Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

aggie79 wrote:

Iconfabul8 wrote:Personally I am not sold on the idea of struts and rollers. I just don't think you need them. They bind if you don't have everything perfect. Why do you need guides? Use cables, crank it up and down and pin it when you get there.

Elk Mountain Trailers (I believe no longer in business) seemed to use a similar method as you suggest. You can see the bed around the 4:00 minute mark in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-2AYJwKedo.

Nice Find Tom!! Something to this effect is exactly what I was envisioning.

Well after messing around with it for a bit this is what I came up with. Most of it is just set in place, checking clearances etc. I left plenty of space between the 2x2's so it shouldn't bind or anything. It should allow me to raise it if needed although it might not be very easy until I come up with a pulley system.

I do have one question I'm not entirely sure of. My trailer came with a vent on either corner, not very big but 1 of them ended up in what is now the shower. Are these a benefit to me once I add the A/C? Now would be the time to close them off if I need to.

Mine was behind the shower as well. I blocked that one but I am debating whether to block off the one on the back of the trailer (opposite side on the bottom)

Well progress has slowed down to a halt lately, Mainly due to funding but also a bit of second guessing myself. I had planned on having the A/C in by now but I had to divert funds to repair my daily. In the meantime I have been working on finishing the kitchen area which is a pretty crucial step for me. Unfortunately I still have quite a bit to do...



I'm starting to realize I will probably need a roof vent or 2. I have a 1 piece roof, are these strong enough to get up on and do some work? It seems awfully thin and flimsy, I'm only about 130lbs but I can't imagine being able to get it all done from a ladder.

When I installed my Maxxair fan and 2 skylights, I used a small piece of 5/8" plywood as a platform to work from. Worked well, easy to move around. I just made sure the plywood rested on at least 2 roof ribs.

Hope this helps.

I kept my vents. I cut a furnace air filter and added a filter to each. Then I added a third to vent my black tank. I also use the rear lower one to run my coaxial cable for my antenna. The upper one now has a computer fan mounted to it as a bathroom exhaust fan.

The small vents on opposite corners are for hauling equipment with gas etc. They are designed to pull fresh air in the front and out the back when you are traveling so that gas fumes don't collect.

If you don't have gas fume problems, then what you do with them is totally up to you. Closing them off or re-purposing those openings for something else is not a problem.

Padilen wrote:I kept my vents. I cut a furnace air filter and added a filter to each. Then I added a third to vent my black tank. I also use the rear lower one to run my coaxial cable for my antenna. The upper one now has a computer fan mounted to it as a bathroom exhaust fan.

I was thinking the same thing with the computer fan actually. Thanks for the tips everyone.

Not too sure why that photo came out sideways as soon as I uploaded it..

My loft bed uses unistrut bolted to my wall "studs". I've made 2 of these lift loft beds. Mine and a friends, they had more money than me and the unistrut runs floor to ceiling in theirs. For mine, I saved money by using shorter "uprights" then a ran a 2x2 from unistrut to the floor. But we both have all aluminum. Which and are made with square / rectangle tube, not the "t" type of metal frames.

I got the A/C in (8k unit). Seems to be doing pretty well, in the hottest part of the day it's pretty pleasant in here. Still need to finish it up a bit with insulating inside the box and putting the top on as well as vent covers. I copied this idea from a blog.

So I've been running the unit today, admittedly for the longest I have yet. There is one downside to this design I hadn't considered. And to be fair the blog I read never really talked about the outcome. Although, that isn't the only time I've seen a trailer with a window unit on the floor.

Anyway the cold air tends to pool down in front of the unit dropping the temp on the thermostat pretty quickly, which in turn the unit thinks it's cooled the trailer already and the compressor kicks off only to come back on once the temp goes back to ambient. For a quick fix a fan circulating the air seems to work well but a friend of mine had suggested opening up the unit and extending the thermostat higher up on the wall. I've never opened one of these and am hesitant to because of that. Does this seem doable?

The bed seems to be working nicely!

Regarding your HVAC installation, you may have already done this but if not you'll need to supply outside air to the intake vents on the sides and top of the unit.

The thermostat can be relocated. But before you try that, I'd make a deflector to send the cooled air upward. I have a feeling that it is just "looping" back to the return air grill.

If the deflector doesn't cure the situation, then I'd have a go at moving the thermostat. Check the wiring diagram - either in your manual or inside of the case of the window unit - to see how the compressor and fan motor are controlled. If relocating the thermostat requires moving any of the 120 volt A-C wiring, then be sure to discharge the capacitor before doing so. It looks like the membrane button controls are part of the front cover. If so you may have to cut out that portion of the plastic from the front cover.

I'm in the middle of an HVAC install in my teardrop. As part of my "hack" of a window unit, I am removing the controls that came with the unit and changing over to a residential style thermostat. This too is a possibility but is more involved than using the factory thermostat. This thread shows different "hacks" of window units:

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=44561

You may want to peruse that to see what is involved on modifying a window unit.

aggie79 wrote:The bed seems to be working nicely!

Regarding your HVAC installation, you may have already done this but if not you'll need to supply outside air to the intake vents on the sides and top of the unit.

The thermostat can be relocated. But before you try that, I'd make a deflector to send the cooled air upward. I have a feeling that it is just "looping" back to the return air grill.

If the deflector doesn't cure the situation, then I'd have a go at moving the thermostat. Check the wiring diagram - either in your manual or inside of the case of the window unit - to see how the compressor and fan motor are controlled. If relocating the thermostat requires moving any of the 120 volt A-C wiring, then be sure to discharge the capacitor before doing so. It looks like the membrane button controls are part of the front cover. If so you may have to cut out that portion of the plastic from the front cover.

I'm in the middle of an HVAC install in my teardrop. As part of my "hack" of a window unit, I am removing the controls that came with the unit and changing over to a residential style thermostat. This too is a possibility but is more involved than using the factory thermostat. This thread shows different "hacks" of window units:

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=44561

You may want to peruse that to see what is involved on modifying a window unit.

I haven't completely got the bed able to raise and lower yet. I think now that I have more understanding of adding counter weights I will use the garage door springs/pulleys.

As for the A/C I do have pretty big holes cut in the floor on the sides of the unit. So it has access to air but I'm not actively forcing air up into the enclosure. There is good size gap between the top of the unit and the "lid" as well. My friend also mentioned building some sort of deflector. That does seem like the easy solution and I will definitely give that a shot first.

Alright, I need to start working on water in this thing. I put the faucet in this weekend and am getting ready to rough in the shower. Due to the design of my trailer running the pex inside is doable but it would be a hell of a lot simpler to just run pvc underneath and poke up where needed with pex which would just be the faucet, shower and water heater. It doesn't get very cold where I'm at so freezing isn't really a concern and I could wrap the pvc pretty easily. Thoughts? Admittedly this is the area I have the least knowledge on.

I should note that I will be primarily hooked up to well water and as of now I'm not even certain there will be a fresh water tank inside. I would like to be able to carry some water jugs with me and maybe hook them up externally should the need ever arise but feasibly I can't find space inside I'm willing to give up for a water tank.