Project "Willow" The standy trailer

[Da'engineer]

Hello everyone

I am currently in the design phase and I was looking for some input and just to get this out here. And hopefully everyone will give me the nudge to finish it as well. My build period will be starting next month in March, 2015 and I hope to be done before the summer in Alaska which will not start really until may.

The Name

I got the name for the project from a small town we pasted by on our way to Denali National Park called Willow it is a wonderful little town. At the time my wife wanted to use to the name to name our first born Daughter but to her dismay her mother and others did not like the name so when we where talking names for the project she threw out this name and I agreed quickly since it will hold some value throughout the life of the project and remind us of the early years of our marriage and living in Alaska

About the trailer

I was originally going to build a teardrop trailer but my wife needed a place to hold the dogs and needed to shower on long tips. The place to hold the dogs was also a main driver that came from Visting Denali since they will not allow dogs on trails or the bus. And she doesn't feel comfortable leaving the dogs in a tent. This design is the fourth version of the design in work at it's biggest it was 13.5 feet long but due to budget and because I don't like big trailers. I decided on a 9x6 trailer design

Requirements

-Shower: The plumming I already have figured out for the trailer so it won't be too much of an issue
-A place to hold the dogs: Still working on how I will hold them in cages or hide away ones since I have a limited amount of space and I really don't want my girl dog running around free inside of it. She tends to be crazy
- Budget friendly: For the obvious reasons but I do not want to cut corners! But this also means to stay out of the mindset that most DIYers have and over engineer a design
- Live-ably: I don't mind so much more or less for the wife


Goals

- Automation through Ardunio: This will enable me to control and monitor power management such as battery discharge rates, recharge rates, and remaining battery life in percentage and est. hours based on current running conditions and prioritize what to shut-off when low-power condition exist. Or if the battery is near safe discharge levels and will action a shut off or emergency power mode. It will also allow times to be set to warm up water for showers, lights on or off, and cabin temperature from a touch screen shield

OBSOLETE- DIY a/c unit: This will be a simple temperature exchange unit using ice water as the coolant
Decided to leave piping for an external a/c unit

OBSOLETE- DIY heater: ukn design yet but I would like to use propane rather then electricity
Decided on a propane tankless heater to save me some headache

- DIY LED lighting: Pretty simple design but I will post a step by step soon

- DIY battery charge unit: I wanted a way to charge the unit from a standard outlet with out lugging around a portable battery charger to hook onto the terminals so I will be integrating my DIY circuit so its just plug and play

- DIY hot wire cutter: for cutting the foam

- Sowing my own bed for the first time

- Drop in propane stove: Can't seem to track a good one down any links?

-DIY drive n' charge system: This will be pretty easy one using a continuous duty solenoid and a hot wire that runs from the truck to the trailer.

ADDED 04/07/2015-A kegerator in the galley

Problems

- I don't know what to paint the outside it will not be a woody I will be fiber glassing the outside and painting it I want a Alaskan inspired design but not mural status

- I will not be building at my own house since I live in apartment...


The Design

A work in progress

Progression of the design 3/3/15

trailer progression

trailer2.jpg (73.78 KiB) Viewed 1947 times

Later Upgrades

-Larger Battery Bank

-Solar Panels


Constaint update and link section


Build cost and electrical information sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing (feel free to comment I can be brain dead sometimes)

DIY heater:

DIY LED lighting:

DIY A/C:

DIY HVAC SYSTEM:

DIY hot wire foam cutter:

DIY battery charge unit:

DIY drive n' charge system:

Automating your Trailer:

Timelaspes:

Soldiworks Videos:

Last updated 3/3/2015

[KCStudly]

Sounds ambitious for a 2 to 3 month build. Are you retired from the daily grind so that you can dedicate 100/ct of your time? I'm not saying that it can't be done, I'm just saying that there is no way I could do it in that short of time!

Perhaps this thread with a large storage locker up front will give you some ideas for your dog crates. I can see this being reconfigured for access from inside, as well as from out. How big are the dogs? Remember to provide adequate full time ventilation.

[Da'engineer]

Sounds ambitious for a 2 to 3 month build. Are you retired from the daily grind so that you can dedicate 100/ct of your time? I'm not saying that it can't be done, I'm just saying that there is no way I could do it in that short of time!

Perhaps this thread with a large storage locker up front will give you some ideas for your dog crates. I can see this being reconfigured for access from inside, as well as from out. How big are the dogs? Remember to provide adequate full time ventilation.

Not retired but I've done worst in less then a week ;D Plus I have a lot of leave that I have to take before I loose it so I am taking all 60 days

[Da'engineer]

Updated the design section with progress of the drafting

[Bluebunny]

[quote="Da'engineer"]Hello everyone
<snip>
Goals
<snip>
- DIY a/c unit: This will be a simple temperature exchange unit using ice water as the coolant
<snip>

Yes an evaporative cooler will work OK, but not here in the mid-west, for example - too humid here for it to cool to comfort levels. For refrigeration cooling - Do you have a good source of "a lot" of cold water? The conversion rate for refrigeration cooling, for example: Every minute that a 5000 btu (small) air conditioner is running, the equivalent ice-melted would be at most about a 15 lb bag of ice in a minute; more typical the 15 lb bag of ice would last 3-5 minutes. If one hooked a pump and a pipe to a cool stream, it certainly would be feasible. But wally-world has 5000 btu refrigeration air conditioner window units for $100, which may actually be the most economical design. Gives you the option of leaving it at home except for those few times needed.

[Da'engineer]

Hello everyone
<snip>
Goals
<snip>
- DIY a/c unit: This will be a simple temperature exchange unit using ice water as the coolant
<snip>

Yes an evaporative cooler will work OK, but not here in the mid-west, for example - too humid here for it to cool to comfort levels. For refrigeration cooling - Do you have a good source of "a lot" of cold water? The conversion rate for refrigeration cooling, for example: Every minute that a 5000 btu (small) air conditioner is running, the equivalent ice-melted would be at most about a 15 lb bag of ice in a minute; more typical the 15 lb bag of ice would last 3-5 minutes. If one hooked a pump and a pipe to a cool stream, it certainly would be feasible. But wally-world has 5000 btu refrigeration air conditioner window units for $100, which may actually be the most economical design. Gives you the option of leaving it at home except for those few times needed.

I live in Alaska and it is not very humid here at all during the summers it rarely rises above 70-80 degrees here so I don't need much I just like the low power consumption of it since I will be mostly running the trailer off grid without a generator. I've been contemplating designing access ports to the HVAC system to run an modded a/c unit outside the unit so its not a permanent fixture so when I am visiting locations that I have access to external power or bring my generator.

[Da'engineer]

Updated design section. Steel is on order for the frame sparks should be flying some time next week!

[Da'engineer]

And so it begins... Unfortunately all I could do today is get some of the metal cut and dry fitted my welder decided it the wire feed motor wanted to take a poop. So picking one up tomorrow and finishing up the frame.

Trailer beggining.jpg (93.4 KiB) Viewed 1821 times

Front and rear jacks came in for the trailer frame

Axle, leaf springs, mounting points, and wheels on order..

[Da'engineer]

Made some progress today didn't take pictures of the finished tongue. Been slow since I had to work weekend duty and long hours this week.

20150320_160636.jpg (76.55 KiB) Viewed 1731 times

Still need to hatch the axle and etc. but that should be done by tomorrow night and will update as soon as possible


Ordered all the plywood and popular 2x2s for the build and will be enclosing it this weekend. And start to work on all the electricals.. Oh boy xD! Still working out some of the placement of the lights.


My LED holders came in so during the week i'll be working on my DIY lighting.

more to come..

[Da'engineer]

Haven't been posting recently been extremely busy with building and work but here is some updates.

I got the base trailer all build and painted. Put a 3,500 pound axle on it just need to add the lights and the hitch and she is good to go. Today I will be attaching the decking to the frame.

[daveesl77]

Looking good! On the floor build and your comment about "diy'rs over engineering", yep you are so right. I found that out from the very start on my build, as my floor system is way, way stronger (thus heavier) than was needed. I did a 1/2" ply, 1" frame/insulation, 1/2" ply. Yes, it is solid as a rock, including on my overhangs, but I could have done it with 1/4" ply easily. My wall sandwich is less "engineered", but still very, very strong and could easily go lighter still. On the walls I did 5mm ply, 3/4" frame/insulation, 5mm ply and 5mm cedar strips. I could have probably left off the 5mm exterior ply and just done the strips, but that didn't really add much weight. Oh, and those are all 5' x 10' built up panels, not 4x8.

Way to go for you! I take it you are in the military, since you refer to Leave Days.

dave

[Da'engineer]

Looking good! On the floor build and your comment about "diy'rs over engineering", yep you are so right. I found that out from the very start on my build, as my floor system is way, way stronger (thus heavier) than was needed. I did a 1/2" ply, 1" frame/insulation, 1/2" ply. Yes, it is solid as a rock, including on my overhangs, but I could have done it with 1/4" ply easily. My wall sandwich is less "engineered", but still very, very strong and could easily go lighter still. On the walls I did 5mm ply, 3/4" frame/insulation, 5mm ply and 5mm cedar strips. I could have probably left off the 5mm exterior ply and just done the strips, but that didn't really add much weight. Oh, and those are all 5' x 10' built up panels, not 4x8.

Way to go for you! I take it you are in the military, since you refer to Leave Days.

dave

Mine has been over engineered from the get go. I probably could have saved some money and went with 1x1x.120 tubing on the frame. But I didn't want to chance fate. I could have went with smaller tires, but I think everyone in agreement since I am pcing with this unit it is better to have a more beefy tire. My main concern is my water tank since it will be sitting on top of the flooring above the axle weighting an upwards amount of 240 pounds. So I am probably going to do my flooring about the same as you.

On top of that I am worried about my pipes freezing in the winter so I am over insulating for the time ahead.


Yep Active Duty Military. Pcing in November

[Da'engineer]

Updated Excel Sheet

[S. Heisley]

I love looking at all the pictures. Thanks for that. You're making progress!

[Da'engineer]

Thanks Heisley it's been fun. Can't wait till I am done. So i can build my next one haha.