Looking for a DYI forum or site for travel traliers

Xtal, you have a compelling argument for a DIY trailer, does remove the vehicle issues because now when the vehicle becomes a problem child you can replace with a newer one.

BUT, Wheel chair modified vans might present some challenges, all of the modifications will most likely reduce the cargo capacity of the van.

You would have to carefully control how heavy your DIY trailer gets so you do not exceed the vans leftover cargo rating.

I was going to have a trailer builder that custom builds horse trailers with living space make a frame for me and title it.

Then I was going to build the box on top of that.

Before I was able to give the go ahead, I found a old rotted TT in the length I wanted and bought that for $700 instead, gutted the trailer and made it the way I wanted.

This gave me good windows, good bath tub with surround, good furnace, good A/C, good stove with oven and much more. Windows, doors, furnace, A/C, Stove are insanely expensive to buy new.

Hindsight, I should have removed all the good stuff, then cut the bolts and removed the rotted box then built from scratch and new box. Would have saved me months of work..

I would however, suggest rather than attempting to build from scratch you might want to look up custom horse trailer builders.. Many custom horse trailer builders offer pretty darn nice living quarters and it wouldn't take much work to have them build a all living quarters trailer specifically around your needs..

10 years in the current rig, and you have put 150,000 miles on it.
Are you still travelling and moving that much?
Thats gonna be hard travel on most TT's. Construction on most will have a hard time maintaining that pace.

Usually called DIY

This all started because after 20 years (I have owned it 10 and converted it when I got it) and 150K miles, it is becoming a maintenance nightmare.

I did the conversion myself .... took almost a year ... most of it part time ... a steep learning curve.

I just had about 5 problems in a row ... and I am still looking at things like broken engine studs (had this problem 3 times now on the Ford V10)... a slipping transmission .... and some major rust damage (I keep patching holes but the entire basement is rusted out.

I just put two ABS sensors in the front wheels ... I had to find them on ebay as they are now obsolete.

I wanted to convert a bus but I am afraid I will be getting into the same obsolete part problems I have now.

If this was a trailer, I might just be able to fix things like the furnace (just put one in last year) and keep it on the road.

Plus, we need to tow a trailer and wheelchair mini van ... not fun loading and unloading it.

I "think" pulling a trailer with a full size wheelchair van might be a bit easier ... never had a trailer before.

The van would be in good shape as it would be new (again, I need to think about this now as our van is dying ... rust holes the size of my fist) so I need to think if we want another mini van or a full size van.

Yes, lots of work but I am a machinist by trade and have a lot of tools like mig/tig welders here at home.

i just finished ... well almost finished ... building a wheelchair accessible house. Too several years but did most of it myself. We lived onsite for 3 years while we built ... -30 deg in VT !!!! Not ideal but we did it.

I even built the elevator ... the mast off of a forklift ... rated at 3000 lbs ... works great!

Anyway .... this is what has me looking at the travel trailer idea.

I am interesting in things like construction ... roof .... I just see pros and cons in every idea I have.

Thanks .... Mike

Have you considered converting a bus into an RV? They make a very reasonable platform to build on. Many of them come equipped with wheelchair lifts. I am in the process of converting my second bus to a RV.

My current project is a Bluebird rear engine.

I have seen a number of conversions that retained wheelchair lift.

Good running, well maintained buses can be had quite reasonably.

Take a look at http://www.skoolie.net and http://https://www.busconversionmagazine.com/

I purchased my current bus for $3450. Similar buses typically range in price from $4,000-$10,000. Mine had a bit of body damage that I had to deal with. It is a bit shy of 40' and is equipped with the Cummins 8.3 and Allison MD-3060.

These buses are typically very well maintained. I have seen examples of similar buses with over 300k miles and are still in service. Mine came with 170k miles. It runs and drives great.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you in this difficult time.

(Just kidding -- if you are really handy and really patient, I am sure you can build your own! The idea is very daunting to those of us who are less ambitious -- don't be discouraged by the inevitable nay-sayers.). ;)