Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Just read the PDF. I like it. Seems like a worthwhile investment.

McDave

I have been in Sebring Florida for three weeks stabilizing a double wide trailer that suffered roof damage due to the hurricane. I am now ready to head back north to Indiana. On the way back home, I will spend a few days in Daytona Beach to check out the Biketoberfest activities. Then I will work my way up the coast, then head northwest through Georgia to the mountains. I love the Appalachians.

I miss working on the trailer!

Finally made it back home to Indiana.

Now that my trailer has insulated walls and ceiling (both with 2 3/4 inches of polyiso) and the floor (with 1 inch of polyiso), I tested how well the trailer retains heat.

Today, with an outside temperature of 40 degrees F, I placed a 1500 watt electric space heater on the floor. The space heater has a fan that blows the hot air.

After a about two hours, I noticed that there was a 20 degree temperature difference from the floor (57 degrees F) and the ceiling (77 degrees F).

I was surprised by the drastic temperature difference.

featherliteCT1 wrote:Finally made it back home to Indiana.

Now that my trailer has insulated walls and ceiling (both with 2 3/4 inches of polyiso) and the floor (with 1 inch of polyiso), I tested how well the trailer retains heat.

Today, with an outside temperature of 40 degrees F, I placed a 1500 watt electric space heater on the floor. The space heater has a fan that blows the hot air.

After a about two hours, I noticed that there was a 20 degree temperature difference from the floor (57 degrees F) and the ceiling (77 degrees F).

I was surprised by the drastic temperature difference.

Always good to be back home. Just noticed that you went through Daytona for Biketoberfest. I was there camping right behind the Raceway in the Racetrack RV Campground. We had a great time. Did you stay and camp, or just pass through for the day? Hope you had a good time in any case.

I am not so surprised at the temperature gradient in your CTC with the heater if you had nothing else stirring air up. I noticed sleeping in my loft bed in the CTC and running the 1500W Ceramic heater on 700w last winter, that as you'd expect, heat rises and it is much hotter up top and colder down at the floor where the heater sets (along with its thermostat). Basically, I'd need to control the temperature up near the bed . Same with the AC... colder air drops and hotter air up top so to be comfortable up top at night, I have to set a lower temperature so it runs longer than it really needs to, however, its thermostat is higher up with the AC. . I have found in either case, it just helps to have a fan stir up the air and keep it moving. I got a little 12V fan I run at night to keep air moving regardless of what the AC or heater is doing. I like the "white noise" of the fan and it never gets "stuffy". I just set it on the dinette table and plug it into the 12VDC outlet before I go to bed and point it towards the ceiling. The temperatures stay much more consistent throughout. We basically do the same thing in our home with ceiling fans, but there is just no good way to put one of those in my CTC. Supposedly the Maxxair will circulate air with the vent lid closed, but is much nosier that way and draws more current than the other fan I use for that purpose.

I accidentally double posted a reply and cannot figure out how to delete so I am using this edit feature in an attempt to solve the problem ... so this is a dummy post

Flboy,

Sorry for this belated reply but I just now noticed your post!

Thanks for the detailed explanation about how you deal with the temperature difference between floor and ceiling. I ran a small 12v fan as you suggested and the temperature difference reduced from 20 degrees to 15 degrees. In due course I will try running a bigger fan to see if I can further reduce the temperature differential.

I was not able to stop and fool around in Daytona on my trip back home. Glad you had a good time. I enjoyed looking at the photos you posted in your build page and your report of what you did in Daytona. I do hope to make it to Bike Week in 2018 (March 9 to March 18). Who knows, maybe I will see you there!

I just bought this Ctek 25000 battery charger to charge my 12v deep cycle batteries with 120v shore power. It can handle up to a 500 amp hour battery bank. Maximum 25 amp charge rate. It is a 7 stage charger with a temperature sensor.

It also has “supply” mode which supplies a constant 13.6v while plugged into shore power so I can run my dc loads without using the 12v batteries. This will be handy when my trailer is stored outside and the batteries are stored in my temperature controlled garage (to avoid exposing the batteries to extreme cold and heat). I use solar power to maintain the batteries while they are stored in the garage.

So far, I have not found a “one size fits all” shore power charger that will fully charge my batteries ... they have all gone into float mode long before the battery is fully charged.

I paid $250 for this charger ... I am hoping it will do what Ctek says it will do. I will be monitoring charge voltages and amps to confirm.

Here is the link to a more detailed explanation of what the charger does.

https://www.etrailer.com/Battery-Charge ... 56674.html

I just read through all of your posts on your build so far. I am thoroughly impressed and have much thanks for you explaining and showing the details and all of the pictures! I recently ordered my featherlite 6 x 6’6”x 12. I will definitely be using your posts as my guide as I insulate my own! You did an amazing job! On the floor I am considering insulating under the floor in between the framing perhaps with sprayed in insulation or Polyiso. What is your or anyone else’s thoughts on that? I’m just trying to figure a way to get a substantial R-value under the floor without losing inside height so much.

Thanks again!!

7sparky7,

Thanks for the kind words. About everything I have done to my trailer so far has been borrowed from other people’s ideas posted on this web site.

By installing an additional 1 3/4 inches of insulation on both walls, I lost 3 1/2 inches of interior width. Consequently, now I cannot load two bagger motorcycles side by side as I originally planned. However, I think the tradeoff is worth it in my case.

Here is a link to a series of posts where the topic of insulation under the floor has been discussed (there are probably more posts but this post came to mind).
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=69445&p=1217306&hilit=mice#p1217306

If I were to insulate under the floor, I think I would go the do it yourself spray route, even though spray foam is a bit expensive. However, I suspect that the savings in labor plus higher R value due to an airtight application would more than offset the extra cost. Also, I would think that the spray foam would adhere more securely over time compared to the risk that cut and glued panels might eventually come loose. As far as exterior paneling to cover the foam, I would start by looking at the plastic like material that RV manufacturer’s use under their floors. I would also consider first painting over the foam with the kind of thick stuff that the teardrop builders apply to the underside of their wooden floors to make them water proof, then apply the paneling.

In any event, good luck with your build and keep us posted ... photos are always appreciated by everyone!

Thanks so much for your info and link related to floor insulating!
I will definitely be digesting it all and look forward to doing my own build and sharing the progress once my trailer comes in.

7sparky7, Howdy;

This is the stuff that is enclosing the undercarriage of my RV. Comes in different colors and can be found
in more then 1 place.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Coroplast-4 ... /205351385

Hope this helps.

hank

Thanks Hank.
Something along these lines is what I had in mind. I’ll have to go to the big box store and poke it and see what I think.

Leonard

The temperature has been dropping to about a low of 19°F during the night. I have slept in the trailer a couple times with an electric Space heater. As a test, I hung a triple layer of moving blankets to partition off the front half of the trailer. I also hung a double layer of moving blankets over the RV door. Although the space heater has no problem heating up the trailer, even with a fan running, there is about a 15° temperature difference between the ceiling and the floor. I don’t like that.

So today I removed everything out of the front half of the trailer, including the wood floor. I then added one more inch of R6 Polyiso foam board to provide more insulation. Now, the floor has 2 inches of insulation for a total of R12.

Now, with the wood floor reinstalled, the ceiling is 6 feet 2 1/2 inches higher than the floor.

Since everything is still out of the trailer, I think I may go ahead and add another 1 inch of foam board. I will think about it tonight, but I suspect I will go ahead and add the extra inch. 6 feet 1 1/2 inches of headroom is sufficient for me.

Looks awesome! Thanks for all the detail on insulating!