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Powershift posted:There was a canadian compay called boler who made little trailers in the 70s that were supposed to be around 1000lbs. Hmm, I guess the Boler company split and the Scamp company had some of the original members, and wound up using the same molds to this day: http://www.scamptrailers.com/ Oddly, the Scamp dry weight seems to be a third more than the Boler, I'll fire an email asking what's up with that. ... I did get a hold of the "Teal Tailfeather" guy on the phone today, he said they're still alive but they're trying to secure a multi-million dollar investment over the next month or two and once the ink is dry they'll start producing the panels again. He said without the trailer bed, the Teal 5x10 is only 500 pounds, which is pretty awesome. It's basically foam filled LEGOs and you can break the entire house down in an hour. Yet once it's built up it's totally water tight and has very good insulation. I asked if I could keep adding more panels to make the thing longer (like 5x20) and he said they've never really gone over 12 feet, so I'm thinking I could either add some telescoping support posts, or just put two on a trailer bed and add a breezeway, he got a chuckle out of that idea.
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Jun 1, 2016 03:32
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Zero VGS posted:I'm trying to figure out how to get the largest-area camper I can, but keep it below 1500 pounds, so I can tow it with a compact car. I know it's not the answer to your question but I live in a camper seven months out of the year and pull heavy trailers that are not campers every week during those seven months. Air bags. I put air bag helper systems on every truck I have. They don't add power to the motor of course but that's not usually the problem. Especially with as small of a delta as five hundred pounds I'd just add some air bags. They're pretty universal if your willing to do or have some custom work done and not really expensive. I don't use the systems with the onboard compressors I just air up and down with my compressor or at a gas station and the best part is that they're helper bags, you don't remove any of the oem parts.
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Jun 1, 2016 06:31
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The brits tend to get away with some large trailers with mechanically identical cars, so i doubt that much will be a problem.
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Jun 1, 2016 06:36
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kenny powerzzz posted:I know it's not the answer to your question but I live in a camper seven months out of the year and pull heavy trailers that are not campers every week during those seven months. Air bags. I put air bag helper systems on every truck I have. They don't add power to the motor of course but that's not usually the problem. Especially with as small of a delta as five hundred pounds I'd just add some air bags. They're pretty universal if your willing to do or have some custom work done and not really expensive. I don't use the systems with the onboard compressors I just air up and down with my compressor or at a gas station and the best part is that they're helper bags, you don't remove any of the oem parts. That's to prevent my car from bottoming out the back wheels when there's weight on the tongue? My car literally has two inches of suspension travel so I'm not sure how much that'll help but I'll check into it.
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Jun 1, 2016 06:42
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Something else I wanted to ask. This is called a tracking trailer, used for gardening: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ye6NxujqG3c The load is balanced across all four wheels, and both sets of wheels turn to follow where it is being led to. Is there some reason I'm missing as to why no-one makes a highway-grade version of something like these to pull a camper?
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Jun 1, 2016 07:02
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Zero VGS posted:Something else I wanted to ask. This is called a tracking trailer, used for gardening: They tried this with heavy trucks a long time ago, and they were called wiggle wagons. At speed, your movements and corrections would be amplified by the trailer making the same movements moments later.
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Jun 1, 2016 07:09
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As above, buy basically put one 80+% of the weight of your car/truck behind it and try to brake sharply at speed, report back if you live. Also a while ago I saw prices for those trailer panels, a 6x12 for the panels alone (no trailer, interior, appliances etc) was like $5000. Maybe when they come out properly they'll be massively cheaper but I wouldn't hold my breath.
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Jun 1, 2016 13:09
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I'm considering setting up the new 2000 Cherokee Sport to pull my 13' Scotsman camper. I already tow it with my Wrangler YJ.
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Jun 1, 2016 14:05
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By the way, has anyone heard of this Showerloop thing? http://showerloop.org/ Open source shower plans that take the water from the drain, run it through multiple purifying filters and hit it with UV light to kill all the microbes, than put it back out the showerhead. I'm surprised it's not making waves in the RV/Camper circles. I mean it sounds a little skeevy, but being able to take a 20-minute hot shower while barely using any water or electricity sounds amazing. If you don't want your butt-water hitting your face under any circumstance, but you could make one with two showerheads; one for an overhead, non-recycled pre-rinse and end-rinse, then the showerloop aimed at your back for that long luxuriating middle phase. Cakefool posted:As above, buy basically put one 80+% of the weight of your car/truck behind it and try to brake sharply at speed, report back if you live. Is that a bad price, though? $5000 for something brand new that can be stacked and shipped to you on a single pallet? The cheapest hard-shell production campers of that size seem to run around, $20-30k plus delivery. I'm not trying to be a smartass; if you know of some better values, I'm all ears. But it seems like a good price for such a bright idea; a camper that you can take apart and put in a large closet for the winter. Besides, I can only imagine the included appliances with campers are kinda poo poo; I'd imagine it's like PCs where picking all the components yourself is going to be a better idea than letting the OEM pick their own high-margin junk.
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Jun 1, 2016 16:49
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So I purchased this http://www.mcgeorgerv.com/product/used-2010-heartland-north-country-26bh-286135-29 Not that one specifically but that model. Got it in a divorce sale for 60% of the used value. Winterised, everything works. Batteries are toast tires are original and essentially brand new but hard to tell if they're dried up or not. The interior hasn't been touched from what I could tell. Probably going to upgrade the Jensen media center to something newer with Bluetooth.
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Jun 1, 2016 16:52
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Zero VGS posted:
The biggest issue with RVs is seals and leaks. Anytime you take something apart and put it back together you've made an opportunity for a seal to be compromised. If I had any kind of real cash, I'd be looking at those fiberglass egg campers. Instead, I have one that cost me $800.
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Jun 1, 2016 17:37
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Zero VGS posted:Is that a bad price, though? $5000 for something brand new that can be stacked and shipped to you on a single pallet? The cheapest hard-shell production campers of that size seem to run around, $20-30k plus delivery. Sorry, I'm looking at this from the point of view of vs other home made/built options. Add the cost of a good trailer, etc to that and you could easily hit $8-10k. Compare to the cost of making your own large teardrop style camper and there's more labour but you can make something amazing for that price. quote:I'm not trying to be a smartass; if you know of some better values, I'm all ears. But it seems like a good price for such a bright idea; a camper that you can take apart and put in a large closet for the winter. Taking it apart isn't a use case I'd considered but I can't imagine the contents, body and trailer will compact down that much, you may as well leave it assembled and weatherproof but that removes the modular benefit quote:Besides, I can only imagine the included appliances with campers are kinda poo poo; I'd imagine it's like PCs where picking all the components yourself is going to be a better idea than letting the OEM pick their own high-margin junk. There isn't a massive aftermarket for better rv appliances, mostly it's oem stuff at enormous cost from a small number of dealers. If you tried to use home appliances they'd be too heavy and possibly unsafe. Equipping a camper piecemeal aftermarket will be stupid expensive unless you go used.
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Jun 1, 2016 17:58
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Cakefool posted:There isn't a massive aftermarket for better rv appliances, mostly it's oem stuff at enormous cost from a small number of dealers. If you tried to use home appliances they'd be too heavy and possibly unsafe. Equipping a camper piecemeal aftermarket will be stupid expensive unless you go used. It all seems pretty decent on eBay/Amazon, new and used stuff. I'm going for a pretty atypical setup anyways. Right now I'm thinking: - 2kw of flexible solar panels on roof (amazon), vacuum tube solar water heater (ebay) - I might actually go ham and build a Showerloop system (parts list can be gotten on Amazon/eBay) - Composting toilet - Thermos brand thermal cooker, with an induction cooker plate to heat it up - Lightweight aluminum or plastic sink, aerated faucet, probably not going to bother with a dishwasher as I don't mind hand washing - Salvaged Tesla battery modules on eBay are around $1000 for 5kwh; I'll probably drop $3k for 15kwh so I can store enough solar panel energy to run all my appliances and even charge the electric car I'm using to tow it - I'm considering modifying the car's AC unit into a heat pump, and using that to heat/cool the trailer by running a foam tube from the AC to the trailer. Since it is an electric car, it can be on "idle" and only use energy to run the compressor and nothing else. - For a fridge I think I'm going to build my own with just an airtight foam cooler, 12v peltier plate, and a fridge bimetal thermostat. It'd technically be less efficient than a compressor fridge, but being top-opening instead of front opening should make up for that. All the stuff I just mentioned is only about 400 pounds of weight, astonishingly. Not sure what I'd do for laundry. I guess if I do make a water-looping shower, I'm imagining in my head I could make some kind of watermill/"bingo spinner" to put in the shower with all the clothes in it, so the shower water will wash the clothes but also fill up into some watermill thingies, causing the whole thing to spin and agitate the clothes. Just squirt in some Doctor Bronner's soap and it should be good.
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Jun 2, 2016 15:59
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If anyone is interested in those small, fiberglass trailers, this is the place for info: fiberglassrv.com. There were plenty more manufactures than Boler and Trillium. drat it, I just went looking, and if I had the money, I'd consider this one: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-travel-trailer-camper/truro/travel-trailer/1170389981?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
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Jun 2, 2016 16:30
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I love small fiberglass campers. I love how small my 13' camper is but I think at some point I may move up to a 15'er so I can get something with room for a small shower/toilet.
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Jun 2, 2016 16:39
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Sandbagger SA posted:I love small fiberglass campers. Yeah, the 15-17' ones are a)rare, and b) much more expensive, unfortunately.
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Jun 2, 2016 16:42
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Zero VGS posted:I'm going for a pretty atypical setup anyways. No poo poo  anything you bought built would have to be gutted to re-equip so you're better off starting bare. If you go through with this please give it it's own thread either in AI or the DIY subforum, it sounds pretty cool.
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Jun 2, 2016 16:52
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Zero VGS posted:- 2kw of flexible solar panels on roof (amazon), vacuum tube solar water heater (ebay) I love these plans and just wanted to comment on their feasibility.  Is there enough room for all of these on your roof? According to this, and assuming you're in the US and your panels will be mounted flat, you'll get about 5 hours of peak sun per day (annual average). In July it goes up to 7 or 8. Energy = power x time = 2000 x 5 = 10kwh Battery storage is around 90% efficient for a round trip, so you'd end up with 9kwh available at night. Putting that energy into the car's battery also has about the same losses, so you'd be able to put 8.1 kwh (for July ~13kwh) into the car per night, assuming ideal conditions and no other loads on the battery. A Nissan Leaf has a 24kwh battery. quote:For a fridge I think I'm going to build my own with just an airtight foam cooler, 12v peltier plate, and a fridge bimetal thermostat. It'd technically be less efficient than a compressor fridge, but being top-opening instead of front opening should make up for that. Have you had a look at eutectic fridges? Peltiers don't really get cold enough to safely store food and need to be cycling all the time. Eutectics store the cold in an ice jacket, so you can power it during the day while the sun's out and not touch your battery at night. Edit: Quick idea, if you're using solar hot water, I'm assuming it will be storage. Put the storage tank under the bed and you'll have an enormous hot water bottle 
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Jun 5, 2016 01:04
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I'll definitely be able to fit the 2kw by putting some of the flexible panels on side awnings. I can prop them up when the sun is out and fold them against the sides when traveling. The main thing is the trailer's systems shouldn't consume more than around 1-2kwh-ish for the whole day, so I always have a big surplus of energy, even if a whole week is overcast. - I have a gaming PC that I might use 2 hours a day tops, that's 200 watts at peak load, so 400 watt hours for the day tops. - A chest refrigerator can run at 200 watt hours a day, so an equivalent Peltier system should be about 400 watt hours for the day. - A hot water booster to help get the water up to the exact desired temp can spike 2000w on it's own, but is only needed for a minute or two until it is looping, where it should drop down to 200 watts to just maintain the temp. - Solar water heating will generate the bulk of the energy for showers and floorboard heat. - LED lighting and running the water pumps is negligible. Air conditioning and heating when the temps are extreme is going to be the toughest part, but if I overkill the insulation, it should work out. Easier said than done obviously. Waldo P Barnstormer posted:Have you had a look at eutectic fridges? Peltiers don't really get cold enough to safely store food and need to be cycling all the time. Eutectics store the cold in an ice jacket, so you can power it during the day while the sun's out and not touch your battery at night. The main reason I wanted a Peltier was because even though it's not as efficient, it could save quite a lot of weight. They can get cold enough if they are powerful enough. Speaking of which, I just got one! My friend's research lab recycles a shitload of 3-inch thick Styrofoam coolers, so I snagged one of those, and I got a 400-watt Peltier unit out of a broken "MJ Research PTC-100 Thermal Cycler". I just have to find a nice dc-dc converter that'll give it the wattage it wants. The thing looks badass:  Waldo P Barnstormer posted:Edit: Quick idea, if you're using solar hot water, I'm assuming it will be storage. Put the storage tank under the bed and you'll have an enormous hot water bottle Comedy option: make the bed a water bed. Tremendous thermal mass, 200+ gallons of storage, and you can empty it out before traveling. I should make a giant styrofoam bed frame to hold it. The thing is I'm a stomach sleeper so it'd probably murder my back. But yeah, the more pieces in this whole system I can get to pull double or triple-duty, the more weight and efficiency gains I'll get.
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Jun 5, 2016 03:45
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I think you're underestimating heating/cooling needs. That being said, investigate mini split HVAC units. They run off 120v, are roughly twice as efficient as the classic rooftop Coleman, and bonus! Because you're not installing them in a home that has to pass code, you don't have to hire an HVAC dude to do the trivial task of hooking up the two refrigerant lines.
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Jun 5, 2016 03:48
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Zero VGS posted:I'll definitely be able to fit the 2kw by putting some of the flexible panels on side awnings. I can prop them up when the sun is out and fold them against the sides when traveling. This has the added bonus of being able to tilt the panels at an angle equal to your latitude, which should net you an extra ~2 hours of peak sun for those panels per day, if you can park east-west. (park jackknifed with the steering wheel on full lock and the trailer north-south and program the electric car to track the sun, moving the trailer to south-north throughout the day getting you ~20kwh for the average day lol) Jonny 290 posted:I think you're underestimating heating/cooling needs. This is the hot topic (ho ho). My experience is you have two options - perfect insulation and temperature control, or no insulation and extra blankets. If it's cold out, any part of the van that conducts heat from the interior to the exterior will cause moisture to condense inside the van and give you damp problems. This could be overcome with a dehumidifier (and refill your water tanks) or mitigated with materials selection and design. If you keep the temperature inside the same as outside through ventilation, you overcome the dampness problem and don't need a heat pump, but need to rug up when it's cold. I prefer the second option, because I can travel far lighter and insulating properly is quite difficult, but then I only carry about 1kwh in batteries and 200w of solar! A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 09:43 on Jun 5, 2016 |
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Jun 5, 2016 09:05
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Thanks for pointing me to the split heat pump systems. I might spring for an "ECO CUTE" air to water heat pump so the heat can all be stored in the hot water tank. The one thing I'm worried about with the heat pumps is that they really start to suck when it gets crazy cold out. I might have to settle for a three-season camper because New England winters can be insane, or just say gently caress it and use a propane catalyst heater in the worst winter conditions. That is a brilliant idea about using a dehumidifier to refill the water tank; all but the closest days have humidity, and on the coldest days if I run a propane catalyst heater, it actually generates a ton of moisture. I know this from running one in my electric car, works but it fogs the poo poo out of everything even if I'm not in the car  Another thing I was going to aim for was to see if I could run everything off DC. The conversion from DC to AC is always going to eat about 10% of the power, but DC-DC can be 3% or less. My PC already has a "pico power supply" which turns 19v DC input to all the ATX plugs, including PCIe to run my graphics card, and is rated for I think 98% efficiency at 50% load.
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Jun 5, 2016 15:42
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For heat, those diesel-fueled airtronic ones create a lot of heat, but sip fuel. Something like less than a gallon per 24 hour period. I put one in my VW bus and it's honestly too much heat. I think it would do a small camper in a NE winter easily, and a medium camper in a milder winter okay, too. Here's a post I made about it. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Jun 5, 2016 |
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Jun 5, 2016 20:05
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For a point of reference, we've done two winters in Colorado in an old rickety Class A now. The first year we had 1x 1500w heater and kind of died a bit, we had to run the gas during the worst cold snaps (48h of oh -10F to -15F; we chewed through a 20 lb propane bottle in 36 hours). This past winter we did a lot better, we had 2x1500w heaters and the winter was a bit milder and we never turned the gas on once. Basically the problem is that for extreme temperature excursions, you end up spending SHITLOADS of energy; milder climates and the spring/fall seasons you have almost no energy cost. So, uh, bank some heat money in September.
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Jun 5, 2016 21:20
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This weekend, I'm probably going to pull the tail light housings from the Scotsman and consider upgrading the bulbs to LEDs since they are rather dull. I also got a 4 pin brake light harness tester off Ebay. We'll see how well it works.
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Jun 7, 2016 15:19
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Last week I went camping with my folks and my sister out in the Okanagen. We had a pretty sweet view.     Tiny Terry performed admirably.    I set up my hammock for fun.      Had a nice night view of Peachland.  Stopped at Canyon hot springs on the way home (it's a long drive)   The campground is no great shakes, but the setting is amazing. 
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Jun 28, 2016 05:18
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My 1975 Dodge Travco "DodgeMahal 2+2".. 440V8, 727 "LoadFlite" trans, 6KW Onan, Fully self-contained. Slowly been updating as I get time and $. Been out a few times camping. This upcoming 4th of July weekend will be the longest by far. Projects I have plowed through so far: Rear brake cylinders (2 per wheel). Those brake drums are CRAZY heavy. Water piping update from frozen split copper to PEX. Added LED arrays to all of the 1156 bulb fixtures inside. Can leave one on for a few days and the battery will still start. Repaired the cracked drains from PO not winterizing. Repaired the destroyed black-water tank with Plasti-Mend. Stuff isn't cheap but it really works! Highly recommended. Replaced all flex brake lines and some hard lines. I am forgetting a bunch, but it's been fun.
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Jun 28, 2016 21:33
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Slack3r posted:Water piping update from frozen split copper to PEX. Is all of that internal? I can't imagine PEX would fare well against errant road stones 
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Jun 28, 2016 21:40
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Hausbus is 100% half inch pex and i can assure you it is tough as poo poo. All of our lines froze solid a couple times the first winter, no splitting or leaking.
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Jun 28, 2016 21:44
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Panty Saluter posted:Is all of that internal? I can't imagine PEX would fare well against errant road stones Yep. All of the original piping is internal and next to any heat-ducting for that winter camping fun. I will be adding an external faucet assembly so I can hose the dogs off after a big day of adventure! PEX can take a freeze. I don't think any of the fitting will like freezing tho. Draining everything and complete winterizing are my Saturday projects in late October. Any camping in the winter and I just bring water jugs. And yes. PEX is "tough as poo poo". It would hold up just fine outside to road debris. Anything that would damage PEX on the road will do damage to the RV also.
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Jun 28, 2016 22:47
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Slack3r posted:My 1975 Dodge Travco "DodgeMahal 2+2".. 440V8, 727 "LoadFlite" trans, 6KW Onan, Fully self-contained. Slowly been updating as I get time and $. Been out a few times camping. This upcoming 4th of July weekend will be the longest by far. Just posting to say that is sexy as gently caress - nice, nice ride.
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Jun 29, 2016 00:29
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PEX loving rocks, get the good crimps and not the shittier ones. I've had one explode apart flooding my baushaus.
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Jun 29, 2016 02:14
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If I was looking at a camper for 2 adults with possibly 1 other adult or two kids as an option how big would I be looking at? I have a REI kingdom 8 and is enough size. I don't really need a shower, can shower outside with foot shower or electric shower. Shitter is meh too. Would an A frame camper be enough? I live somewhere really wet (Louisiana) so leaking is a major concern (does it have to be stored inside)? We have a 2014 v6 silverado rated for 6000lbs towing so most of the ones I've looked at are in the 2k to 4k weight. I like the A-frame idea due to less wind resistance. I would hope to find something under $10k. What fuel economy loss would you be looking at on flat land with say a casita or a-frame? We get 22-23mpg at 75mph now Thanks
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Jun 29, 2016 02:34
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Christobevii3 posted:If I was looking at a camper for 2 adults with possibly 1 other adult or two kids as an option how big would I be looking at? I have a REI kingdom 8 and is enough size. I don't really need a shower, can shower outside with foot shower or electric shower. Shitter is meh too. Would an A frame camper be enough? I live somewhere really wet (Louisiana) so leaking is a major concern (does it have to be stored inside)? We have a 12' 2005 Fleetwood tent trailer that is more than enough for us. We are two adults, a 3 year old and a big dog. Fits everyone fine with lots of room. No shower or anything but we have a portable toilet. Nice and dry in the rain but the only issue is it needs to be dry when it is folded up for storage. Since the whole thing folds up towing it is easy. I think it's 1600lbs dry? We paid $2600 for it a few years back and it has been great. I can't comment on A-frames since those don't seem to exist here in Canada.
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Jun 29, 2016 03:16
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A-frames seem cool as poo poo, get one so we can look at all your sweet pics and be jealous. I wouldn't do a popup in Louisiana. 1: Rain, as you mentioned, 2: Uhhh they kind of have a meth-lab-in-the-woods rep, if you care about appearances. I really don't but thought i'd mention. depending on front profile a light camper will probably pull you down in the 16mpg range, just spitballing, with a v6? It's going to be working hard when you're accelerating/climbing; should be ok on the flats.
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Jun 29, 2016 03:31
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The v6 is 285hp now and 6 speed in the silverado so not too bad and has a 3.42 ratio. So unless I end up somewhere more hilly should be ok.
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Jun 29, 2016 03:58
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Jonny 290 posted:Hausbus is 100% half inch pex and i can assure you it is tough as poo poo. All of our lines froze solid a couple times the first winter, no splitting or leaking. Confirmed, but not in RV use. I get the poo poo frozen out of my barn water lines on a regular basis in the winter......yeah, I'm an idiot. But going on 4 years with many more "whoops" events and everything is fine. I understand the new hotness are the pinch clamps but I have always used the copper rings. I have no idea if that makes a difference.
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Jun 29, 2016 06:34
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 Can't stop whoring this photo. I do wanna try the copper rings next. I've had one of the pinch clamps fail early on...
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Jul 3, 2016 21:21
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 Got a new trailer. 2010 Heartland North Country, pretty much brand new other than a small scuff outside and the fridge doesn't seem to work at least off 110v. I'll try it with propane and see what happens. Buddy says it's either the board not sensing voltage (he has a new board he will give me) or to pull the fridge, turn it upside down for 24 hrs, then try it. Edit: I don't know why the timg isn't working, at least not from the android awful app.
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Jul 13, 2016 17:05
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Because you pasted the imgur page link instead of the image link. Add an "i." before imgur.com, and "l.jpg" (lowercase L) at the end. the "l" resizes it to 640 pixels on the long edge (l for large thumbnail). Or if you're using timg instead of img, you can leave the "l" off, but then it forces the viewer's browser to resize it (which murders phone reading since it takes a bit longer to load and uses a lot more bandwidth). What you posted: code:code:code:code: And the third example, which gives you a link to the full size version:  More on imgur links here tl;dr add i. before imgur.com and l.jpg at the end for most forum posts. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Jul 13, 2016 |
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Jul 13, 2016 22:28
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