New guy with 7X16 cargo trailer

[Frank ZX]

I just bought a 7X16 cargo trailer,with the intentions of using it for temporary living,camping,and hauling my track bike to the track and our dirt bikes to ORV trails.
I'm having a very hard time figuring out how to lay out the floor plan.
I will be using a watering troth for showering,and some sort of hot water heater, and a port a potty.A larger cooler for keeping food and drinks cold.
I just ordered a water pump,and I have a fresh water tank and small base cabinet.I also have a brand new 2000 watt inverter,a deep cycle battery,and a RV furnace.
I want to keep this thing as simple as possible,but nice.
The rear door is a barn style.
2 questions:
1-Will a window A/C unit be enough to keep this thing cool in the south?
2-Would anyone be kind enough to give me some ideas of how to lay out the floor plan?
Thanks

[Prem]

1-Will a window A/C unit be enough to keep this thing cool in the south?

Go through the album photos of others on this cargo conversion forum to see how we have insulated them with 1" rigid foam insulating panels (available from building supply stores like Home Depot and Lowes). Insulation makes all the difference. Also, coating the roof with white elastomeric RV roof coating helps a lot. (The brands are Henry's or Sta-Cool. Apply with a jumbo, stiff brush.)

2-Would anyone be kind enough to give me some ideas of how to lay out the floor plan?

Make a floor plan on graph paper to scale (each square = 6" of floor space). Decide what you want and where you want it located, draw it on the graph paper and then go use blue masking tape to physically do the layout on the floor of your trailer to the dimensions you have on the paper. See how you like the floor plan and if it will work out well. Make adjustments to the dimensions of cabinets, beds, tie-downs, etc.

Post your photos in an album here.

The most important part is to do your homework by perusing the other albums of cargo conversion on this forum.

[vtx1029]

What works for a layout for one guy might not work well for someone else. We haul 3 large cruisers with our 8x18 trailer so working things in around the bikes is key for us.

I'm building 2 bunks up front the lower one has a flip up door to allow use of the wheel chock




I've also picked up a couple of toy hauler type flip down sofa/beds off of craigslist, second one I just got for 15 bucks!

[mx842]

I'm working on a 8.5X24 and as big as it is it gets smaller everyday. We only haul dirt bikes to the track so it was pretty easy to come up with how much room we needed for shop area.

The way I was doing it in the past was a pain and almost took all the fun out of it. I hauled the bikes and all my gear on a little 6X10 open trailer and it seemed that no matter how much planing I did, when ever I needed something it was always on the bottom and I had to unload the whole trailer. To load up on Fri. and drive 6 hours to the track sometimes getting there at 1 or 2 AM then having to unload put up a tent was a pain. I bought a Bronco to use as a puller and then we could curl up in the truck when we got there in the wee hours of the morning but if the wife came along, which by the way was a good thing because that meant we would at least have a cook and an extra hand to do some of the running around but it also meant we needed to pitch a tent. A couple of times we got to to tracks and the gate would be closed and that meant we had to wait until the gate opened to get in so we couldn't even put up a tent and that was really a pain. I promised my wife that one day if this happened we would have a hauler we could just go into and lay down until morning and not have to unload to do it.

I have already found out the only way a plan will come together is if you are starting out from scratch and not trying to use existing things you have laying around. My trailer already had a entrance door that I wanted to save and that has caused me more trouble than it is worth but with a few adjustments here and there I'll work it out. I also had some cabinets I wanted to use and no matter what I did I ended up putting them up and taking them down because they were too far this way or another.

I also had a problem with the AC unit that was already in the trailer. If it had been mounted just 1 foot forward it would have been so easy but I have had to make several adjustments and give up almost 2 feet of shop area but it is what it is and if I wanted perfect I would just go looking for a brand new toy hauler.

You will need a geni if you plan on running an AC unit or other wattage hungry units because to start with one battery would be drawn down before you got you boots off and stretched out on your sofa. It takes around 10 amps of battery power for every 100 watts of power you are making with your inverter then you have to factor in what your equipment itself is using and you can see it wont take too long for you to run out of juice and no amount of charging will keep up with the demand. Plus using this equipment at peak demand is hard on everything and it wont be long before you have more problems than just sweat.

Planing you electrical system as far as I am concerned is the most important thing you need to address. It can be your friend or your worst enemy so plan it out wisely. My trailer already had a hatch cut in for a geni box and I framed up enough room inside the trailer to put my geni, two batteries, charger, power cord. and a AC electrical rec. It took up 2'X4' of floor space in the far left front corner but as it took away from room in the cabin it also relieved room in the shop where these things would have normally been stored so that's a plus. And the room it took up will serve as a small table for my coffer service and a place to keep small kitchen items where they will be easy to get to. Hopefully I will have enough room left up front to put a fold down bunk in the area up front.

I have some pic posted here......http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=37545 of what I have and have been trying to get to the point where I can post an update of what has been going on. It seems I do a lot of building and then tearing it down and re-doing but that's part of the fun of a project like this. If I can get to a point this week that I can take some more pics I will. You can also go to a web site called ThumperTalk...(http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=107 and there are a couple of threads of people doing mods to box trailers and some of them have done a really good job of turning a basic open trailer into a mighty fine toy hauler. I'm not taking anything away from this site because I got some of my best ideas and information from right here on this site.

Sorry for the long winded post, my wife always says I talk too much.

[Frank ZX]

Hey MX872,
I built a school bus toy hauler and posted it on thumpertalk a while back.It was never completely finished,then I sold it.
I have not been to the site lately as I have gotten into road racing,and not much time for riding off road.
I have drawed my floor plan on graph paper as someone on here has suggested.
I bought the inverter before I did very much research.Now I wish I would have spent that money on a good converter/charger.
I will be getting a generator in the very near future.

[mx842]

Hey MX872,
I built a school bus toy hauler and posted it on thumpertalk a while back.It was never completely finished,then I sold it.
I have not been to the site lately as I have gotten into road racing,and not much time for riding off road.
I have drawed my floor plan on graph paper as someone on here has suggested.
I bought the inverter before I did very much research.Now I wish I would have spent that money on a good converter/charger.
I will be getting a generator in the very near future.

Yeah I've bought a lot of stuff I wish I had never spent the money on too. I bought a converter/charger too and now I wish I had just bought a small breaker box with enough space for 7 or 8 circuits and just run my DC stuff straight off the batteries. This is how it has ended up anyway. I ran all my AC wiring down the drivers side and I ran a pair of #6 wires down the other side for my pumps, outside lights, and my fuel station. I put a good junction box with a heavy Blue Sea multi circuit blocks so I could pull off it to feed DC lights and other things That I want to run off DC. I ran the big wire all the way down the side to the wall that will separate the shop and cabin. I did the same thing with the AC wiring but I ran another conduit with enough wires for a couple circuits to the rear so I could put a protected receptacle at the back end for my pressure washer or big fan. I also want to put two Florescent fixtures in the shop and two AC spot lights on the rear and I will place two DC spot lights on the side where I will sooner or later put my awning.

I had many questions about what I needed as far as equipment to make all this work and it came down to all I needed was just a small AC panel and now as I said I wish I had not spent that #179.00 for that converter because basicly you don't need it for what we are doing. Just run your AC/DC down separate sides. #6 wire was overkill but I had it so that is what I used but you do need at least a #10 but probably a number 8 would be better to feed all your DC stuff. You should use at least two GR27 deep cycle batteries or better than that two 6 volt golf cart batteries because they are tougher and you get more amps for the dollar and they should last longer. Either way go with a true deep cycle because a regular cranking battery will not hold up and will leave you in the dark real soon.

A word of caution, when you run these wires put them in a good conduit. I used that blue flexable stuff I got at Lowes. You can get a 100 ft roll for around 35 bucks and don't worry you will probably use most all of it by the time you have finished. I have about 20 foot left and I still have to run a couple more feet of the DC wires for my floods. I bought 1/2 but if I had it to do over again I would go with 3/4 because that #6 wire was a bear to get crammed into that 1/2".

Also if you run your DC straight from the battery you will need to put some protection right at the battery and it probably would not hurt to put some sort of fuse on both the hot and ground just to be safe. I used a 30 amp fuse block at the battery and on the other end I will put one of those automotive blade style fuse blocks with the correct fuse to protect each pump or other fixture I want to run off DC. The fuse at the equipment will save the pump or device you are running. The fuse block at the battery will save your trailer if something bad happens like a hungry mouse or a screw gets screwed into the wrong place.

Don't throw your inverter away you can still use it but you wont be able to run your AC off it because you would need 20 batteries or more to run it long. I will buy a inverter to run my TV and basic things when I don't want to or can't run the geni but it will be one that I can run right to the battery and plug what ever you want to use right into the inverter. Yours being so big is not a bad thing you just have to remember it takes juice to run the unit plus what ever you are trying to power and you only have so many amps to play with. One good battery will run some things a long time but leave room for a second battery if needed later on if needed.

[ho-do]

We have a larger 8x20 trialer. I first installed one of those free standing protable AC units. A Sony brand. It was horrible!! The hot air vent hose got so hot that it put back into the room about 50% of the BTUs that the cold air was putting out, so we switched to a window unit. I guess I could have figured out some sort of insulated exhaust hose, but I just wasn't going to fool with it.

I live in Alabama, so that is the south. The window unit works well for us, but there are two concerns: When the outside temp is at the dew point and that happens to be what you have set your thermostat at, the unit stops removing the moisture from inside. Second is what someone else mentioned on this forum... opening the door to the rig too often really lets the warm air in quickly and the unit has to work very hard to get things back down.

Good luck on your conversion

[mx842]

We have a larger 8x20 trialer. I first installed one of those free standing protable AC units. A Sony brand. It was horrible!! The hot air vent hose got so hot that it put back into the room about 50% of the BTUs that the cold air was putting out, so we switched to a window unit. I guess I could have figured out some sort of insulated exhaust hose, but I just wasn't going to fool with it.

I live in Alabama, so that is the south. The window unit works well for us, but there are two concerns: When the outside temp is at the dew point and that happens to be what you have set your thermostat at, the unit stops removing the moisture from inside. Second is what someone else mentioned on this forum... opening the door to the rig too often really lets the warm air in quickly and the unit has to work very hard to get things back down.

Good luck on your conversion

Did you insulate it? That makes a big difference. I have a couple buddies that used window units rather than the units that are designed for RV use and both fuss about one thing or another but when it's 98* with 98 humidity like it gets here in the summer they figure it's better than nothing. neither one of those trailers have insulation so it's a wonder they cool down at all especially the guy that has the 20 footer.

The AC was in this trailer when I bought it and I wish it had been installed about 2' more forward because it really cut down on my shop size but I think when it's all said and done I'll be good as long as I don't get the ATV bug then I'll be tearing out a wall and combining the two areas.

[jwhite]

After doing some resarch on what type AC to put in my 7x16 and I went with a 12000 btu portable AC and ran the vent out the floor shown in the photo,it does give off some heat and I may wrap the vent hose with insulation.
I bought it off Ebay > compact appliance I think is the name of the company I paid 350.00 and it was shipped free,I think the factory wanted 1500.00 and I wasn't willing to go that much so I bought this one.
So far it has worked good not great it does take a long time to cool the trailer down,
I live in South GA and it was 90 when I started it today at 2oclock and it is at 72 right now if I run it all night it will get down to 60.
from what I have read on other message boards that in the middle of the day it is hard to get any AC to cool a big area down?
the only thing that helps in my trailer in the middle of the day is sitting right in front of the vent as it's blowing.
One big factor for me was that I plan on useing a honda 2000 generator
and it puts out 13 amps and the AC needed 8amps,as soon as I got it I plugged in the AC and my Microwave and ran them both at the same time and had no problem running them both which I don't plan on doing but just wanted to see what would happen.
I also insulated it really well with 2 layers if foam and sealed it tight.

[ho-do]

Yes, our 8x20 is fully insulated except the floor. A combination of styrofoam and fiberglass insulation were used.

[mx842]

Yes, our 8x20 is fully insulated except the floor. A combination of styrofoam and fiberglass insulation were used.

Well then by golly you should have no problem with cooling it down. Oh, there is a brand new 13,500 BTU on e-bay now for 625.00 I believe. If I was looking I would probably grab that bad boy because it seems like a decent price.

[8ball_99]

Adventure RV sells them for 469.99 They charge like 99 bucks for shipping. http://www.adventurerv.net/dometic-duo- ... fdcerp5o24

[Frank ZX]

[img]http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/FrankZX/Picture485-1.jpg
This is the Trimark door latch.
[/img]http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/FrankZX/Picture484-1.jpg
[img]http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/FrankZX/Picture483-1.jpg
[/img]http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa281/FrankZX/Picture477-1.jpg
I cut the cabnet down to 17" deep.And added a small sink and 2 burner stove.
I also added a small A/C unit in the back door.It seems to be doing a decent job of keeping it cool.