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We did add one and I made a video about it shortly after this video. Was an awesome addition.

LEXEL sealant (vertical surface or floor) or lap sealant (roof/flat surface).

Putting panels in the rear ramp that way is an interesting idea. 2 downsides I see with that is you have to put them away when you leave the trailer (for security purposes, as the rear ramp is now open) and put them away during bad weather (winds and rain are no joke). Having the panels on the roof makes it so you never have to think about getting power, you get it even on driving days (albeit less than when stationary). Now, if I had them tilt towards the sun that would greatly help during winter months. I’ve seen many bus and RV builds do that.

That let us keep use of the roof exhaust fan and roof vent. Another way to do it would be to put in a side exhaust vent near the kitchen and not use the roof ones.

Depends on the total length of your tow vehicle + trailer tongue + trailer. Our truck wasn’t a 4 door, so we were a bit shorter and could just barely park across 2 parking spots at places like Costco, Walmart, Home Depot. But we usually still didn’t do that. It was always more convenient to park across 4-5 spots instead of pull through. I recommend prioritizing a stable towing experience (longer bed truck) and the room you need in the trailer. Those things will matter more.

@ “prioritizing a stable towing experience and room you need, those will matter more” wow, thank you man appreciate it

Not really. Planned on insulating the floor but never got to it. Only thing I did was some spray foam to fill in insulation gaps between the wall and floor. Honestly that heater will sweat you out lol. I always ran it on the lowest level, turned it off at night, and had it on a timer to come on about 40 minutes before waking up.

@@ForeignerDaniel TY for the quick response. I am considering a Colorado Trailer used. It's a 19 x 7 tandem axle. It's empty, so I can build it out. I am new to all this. I like your channel and your build! I am also jealous. I live in central Pa, but spent 2 winters in Crested Butte, miss it dearly.

Not if you saw some of the places I took this trailer. But most won’t be going way off road like I did, so in that case, yes, get something more efficient at highway speed.

I would gladly take some, but I’m abroad now for the foreseeable future. Glad our videos have been helpful and best of luck with the build 🍀. I found it to be a fun process, just time consuming lol.

Hi Scott, I was very pleased with the quality of the trailer and the personal customer support from Colorado Trailers. I would probably do a few things differently if building another one for full-time living: 1) I would insulate the floor. I didn’t do this as I thought I might put our water tank and grey tank underneath but should have insulated from the beginning. Really can’t understate how important that is. 2) I would buy the 8.5 wide over the 7 ft wide. At the time they didn’t offer this, but it really would have made our floor plan options much better. 3) I wouldn’t get the side hatch on the trailer. Again, didn’t really have that option at the time due to supply chain issues. The side hatch was great during the summer months. But during winter it is a source of condensation build up so I had to wipe it down every morning. 4) Finish the build closer to 100% before heading out on the road. It will never be “done” as you’ll always find ways to improve something for your needs. But we were like 70% done when we hit the road and even though we did a really good job managing to do projects on the road, it was a huge disruption to us just being able to enjoy where we were all the time. Lastly, make sure you have a good, reliable, tow vehicle. Our F250 was perfectly matched with the trailer and that really made driving all over the country safely possible. Good luck on your build! It’s a fun process, but takes time and patience. Cheers!

😶

Thank you 🙏🏻. The full cooking scene is in my long form video, which can be found here: th-cam.com/video/qRn9FIlnhxM/w-d-xo.html

@ForeignerDanielmain love to! wish u all the best... I hope slow life works out for you

I hope you find peace within yourself instead from lashing out on the internet

hes correct. never eat food made in china!

​@@peanutbutterjelly582 grow a pair

@@benjaminmogha thats what your mom said to your dad

@@peanutbutterjelly582 legend

Maybe his phone has translation functions?

🙏🏻

🙏🏻

You can check out our full tour linked below. I show a little more of the bike storage in that one. Only thing I’d do different is make it possible to take the bikes in and out through the rear ramp instead of only the front door. Cargo Trailer Conversion TOUR- Ditch the RV parks | AC and Heat with No Hookups th-cam.com/video/x5kNq9CP_bg/w-d-xo.html

If so, that’s great if you are stationary in an off grid cabin in an area that constantly gets lots of wind. I don’t see how it would be practical to use that with an RV when you move to all sorts of locations.

8-12 MPG towing (depending on conditions) and 15-16 MPG not towing. Cap on the truck made no difference in MPG.

We’ve actually been in Beijing for a month now, which is crazy to think about. Settling in was hard because we had to start all over. But now that we’ve gotten our basics figured out it’s just starting to feel like I can breathe easy. What brought you to China?

It’s amazing how it happens. When growing up we moved from MN to AZ and ended up with a 3 car garage totally filled with boxes that never got unpacked. Guess we didn’t need any of it 😂

Someone did try breaking in once and the latches kept them out. The weak point is going to be the pad lock you use. I suggest the circular ones as they are harder to get cutters into. But as my retired cop family member says “locks are only to keep the honest people honest.”

Thanks for the feedback, glad you liked it 😄. That sound is called “Elision” by Jakob Ahlbom. I got it off Epidemic Sound which is where I source all my music from.

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.

@@ForeignerDaniel ... 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.