*Revived and updated* Enclosed trailer / camper idea - thoughts?

[TobyB]

http://olympic.craigslist.org/cto/4626147089.html

heh...


t

[jalopi]

updated the first page

[IronFreak]

I'd redesign it a bit. Get all your plumbing as close together as possible. Will make the build and cost lower. Maybe do it storage/bath/kitchen/bedroom. also full walls will be needed in some areas but if it's just you I'd incorporate some knee walls or partial height. That space is going to get small in a hurry. Knee walls will still give the illusion its big will maintaining some privacy.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

*Revived and updated* Enclosed trailer / camper idea - thoughts?

Pic no work? Or atleast not on my phone they dont

[jalopi]

pics work for me, must be the phone

a storage/bath/kitchen/bedroom would work nicely if this was just me and a lady friend... i wouldn't need walls, just privacy curtains... or maybe some chains and soundproof walls



however

to help offset fuel costs, i'm gonna try to find someone local who'll pitch in for gas in exchange for a tow to the drift event we're both going to. trying to minimize the amount of foot traffic through the bedroom for privacy reasons, also i'm a very light sleeper.

forgot to draw dimensions on the picture - the storage room is 5'x7.5'

i know things are gonna get tight quick, but the main difference between my skoolie and the ones most other people make (at least that i've seen anyway) is that i'm only really putting emphasis on a single main occupant with a second supplemental occupant instead of planning for four occupants. i'm tossing around the idea of a roof deck, since most track days are in the summer (as well as most vacation days) i could have extra people bring a tent or some shit and sleep on the roof deck

[ThatOneEuroE30]

*Revived and updated* Enclosed trailer / camper idea - thoughts?

Also to save fuel try finding all your panels and plumbing etc you'll be putting in from a rv supply Company. The walls in the camper are very light weight and do just as good of a job

[jalopi]

i mean... at max, i see the rv panels saving me about 100lbs vs using traditional building materials. 100lbs = about 1% extra mpg, on average. RV stuff also seems to be much more expensive than regular building materials

maybe it'll make sense to do, but as far as i can tell it'll be cheaper to just buy stuff from home depot

[e30onBBSs]

you gotta do this Jalopi

[jalopi]

shit man, i'm hammered. will respond with a coherent post tomorrow

[jalopi]

my.fucking.head.

[deutschman]

Cost wise I can give you some insight.
I just finished building my mom a weekend camper about a month ago. She spent about $4,000-5,000 on top of the cost of the Ford Transit Connect (small work van), and we kept is about as basic as you can get.
A lot of the cost was in the electrical system so she could run a small 63qut fridge, some lights, and what ever electronics she wanted to plug in. Harbor Freight solar panel and DC inverter, an expensive dual battery system, a nice big battery, the fridge and so on.
If you plan to run a small air compressor, charge and run electrical tools, and run all your electronics like your xbox, fridge, lights, and so on you will need a beefy electrical system.
Id recommend two solar panels to keep your batteries topped off when your not running your alternator, as well as a electrical generator for when you need to use a lot of power at ones. That way you get kind of a redundant system.

I would not do an electric stove. One appliance using large amounts of electricity is something you should stay away from. Between a fridge/freezer, and the stove you would be sucking up juice at large rate. There is a resin most if not all camper stoves are gas. Id throw a propane tank in the storage room. It will be way cheaper then trying to beef up your electrical system even more.

Lots and lots of people are doing this sort of thing right now. Its kinda trendy. Do some Google searches and you will get lots and lots of great ideas on what appliances to use, how to build an electrical system that meets your needs, how to use your space efficiently, and so on. Some very cool builds out there.

Heres a quick shot of my moms rig. I did this in about two weeks, kind of s tight time crunch so I wasnt happy with everything, mostly my fold out bed system. But shes happy with it.

[jalopi]

ugh... at a friends' house, apparently if you don't check off the "remember me" box when you log into a new computer r3v logs you out after 20-30 minutes. spent a good 45 minutes responding to your post... all gone. ):<

OK so here's a summary:

the online floor planner i used didn't have gas cook tops for whatever reason - i despise cooking with electric, i have full intentions of using a propane/natural gas stove. a microwave can be my emergency cooker in case i run out of fuel

not bringing my air compressor along - with the exception of an air chuck, i have all the tools necessary to everything without a compressor. only downside is speed, for obvious reasons

also, wow that's alot of money for that teeny van... which is concerning considering the bus is about 4-5x bigger. on a side note, are you planning on putting curtains in?

i guess the rest won't be that bad as far as pricing goes; i've been finding that the electric supply accounts for a pretty hefty portion of the conversion, like you said.

depending on what my estimated power usage is gonna be (gotta pick all the appliances first) i plan on getting one of the following solar kits:

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Power-Solar-Elite-Complete/dp/B0015398PE

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Power-Solar-Extreme-Complete/dp/B009IRX0US

and four of these batteries:

http://www.trojanbattery.com/product/j185-agm/

if i'm doing my math right, i should be able to run a microwave for a few hours with just one of these batteries (not that i'd be doing that). with four i should be damn solid for what i plan on using them for. max amount of waking hours i'll spend in the bus is maybe 4-5 per day (when i'm not traveling that is). unless i run into 4-5 days of constant rain/clouds, i don't think i'll ever need a generator.

might be overkill, but i intend on boondocking hard with this bus. hence the full size water heater instead of an instant one - emergency water storage. i figure that + an additional 100 gallon tank and i'll be solid

more tomorrow when i'm less tired

[rkettner]

Water weighs alot so check your GVW before adding tanks.

[jalopi]

260gal * 8.3lbs/gal = 2158/12000lbs of total weight to play with (most 72 passenger busses can allow for about 12k pounds of shit on the inside)

[dirty30]

I have mulled over the ideal set up for the track for some time and this is about as good a set up as I can imagine (or as much as a modest budget will allow, we ain't talkin toter homes here folks)

92 F350 2wd Dually crewcab
16' Dively open deck car trailer with tire rack
2004 Four Wheel Camper Grandby model

I need a real truck sometimes for things aside from towing cars around but also wanted a camper for 1-2 nights stays at the track. Ideally I would like to have a 4wd diesel camper van like a sportsmobile but the prices are so high and I couldn't justify having 4wd for the tow rig. I had purchased the truck before even thinking about getting a camper for track duty so I figured a truck camper that is easily removable from the truck from work great. My first camper was a late 90's starcraft that was a pile of crap but taught me a lesson about campers (and everything else in life) you get what you pay for!! I had wanted a four wheel camper for a long time but had forgotten about that idea as they are quite rare on the east coast and usually fetch a premium over other pop up truck campers. I lucked in to mine while googling four wheel campers for sale, they are rather unique in that they are aluminum framed so they are extremely sturdy, lightweight and weather resistant. You could improve upon this set up buy using a more powerful truck, a larger truck camper and an enclosed trailer but all those extras that people think they need in the beginning end up biting them in the ass in the long run with maintenance and so on. On a race weekend we still find ourselves pushing the 15,000lb mark despite using such a barebones truck/ camper/ trailer combo. I think cobbling together a dual purpose truck or trailer is a neat idea but I'd be willing to bet you would find yourself tinkering around with the truck or trailer at the track more than the race car itself. I have a buddy that brings a toter to the track with a large stacker trailer and it seems about half of everything is broken in it. The last thing that went was the entire electrical system from some strange power surge he encountered while he was plugged in. He had commented how jealous he was of our simple setup a few months back and it reminded me how rewarding keeping it simple can be sometimes. Just thought I'd post my set up since I've had some real world experience and tried a couple different variations so far.



Camper off the truck, easy to unload and easy to store right in the driveway.



Two weeks ago