I've been away from the board for a spell, while working on my slide-on TD modual, The Love Shack. But, thanks to Ivan, I have the day off, so I'm posting an update on my project.
Pics of the project so far, along with a scan of the drawing I'm working from, can be found at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/darknight ... /my_photos .
I did the design myself, using pecil-and-paper. The drawing is rough, but I dont need more than that to work from. Some of my design criteria are: Slide-on modual, so the trailer can be used for other things when not camping; Flat-panel construction, because I didnt want to mess with curves, and wanted a fairly quick way to build it using sheets of plywood; All panels glued-&-screwed to "nailers", as this greatly increases joint strength, compared to edge fastening the panels to each other; 5-Foot width, since my fiancee and I are both bed-hogs; "Standard" 4-foot height and 8-foot length, since the width complicates things enough all by itself; Insulation, wiring, and wood siding will be applied to the outside of the main inner shell, which will be fully weatherproofed, this is so the camper can be used before the outer work is finished (This was a primary requirement for this project, but I dont care to go into why.); And has to have both heating and air conditioning, because my disabilities require me to have them (Breathing trouble and arthritus.).
During the design phase the camper got named The Love Shack, and this effected the design. It was going to be a woody, and sort-of still will be. But the outer wood siding will be left untreated, to naturally age to an old-wood grey color, and it will be given a "tin" roof, possibly using new roofing that will be colored to look old. The idea is to make it look like an old shack in the woods on the outside, to match its name. The doors and windows will also be done as much as possible to match this theme. There will also be two front windows, with a tongue-mounted storage box made to look like a large windowsill planter, complete with fake plants, to complete the look.
This project has posed some interesting problems right from the start. How do you put a 5 foot wide camper on a 4 foot wide trailer, that only had about 4'1" between the fenders, which also stick up a couple inches above the trailer frame? How do you fasten the modual to the trailer, so it doesnt come off while its moving? How can you put heating and AC in a TD, and have them so both are usable at the same time (To warm and dry the air on cool damp days.)? How do you keep the loaded weight down to 1000 pounds or less, so the unbraked trailer can be towed by a 4-cylinder front-wheel-drive sedan? How do you attach wood siding and tin roofing, so that neither will be blown off when going at highway speeds? And, because the modual sits on a trailer bed thats a fair distance above the ground, how do you get in and out of the thing, or use the galley on it? Some of these I have solved, and others I'm still working on. My biggest unsolved problem so far, is simply where do I find usable old tin roofing, or new tin roofing that looks like the old kinds?
I'm hoping that bits of my project will help others with their's, and that others can help me with things I have trouble finding solutions for. So far this group has helped me a lot, or I never would have started on it.