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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. The best option I've seen so far is the Trailmanor, this model has a dry weight of 2050 pounds and is a hard-wall pop-up so it should be even easier to tow since the aerodynamics are good: http://trailmanor.com/wordpress/2417-sport-series/ It's still 500 pounds too heavy though. I'm trying to figure out how practical it would be to reduce the weight further. You can see here is has a steel chassis, so I could save a few hundred pounds by removing it and replacing it with aluminum: http://trailmanor.com/wordpress/superior-construction/ Besides that it would come down to alloy wheels instead of steel, aluminum or fiberglass propane tanks, and replacing appliances (swap fridge for mini-fridge, etc) and other deletions. Failing that, the only other option I can see is these modular "Teal Tailfeather" panels: http://www.tealinternational.com/TailFeather/ You bring your own trailer bed, then put those panels together on top of it like Legos. They're claiming the weight for a 5x10 trailer is just 1,100 pounds including the trailer. But, they seem to be on some kind of hiatus and there's no links to buy the panels. That while they're amazingly utilitarian, like me, they're also super fugly, like me. They're not as much space as the Trailmanor, though the insulation looks spectacular. Anyone else have any ideas? Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Jun 1, 2016 |
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Jun 1, 2016 00:53
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Jonny 290 posted:does this go in here or osha thread I have that exact car and color, but 100% electric. Best $11k I've ever spent. That gas version has a curb weight of like 1700lbs so it really works well as a toy to haul.
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Oct 20, 2016 15:24
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4 RING SHRIMP posted:Is this a good deal assuming everything works perfectly? What would you say to ask the guy about in an email to get the best idea of how it runs, functions, etc? You're going to want a mechanic to look at the engine and someone who knows what they're doing to check for leaks/mold. Any RV in good working order could be worth that much, but this person wants to be rid of it for a reason. I'd give everything the twice over and still try to haggle them down anyway.
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Jan 10, 2017 16:05
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Elephanthead posted:It is also the motor home from stripes so get one painted like that one so you have that going for you. Really they are the only motor homes designed to be motor homes and not just a box bolted down to a truck frame. Ah yes, the Urban Assault Vehicle: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EM-50_Urban_Assault_Vehicle
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Jan 11, 2017 18:24
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Man_of_Teflon posted:I need to do a post on my budget campervan/motohauler build now that it's mostly complete... Have you tried to stealth camp in that yet? Though from the pictures it looks like you're in an area where no one really cares. I wanna use something like that in the city. I own two apartments but that just looks like so much more fun.
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Jan 27, 2017 00:02
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Man_of_Teflon posted:That was a trip to Moab. I keep the exterior beat up looking to stay inconspicuous as I actually park it on the street in Chicago. Brown primer makes great fake rust from 10 feet away! (It's actually from Nevada originally so still rust free despite being 17 years old now. I've avoided driving it in the winter here to keep it that way.) Huh, I didn't realize RVs require special plates in Nevada. What is the reasoning to register it as an RV instead of a van?
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Jan 27, 2017 05:02
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If you're doing all this for a four-day fest each year, why not just rent an RV for the occasion?
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Feb 2, 2017 04:48
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If you want crazy-light and cheap, just get plywood for the floor, carpet over that, and for the walls/ceiling get a few 4x8 sheets of Coroplast: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Coroplast-48-in-x-96-in-x-0-157-in-White-Corrugated-Plastic-Sheet-CP4896S/205351385 It won't support a load on the roof but done correctly it'll put up with any crosswinds, and it's 100% weatherproof. This guy made one so light that he tows it with his bicycle: http://www.businessinsider.com/paul...ost-under-150-2 Edit: This is a more pro-looking one with wood and sheet metal, but much heavier: https://imgur.com/a/6Neck Edit 2: I know you said you have the 4x8 Harbor Freight special, it is perfectly good, but if you have money to spare, this aluminum trailer is a foot wider and more than 50lbs lighter: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200660344_200660344 Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Mar 28, 2017 |
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Mar 28, 2017 05:09
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That seems smart, and the insulation would be fantastic, but I don't get why you wouldn't use fiberglass and epoxy instead of canvas and wood glue at that point; I'm pretty sure it's around the same price and would be even lighter/stronger.
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Mar 28, 2017 16:15
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One other thing, situate the blunt wall of the teardrop as close as you possibly can to the rear of the Prius and still be able to maneuver; it apparently makes a significant difference on drag: You can also use coroplast or corrugated polycarbonate (you can get that at Home Depot, it's used for greenhouses, and is transparent as opposed to coroplast) to make a kammback for the rear of the Prius to help close the gap. If you used 3M VHB tape with the proper primer and a lot of surface area, it'd practically weld the coroplast to the car, and it'd put up with highway speeds, though you might want to rivet on a couple eyelets and tie it with Dyneema line just to make sure it doesn't fly off and hit someone.
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Mar 28, 2017 22:31
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5 RING SHRIMP posted:Anyone have any opinions on this? $4000-ish for an as-is 1985 anything is a risky endeavor. I would at the very least inspect the gently caress out of it, as in pay both a home inspector and a mechanic to look everything over... at over 100k miles that thing is gonna be a money pit. It's in Gloucester, so pay special attention for leaks, mold, saltwater damage, and cracked roofing from snow piling on it. The AC alone will run you $2000 to fix... the guy says the transmission is going so good luck with that one too... Edit: If you wanna have a nice camper without having to risk drivetrain issues, there's a dealer who sells used Trailmanors in Yarmouth, MA within your budget: https://capecod.craigslist.org/rvd/6140328909.html I've been to her before to check them out; and you might consider one. Pretty much any normal car like a sedan can tow these, they are light and when folded have great aerodynamics. Then you pop them out and they are larger than the Winnebago. The dealer is nice and I would have got one except my daily driver is an electric smart car... pretty much the only car that can't handle one of these. They depreciate less than any other trailer as well, you can always put it back on CL for a grand less. Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 22:27 on May 23, 2017 |
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May 23, 2017 22:18
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Fryhtaning posted:This thread makes me feel so boring in my stock 23' travel trailer (which isn't even listed as a valid type in the OP) being towed by a new diesel truck. I'm not worthy of all of these custom projects that others have done. I haven't seen any threads for that but feel free to post a travel log here. Are you just going from campsite to campsite or are you doing some other stuff like national parks / boondocking?
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Jun 25, 2017 01:44
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Of course the goon buys Starcraft 
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Jul 20, 2017 15:00
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Ohrmazd posted:Maybe silly question: Have propane fridges gotten more efficient in the past 30 years like electric fridges? This article is biased but mostly accurate. http://www.sunfrost.com/blog/off-grid-refrigeration-solar-electric-vs-propane/ They claim a propane fridge uses 9000 watt hours (of propane energy) a day, by my math closer to 5000-7000, but still. A 12v or 24v RV compressor based fridge would be an order of magnitude more efficient, one or two of those cheap 100w solar panels and a decent MPPT + battery would probably run it forever. Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Aug 25, 2017 |
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Aug 25, 2017 08:40
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