New Larger Design Cargo Conversion 8.5’ x 20’

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Hi Ironman

You will laugh, but here in Silicon valley an Illegal alien won't piss on your shoe .......for less then $120
even if that means he would rather starve to death. On top of that they don't know jack !!

I was thinking of mostly smaller stuff Less then a truck load full
I have some 4 exterior cameras and I would like to make them hideaway
You know some trailers have side vents that swing open ?

a side vent 3.png (217.99 KiB) Viewed 2757 times

I wanted something like that where my cameras could be attached and then would swing out if opened ...
I just started think about that idea....
For the front and rear cameras I could use 4" or 6" Boat like deck plates that can be unscrewed

Currently I also have the water heater on the exterior & would like to move it to the interior,
I am thinking of something like a metal swing away cabinet 12" x 18" x 6" deep out of alum
so if the heater needs service - I could just unhook the water line and swing it 90 deg to work on it

Thanks Jerry

[ironman]

Hi Jerry,
The swing out box is definitely a project for a sheet metal shop. They have box & pan brakes with fingers to adjust to whatever size cube you want.
As for the camera mount, have you thought about just buying a swing out vent and modifying it yourself?
The photo you posted looks like plastic which I guess could be used but I'll bet there are metal ones being made too.

I don't have that kind of equipment. I'll hire the small stuff done.

Oh, and don't even mess with the mexicans like you mentioned. Go to a real "Sheet Metal Shop".
I know the area out there and I'm aware of the cost of living being out-of-sight...but run through the pass into the central valley and you'll find a good shop in Fresno where the economy is bad and they want your business. Since they shut off the water to the farmers, that whole area is hurting economically

Dan

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Looks like you know the area well

thanks for the tips on where to look

[ironman]

Hi Jerry,
I travelled the USA in a pick up truck for 18 yrs selling equipment to Mfr's, farmers, Oil companies, Machine shops, Fab shops etc.
I also trained many a new salesman. Been in business for myself in the general machinery biz since 1998.
I had a website up in January when actually the web didn't go public officially until April 1998.

My son is a computer engineer.

Dan
www.encoretools.com

[Trackstriper]

Trackstriper didn't flinch on the misspelling....heck, he didn't even notice it!

I keep going over your drawings. Lots of detail here and there, takes a while to digest.

Entry door. If you swing it out it will still run into your hanger door if that door is closed. If you will be leaving the hanger door secured in an open position when you are in the trailer you could simplify things by simply having a three-piece awing on the curb side: 1) a panel as currently designed for the rear portion...perhaps nearly up to the door, 2) a forward panel from the trailer nose back to the front edge of the door, and 3) instead of a hanger door, just a third panel that would hinge and secure back against the forward panel. Kind of like the hanger door idea but without the complexity....a third panel of a "door".

If your trailer door was willing to open to the inside....which sort of goofs up your step well....you could open the door to the inside, then open your hanger door as designed and have a second layer of security against two-leggers and four-leggers. With awnings down and locked you'd have a tough trailer to breach, no easy window, double doors, double walls front, rear and sides for the most part.

So how wide are you thinking for the trailer box? I did see the stated 8.5 wide. I'm guessing you'll use 1.5" - 2" per side for your awning thickness, which will eat into a max 102" width. Doubt you could claim those awnings as extraneous elements for the width rules. Maybe you like the extra elbow room, but you could build a seven wide and still maintain all your functional elements. With awnings it would come out about seven and a half, but you can still see around that kind of width. Not sure you gain much going to 8' on the main box unless you would feel cramped. Standard queen mattress is 80", so it can just be squeezed into a seven-wide with a two-inch wall depth. 'Course you may be 6'-5" and that would blow my thinking out of the water! Do you gain much by having the extra space at the foot of the bed or need the width across the settees?

A seven-wide also allows for wheels mostly outside the box with conventional construction, and that simplifies the frame structure considerably. I'm prejudiced though; I went 84" wide and then had the wheels placed "narrow-track" so that the wheels are within the basic width of the trailer. Did this so I could see around the trailer without massive mirrors......and I didn't want to be pulling a trailer as wide as a semi. Guys do it all the time, but I just wanted to be able to be a little more relaxed about lane discipline. It may depend on how far from home you might drag it. My 7x22 is narrower overall than my 6x12.

I am still fascinated with your design....

[ironman]

Hi Trackstriper,
I suspect what's got you is the Gypsy vardo layout...it grabbed me when I first saw it. It makes good use of the alloted space. Typically Gypsy children slept under their parent's bed the same as frontier children slept in a loft in a log cabin. Before they were able to add a separate bedroom, it was the only available privacy they had (gotta make more children).
Gypsies raised their whole families in the space you and I would devote only to recreation and emergencies. They cooked outside, they used the woods, fields and nearby streams as their "facilities".
Philosophical ranting follows
Like a lot of folks on this site, I started out looking at smallish trailers and built up from there. After seeing that you were working on a 22 footer I even laid one out with the head up front and twin closets on either side of the shower entrance. But then you get to where you ask how big is enough? My son has a 24' travel trailer with a queen bed up front, two bunks for the boys and a bathroom in the rear and of course a kitchen and dinette in the middle. How're you gonna cook a mess of fish in a trailer like that without stinking up the place? The gypsies knew...you cook outdoors...one problem solved.
Plumbing
You've been studying the design so I suppose you've noticed there are no permanent sinks with running hot and cold. There is a 65 gallon fresh water tank plus a round PVC pipe gravity fed solar hot water tank (haven't decided what size yet) above the shower which I can manually pump water to but that's the extent of plumbing aside from dump valves and gravity fed faucets.
Electrical
Regular 12 volt trailer lights and brakes (I prefer hydraulic surge brakes) I guess that would also include one overhead light. In addition, I will have two batteries for the fantastic fans which can be charged and maintained by a roof top or portable solar panel and a small (maybe 2000 watt) generator. Nothing fancy- KISS principle throughout the design.
There is one 110 volt air conditioner shown which can be run on a pigtail line running directly from either shore power or the generator...again, KISS rules.
Kerosene
Kerosene will power the lighting and cooking jobs. Sounds simple but there are two kinds, Petroleum based and Coal Oil. When oil was discovered in Pennsylvania in the last half of the 19th century everyone switched from whale oil and coal oil to the cheaper Kerosene which entered the market. It put out more fumes but Hey! it was cheaper. You can still buy it today at a lot of service stations but I promise you I'm not putting up with its fumes inside. Coal oil is a mineral based solvent and that's what the Old Order Amish use today in their lamps. I plan to keep a six gallon case in the storage space below for use in lamps and for the indoor heater/cooker. Today you can buy it at home improvement centers and hardware stores as "Low Odor Mineral Spirits".
The lamps and cookers come from St Paul Mercantile online.
Design
I got rid of the foot wells in favor of adding drawers below and on either side of the sliding table. I can keep most all the clothes I need folded and stored in them. Also I opted for angled back cushions instead of trying to build an angled back for a thinner but flat cushion...easier and cheaper. The wedge shape can be ordered to size from stock.
I had initially decided to paint or wallpaper the interior walls but opted for 1/4" Oak or cherry plywood sheets stained and varnished before installation. It can be cut and fitted to the fronts of the built-ins too for a really posh look. I've chosen vinyl plank flooring and will try to match the panel finish to the planking. GUNSTOCK? RED MAHOGONY? For a more nautical look, I could buy specialty sheets with a "Teak & Holly" veneer for the flooring but its not as practical.
Infrastructure
I found an older model Ford pick up with a diesel engine and a utility body on it for sale cheap. It must have been used by someone in the electrical or electric utility business because it has one of the storage boxes filled with big batteries. Looks like they're wired in a series. I thought about using something like that as a tow vehicle and just mount a generator, batteries and maybe a compressor and even a welder on the truck and run every thing in the trailer off that. Further, water pumps and filters could be installed...whaddya think?
Stateroom
In any case the final result is a refuge for the weekend with the inside look of a Cruise Liner's stateroom and the practicality of a rustic camp. It's very 19th century in a sleek modern sort of way. With the awnings down, it can be pretty darned stealthy too. I even thought about soliciting local businesses to advertise on the "tops" of the awning (up or down)...for an even more stealthy "urban stealth camping" look. Might even make a little coin this way.
Bottom line: it can be used as an RV or in the event the SHTF it can sustain me and mine for who knows how long.

I know you're thinking I'm ignoring your awning door questions but I anticipated the issue and I'm working on a sliding man door for it which I will post next.
As for the width limit issue (102") I thought about off setting the walls 1-1/2" on one or both sides leaving some trailer floor sticking out enough to accomodate the 1-1/2" awning thickness. I've about decided that the street side awning might be extraneous and am thinking of ditching it. That side is still a blank canvas in the event I actually could convince someone to advertise on it

I have probably a million miles under my belt pulling all kinds of enclosed storage trailers (equipment storage) in my 18 yrs on the road -selling.
One of them almost put me into Lake Pontchatrain...oh, that's a another story.

I'm really flattered that you're fascinated with my design and I hope I can be a friend to you and others in both my design and rantings.

Dan

[ironman]

Here is the sliding awning door. The track is 1-1/4" wide inside and 69-3/4" tall.
The door is exactly 1" thick and 1/8" shorter vertically and wide enough to bridge the opening without tilting or one having to support it while opening/closing it.
I'm showing it in aluminum but galvanized steel would work just as well. In any case, it's made of 1/8" (approx 11 gauge) material.

Whaddaya think?

Dan

[ironman]

Here's some orthographic views from 3 directions.

Dan

WW SCENE 1.jpg (132.86 KiB) Viewed 2625 times

WW SCENE 2.jpg (209.06 KiB) Viewed 2625 times

WW SCENE 3.jpg (170.03 KiB) Viewed 2625 times

[roadinspector]

Nice! Very nice!! Well thought out and good use of space. I really like the CT conversions. Build your own to your own specs to fit your needs and wants. I like your sliding door design.

Earnest

[ironman]

Here's another.

WW SCENE 4.jpg (176.33 KiB) Viewed 2625 times

[hankaye]

ironman, Howdy;

When I saw the photo of your bed/dinette area I had a 'flashback'
to Mount Pleasant, Ut. Place I called home for 4 years ...
About a mile South of where I lived was this place;

http://sheepcamps.com/

and YES those are chimneys sticking out of the roofs of some as
they have a woodstove in some for heat/cooking...
Trouble is they charge in the neighborhood of $40,000.00 plus
for the units.
Great for floor plans though...

hank

[ironman]

Hi Hankay,
Yeah, those are sheep wagons and they are a copy of the Gypsy Vardos that go back a couple a centuries.
Of course they're Americanized to fit the country out there too.

Thanks for the compliments.

Dan

Attaachment is just an idea

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Hey Ironman

You got me started with this stupid Sketctup THANKS !!! .....

Maybe I can e mail you my design & you can improve it ....
as you seam to be a master at everything .....
then you can see everything in 3 D

this is my design for the next model

A new trailer view.png (140.91 KiB) Viewed 2526 times

Thanks Jerry


http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

[ironman]

Hey Ironman

Tou got me started with this stupid Sketctup THANKS !!! .....

Maybe I can e mail you my design & you can improve it ....
as you seam to be a master at everything .....
then you can see everything in 3 D

this is my design for the next model

A new trailer view.png

Thanks Jerry




http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

Hi Jerry,
Are you trying to show SIP panels?
If so, you can go the solid modeling route - just push/pull a big cube, lay out the guides using the tape measure tool for the wall thickness (or use the offset tool) and draw that inner wall dimension as a rectangle.
Then push the inner rectangle back down to floor level.
Draw the roof panel the same way. Real world buildings are built using SIPS PANELS

Solid modeling is good to show something in a conceptual way

The other way is to painstakingly draw each component you'll need to assemble the actual real world object, save them all as components and groups and finally bring them all into a drawing one at a time to do the assembly. If a house, you could draw the profile (a rectangle) of a 2x4 and then push/pull it to the proper length as you come to need it.

This approach is good if you intend to actually build your model either to scale or full size.

I've been an AUTOCAD fan for 15 yrs so some of Sketchup's design has been understandable to me right from the start. But, for the record, I only downloaded Sketchup less than a month ago so I am far from a master at it. I have been cruising youtube watching various tutorials and have picked up on a few things.
For example; did you know that when selecting an entity that if you go left to right to surround it that you have to select all of it but that if you go right to left you only have to surround a part in order to select it all?
This is stuff you only learn by doing.

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Hi Ironman

This is the model for my next 8.5 x 18 trailer with 1530 watts 6 solar panels on the roof.
I am waiting to see if Lark will build to my specs....??

The walls, floor & ceiling will be made like a homemade SIP ...one layer at the time , all the way around... ARCTIC packet like
the trailer insulation I did the first time around was better then 95% of what most do ....but still was way substandard....
I currently pick up 10 deg over the exterior ,1 person 40 outside = 50 deg inside without heat. 2 person 40 outside = 54 deg inside without heat.
I would like to get a 20+ deg spread.
YOU really need a box - inside a box for good insulation & maybe that will still be substandard ?

With good insulation im pretty sure you can cool trailer to 78 deg with 100 outside - in full sun on only 5,000 Btu
I have tested it to 90- 95 deg with my shitty insulation and it works ok

Jerry