer connection to a park's system, when available, was a pain. So I added a grey water sewer "system". Still no permanent holding tank, but if we are in a park with sewer, we look like any other travel trailer - sewer hose running to sewer drain. If we don't have a sewer connection, we use the 5-gal tanks. At least when they get full, we can walk them to the dump station, not have to move the whole rig. I also added a 3" drain underneath the portapotti "pedestal" so we can dump the portapotti tank from inside the trailer.

Because we mostly stay in rv parks/campgrounds with power, I added a 2.6 gal hot water heater. This was a really nice addition. I used a "point-of-use' hot water heater from Home Depot. So nice to flip a switch and about 10 mins later have hot water.

Now with hot water, my wife and I have decided we want to add a shower. There is always one park/campground that makes us wish we had one.

Unlike flboy, I continue to improve our 7x16 v-nose NEO trailer. I'd love to do another, but not right now.

Thanks for sharing!!

CoventryKid wrote:Nice looking build! Congrats!

I agree with flboy - a porta-potti is the way to go - no plumbing.

When I started our build, I used 5-gal "portable" holding tanks under both sinks (kitchen & bathroom) and a portapotti in the bathroom.

As time went on (we've been travelling and living in "Ali" for over a year now), we found not having a proper sewer connection to a park's system, when available, was a pain. So I added a grey water sewer "system". Still no permanent holding tank, but if we are in a park with sewer, we look like any other travel trailer - sewer hose running to sewer drain. If we don't have a sewer connection, we use the 5-gal tanks. At least when they get full, we can walk them to the dump station, not have to move the whole rig. I also added a 3" drain underneath the portapotti "pedestal" so we can dump the portapotti tank from inside the trailer.

Because we mostly stay in rv parks/campgrounds with power, I added a 2.6 gal hot water heater. This was a really nice addition. I used a "point-of-use' hot water heater from Home Depot. So nice to flip a switch and about 10 mins later have hot water.

Now with hot water, my wife and I have decided we want to add a shower. There is always one park/campground that makes us wish we had one.

Unlike flboy, I continue to improve our 7x16 v-nose NEO trailer. I'd love to do another, but not right now.

Thanks for sharing!!

I really like your build. My first was more for adventure camping with my dirbike and etc.. More of a Man Cave. It was also only about 12ft long with a small v-nose and 6ft. tall. I could not add the amenities needed for the wife to start going, so I got another which is 18' long with a 2' -nose and I ordered it 7.5' tall inside so I can add a queen loft bed to save floorspace for my motorcycle in the back. I saw your build before I bought my camper and liked the grey two tone exterior very much.. I had mine done somewhat like that. It goes well with my white truck.

I noticed in your build you used a laminate flooring (assuming it was the interlocking plank type). Laminate typically is a floating floor and will buckle if you have things bolted down through them into the sub floor ("pinch points"). It appears you put the laminate down first and then the walls which I am assuming would be bolted through to the subfloor. Have you had any trouble with buckling or etc.. in the laminate? I want to do laminate also and it sure would be easier to put it down before I build the walls and etc..

I love the clean lines and contemporary interior of your build. Very well done!

Curious - how does the 8-1/2 width tow with your Grand Cherokee? I am wanting to do a cargo trailer conversion too but have concerns on how much frontal area I could tow with my F150.

Again - beautiful job!

Don:

Our flooring fools a lot of people.....it's linoleum - the heavy stuff (3/16" thick and most of that is the foam backing) that does not need to be glued down. Yes, I put the lino down before I started framing. I've had no problems with buckling - it just lies there like it should. I just had to be careful during the build that I didn't drop anything on it.

aggie79 wrote:I love the clean lines and contemporary interior of your build. Very well done!

Curious - how does the 8-1/2 width tow with your Grand Cherokee? I am wanting to do a cargo trailer conversion too but have concerns on how much frontal area I could tow with my F150.

Again - beautiful job!

Hey Aggie79!
Jeep actually pulled it very nicely. We had a Hemi in it with the factory tow package. We have since traded out for a Tahoe for more room. Dry weight of the trailer, before the customization was right around 3500lbs. I estimate now its around 4500lbs. Tounge weight is probably 450ish lbs? Your F150 would do very well - i believe the tow capacity is at 9,000 - correct?

I see you're in the DFW area as well!

CoventryKid wrote:Nice looking build! Congrats!

I agree with flboy - a porta-potti is the way to go - no plumbing.

When I started our build, I used 5-gal "portable" holding tanks under both sinks (kitchen & bathroom) and a portapotti in the bathroom.

As time went on (we've been travelling and living in "Ali" for over a year now), we found not having a proper sewer connection to a park's system, when available, was a pain. So I added a grey water sewer "system". Still no permanent holding tank, but if we are in a park with sewer, we look like any other travel trailer - sewer hose running to sewer drain. If we don't have a sewer connection, we use the 5-gal tanks. At least when they get full, we can walk them to the dump station, not have to move the whole rig. I also added a 3" drain underneath the portapotti "pedestal" so we can dump the portapotti tank from inside the trailer.

Because we mostly stay in rv parks/campgrounds with power, I added a 2.6 gal hot water heater. This was a really nice addition. I used a "point-of-use' hot water heater from Home Depot. So nice to flip a switch and about 10 mins later have hot water.

Now with hot water, my wife and I have decided we want to add a shower. There is always one park/campground that makes us wish we had one.

Unlike flboy, I continue to improve our 7x16 v-nose NEO trailer. I'd love to do another, but not right now.

Thanks for sharing!!

Hey Doug!
I stumbled upon your build a couple weeks ago and was super impressed - very very well done. You did a lot what we wanted to do, but didnt have the time for. It gives us a lot of inspiration for our next build.

flboy wrote:I certainly understand... but the plumbing is easier than you may think. It can be rather simple depending on your needs. In any case , you can get a good Thedford or Dometic Portable toilet. No plumbing involved. It's sure nice not to have to go outside the trailer in the middle of the night when you have to go. In my first CTC, that is all I had and it worked great.

Anything else planned for this build or are you done? I discovered I was never done... So I sold the first one and started a second one.

I can always keep going, but i think we are done for now. We just added a Dometic Brisk II A/C for this summer. We are probably going to sell it later and put that $$ into a bigger build. Im looking now into getting an Aluminum Trailer from ATC and doing a "luxury" buildout. And yes - will have some sort of plumbing or toilet. My wife doesnt like having to walk to the bathhouse at 3am...lol

rmcrist:

Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I had a lot of fun putting our CT together. We purposely built it as a "toy" hauler, toy being my wife's Invacare M91 power wheelchair. As I mentioned we've lived in Ali (as in Tin Can Alley) for just over a year now, travelling around both Canada and the USA. Back in 2014, we sold the house and most of our stuff, but kept some of the important "stuff" like my tools (in storage). We're currently just east of Algonquin Park heading for our nation's capital, Ottawa, on Thursday for a couple of weeks.

We put a lot of thought into the layout specifically because of the wheelchair. I didn't want to carry it in the van due to weight - the Savana is only a 1500. So with a 400lb wheelchair and a wheelchair lift, plus my wife and I in the van, it's like having 5-6 people in the van weight-wise before we even hook up the trailer.

With the rear ramp, we load the wheelchair into the back of the trailer. The aisle through the middle of the trailer is 30" and there is enough room up front to be able to turn the wheelchair around, so should the day come where my wife has to be in the chair full-time, she can get in and out of the trailer facing the right direction.

If we stop just for a night, we usually move the w/c up the front out of the "bedroom" (aka living room, aka dining room). If we stop for more than one night, we take the w/c out of the trailer and put it in the van so my wife has it for when we sightsee, etc. We've pretty much got the routine down to about an hour to get set up or down.

I've probably rambled on longer than I should but we both really enjoy the small space. We went from 3400, 1500, 1200 sf homes to 120 sf and it feels just right. In fact when we're in a campground or rv park and a big diesel pulls in with a ginormous 5th wheel, we both wonder what they do with ALL that space. Takes me less than a couple of minutes to sweep the floor!

rmcrist wrote:We are probably going to sell it later and put that $$ into a bigger build. Im looking now into getting an Aluminum Trailer from ATC and doing a "luxury" buildout.

I've been keeping my eye out for an ATC cargo trailer. They are expensive but from pictures they seem to be worth every cent. I'm considering a v-nose, 7' X 18', but may look at a wider model with inboard wheels.

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Nice build

Great build...I imagine people are very surprised when they see how beautiful the inside is. It looks like you built the cabinets and seats to fit over the wheel wells. Any issues there? I'm considering doing the same in a future dream build i.e. upgrade from current 6 x 12 V.

Did you add an additional layer of insulation below the ceiling members, or is just taped well so I can't see the members in your pictures. If there are 2 layers, how did you attach a ceiling head-liner if there is one?

Thanks for sharing your build.