7x18 EZ Hauler Build

[McDave]

Wow! That is a lot of progress. Clearly you have some skills.
Very very nice travist.

So you got some camping in there as well? Impressive. Keep up the good work.

McDave

[travist]

Thanks everyone! Pretty excited. Just got back from another week, this time the kitchen drawers and clothes drawers were in, as you saw, so that was another big upgrade in our experience.

Yes the weight was something I designed using autodesk inventor, it seems to be ok still especially with the batteries and the propane that will go in the front, and all the stuff I store under the bed. I will also be putting the water and waste tanks either right between the axles or in front of the axles, so that should keep it leaning. It seems the kitchen doesn't offset it enough. But I do hope to get out to some scales once I'm closer to final weight and figure out how things are all settling, so I can make some adjustments if needed.

[travist]

Long season of other life, whether work, hunting, or needing to prioritize other house maintenance, it took me a while to get back to it. But I'm putting about a week of my teacher holidays into it now. Drawer faces, and I put in the pocket door for the bathroom.








I'm also starting the plumbing. I have my grey, black and fresh water tanks. The black is fairly straight forward, it is going right below the toilet, and will sit between the two floor I-beams. This is centered ~36" in front of the forward axle (double axle trailer). The fresh water, since it is the most likely to sometimes travel full I'm planning on putting between the two axles. It will fit nicely between two floor I-beams that are between the axles. The conundrum is the grey water. My ideal placement would be between the black and fresh, but the front axle unfortunately is in the way. So my first inclination was to put it behind the rear axle. Which would be roughly between the bathroom sink and the kitchen sink. However, then its behind the axle and I'm worried if I have to drive it full, it might offset the weight to the rear too much. The other option is that it goes even further in front than the black water (centered about 54" from the front axle. This means that when its full, I might exceed the 10-15% tongue weight ratio, although I gather that's better than undershooting that ratio. The other downside is that then the grey tank is about 12-14' in front of the kitchen sink. I'm able to slope it more than the minimum 1 in 50 or 1/4" per foot, probably about double that, and I'm using a hepvo on this, but not ideal. One other positive is I could share the same tank vent with the black water (if that is allowed, which I think it is). Any help you want to offer is much appreciated. A bit more information, the black and grey water tanks are 32 US gallons and the fresh is 37 US Gallons.

[rjgimp]

Nice work. I am very interested in the bunk above the queen bed and how that is situated. You only showed a picture of one of the cabinets that would support it but not the finished assembly. I am about to build a foamie on a popup frame with similar dimensions to your trailer and it has been in my short list of plans written in ink (lol) to have a queen fore and aft with a twin side to side above it.

Regarding your water tank conundrum, have you considered a composting toilet? I also plan on full water and electric but intend to use a composting toilet. The solid waste is covered with a composting medium (usually something like sawdust, peat moss, or cat litter) and the urine is diverted elsewhere for disposal.The combining of liquid and solid waste is what creates an ideal environment for nasty smells. If liquid is diverted away and the solids are covered and allowed to naturally compost, smell is virtually eliminated. The greatest benefit (IMO) is the elimination of the black tank. In some areas (dispersed camping) you can even drain gray water directly to the ground, eliminating transportation of wastewater entirely! If you install the fresh tank between the axles and a single gray tank forward of the front axle, you would minimize balance issues.

[McDave]

Hey travist,
That is looking real good. You're gonna have something to enjoy and be proud of when this is all done. So, this is how I addressed the tank issue. I put the fresh tank directly behind the axle, (single 6x12 Harley Hauler) and installed just a black tank just forward of the axle, no grey tank all waste is drained to black. I did however put a diverter valve on the shower drain so I can drain to the ground when acceptable. For me that means almost always. I figured that way I could use the fresh tank as ballast to take some weight off the hitch if needed. If not I just fill tank at the last stop before leaving the paved roads. I have a generator on the tongue so it tends to be a little nose heavy, battery and propane are up front as well. I can carry 25 gal. of fresh and the black tank is 29 gal. so there should be less chance of "overage". In your case, fresh between axles if possible, and it probably won't be real critical where the other two go if one is in front and one behind the axles since the load will be split some black, some grey. Here is a tool to help with the weight and balance figuring.
https://www.engineersedge.com/calculato ... alance.htm Just insert your numbers where the red numbers are and the program will do the math. You want about 15% of total weight on the hitch.

Good Luck,

McDave

[travist]

So the bunk is situated as seen in the picture below. The bunk has a 2x2 wood frame rectangle with (eventually) two 2x4 cross pieces in the space that isn't supported by the cabinet. On two sides, it is glued to the wall and screwed directly into the aluminum studs. The free side has some bending resistance due to the "railing" that you can see. The bunks are nice 30x75" mattresses. In Canada I can buy what they call narrow twin mattresses from zinus on amazon that are memory foam, I assume they would be available in the states too. So that's what I have for the bunks. There is only one complaint about them so far, and that is that the queen bed underneath it is a bit annoying to get out of the bed at night if you are the one further in. Minor complaint in my books considering what we have accomplished, plus my wife is usually the one getting out if anyone is, so she will probably just sleep on the nearer side.



As for the toilet. I'm pretty committed to the black tank toilet combination since I've bought both, and neither are returnable at this point (and cut the hole in the floor), but I did briefly consider the composting. It sounded like something that would be more complicated for my littles to manage, and also those toilets are so expensive. More than my toilet, black tank and plumbing combined.

Thanks McDave for your insight. So you think its better to go behind the axle with the grey rather than further up front. I guess I should try to figure out what my tongue wait is currently with all the gear under the queen bed in the storage, and the batteries up front. That might clear it up for me, because I figure my wet weight will be around 2500 lbs.

One other question for the readers. I'm seriously considering going with a rope & pole awning as opposed to bag or the current regular RV awnings. Advantages in my mind is big cost savings, less holes in the trailer (potentially no new ones as I think I'd just jbweld the awning rail to the top trim (which itself is screwed in, so its still replaceable), and flexibility in the size of the awning. Most bag awnings aren't big enough for me, and RV awnings would have to fit around my windows. How long does it take to attach one solo if you have one?

[travist]

I hit submit, but also forgot. Thank you for the complements. I'm putting a lot of work, and the people on this forum have been hugely inspiring and helpful, so its a pleasure to be affirmed by this group.

I also immensely appreciate the help from all you knowledgeable people.

[dirtsailor2003]

I installed the ARB 8' awning on my CT. I really like it. I wish now though that I had gone with the batiwng awning as I would have liked it to wrap around the back of the trailer too. I considered the rope and pull option too but decided that the ARB would be easier to deploy solo.

[travist]

Thanks DirtSailor. I have looked at those and really like them, but 8' is just too little for me. I would want more like 15-16' wide of awning. Bag awnings seem to cap out at 14', and the price is a bit exhorbitant compared to a rope and pole awning. Plus with rope and pole, I could easily look at doing something like a bat wing too, athough my back of the trailer door swings up like an awning.

[hankaye]

travist, Howdy;

Several folks on here have installed a regular RV style awning.
flboy and McDave for 2 just dig into their threads and you'll
find them.


hank

[BigDave_185]

Anyone call me dumb but I think I might give this a try.


MCombo 10x8 Feet Manual Retractable Patio Door Window Awning Sunshade Shelter Outdoor Canopy (Grey) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y57DQR1/re ... fEbCQK4C5V

I don’t plan on leaving it open while I am gone but could it really be that terrible for what it is?


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[hankaye]

Big Dave, Howdy;

One thing you want to be able to do with the awning is to lower one
of the corners so that accumulated water can run off during a rain.
Otherwise you may end up with a pond overhead. Look again at
Dirt Sailor's pic. you'll see the near Left corner dipped.

hank

[McDave]

Hey Dave,
I would never call a man with a name like "Big Dave" dumb. In fact, I believe great minds think alike. I like every thing about your idea for a MCombo awning, everything. You might say I am a fan of all things MC..., Dave.



And here is another Big Dave,
And here is the link I used for my awning. I know they go up to 13ft and 20ft maybe more. My trailer is 12ft so 10' was the longest I could use.
https://www.vidaxl.com/e/8718475923367/ ... 8475923367
I used the old inverted vinyl gutter trick to build the cover to keep the fabric out of the elements when not deployed. Worked great, cheap, travels at highway speeds fine. For me this was a perfect fit. The pitch and roll of the awning is easily adjustable. Support legs are available if needed. And it clears the door so no rollers etc. needed to prevent ripping the fabric. Open or close fully in less than 1min. and the price is hard to beat. Great customer service here too. I will find the manual PDF and send it to you.

McDave

Edit: Here is the exact same manual under a different brand name. I would suspect the McAwning manual will be the same as well.
http://www.free-instruction-manuals.com ... 349872.pdf

[BigDave_185]

Hankye I live in Utah lol it doesn’t rain here. More likely snow. All jokes aside I think the water would still drain off the awning one side of the other pending on how level I actually had the trailer.
MCDave ma man!! I like it.




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[hankaye]

Big Dave, Howdy;

I used to live in Mt. Pleasant, Ut. Now reside in soggy (chuckle), SW NM,
between Hatch & T or C.

hank