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!)

[2oldman]

OP?

[epeters]

Lots of reasons to consider this carefully as already mentioned. So, I will offer some of my opinions to consider when going forward with your idea.

Find a trailer that has a very good and strong frame. We bought a new Nash last year. They build their own to very high standards (nothing is perfect but few if any complaints on their frames). You could park a tank on it. Not really, but it's much more stout than most other trailers out there.

Second, make sure that you have highly rated (for weight) axles. As you redo the layout, add insulation, tanks for the bearded dragons etc, you'll be adding more weight that the trailer was likely designed for out the door.

As for insulation. There are lots of options that give very good insulation value for the size. The worst actually in my opinion is the pink stuff. I would recommend looking into spray in foam. I can't remember which would be better closed, or open cell spray in foam.

Next would be considering dual pane windows. While not nearly as good as dual pane windows in a house, RV dual panes are much better than single pane.

We sleep in ours full time (spare bedroom) and we had some days with lows in the lower 20s. The furnance would kick in once or twice during the night and a small electric space heater kept the edge off. HOWEVER, we were keeping the temps about 55, too cold for the beaded dragons.

These are my opinions and suggestions only.

[Lwiddis]

"-no propane. We want all electric, a. To partially be run on solar,"

Solar panels don't power RV appliances. Batteries run RV appliances. On sunny days solar panels send electricity to a controller that manages the charging of batteries. I don't believe you understand the number of batteries, panels and controllers you would need to supply all your power needs...hot water, cooking, cooling, space heating, lights, water pump.

I too agree that many RV parks are going to look at your rig as "home built" and say you can't stay.

[toedtoes]

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?

Also, many parks may not allow generator use overnight or even at times during the day.

I agree with Jessieannie (who was in this place a while ago) that an actual mobile home is a better option.

[jesseannie]

I like the idea but I think you should look at MOBILE HOMES in existing parks. We are going through this now. The trailers are built for full time living, many are cheap or even free, we looked at a couple for one dollar that needed to be moved. In a 12 x 50 or a 12 x 40 there is a lot of room compared to a travel trailer. If it is in a park the only problem we found was finding a cheap unit in a decent park.
We went another route and found a nice park with spaces available and moved a single wide trailer on to it.
Living small and cheap is a great idea.
Jesseannie

[newman_fulltime]

gbopp wrote:
After this last winter do you really want to spend a Pennsylvania winter in a travel trailer? Especially without propane? Solar panels are great but, a couple days of snow and a power outage will leave you with no heat, how will your dragons handle the cold?
At least consider a generator.

And, building your own unit may seem like a major project but, it will be equipped for the weather.
Good luck and continue what you are doing. Ask lots of questions before spending any money, get your plans in place before taking any action.
Keep us updated on your progress. And ask lots of questions. Someone will have the answer.

Just sell them the sourhwind and rent out the driveway space ...maybe they can shovel your snow :B

[FunTwoDrv]

Consider buying an older "park model" to reno...

Gary

[donn0128]

Hopefully you have finally gotten discouraged enough give up on your idea. Its just not practicle in the real world. No gas, means no heat. There are just not enough batteries in the world to keep a TT heated with electricity strictly using solar in the winter in PA. Without adding massive amounts of insulation two inch walls of RVs dont provide enough insulation value to be worth squat. Once you did have this monster built where would you park it? How would you move it? Most established RV parks would refuse entry. Most local governments would prohibit you parking it on private land without water,sewer, and power for long term.
This is just to practical or a smart idea. Too many pit falls.

[2112]

Most concerns have been touched on already. Poor insulation, weight concerns, cramp space, minimal storage, etc.

You say you plan to gut it and renovate to possibly change the floorplan. Keep in mind it's difficult to relocate certain items such as water heater, fridge, electrical panel and furnace without much effort.

Be very sensitive to weight, not only how much you add but where. You can make it tongue light or unbalanced, causing it difficult to tow or overloading one side of the axles. Too much weight overloads the tires and frame. Weight will be your major concern throughout this whole project.

An enclosed cargo trailer was mentioned. The frame is much sturdier than a travel trailer frame. You might want to revisit this and look at the whole picture considering structure. Consider it as an empty canvas that can carry more weight per cubic foot.

[joerg68]

Solar is great when and where the sun is shining.

In winter, there is much less sunlight (shorter days, lower angle) even with good weather. Add in clouds and even snow, and the solar yield goes down quickly.

Unfortunately that is usually when you need the most energy.

Learn and understand when you will be needing how much energy, and then you can decide what is the best way to provide it.

Additional insulation in an RV is ... difficult. The walls are what they are, and they are not really built for energy efficiency, but they need to be lightweight and just robust enough to do their job. Longevity is also not a real concern in many cases. Same goes for the roof and the floor of the unit, the windows, and just about everything else in there. Look at the way these things are put together and you will see. You may not even be able to move the walls as they can be needed for stability.

Why does your home need to be mobile? And since you are mobile, have you considered moving to a part of the country where the weather is more moderate?

Or, to put it another way: If you start with an RV, and discard just about anything that makes it an RV in order to build a small but solid, well insulated home, you are not left with much that can be really used.

[gbopp]

After this last winter do you really want to spend a Pennsylvania winter in a travel trailer? Especially without propane? Solar panels are great but, a couple days of snow and a power outage will leave you with no heat, how will your dragons handle the cold?
At least consider a generator.

And, building your own unit may seem like a major project but, it will be equipped for the weather.
Good luck and continue what you are doing. Ask lots of questions before spending any money, get your plans in place before taking any action.
Keep us updated on your progress. And ask lots of questions. Someone will have the answer.

[valhalla360]

Some thoughts:
- 450sft studio is likely double what you will get in a 25' trailer, so expect a much smaller space.
- If you add insulation, you are going to lose a lot of interior space. RV walls are only about 2" thick. To get decent insulation, you are going to push that up to around 6". That will take your interior space down to around 7' wide
- Slideouts are really pretty reliable, particularly if you aren't moving a lot but they make a night and day difference in interior space. There is a reason, you have to special order to get a trailer without them.
- Do you have any experience building light weight structures? Most tiny homes are drastically heavier compared to the same size RV. That means a good chance, you need to replace the axle assembly on any craigslist special you buy and likely need a bigger truck to pull it. On some even the frame may not be up to the challenge.
- Assuming you follow the weather to stay out of winter weather, a 30# propane tank can last months for cooking and if it's hot, it's immediately cooking when you turn it on and stops producing heat when you turn it off. Electric takes longer to heat up and continues to add heat to the trailer long after you turn it off.
- Do you have any experience with solar systems? It can be done but it's not cheap and if you set it up wrong, it can be a total waste of time.
- Having owned and used a composting toilet on our boat for several years, if your site has access to a sewer drop, use it. Far easier and there is no eco issues at most campgrounds that use septic fields (even if it feeds into a municipal system it's really not any worse).

I would suggest either starting with a solid heavy duty flatbed rated for 30% more than you think it will weigh or just find an existing RV with a good floor plan and use it. Some minor modifications to the interior layout if you feel the need but a total rebuild is likely going to be more hassle and more expense than just starting from scratch on a solid frame that can handle the weight.

[Mother_of_Drago]

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).

[Mother_of_Drago]

toedtoes wrote:
Travel trailers are not really built for 4 season living. The insulation is pretty much non-existent. I would be very hesitant to live year round in one in PA (or anywhere else with cold winters).

Where do you plan on parking it? Have you considered RV park fees, propane, electrical costs? When you add it all up, not even including beefing up the insulation, it is not a "cheap" way to live (unless you park it on family's property and use their electrical).

Forgot to add a couple things:
-no propane. We want all electric, a. To partially be run on solar, & b. To not have to worry about refilling tanks.
-we really plan on gutting whatever we get, like down to the insulation. Tearing the walls out & everything. So we're going to be installing much better insulation than what it came with.
-we've been looking at rv parks, mobile home parks, etc. for full-time parking, they're relatively inexpensive monthly around us.
-we plan on buying a generator to run electric when we travel with it.

Basically, all costs compared, it will be about the same monthly as renting an apartment we'd never own, and about the same up-front as a down payment on a house. And this house can pick up & come with us when we want to go on vacation, or if we decide to move.

[rexlion]

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) here .