Tiny Trailer Build

[NevadaBlue]

The fenders that came with the trailer are quite nice, although heavy. The same bolts that hold the fenders on, hold the axle adjustment position too. I broke all 4 (thank goodness, the easiest way to remove bolts) while attempting to remove the fenders to raise them. Then I decided not to use them since they were so heavy. After beating myself up over this decision, for months, I decided to use the fenders after all. Much of the life of this little rig will be traveling over dirt and rock roads. The steel fenders will protect it nicely.
So, today, I spent about an hour designing the new mounting system. The old heavy brackets are gone and they will be supported by a wooden frame. I’ll grab a pic next trip out to work on it. Should work out well. This also allows me to continue work on the cabinets that will sit over the fenders. All of it will be coated with spray on rubber undercoating underneath and sealed with spray foam inside, before the ‘fender well’ cover goes on.
My Turkish Samovar ‘heater’ is apparently lost in shipping. I got a refund and ordered a replacement. If lucky, I will get it before warm weather.

[NevadaBlue]

More has been done. I’ve finished one wheel well, which becomes the base for a small cabinet. The (yet to be delivered) heater/water boiler will sit on top of that cabinet and the smoke pipe will go out through the wall above it, IF it ever gets here. The heater will be removable for outside use too.
I got the big cabinet at the foot end of the bed framed too. It will hold the ‘loo’ bucket for travel as well as for night time use. The little pump water tank shower will also fit into that space (where the heater is sitting now).

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The boards on top of the cabinet just show where the divider wall between the galley and living space will be. That wall will be mostly glass, using the big slider window from the salvaged antique camper shell.

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There will be a door where the cardboard sits in front of the loo bucket, and a wall across the space there. A cabinet will fill the space on top of the wheel well.

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The cardboard piece is sitting where the ‘heater’ shelf and the top of that cabinet will be.

[NevadaBlue]

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There will be a drawer under the high cabinet, above the loo. Both the loo and shower sprayer will be accessible from the galley area when parked. The cooler will be mounted on the door and swing out on that side. I hate lifting coolers. The stove will be on the other door and also swing out.


Please excuse the coffee stains on the beautiful drawing.

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This shows the general layout of everything at the rear of the trailer. The lights indicated will be switched from a panel at the head of the bed and inside the door. (3 way on them) so I can light up any side at any time of night. I do plan to have a red light and an amber light (both LED running lights) in the galley overhead too.
This is FUN.

I planned the loo to be inside, with space to slide it out and use it... just in case of an ‘emergency’ stop or having to camp (park overnight) where there is no bathroom available. This way I don’t have to set up the shower/bathroom shelter for every stop.
There will be a removable table that attaches to the big cabinet, and will allow me to have a ‘dining table’ and desk at the foot of the bed. It will store between the wheel well cabinet and the tall cabinet. Design on the fly.

[RJ Howell]

Good progress! Like how it's coming out.

[tony.latham]

Blue:

I think it's coming along great. The other thing is you're already shopping around for trips with her, and that's cool.



Tony

[NevadaBlue]

Thanks RJ & Tony. It is fun to see what is available for parks and camp sites as well as ‘emergency’ stops like rest areas and Walmarts.

Thank goodness I remembered today that the INSIDE of the rig needs to be sealed before I close up some areas. I will be putting in 1” foil faced foam insulation then lining the inside with the same underlayment plywood as I used on the outside. So, some cabinet work today and painting. I was afraid to post these pics, thought I could be banned for posting something so ugly. This color is only found in used baby diapers. I got it from Home Depot, NINE bucks for a gallon of Behr semi-gloss interior paint. Good stuff, but was an oops. UGLY. But, it works. Thankfully it doesn’t look so bad in the pics.

The little cabinet inside the door will support my small stove and hopefully the wood stove/water heater in season. I plan to have a Coleman single burner on a 1 pound canister as my ‘coffee and quick meal’ kitchen. Main cooking will be in the galley of course.

So, here is today’s progress.

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The large opening above the honey bucket turned out to be big enough to allow me to make my ‘dining table/desk’ a pull out, rather than removable, plus a nice big drawer under it. The rest of that cabinet will be paneled, and a swinging door will cover the honey bucket space. The other cabinet will have a top of course and the space between the two will be left open for whatever needs to stand there.

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I also measured and planned the ‘glass wall’ between the galley and living space in more detail.

[NevadaBlue]

I had big plans for today. The snow had melted so I could remove the temporary rear wall from the camper and work on the galley. I woke up to several inches of new snow! But, the weather cooperated and it warmed up nicely, snow melted and I got to do some work on the trailer. Thankfully, I remembered that I have to remove the door that forms the bed platform before I can finish sealing/painting the interior. That door can only come out through the rear of the trailer and only BEFORE the partition between the cabin and galley is installed.
SO... I installed the bracing on the shelves and installed the redwood countertop. Then moved all the tools and junk out of the way and removed the bed platform door. Now I can warm up the trailer tomorrow and paint most of the rest of the interior. Hooah!

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That’s what the galley looks like now. There will be two large doors below the hatch on the topper. The left one will hold the cooler, which will swing in below the counter and the right door will hold the stove, which will swing in above the counter. The battery box will be in the center, under the counter and serve as the center support for that also.

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I made a tall lip on the shelf above the counter to keep stuff from falling during travel. There will be a wall across the shelf, where the 2x2 is lying now.

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A tool box and pile of ‘stuff’ is sitting in the space where the cooler will swing into, and in front of that will be the shower pump/tank and the honey bucket (when stored for travel).

The redwood counter is weathered gray right now, but will be sanded and sealed to bring out the color.

[S. Heisley]

This is a unique little camper...interesting.
I hope you have it done enough for travel by the end of April and make it to the Shasta Lake Gathering. I'd love to have the opportunity to see it!

[NevadaBlue]

I’m working on the little trailer all I can. Today I got the ‘bunk’ area walls and floor painted/sealed and installed 1” foil faced insulation there. So, tomorrow, I can put the bed platform back in and paint and insulate the galley area. I hope... supposed to be 56 degrees!
Then snow Sunday.

[NevadaBlue]

I almost forgot to mention, that the little wood stove / water heater arrived today from Turkey. It appears to have been dragged most of the way behind a vehicle.

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But, surprisingly, it is in pretty good shape. A few dings and dents, but nothing significant. I can make this work. I may test it next weekend on the deck and see how it does. I’ll have to design an ash pan since it is made to be dumped out, there’s no way to empty the ashes without removing the stove and water pot. I’ll build an ash pan that is less than 4” wide, since the firebox door is only 4” wide. The firebox is HUGE for this project, so I’ll make it work. Probably will need a grate too.

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[NevadaBlue]

OH dear... a trip to Home Depot today wore me out. But now I have most of the material I need to ‘finish’ this thing so I can use it. Paneling, paint, stain, glue, hinges, etc. Now to get the paneling under the bed area painted and installed. Then to build the rear doors. That’s the next BIG issue... getting those built and sealed properly.

I mentioned replacing the bed platform earlier. Almost forgot that the area below it needed paneled and painted. That will be the main storage for things like awnings and the outhouse and other necessities.

[noseoil]

Nice stove! Do you have a link for it?

[rjgimp]

I'd love to know the story behind the box it came in!

[NevadaBlue]

The little stove/waterheater is a samovar, got it from Amazon. I’ll look up the link.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BF ... UTF8&psc=1

It came from Turkey. There are quite a few videos of them in use on youtube. Look for ‘samovar’ or ‘stainless samovar’ or ‘chrome samovar’.

They ARE stainless steel.

Most of the videos show the stove with WAY too big of a fire, with flames shooting out of the pipe. I plan a small, slow fire. Run that way, it should last forever. There will also be a removable ash pan, probably made out of a bread pan or maybe from scratch.

Also, since the firebox is so big, it will be easy to put a butane camp stove inside and run the thing off of butane too. The little folding pocket stoves should be just perfect for this.

[NevadaBlue]

This should work well. I have adapters to connect the little pipe that comes with the stove (not shown in the pic) to the insulated pipe that will go through the wall fitting. I’ll make a cap on the outside to plug the smoke pipe hole for summer when the stove isn’t in place.

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