Transforming a 18' travel trailer

[Taz Baby]

Our trailer that was transformed from a water damaged piece of junk, then gutted down to the frame, into a very nice little home we now live in 8 months out of the year.
It is fixed up to be livable for any situation that occurred.

The generator runs just a few hours at night and long enough in the mornings to make coffee, which charges the batteries. Then we shut it off to save fuel. The trailer has a Propane heater and propane furnace for a back up. It has LED lighting along with electric. It has 4 6 volt golf cart batteries that are wired together to make 2 12 volt batteries. It has an exhaust turbo fan that blows the air in or out. The stove has 2 small fans that use to be in a computer, a small exhaust fan in the bathroom and in the middle of the trailer just for sucking the air out. The roof has a raised roof built over it, which is equipped to catch rainwater and store it in the water tank. The trailer is painted with a regular exterior paint and then with a thermo additive added to the paint to make it insulated.
So in the summer the trailer reflects the heat and in the winter it holds the heat.
We turn the turbo fan on to suck out the hot air, which blows it out and makes it cooler inside. This winter it was cold and the trailer kept us nice and warm.

I am not allowed to put pics up yet, but as soon as the site will let me I will edit this with Pics

[Fatty]

Excited to see the fruit of your labor!

[mitunnelrat]

Taz, you'll have to use a site like photobucket or imageshack to post pics here. If that poses a problem I can pm you my email address and post them from my photobucket account for you.

[LUNCHBOX]

Taz, I use Tiny Pic for my photos. Free to use but doesn't do video.

[Taz Baby]

thanks, I will upload them as soon as I can get to a wifi spot, lol.

[rentprop1]

any thought to solar ??

[Taz Baby]

any thought to solar ??

we now have it hooked to 2 solar panels and they keep the batteries charged. When we tourn the genny on this is what comes on..... The fridge and freezer, hot water pump, all lights, little freezer, washing machine, and microwave. We have no tv by choice. No dvd player by choice, we have solar radio, what else do you need in the SHFT?

?

[Evolver]

we now have it hooked to 2 solar panels and they keep the batteries charged. When we tourn the genny on this is what comes on..... The fridge and freezer, hot water pump, all lights, little freezer, washing machine, and microwave. We have no tv by choice. No dvd player by choice, we have solar radio, what else do you need in the SHFT?

?

Food and water :o. :) Very nice set up Taz and it looks like you have thought it all out and your ready if need be for what ever might happen. Good job!

[Stormfeather]

Definitely excited to see pics of this!

[bacpacker]

I agree with Evolver. Very well thought out and put together. Sounds like you'll be able to handle many situations.

[Taz Baby]

http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0191JPG_thumb.png

http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0167JPG_thumb.png

http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0159JPG_thumb.png

http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0344JPG_thumb.png

[piranha2]

Awesome, keep the pics coming. I am currently living in the woods in a 30 footer and have the propane backup, but no solar due to lack of funds. Any ideas for upgrades (convenience, safety, whatever) will be appreciated.

[Taz Baby]

Food and water :o. :) Very nice set up Taz and it looks like you have thought it all out and your ready if need be for what ever might happen. Good job!

got the food and water covered. My yard is full of both. When I want a salad I go about 50 ft and dig wild greens, onions and cattails.

[Taz Baby]

http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0206.jpg
http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0220.jpg
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http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0173copy.jpg
http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s395/Taz-Baby/PICT0207copy.jpg

[ladyhk13]

Taz this is awesome!

[Taz Baby]

thanks lady. I don,t know why it came up links and not pics this time. But will write more about it soon

[ladyhk13]

Wasn't a problem. They opened up nice and big so I could see them.

[piranha2]

Any updates?

[Taz Baby]

I have no way to upload pics now and I didn,t want to add anything without them. Didn,t wanta make you guess what it looks like.

[bacpacker]

Nice work Taz! That looks really nice.

[Taz Baby]

Ok
I wrote this with the pics in it but since I can't download them I just copied and pasted the words. Will get pics asap.

The walls are made out of 1x2 framing, 3/4” foam board insulation with paneling on each side and aluminum covering the outside. (Tip.. By buying 2x4’s and making
1x2 out of them it comes out cheaper. If you have a table saw, that is.)
Now comes the fun part. Designing it the way you want it to look. This is how he did it.

The kitchen

Where the stove was, he cut it at an angle to put a gas fireplace heater in and that made more room. (Him being the only one to live it, he didn’t need the stove. A micro wave would work fine.) Under the fireplace is a cabinet for storage. On the top of that counter he cut a hole and put a one burner propane camp stove. Along the wall next to the door in the kitchen part, he put a magnetic tool holder to hold the canisters, lighters, flashlight and a butcher knife when traveling. The bottom cabinet has 4 drawers and a slide in cutting board. Under the sink is a cabinet with a shelf for pots and pans. He rebuilt the top cabinets that include a volt meter, range hood with a fan (the fan is out of a computer which opens on the side wall, T.V. above the fireplace (Thinking that it was far enough from the heat not to damage the T.V.) Wrong move. Installed a microwave in the cabinet above the sink. The wall on the right of the sink is a rack that holds a 2 gallon water jug for drinking water, a metal bar that holds a cutting board and a small rack for seasoning. Where the fridge was there is a 4 drawer plastic shelf that fits right in there, for groceries and clothes, with a cabinet under it for groceries.

On the other side wall is the bathroom, then the desk, computer, (above the computer are led desk lighting and a battery powered led tap light), air conditioner, a 12 volt ice chest (mounted in the counter) and a seat. Under the seat is a hidden storage bin (which is where the bed linen goes) and the furnace. Above are cabinets for the printer, and groceries.

The computer was put in right before the trailer was ready to head for the hills.

The back of the trailer is the bed. (The bed has changed. I will tell you about that later). Overhead cabinets, (that is for groceries and clothes), bottom cabinet, (storage and water tank), a folding table and another seat. (With under storage as well.) The bed folds into a couch.


Now, that takes care of the inside and from the pics you can see the lighting, smoke detector (left corner over the bed), the carbon monoxide detector, (the right corner over the bed), the power exhaust fan, that blows air in and out (for winter and summer use) the exhaust fan in the middle of the ceiling, and all the things I might have forgot to mention. There are outlets everywhere, also there are 12 volt power outlets in the kitchen, (for a 12 volt coffee pot, crock pot ect.) in the bed area, (for a 12 volt electric blanket, and at the desk. (for the cell phone charger, small battery charger, for my laptop that stay’s plugged in one of the 12 volt outlets and a fan.

[Taz Baby]

Since the roof was the cause of the water damage to the trailer he wanted to make doubly sure that there would be NO more leaks. After repairing the original roof a thick coating of Elastomeric paint was applied to it. Then to make absolutely there would be no water damage inside, he built a roof over the roof.

This was constructed out of 1/8” x 1 ½” steel bars, hand bent over a bench vice. There are 12 angled brackets secured through the wall framing that have semi hooped rafters attached to them. Six supporting lengths run the length of the structure. Topped off with tin and several More coats of the rubber paint. The front air dam was attached at the bottom and then bent backwards to the first rafter and attached. There is a 12” overhang on the sides and the back. The back is open so it can be used as an attic for storage. It is water tight and very aerodynamic on the road. Kind of looks like a covered wagon.

The eves on the sides have strips of j-channel (a accessory piece of a real gutter) attached, that function as gutters to collect rain water. These channels are funneled into PVC that ends in a garden hose that can be routed into the water tank of the trailer if needed.
The original D/C converter and single 12v battery were removed and replaced with a smart charger and 4 – 6 volt deep cycle 235 amp hour golf cart batteries (Trojan T-105s) hooked up in series and parallel to look like 2 - 12v, batteries with 470 amp hours available to the electrical load. A 50 amp D/C fuse, a battery disconnect and a 12 fuse panel round out the setup. The 120 volt outlets in the trailer are only “live” when the generator is running but almost everything runs on 12v, propane or both.

The system can be charged with the attached generator (120v) through the smart charger OR the 2 - 60 watt solar kits that are attached to the battery bank. Usually a combination of the two works well. About an hour of the generator in the mornings for charging, breakfast and coffee, then the solar panels take over all day and then another hour or three in the evening (depending on how much sun we get) to top the batteries off for the evening.

We have a 2000 watt inverter that will be hooked up as soon as we can get more batteries and solar panels. This will make life a little easier when we need 120v for short periods of time.


Ok that is our little Home WE call it The Hunny Shak