Build Journal: All Aluminum Bare Bones Tiny Travel Trailer

[aggie79]

[dancam]

Your trip sounds like it was a lot of fun! Im glad everything worked out!
I decided i was going to read through your whole again thread since i had a little time and comment on and ask questions about the whole thing but it was starting to get to be a lot of quotes and a lot of questions! So ill start from the beginning ones as tempting as starting from the end is...

Working on it.. have a pic I'm sure somewhere.. ya the rims are.. dadadahh aluminum of course. Had to use wheel spacer adapters to fit them. t]

How wide were those wheel adapters and did they cause any tire vibrating issues? With your axles being overloaded the spacers will cause even more stress on the bearings. I added 3/8 thick spacers to mine but im not sure they centred well and im worried about vibrations from that. Did you balance your trailer tires?
Im not as concerened about my spacers wrecking bearings since my axle is rated for 1700 pounds more than the whole trailer will weigh loaded. However i plan to make hub spacers instead to replace them anyway. I couldnt tell from these photos if you can do the same.

For those interested in reducing overall drag ratios using many tiny vortices of air this is the idea about using airtabs: (you get the idea, one line on the tow vehicle, one line on the trailer)
Edit: removed oversized photo with 938 views, added proper sized photo

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I dont see airtabs in your last photos, did you use them? You did say the trailer was quite stable, how was it in strong crosswinds and in the buffeting from oncoming semis?

Do you have another photo of the front of that trailer?

Ok so I attached some photos, I just realized you need to see the window for the effect... its a tinted moon-roof style window, I'm going to tint it even more to match all the windows.
Pretty soon, say as soon as the floor is installed, I will have to do the final weigh in, I guess I've been putting it off, I just wonder how heavy is it gonna get? Is this trailer actually going to do what it sought out to do, to run well behind a budget sub-compact?
Hey Dancam, you were asking about the tow vehicle - Heres a pic of the car suspension so to show one way it can be done that seems to work just fine. At 5 or less psi the rear suspension just works with the munroe shocks and h&r lowering springs, at 15psi the airbags raise the suspension back to, (~1.25"), and over stock height, at 30psi its like there is no suspension, the munroe shocks are way beefier than the oems too:

Edit: removed oversized photo with 888 views, added proper sized photo

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What 'weight' springs do you have back there? And what did the car come with? I replaced my 80 pound per inch springs with 150 pound and long bump stops but the airbags are interesting. I see you said they were firestone later on but could you post a link of the ones you bought so i can see if they would work with my setup? I have coilovers so im not sure, lol.
Thanks.

Just finished a meeting with a fellow building a pop-top style aluminum camper for his pickup. Hes going to go with the VHB tape for all his panel fastenings, with some rivets at the corners.. fascinating concept. The use of L-track was discussed as its sized the same as 1" square tube aluminum frame. I suggested he go thicker with his panels all the way to 16 guage (.051), as he won't regret it for the added strengths and easier to cut. He suggested a sealing frame idea using angle aluminum for my cargo door. I now have confidence in sealing the cargo door properly. This is just documenting whats coming up on the build starting June 1st when the machine gets back up and running.
Roly and Fred and Dancam and Don were all very helpful to chime in on this build, I hope they will be around for critique later on this season. Specifically related to framing and sealing the cargo door, and finishing the interior in wood. Its nice to see the pictures have been getting some views so ppl are following the thread, not really many chiming in, hey don't be afraid to leave a comment. I am the guinea pig who is willing to try this TV/TTT concept.
Its already been worth it get to a build journal.. heck theres always mistakes and ways to overcome them thats the part of the build that teaches me well. I love the process. Slow pace, steadfast determined rules on tolerances and overall structural integrity. I'm really happy with the build quality so far as my tiny travel trailer has been 'leaking testing' all winter. Just checked it out the sikkaseal has been soaked for months in some spots - no problems whatsoever, and the whole enveloped is double sealed extremely well. Now... I've never watched an aluminum weld fail.. well I guess that's gonna happen this summer hehe.. Still overall goal to have the bare bones shell with electrical and propane heating completed this upcoming spring/summer. And still shooting for this barebones heated insulated trailer at around 600lbs, but of course we all know talk is just that. Talk. The scale will tell the truth, next time I take it for a spin I'll scale it out at the local shop.
I know the synopsis for the build journals is you document what you do, but do the research and questions off on the appropriate forum.
So I'm off to learn more about Yellowtop Optima batteries, inverters, 12V/120V RV panels, Atwood Furnaces and Propane delivery, Door Weatherstripping.. I really hope there some good info on wiring/tubing up an Atwood Furnace Heater, one of those small ones I'm hoping to find at an RV surplus. Oh yea and the use of LineX/Rhinoliner type spray for the whole interior... and yes folks it sticks to spray on closed cell XPS foam, all 2 inches of it.
This is still the best picture to represent the project:
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=67014&start=15#p1184087

Youve never watched an aluminum weld fail but you will this summer????! You jinxed yourself! Lol.
Also heated and insulated weight of 600 eh? What was the official weight before your trip? 1280 pounds axle weight plus 120 pounds tongue weight for 1400 pounds loaded right? So what was it empty?

What did you decide on for an inverter/converter and battery?
Did you figure out the heater or have to postpone its planning?

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How did things go on the trip as far as alignment and tire wear? Did it work out fine? Track straight and stay straight over bumps? How was the trailer over large bumps?

Whatever bedliner product you choose to use make sure the smell eventually goes away. Some stink when hot for quite a while.

During' this build journal I am going to report what I've done/wrecked today. The idea about using truck bed liner on the interior was discarded for the voc reason and its weight, although I found a supplier willing to do it. Was totally loving the idea of aluminum/xps/bedliner sandwich for strength, rigity, and waterproofness. It seems as usual, gonna end up building heavy (who was the nutbar who threw out 600lbs?!?, oh yea that was me ) but still aggressive on the bare bones weight. I have been 'stalling' taking it to the scale. No more stalling, we will get a baseline weight after the weekend festivities and whatnot.

What did you end up doing for undercoating on the bottom?




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[ssuuki19]

Sorry for taking so long, Dancam, priorities have changed these days... Wheel spacer adapters are 2" wide, don't believe there were any vibration issues. I've read about folks on car forums having vibration issues with lug-centric spacers that went away by using hub-centric plastic adapters, but I didn't bother. The rims are car rims, 14", 4x100mm, 45mm or so offset and balanced. I'm aware that the high offset rims will put more stress on the bearings, we'll just have to see how they do. They survived the big test run, so far so good. I'm not familiar with hub spacers, or hub tear-down and re-assembly yet. With the spacers and rims I'm about 5mm out from zero offset trailer rims.

No airtabs on the tv and trailer yet, but since the move I'm way closer to suppliers now. The tv/trailer combo was really stable with semis passing me but still there is the same pull/push/pull feeling as they go by. When I was just heading out on the maiden voyage I got to drive in typical Vancouver rainy weather, which is saturated humidity, constant but light rain, and wet roads. This was actually perfect for creating a mist to see how the water was flowing around the trailer and I meant to have someone record me from behind but it never happened. What I can say from the drivers perspective is that the leading edge of the trailer, especially the bottom is forcing 'a lot' of wind out to the sides into the lanes on either side of me. However the streamlined roof and tail of the trailer immediately sucks it all back tight to the aft. So I think that snugging up the trailer to the back of the hatch would make a huge improvement as well as installing the air tabs on the trailing edge of the hatch and the trailing edge of the trailer just before the clamshell. Also on the roof line air tabs at the maximum lift spot in the wing will help out too, this is where they are installed on cessnas and other small airplanes to reduce stall speed and improve handling. If the airtabs can streamline the airflow transition from the rear of the hatch past the front wedge of the trailer, a lot less air will 'spill' out to the sides and this will increase mileage and control. I am sure of it, that the worst drag in my setup is this spot after seeing it in the rainy mist.

I don't know spring rates in specific units, but the stock aveo ones were replaced with H&R 50701 sport springs which are a lot stiffer and have a more progressive spring rate. Beyond that can't say much, except that on top of that, the spring rate for the airbags at 17psi has to be added in too. The airbags are meant to be installed within a spring, so if you are running coil-overs you would have to go with self supporting airbags and they are all rated for much heavier weights than the coil-rites (500lbs a side max). Heres the link in text (riderite.com/products, loads a bit slow, scroll down a bit and you'll see the Coil-Rite kit, click on that link and you'll get the detail page). In the vehicle search section my car used to show up but it has since been removed. The coil-rite bags should fit just about any passenger car spring.

Ya my comment about watching aluminum welds fail was to show humbleness, and just admit that re-work is always a part of diy fabrication, but thats often where you learn the most! Frankly I am surprised only two welds cracked! Currently the cabin is off-loaded and stored in the garage - there was barely 1/8" clearance getting it in, but it worked!! The original design work had planned for a few more inches in clearance but it got modified to ensure the RV door would fit. One isn't supposed to have any travel trailer on the driveway in these suburbs where I am at, so to get it into the garage was another great accomplishment. I'll post a pic at the end of this response. Sorry but I won't be able to post the empty weight until next year. I'll guesstimate it at around 600lbs, trailer, frame, and electrical but thats without insulation, so I didn't hit my goal, but was pretty close as I don't think spray foam insulation is very heavy (unlike the acoustic insulation I chose). Any way you cut it, this is a true light-weight trailer with a huge amount of interior volume. I know the next question folks ask is whats the cost - I'm soon to do the master BOL and I bet its going to be a lot less expensive than some think.

Heater is going to be Propex (Heatsource) HS2000.

For electrical going with Progressive Dynamics PD5000 and Tripp Lite PowerVerter RV1250ULHW. This setup will allow me to go solar in the future with 30A MPPT charge controller.

For battery two 6V Trojans is the standard and they are great but waaay heavy! Might go Lithium Ion instead as there are some reviews saying now that the kinks are worked out that they are cheaper in the long run because of the increased charge cycles. Golf courses are starting to do this to their cart fleets so that tells me something. Still, haven't decided yet, but leaning towards lightweight, expensive up-front, Lithium Ion.

Now that the trailer frame is off I can inspect the setup. Tire wear looks normal and non-existent what with only 650lbs or so on each automotive tire. Trailer tracked straight and stayed straight the whole time. It seems to feel more stable the faster you go all the way up to 75mph (and beyond I'm sure) It handles really, really great, but again, you'd have to tow it to really know Haven't re-checked alignment yet, but planning to do it the same way as last time. From eyeball perspective, alignment appears to be the same, drivers side tire appears to be unchanged, it looks like theres a little bit of camber on the passenger side, enough to need a shim on the half axle, but not enough to be of any concern. I will have to take photos and compare them to the fender photos I took before the trip. I'm pretty impressed with the half axles seeing that they were overloaded for 4500km, and typically won't be loaded that heavy. Well that is, unless I get a heavier axle (or half-axles, next size up is 1200lbs), currently not planning to. I think the independent suspension with half axles is a huge benefit for sway control and bumps. Speed wobbles are harder to introduce on independent suspension, as I said this setup has yet to have one and after well over 5000kms now and light tongue weight tests, I doubt it ever will.

Bumps - ok the tongue needs to be boxed in to beef up that front area where the welds cracked on account of all the stress being directed there. Also going to sister the main tongue beam to further increase strength/rigidity. If I did it again I'd go 3" square tube aluminum, but can work with what I've got. Having said that the trailer handles bumps really well, but there was too much flex in the tongue - it is hoped that sistering the main tongue beam and boxing in the front of the tongue will solve this situation.

No under-coating on the bottom, just bare aluminum tube, sheet, and rivets.
Thats all for this long post - here are the pics:

just winch and drag cabin on sliders on crazy carpets to clear the garage

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yikes! it cleared but barely.. probably some garages would be too low this ones 81 1/2" as is

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aaand there she is on two dollies so its easy to move around to work on (thats a 450lb trailer my Dad bought up top)

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[ssuuki19]

Year 3 begins! 3rd build season, and there is a lot on the wish list. Trailer wintered in the garage, got filled with stuff that I didn't want mice getting into.. all in all it went well. The two dollies used to 'float' the trailer around had sub-par wheels. The front one lasted but the directional wheels are really made for a finished floor, not salt pocked concrete. The rear dolly, two of the wheels failed with little ball bearings all around and whatnot, but still with 2 ppl it was pretty easy to move the cabin around.
4 crazy carpets were laid down in order to slide the cabin out of the residential garage with less drag, as it won't fit through the opening on dollies. Two yellow tow straps were hooked up to my cars trailer hitch using the three eye hooks at the front bottom of the cabin. The driveway is a down-slope, and in neutral the weight of the car was enough to pull it out. Once out of the garage, I backed up the trailer frame, lined up the overhang, and then winched the cabin on sort-of like a boat. Being it was downhill a bit, the winching went well.
No pics today, as the cabin is getting sandblasted as I write and then off to get primed and then line-x'ed on the exterior. Black, b/c it costs too much to pay for a line change-out to silver - what I wanted. Black will be fine, I'm sure. I was worried about the heat absorption, but the guy said that the plastic material doesn't absorb heat as much as one would think. Guess black will be better for colder glamping anyways.
Since I don't really know anything about sandblasting I went to the shop and he showed me an ambulance they were re-painting. I couldn't believe the texture the sandblasting gave to the aluminum! Huuge surface area improvement! No way one could get that with any form of orbital sanding. He said there is a chemical way of prepping aluminum too, but the point with sandblasting is if you overheat the piece, aka 16 gauge .051" aluminum it will warp, and I was shown some examples of the warpage, and that was on .090" aluminum pieces. Well, its at their mercy, surely it will look fine, its all riveted and whatnot. In hindsight I've read about soda blasting, and also maybe if I make another trailer I could use .090" aluminum instead which is almost twice as thick.
So its an exciting and nail biting start to the season! If this plan works as well as I hope it does, this trailer is gonna be waterproof, and then some

[dancam]

Great to see you back again! I should have asked all my questions in one post, by the time you replied i was too busy to ask the rest :/
Private messages are gone on this forum, so ill ask you some stuff here that i wouod otherwise do in a pm. Where are you living now? I finally got my trailer out for a test trip last week and it was awesome! Check out the last post in my build thread. It has a link to a blog where i wrote about it and put pictures and videos. My rear suspension worked out well as did the brakes and the amount of horsepower i have. I may have an issue with cooling though which suprises me. Check this out: https://youtu.be/LHcijoX0NKg
After the dashcam video of the hill ends it goes the the videocamera video of my gauges and more scenery, it was beautiful. How was your car for cooling?
We plan to leave across canada with this in under a week! I hope you get yours on the road again soon!

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[dancam]

I read back through your last couple posts about your fall trip- do you plan to use it this summer on another trip?
Just to compare a little- with my trailer i dont notice other vehicles passing much, it doesnt catch much crosswind. But man does a headwind slow me down! You posted axle weights and fuel milage. Yours was 20mpg and 1695, 1585, 1276 for a total of 4555 pounds over 2750 miles.
I loaded my trailer right up to the max for the test trip and went 630 miles out to the rockies and back. I had 400 pounds of water in there, needed to know if the car could handle it before i start out to alaska and across the country with the kids.... axle weights with the rear of the car loaded up like it would be on our trip was 1390, 1345, 1740 for a total of 4475 pounds right after fuelling up and putting a gerry can in the trailer. Fuelled up 5 miles from home and about a 50kmh headwind going south to nordegg. Got 24.3mpg us on the way to nordegg doing 60mph. But the headwind was so bad! At one point shortly after leaving our house i was doing a slight uphill in 4th floored and was slowing down from 60mph... same stretch same direction on the way back with no wind was maybe 3/4 throttle in 5th.
Anyway, from nordegg through the rockies to jasper the wind died down but i had the big mountains to deal with. They were easier than the headwind and i got 26.4us mpg there. Dumped 170 pounds of water after camping in jasper, went to miette hotsprings which is a super steep road and then home on hy 16 which was 70+mph. Got 29.0mpg that stretch and it towed super easy with the reduced weight.
So thats the difference a pop up makes vs a standie basically, about 6-7mpg i would say.
But the brakes on my trailer were awesome and it towed super smooth once i got the tongue weight set a few miles from home. I had set it for a 1700 pound trailer and it ended up being a 1950 pound trailer that day, so it needed a gerry can of gas in the tongue box to stabilize it.
Towed amazing- just like i expected through the mountains( other than the engine getting warm), better than i figured on the flat, but worse than i had guessed with a headwind.... :/
I do still have to figure out why the rear axle of the car is so heavy, it really shouldnt be that heavy :/

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[ssuuki19]

Thanks Dancam! I guess sometimes its about timing, I didn't know since last time I researched your thread it was a lifted volume! Geez, I've been mentally working on water hydraulics. I am in Brampton, heading to Vancouver in about 12 days. Around 4500kms. I will study your build thread. Well done, I am very happy to see your truly unique design shine. Classical beauty. I can't stop giggling on the audacity of your build as well. Since I'm waiting for my build I will get back to you, my first thought was to say my cars cooling system didn't seem to hit any boundaries, but theres no ac, and it was fall/winter climate. If the heat load is short lived on your car could you perhaps increase the coolant volume if theres room in that festiva? Even a few litres would help, with the heat on full

[ssuuki19]

Sooo the sandblasting worked well, I was warned about the possibility of some warpage when the aluminum gets too hot. The person who did the sandblasting did a pretty good job, it was an industrial shop, and my 'piece' was a bit of an exception to what they normally do. If I did it again, I would think about soda blasting, and perhaps finding a specialty shop thats ok with 16 gauge aluminum. Or buy the gear and learn to do it myself.
Having said this, I am happy with the results, a little bit of panel contour here and there doesn't bother this builder much, as he is function over form.
Here are three post blasting pics, also with the shell prepped which means shaving off all the sikka seal squeezeout from around every rivet, led, and seam. Then filling in every rivet head and filling in seam gaps with black polyurethane windshield adhesive. For panel lines, a foaming glass cleaner was immediately sprayed on the polyurethane, and this allows one to smooth it out really well to any contour just using ones fingers.

drivers side sandblasted and prepped

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you can see the black polyurethane adhesive to clean up all the lines smooth

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passenger side sandblasted and prepped

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[ssuuki19]

So after the sandblasting session and the prep work, the trailer was dropped off at a local shop for the Line-X premium package which is a three step process - primer, then main coat, then top coat. Shop took only two days to complete the task, I was surprised they called me yesterday, I didn't think it would be done until days end today.
As it is with any paint job, the prep work is key, and I am very glad to have spent almost 20 hours going over the piece to do every bit as best I could to smooth out all the edge to edge transitions, and further waterproof the rivets and seams wherever it looked to be useful. The black polyurethane windshield adhesive is super tacky and is fantastic for sealing in gaps, but at least with this builder, it always gets messy fast. No matter how hard I try I end up giving in and just getting the stuff all over.
First impression - I love it! They did the windows and the door really well, it just ties all the colors in sooo much better now. Its an amazing product, its going to add further water proofing layer, UV resistance, and strength/rigidity. This is one of those line items thats really expensive but I find it hard to believe I will ever regret it. The black color is growing on me already, I've lost the infrared reflecting ability on the shell with the bare aluminum, so its going to add more heat to the cabin, but since I'm going to be living in this trailer for the next three months whilst I work on it, well see how it does! Long term Line-X test commences...
Here are todays pics:

starboard side, you can see the little contours in the shell, thats from the sandblasting.. no biggie a good coat of dirt will likely hide it

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cabin from the rear - geez it looks so beautiful imho

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aaand cabin and trailer from the port side.. she's a real looker now!

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[pchast]

Looks Nice.. I'll be interested in the temperature rise you
experience in full sun vs. shade. Enjoy it.

[ssuuki19]

Just a quick update - road trip went very well, arrived 4500kms or so later. Recorded all the gas and odometer, for the summary paper, just have to do the ppwk. I am living in my trailer now, since the fifteenth or so! Its just pretty simple for now - no power, no water, no drapes, but its extremely comfortable for a great nights sleep, even in the rain it just sounds great. I have the clamshell facing east for the solstice, and to see how the sun and shade work on the spot its at. Its still on the frame, since I wasn't sure to maybe move it or just leave it in the first spot. Typing this on my netbook charged by the car. When you move into a bare bones trailer, your car seat instantly becomes your office seat
No pics this time, but to follow in a few days.

[ssuuki19]

Edit - calibrated odometer results improved the initial mileage calculation, updated values
Ok so I did the spreadsheet to look at the mileage numbers and heres the summary: (all units are USMpg) (I am typing this from my imac now setup in the trailer)
-really strong headwinds and thick traffic for the north run through Ontario starting on hwy 400 put me at 18.4-19.4 mpg
-at Kapuskasing starting to head more North West and evening driving with little wind got me what looks like the best possible mileage of 24.2 mpg
-in Winnipeg there was finally some tail winds (so much headwinds for like 2 days) and got the best mileage of the run at 25.6 mpg
-after Swift Current some heavy head/cross winds were encountered giving the worst mileage for the run at 16.0 mpg
-all through the mountains from Vernon to Hope there was far less wind and in spite of pulling all that weight up all those hills/mountains the mileage stayed around 18.7-22.0 mpg
-average of all the legs of the run was 20.2 mpg, 0.2 mpg better than last falls run. A solid 20 I'd say.

So as Dancam was saying if I were towing a conventional teardrop with typical dimensions I could perhaps expect at least 7-8 mpg better on the mileage, over the course of this run that would be around 35-38 gallons which say with a gas price of 1.40/L would be saving about 200 canadian bucks on the run. So to have this trailer I have to commit more to the fuel budget. This run was waay lighter than that run from last fall where I had to move all my belongings. This run I kept weight to a minimum - I still weighed all the 8 bins that went into the trailer in order to arrange them with the heavy bins in the middle and balancing the load as best I could. Seems to work out great. I gotta beef up the tongue over the season here - gonna sister the main tongue beam and box it in. But thats not priority - installing a propane furnace and a fridge is the priority. Currently I am using a 3 day cooler and topping it up with 2 dollar bags of ice every two days or so.

On to where I am at - yesterday I did a complete 'home renovation' and got the main line in from the 30A socket povided at the sight which has a 15A 120V adapter plugged in. Theres a water hookup too I want to plum out somehow, but for now just going to the washroom/shower house to get water. So I got 2 18ft LED rope lights hooked up and one 40W Halogen desk lamp which puts out some heat too. With the shiny interior this is enough lighting but I think I will add a third rope light. Eventually hoping to hide the rope lights in a 'valence' so all the lighting is indirect, but these tiny LED's aren't bright enough to annoy ones eyes, so it creates a very warm experience of the trailer, definitely more red than blue light. I love it! I also created the 'office' setup in the trailer, so now I can transform the space from sleeper mode to office mode.

So here are the pics for today - finally some personality to the trailer as I am living in my functional art piece:

view from just east side of south

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view from just west of south

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just glampin' life here, my fold up bike is perfect for this campground to get around :)

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[ssuuki19]

Slower this season goes, living in the space is pretty great! I am less motivated to actually push any aggressive schedule since I got the 3.4 cubic foot fridge to replace the cooler. Maan having a fridge is the best upgrade so far! Its so true when you have to buy ice all the time but am glad I did it to know that it works just fine, and all the food was just fine, even the milk and cream. I only have a kettle so far for the cooking station, my neighbor has a big bbq so we've shared some meals to change things up. All in all the 'learning curve' to get life into this small tin can has worked out just fine.
Today I finally got to getting back into the tools and doing a days work. Got the first layer of the floor done with this 1" shiplap blue foam, its pretty neat stuff. A large and small hacksaw, and a serrated knife and an exacto knife seemed to work the best to cut with less dandruff. I tried a handsaw, grinder and skilsaw too.. Second layer/inch to be installed very soon, and then 3/4" plywood floating floor.
Here are todays pics:

started learning how to cut this 1" blue shiplap stuff toight

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aahh now gettin' a bit better and faster, second layer will be much easier as its an entire layer of foam

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just a picture of the current state of affairs on the machine

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[ssuuki19]

Did the second layer today. Used some scraps to fill in a few gaps here and there, its all just pressure fit and removable. The second layer went on really well, I may have been off an eighth of an inch on one cut but all in all a great cover for all those thermal bridges on the floor. I am writing this with the plywood just cast upon the new layer and everything moved back in, as there wasn't enough time to do the plywood layer. Thats up next.
Here are todays pics:

first two pieces of the second foam layer going on with everything all vacuumed up good

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got the end pieces matched up really well, working back to the front where the 15/30A wire main is

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aaand done! its an awesome floating floor

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[ssuuki19]

Time to do a catch up post today, since as of yesterday I am no longer living in my little tin can. Four full time months it has been! Whew! A road trip to the Pacific Northwest coast, working and saving over the summer, and road trip back to Southern Ontario. Two things to say first off - 1) it was an incredible success to learn how to live at a campsite in such a small space, and 2) all houses are now promoted to mansions I'm not going to say there weren't some difficulties to overcome, many of them psychological, but in the end there truly is something exciting about glamping. Now I will try my best to keep this post brief.
One major change to the build has been made and I realize now I don't have the pics! I contracted a friend to TIG the tongue of my trailer to fix the 'just for now' fix. The local hardware store had some 6061 stuff but it was twice the thickness - 1/4" - basically he used a small foot long piece to chop off the front of the tongue where the cracks were, remove the threaded rod bracing, and TIG the thicker piece to the front. Its beautiful, sorry no pics of that today but I will for sure post them when I get back to my trailer. Essentially the tongue is shorter but long enough such that the hatch can still open. (yess! so glad I still have access to the hatch) And the main tongue beam was sistered with a 6ft piece using three u-bolts.
So what else to mention - ok in the Pacific Northwest it just doesn't ever get too hot so there were no problems with the black colour (smoky as heck during the fires, yes, but never really hot days). Yes, it would heat up during the day while I was at work, but when I got home I had a 12 watt fan that sucked air in through the front crank out window, and this would cool it back down. Without the fan it was still decent, but that 12 watt fan really helped out! I was really surprised how much of a difference it made versus passive airflow with all the windows cranked out. Now lets be clear here, when I drag this baby to Arizona or SoCal, I have an idea to snap on some white sheets around it .. we'll see but probably would do a huge improvement in truly hot climates, like say Phoenix which to me was hot in the winter - I could only imagine how hot it gets in the summer! So for this summers travels heat soak was not an issue, so thats good to know. If I lived in Arizona white/light colour Line-X would have been mandatory. But you see black camouflages really well at night, and heats up faster in the sunny morning - I'll include a pic.
Now on to the last few weeks - temperatures went down close enough to freezing to have frost in the morning and pretty darn cold nights. I needed to put the heater on 1200 watts to make it toasty in the cabin at night. At 750 watts it would be reasonably warm but barely cycle or almost run full on. At 1200 watts it would cycle decently and keep the cabin very toasty. Remember I haven't even insulated the clamshell yet! Or even put the thermal break material on the L-track. Or install the final 1/2" foam/baltic birch layer for the walls. But enough said, it was 'good enough' for this test of 4 months of full time living. With the completed amount of insulation it will make it better for both cold and warm climates.
On to the road trip - so same one I did last year, even just about the same additional weight the little car had to drag - about 1826lbs over stock, half the cargo in the car, half in the trailer say. Axle weights were 1716, 1408, 1342 from front to back. I was super detailed in my last two road trip summaries so for this one I'll just quote the worst mileage was 17.1 USMpg, and the best mileage leg was 21.2. Overall mileage for the run - 19.3 USMpg for the about 2750 miles or so.
Well thats a decent update - I will take pictures of the Tigged tongue it looks like art compared to my beginner MIG welds. I think he convinced me to start practising with a TIG.
The build is going back into rodent free storage mode, with all my belongings in it. I will probably try out winter glamping in it later on this year or early next year to get a data point on cozyness/lack thereof. Oh and almost forgot, the half axles will be retired to a new utility trailer I'm gonna make - Timbrens is in the hole.
So cheers to this forum for continuing to teach me and the spirit of the trailer traveller - so much fun. Even the tough stuff makes one feel alive. Every day can be an adventure. Here are todays pics:

this bad pic is to show how minimal my setup looks at night with the door closed - fits into the night really well

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similar to last years run - out of the mountains (and the 4hr snow storm) and into the flats

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northern ontario lake superior on a really windy wavy day - should have spent 2 days here

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