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Wish I had caught sunrise there. Our friends camped one night at their RV campground and said it was well worth it. And cheap.

All the research out there shows it is safe. They emit a weak electrical field, like most normal electronics, which are not harmful and are easily blocked by metal structures, like the metal roof.

The mini split addition really made the trailer livable and comfortable. Only caveat was it takes too much power to run the heat pump function in winter if you are in the mountains or have clouds. Diesel heater addition fixed that problem.

Think I answered this in another comment when I had the numbers in front of me, so if you find that comment it will be more accurate than this reply as I’m going off memory here: Trailer = $22k (2021 price) Build = ~$20k (half of that was the solar/battery setup)

Great question. It hasn’t been an issue. For the air intake, all the diesel heater companies I looked into want you to pull fresh air from outside. I’m not sure exactly why that is, but it isn’t a problem for the heater to heat that cold air up to temp. The heating chamber gets up to like 300-400C. I also haven’t felt any issue with pumping air in without taking any out. I’m guessing that’s because the trailer isn’t a 100% sealed container. I think the only time you would need to worry about venting would be if you used a wood stove heater like a cubic mini instead.

Build quality is 💯. No problems with the axels, they use top quality products from trusted brands. And they are the nicest and most helpful family run business that I’ve ever come across. Truly go above and beyond (just be persistent and patient when getting ahold of them the first time. They have a lot of customers and they are a small team). You can check out a video I did all about them and their trailers they offer here: Meet the family behind COLORADO TRAILERS: Crafting Off-Road Dreams th-cam.com/video/JngrVDU-WA4/w-d-xo.html

Yep, it’s not ‘if’ things go wrong, but ‘when’.

You’re welcome to head off into the woods with a ⛺️. Nothing wrong with that. It’s great for a weekend or thru hike. But trying living like that for 2 years, which is what we’ve done.

The silence and peace of off-grid camping near no one in some of the most beautiful locations the US has to offer OR paying to park 4 feet on every side next to random people 🤷‍♂️ Solar was 10k. And I don’t know where you are finding $10/night campgrounds with power hookups but they sure aren’t like that everywhere in the US. Closer to $50/night at least. So let’s do the math: 2 years on the road (730 nights) x $50 = $36,500 in average campground fees. OR spend $10k one time and never have to pay for fees. It pays for itself in 1 year. So yes, you are right, 2 PhDs Academic Logic. Cheers.

Good response 😂

Fully loaded with 100 gallons of water, food, and everything I own (including tools), around8k lb. Came at 4.8k lb before the build. Without our belongings/water/food around 6-6.5k.

@@TinyHouseVentures ... Thank you. Nice job. Safe adventures to you and yours.

Thanks. Yeah, it got us out there and quickly which was the most important thing. Cheers.

It does make us a bit cooler. Before we had 2 sets of panels up there with a gap between them and the gap section on the ceiling was always warmer to the touch. The main reason we had it elevated though was so we could open both ceiling vents/fans fully. Bonus was there was still enough room to do roof maintenance without having to remove the panels. Cheers!

Close. I would need to add foam boards to the underside of the floor. After that it could do it. Would go through a good amount of diesel though unless we could be plugged into shore power and just run the mini split heat pump.

Not sure about the weight, but it wasn’t much because it was aluminum. Using aluminum came at a cost though of about $2,500 in material. Didn’t really change our MPG much. We went from averaging 10-11 MPG to closer to 10.

If you have room in your floor plan, having a fully sealed door on the other side of the rear ramp would be a great way to go. We used residential solar panels. You can get them at a great price from SanTan Solar. You can put them closer to the roof than we did. I think there is a 9-11 inch gap. I did that so we could still use our ceiling vents fully open.

That one is called “Zwift”. It’s a monthly subscription based platform and you can use a bike with a smart trainer or the wheel on type trainers. They give you a free 25 km virtual ride every month so you can try it before spending anything. Ride on!

@@TinyHouseVentures Thank you :)

I’m glad it was helpful ☺️

What designer trailer company did you choose??

@drew8642 Think about it all cargo trailers are cheaply made, feel the sin outside, and inside a bb gun can penetrate all the way through , now look at horse trailer built to last they can hold thousands of pounds from a horse the company I'm using is sundowner I'm choosing everything where to put my doors my roof vents my axle to 5200 pounds my height , width and length sundowner are all aluminum and not cheap this build might cost me close to 20k but I'm looking at long term they have a contractor cargo that 7 wide 16 long by 6 tall 22k but depending on dealer can find it under 20k but I'm having mine custom built to my specs but look at horse trailer for a build or horse trailer company who build many brands if you're planning a cargo trailer build to handle offraod camping that can handle scraps and bumps that won't penetrate the skin one key is axle weight and tounge weight cargo craft trailers look good but go feel the skin you have your answer look at the roof one piece or many , will it leak , can you walk on it , how much weight can it hold , wood floor or aluminum, v nose or box , do you want a tall one to walk in or a 5 foot tall like a tear drop so you crawl in it is really unlimited the ideals the longer the trailer the v nose can be the bath / shower room block off with a floor to ceiling wall with its own v nose door a floor to ceiling rear barn door for kitchen and middle section is sleeping and lounge area it really is unlimited when you find a builder or find a well built cargo trailer that you can build on that handle the weight and your tow vehicle can pull it begins with your tow vehicle and trailer weight and how the weight in the trailer is balanced every year people die and wreck from trailer sway I suggest watching all viedos learn from other people mistakes and not over build being top heavy and look at horse trailer very well built good luck and I hope this helps

That’s a great point. It’s always a struggle to get the composting started after changing it. It also helps to not fully clean out 100% of the compost to help the new batch start. Thanks for your input!

@@TinyHouseVentures sure. I was curious if horse bedding would ever compost because it’s so devoid of life (it seems). Especially with your Nature Head composter which I’m interested for Campervanning myself. You know, my best luck I’ve ever had with beginning the composting process was using dried soil, or crumbly composted soil. Consider giving that a try. If you are boondocking you already have access to loads of living soil, it’s free and you will be jolly to see how quickly it turns to soil. Ofc I’m speaking from imagination and only experience with using a low tech bucket toilet. But if it started with my static operation, I could only imagine it would work like gangbusters for you. Lol. That coconut coir definitely didn’t trap in the odors like bedding and soil does. ✌🏼

If you want to know more about the solar, I did a whole video dedicated to it: The Ultimate Solar-Powered Cargo Trailer: A Green Energy Machine th-cam.com/video/1Dr1uh0b1Gw/w-d-xo.html

I hear you. We pulled back from going all the way. At the time it felt too personal, but I think we just weren’t yet used to sharing stuff like that. The build cost right around $20k. Half of that alone was the solar setup.

Nope. Was waiting to see if I’d add a grey tank under there. Never did. But easy enough to glue some foam boards if needed. Never felt the need.

Yeah, it’s part of our instant hot water Joolca system. If you need to fill more than 15 gallons, then I don’t recommend using it like that. It’s intended to pull water from a stream for taking a shower directly, so its flow rate is really low. Took us 2.5 hrs to fill 100 gallons. The best product I’ve seen out there for filling water into your tank from a stream is from Guzzle H2O. It does purification at the same time: www.guzzleh2o.com/collections/portable-drinking-water-systems/products/overland-bundle

@@TinyHouseVentures Thanks a bunch. Happy trails.

So our trailer came with a roof mounted AC and the first thing I did was remove it and sold it. It pulls way too much power for the amount of cooling it provides and it is super loud. It would pull between 1800-1500 watts when cooling. Our mini split pulls a max of 1200 watts and then settles down to ~300 once it reaches temperature. The mini split is fairly cheap too.

@@TinyHouseVenturesthank you for responding!! May you guys continue to have good speed 😊🙏

That would be awesome. I’ve seen one in an off-road RV and was super jealous.

Not really honestly. It’s a 3:1 RO system, so one liter discarded for every 3 liter filtered. Our largest water usage came from doing dishes (we cook 100% of our meals and don’t use plastic/paper) and taking showers. 100 gallons lasts us about 3.5-4 weeks. Even though we move spots every 2 weeks, we don’t always go back into a place that has water available for us to fill, so the extra capacity is very helpful.

@@TinyHouseVentures so places that are in droughts like California, 3 to 1 is a lot

The extra clearance is certainly nice, but you can still get to some amazing locations without it. You can always do a torsion axle swap in the future if you find you really want more clearance too.

Thanks. I know it’s treated already, but insulation install was on the list.

With over 5,000 lb of cargo capacity it doesn’t matter. Also, didn’t make a difference in towing MPG. You just need a truck and trailer that are well matched.

I spent around $10k on our entire solar setup: rack, panels, wiring, inverter/mppt, batteries, and then a mini split AC. I still use a backup generator if I need to run the AC late into the night.

Everyone has a different definition of “camping”. For us, camping is roughing it with no climate control, computers, bathroom, or comfortable bed. For others camping means a $200k motor home at an RV park.

@@TinyHouseVentures to be more clear what i meaned: It doesnt look very cosy, the floortiles, open plumbing etc

Never been stopped. It’s our legal domicile and they can’t insist on searching without probable cause.

Honestly, I have no idea. It’s not like an RV where they advertise R values. The walls and ceiling have 1 inch insulation. I haven’t done floor insulation.

@@TinyHouseVentures Thanx! I love what you've done with your build!!!

Haha, I know. I almost messed up that part of the interview trying to hold back my chuckle 🤭

If it works, it works 🤷‍♂️

Very true. From the release last week from some RV manufacturers it looks like we are entering a buyers market, at least in the RV industry.

Thanks. Yeah, just a wee bit of solar power 😎

Plenty of people insulate the walls, floor, and ceiling of them. Ours has insulation everywhere but the floor and our mini split keeps us cold and our diesel heater keeps us super warm 🤷‍♂️

We merely use it as a guideline. It’s the reverse osmosis system of our water filter that is important and lets us pull from many water sources of unknown purity. This is helpful especially if you change location every 2 weeks and cannot realistically submit a water sample for testing.