Our goal: travel trailer turned tiny home!

[Mother_of_Drago]

Hey everyone!

Just stumbled upon these forums looking for websites to aid in my search for the right type of travel trailer for what me & my husband are looking to turn into our tiny home. I don't really know where to start, there's so many options, brands, floor plans, etc, etc...

What we DO know we want (so far... but also open to suggestions):

-At LEAST 25ft, preferably 30-35ft
-No slide-outs (don't want the maintenance/repairs on the motors, the extra weight, or possible leaks)
-Rear bedroom (we are also okay with 2 bedroom models, as we would plan to tear out the front bedroom for extra living room space)

Other than that, we're pretty flexible. We DO plan to do a FULL interior renovation on anything we find to re-arrange the space to better fit our needs, so honestly we are NOT looking for something new. We have been looking on craigslist for older fixer-uppers but are nervous to buy something that may pose a lot of problems with leaks, electrical, plumbing, etc. We plan to install solar panels on as much flat roof space as possible, as well as installing a composting toilet system, to aid in eco-friendly & off-grid living, although we do plan to have it parked & with all the usual hook-ups available most of the time (we will be living full-time in this, & traveling in it whenever possible, probably about twice a year when we can take time off work).

We have no children, and will not be having children, as we are both unable to (which we're okay with). Our children are our 3 bearded dragons, so the only must-have is a space for their tanks (a total of 6 foot long wallspace). We are used to & comfortable with small-space living, as we are currently living with his parents (and have the smallest bedroom in the house), and prior to that lived in a studio apartment (about 450 sq. ft.). Over the course of the last 2 years, we have been "downsizing" our personal belongings (donating clothes we don't wear, getting rid of a decent amount of furniture we had, etc.) so there's not a lot of "stuff" to house. We just want to live the "small" life & enjoy each other's company!

The main issue we've been running into is finding information on older trailers, as many of the websites that list floorplans & specs for "all" travel trailers only show ones that are currently in production, and we are definitely NOT looking to buy new.

Any & all suggestions are greatly appreciated, thank you!

-Bobby & Jess (and Baby, Romeo, & Little Ittle!)

[DoberGirl50]

You lost me at 'no slide outs.' My fiancé and I have 3 slides for recreational use. 😉

[gmw_photos]

rbpru wrote:
....snip....

The smart choice is to fully understand the nature of the problem before you sink big bucks in a difficult plan.

....snip

That may well be the best ever comment for these kinds of threads.

Folks that fail to follow that logic are likely the ones that get started on these projects, then abandon the whole idea when the effort and money starts to get out of hand.

The OP should read that sentence over and over until they fully grasp it.

The OP should also consider that most folks who do a total gut/restore/rebuild take two to five years to complete the project.

This time frame can be a lot shorter if you are skilled, have all the tools, a place to work on it inside out of the weather, and are retired or semi-retired.

But a person who is still working for a living, working on it outside in their spare time, and having to learn as they go, it's going to take a while.

[westend]

I did this. Took a 1971 Starcraft, gutted it and made it into what I want. The restoration thread is in my signature line, "The Cowboy/Hilton". Unfortunately, Photobucket hijacked my images so they are not viewable. The text and descriptions are all still there.

Some things learned: I'm a remodeling contractor so have all the tools and had some materials at hand. Remodeling a small space is more difficult than a house. I built this trailer for a Winter in North Dakota but,eventually, didn't need it for that purpose. It can do the job. Solar is the bomb!

Things I did: replaced loose fiberglass batt insulation with extruded polystyrene foam panels. Each cavity was custom cut and friction fit. It took me two weeks to cut and fill with insulation-8 hrs/day. I replaced all windows with Low-E plastic sliders and removed a few. I made a thermal break at the walls with 1/4" extruded foam and a vapor barrier underneath the interior paneling. I replaced all the foam cushions and matresses with new foam and new upholstery. All the plumbing was replaced. All the wiring and load centers, receptacles, and lights were replaced

A 1500W electric heater will raise the interior temperature from ambient 25f to 70f in a half hour. Everything will be cold soaked and take hours to reach 70f (not just the air inside). I use a 20K BTU propane heater with a conventional class B gas vent for Winter use in cold climates. Generating 1500W continuous requires a lot of solar modules. If you use a conventional RV propane furnace, it will also require more power. I am still working on enclosing and heating waste tanks, I have the materials, just need a boot in the butt to get it done. All of my supply side plumbing, most of the drains, and the water heater are inside the heated space.

I rewired and reconfigured both the 120V and 12V power systems. I have a single 235W solar panel and a 15 amp solar charge controller. It keeps the 300AH of batteries charged to operate a 120V fridge, my entertainment gear, and everything 12V. As long as the sun shines. I don't have any parasitic draws like alarms and circuit boards, as is typical for RV's. All the batteries are inside the heated cabin. The main power draw is the dorm fridge and the solar is designed to operate it off-grid. If you were going to full-time with your trailer,you would want a bigger fridge, more batteries and more solar than what I have. I am thinking about upgrading batteries and solar because free power is the ultimate. It doesn't come without cost, however. It's a grade above carrying and operating a generator but a full-timer shouldn't be without one.

The financials: Trailer cost-$750. Remodeling cost-$4K. Solar system, inverter, and battery cost-$1K. I got lucky because my running gear was all good, even the brakes (those were rewired, too). I painted the exterior-$250. I still need to mount a canvas awning and I may run into some small cost for my waste tank project but, just like a house, the costs never really end. I'll never be able to recoup the costs of doing this but the trailer is like new so there are many years that it can be used before I sell it for less than half of what I have into it.

If I had a few tips beyond the above it would be: draw out some plans, even crude ones where the electrical and plumbing are depicted. You don't want to cut back into your completed work for something forgotten. Put as much insulation and thermal breaking into the trailer as you're able. Use residential multipane windows. Your comfort will revolve around the quality of the insulation.

If you have any questions, you can PM me through this Forum's PM feature. I can send pictures, individually. Good luck with your project, the 6 months you spend doing it is all worth the effort.

[rbpru]

Oops,double post.

[rbpru]

Please do not confuse gloom and doom with practical advise. A person can do about anything they put their mind too.

The smart choice is to fully understand the nature of the problem before you sink big bucks in a difficult plan.

But hey, it your money, your time and it will be your problems. All we can supply is opinions.

Good luck.

[parker_rowe]

Mother.of.Dragons wrote:


?????? thank you for the comic relief in these doom & gloom posts!

Added info:

As I said, we DO intend to have this parked with all the hookups most of the time (electric, water, sewer - if we don't do the composting toilet), I already found a few parks that take travel trailers long-term.

And yes, part of the reason we want to tear out the walls is to re-do the insulation. I was looking at the spray foam. Maybe panel over the drywall for an extra layer too.

So the generator would be primarily used for its intended purpose, as a BACKUP unless we were traveling & stopped somewhere that it was A. allowed, & B. a necessity. The solar panels would be to supplement either of these primary power sources. And I have a family member with experience installing them who said they would do it for me.

As far as the heating element, being in the coldest room in the house currently (it could potentially get down to 55° WITH baseboard heat on in the wintertime), we always were able to get it up between 60 & 70 in the room with a small electric "fireplace" look heater. One in the bedroom & one in the front room would surely suffice to heat the space. The dragons need at least 60° for a sleeping climate at night, and I also have ceramic night heat emitters for each tank on the coldest nights. In the daytime, the tanks basically heat the entire back side of the 3 bedroom rancher we currently live in (their daytime tank temps are 90°+), so I doubt we'll be cold along with the 2 space heaters and better insulation.

I will definitely look into double pane glass windows. Good idea.

The only thing I don't like about a regular mobile home is the fact that they cannot just be on a towhitch to move, considering they're a "wide load". So it defeats the purpose of being able to take your home with you on road trips & vacations.

And yes, we do plan to eventually move south. But our current job situation doesn't really give us both the option to transfer down south, so it will take finding new jobs together (or possibly jobs that don't require physical attendance, that we can telecommute or do online).

Hope that answers a few questions/concerns.

And this has been our dream for a few years now. Yes, we're aware we're downsizing, we embrace that. All about the simple life. And yes, we know we may be in for challenges with finding ways for this to work for full-time. We also embrace the journey.

If you are planning on having full hookups if possible, why not just shop around for a floorpan you like and skip gutting the whole thing? Try it out and see how it works as is...maybe add some floor insulation or a skirt around the bottom when you are parked for longer term.

Use your generator and solar panels to supplement you energy use if needed.

It you have electric hookups, an electric oil heater works great to warm up a small space.

Keep the propane as a backup, you don't HAVE to use it, but it's there.

We were able to keep our camper warm down into the 20's with one oil heater, and we had 3 open tent beds with very little insulation.

The dragons having their own tank heaters will help too, as long as you have electric hookups. Being "off grid" entirely would be tough with that much energy load in the winter, as electric heaters use a lot of electricity.

Just wondering if you really need to reinvent the wheel. I think it is entirely doable as long as you can hook up at any long term stops, especially in the winter.

[BarneyS]

Jebby14 wrote:
rent an apartment. live in it. buy cheap used camper for camping vacations. You will come out miles ahead and save a ton of time money and aggravation over your current plan.

Best advice yet in my opinion! 🙂
Barney

[Jebby14]

rent an apartment. live in it. buy cheap used camper for camping vacations. You will come out miles ahead and save a ton of time money and aggravation over your current plan.

[Mother_of_Drago]

jfkmk wrote:

2oldman wrote:

Mother.of.Dragons wrote:
We are used to & comfortable with small-space living,

I hope so, because a trailer that small and without slideouts- you can't even pass each other in the hall. It's going to be very tight.

You must be huge! You can't pass each other in a 35' trailer??? My wife and I had no problem in a 17 footer. I realize it wasn't full time living, but still!

?????? thank you for the comic relief in these doom & gloom posts!

Added info:

As I said, we DO intend to have this parked with all the hookups most of the time (electric, water, sewer - if we don't do the composting toilet), I already found a few parks that take travel trailers long-term.

And yes, part of the reason we want to tear out the walls is to re-do the insulation. I was looking at the spray foam. Maybe panel over the drywall for an extra layer too.

So the generator would be primarily used for its intended purpose, as a BACKUP unless we were traveling & stopped somewhere that it was A. allowed, & B. a necessity. The solar panels would be to supplement either of these primary power sources. And I have a family member with experience installing them who said they would do it for me.

As far as the heating element, being in the coldest room in the house currently (it could potentially get down to 55° WITH baseboard heat on in the wintertime), we always were able to get it up between 60 & 70 in the room with a small electric "fireplace" look heater. One in the bedroom & one in the front room would surely suffice to heat the space. The dragons need at least 60° for a sleeping climate at night, and I also have ceramic night heat emitters for each tank on the coldest nights. In the daytime, the tanks basically heat the entire back side of the 3 bedroom rancher we currently live in (their daytime tank temps are 90°+), so I doubt we'll be cold along with the 2 space heaters and better insulation.

I will definitely look into double pane glass windows. Good idea.

The only thing I don't like about a regular mobile home is the fact that they cannot just be on a towhitch to move, considering they're a "wide load". So it defeats the purpose of being able to take your home with you on road trips & vacations.

And yes, we do plan to eventually move south. But our current job situation doesn't really give us both the option to transfer down south, so it will take finding new jobs together (or possibly jobs that don't require physical attendance, that we can telecommute or do online).

Hope that answers a few questions/concerns.

And this has been our dream for a few years now. Yes, we're aware we're downsizing, we embrace that. All about the simple life. And yes, we know we may be in for challenges with finding ways for this to work for full-time. We also embrace the journey.

[Jebby14]

they gone.........

[valhalla360]

toedtoes wrote:
In her second post, the OP mentioned having a generator as back up for the solar. However, I think for a PA winter, that might get expensive trying to heat the trailer with gas or diesel. Especially with three dragons to be concerned about.

How are you going to ensure the heat doesn't go out during the day when you're at work?

For reference, on our boat (yeah little different but similar situation), our 2400w Yamaha could run the 12k btu heat but below around 25F, it would get a degree colder inside for each degree colder it got outside even with the heat going continuous full blast. That would probably be burning about 5 gal/day (we were in the south so it was only an occasional day not ongoing).

And yeah, if you were gone, nothing to say it won't konk out or run out of go juice.

[rexlion]

Mother.of.Dragons wrote:

rexlion wrote:
My suggestion: if you plan to tear out and renovate, why not start with an empty shell? Buy a new cargo trailer and build the interior you desire. You can install thicker insulation (most travel trailers are poorly insulated) and it will be more comfy for climate control. Choose your heater and A/C, install windows, design a custom layout. Much easier to begin with a clean slate! Have a look at some of the build threads (with pictures) ***Link Removed*** .

I've considered this! Honestly got discouraged thinking about having to run all the plumbing & electrical from scratch by ourselves (we plan on doing all the reno's ourselves & we're both pretty handy but we're not plumbers or electricians, lol...)

Are there a lot of tutorials out there for this? I feel like it would all be pretty specific to the floor plan we'd decide on, as to where everything would need to be run & how it should be set up.

Also, honestly all the cargo trailer's I've seen for sale are twice or 3 times as expensive as the travel trailers I've seen (which makes no sense to me, considering, like you said, it's literally an empty shell).

You might take a look at the cargo trailers offered factory direct by this mfr. They seem affordable. As for plumbing or electrical tutorials, I don't know. You can find almost anything on the internet nowadays, though, so do some exploring. It isn't brain surgery. I bet you two could educate yourselves in those areas if you put your minds to it.

[rbpru]

I love our TT but it is a TT. A Travel Trailer intended for intermittent short term travel in pleasant weather.

The farther you drift from its intended purpose, the more money you spend with no hope of recovery.

Most full-time folks follow the sun.

As mentioned if you only intended to do a couple of trips a year, you can rent some really nice motor coaches and invest your trailer money in a small home.

If a travel trailer is your dream, then rent one for a week or two of travel. You will learn a lot before you spend the big bucks.

Good luck

[jfkmk]

2oldman wrote:

Mother.of.Dragons wrote:
We are used to & comfortable with small-space living,

I hope so, because a trailer that small and without slideouts- you can't even pass each other in the hall. It's going to be very tight.

You must be huge! You can't pass each other in a 35' trailer??? My wife and I had no problem in a 17 footer. I realize it wasn't full time living, but still!