Ideas on what to do with this trailer

[Tobit]

I purchased this donor 1996 Wilderness Camper a little while ago, thinking I'd just repair the roof and the front passenger wall damage. However, the more I've been thinking about it, the more I want to demolish the entire thing down the the frame and build something from scratch as it has many things I don't need and I'd rather cut at least 1000 lbs. from the weight.

The existing camper has a GVWR of 4700 lbs. and sits on a pair of Dexter 2800 lb. sprung axles. The camper section is 19' long. What I'd like to build is something between a tiny house and a camper, maybe a micro house is what I am looking for. I dunno but having a hard time making my mind up.

Some requirements:

• Keep the GVWR just under 2999 lbs. if possible
• Keep the existing Magic Chef propane range and sink for a small kitchenette
• Single twin size bunk
• Sitting area to hide out bad weather, most of my time will be spent living and cooking outdoors
• Storage for books, my ham radio, and some small incidentals
• I don't need shore power, I have solar on my land
• I don't need the full bathroom so that is going away. I already have an outhouse and outdoor shower on my land.
• I don't need the black water and grey water tank. I already have a grey water system in place. I can also get by without the large freshwater tank, something smaller would be fine.

I'm currently thinking of building a 16' x 8' Weekender with 5' of headroom. I am 6'-2" tall and would prefer a full standie but keeping the weight down is a big deal to me. I'd kind of like to have the kitchen on the outside as well.

My truck can tow the existing 4700 lbs. of weight just fine but I have a 1300 mile trip from the North East to my land in the Ozarks and I will also have a lot of cargo in the bed. I'd also like to not do too much in the way of frame modifications. I already have to have the a-frame ball coupler replaced with a Lock-n-Roll unit.

Ideas please? Many thanks. Here are some photos of the current camper before I start demo work next week:

[citylights]

Wow, so many possibilities!

At that size, I would keep it a standy. A micro house would be awesome.

In the front, queen size bed over, storage under.

In the middle, dinet for two, that breaks down into a twin bed. Storage drawers in the seats.

In the back, potty, closet, maybe a sink.

In the back, back, barn doors that open a kitchen to the outside OR 200# drawer slides for an outside kitchen slide out counter.

There are some micro house layouts on the web that are fantastically efficient. I would look those up.

Have a look here... http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com