5x8 Cargo Trailer Camper - Yeah . . . It's Done

[@JesusisMySavior581]

Hang in there Dude. We all need a break sometimes, I like your ideas. My husband and I are doing this soon- Thanks

[@curtismeadows8340]

Good job! I got several good ideas for storage from you. Thanks for posting !

[@cowboyscoffee]

Great job

[@fireball1518]

Hahaha! No worries! It looks great so far! 👌

[@BoxcarsGarage]

At least it was not a "Three Dog Night" good job.

[@cowboyscoffee]

You've done amazing job on your explaining and set up happy camping out.

[@richbayers6008]

Just a smal! Mr buddy heater fixes the chill problem . Will run you out!

[@cetifoxproductions]

I'm assuming you were trying to do this as a budget build, with some priority expenses for such things as the fan, windows and electrical. Here are a couple of suggestions based on my own experience with our 6x10 and observations of other notable KZbin examples. First, you have a V-nose. I personally feel you aren't taking serious advantage of that design. You would be able to put SO much more into your trailer capabilities if you build in a full counter and upper cabinets into the V-nose. Our trailer isn't a V-nose, but we maximized the front of ours by making that the galley and electrical system. Second, for your issue of where the ceiling meets the wall...your idea for simple molding is workable. My wiring runs along one side like that and the fans out above the ceiling to feed my 4 puck lights in the ceiling. I have one extra wiring run to the very back corner, by the twin doors, in case I want to add another 12v function. In my case, since the gap between wall and ceiling was a bit larger than any attractive molding I could find, I used beadboard paneling and just cut pieces vertically at the width I needed and attached those at about a 45 degree angle (it just looks a little nicer). I can easily remove them if I need to do any electrical work there. BUT, I would strongly suggest building yourself shelves there, preferably with dividers and individual doors (e.g., cabinets). If you don't want to go that far, make at least the shelves the entire length of the trailer on both sides, with a lip and dividers and then use bungies or similar to keep things from flying off. You don't have to make the shelves/cabinets very tall or deep--do what fits the clearance you feel you need. But this would give you critical storage space for food, clothes, tools, etc. Also, what are you doing about water (and water-related needs)? Again, this is where fully exploiting your V-nose comes in. If you look at my build, you'll see you could fit in a sink and use an inexpensive USB-charged water faucet. We have dual 7-gallon water containers (one for gray water coming from the sink, one for fresh). We did eventually flip the axle to get more ground clearance and to eventually accommodate a larger freshwater tank underneath. Anyway, those are my thoughts. You've got a good start and it's certainly functional for basic camping with modest off-grid capability. Oh! One last thing, regarding your power. We currently have a 200w Renogy system in our trailer and even with a 200ah lithium battery, we discovered our 12v refrigerator/freezer eventually depleted the battery. We adjusted temps on the fridge, and that's improved things with little negative impact on keeping food cold enough, but the bottom line is that 200w are NOT enough to keep the battery topped off if we don't have plenty of consistent sunshine. We live in SW Texas, so we actually get more direct sunshine for longer, but we never get anything close to the full 200w. So, we've discovered we REALLY need to bump up to 400w to get enough juice under typical conditions to keep the battery topped off. We do have a small inverter generator for emergency.

[@A.M.Independent.Consultant]

Awesome, thanks for sharing

[@jrifter1281]

one other comment from me then im done but, i remember when i built mine. now keep in mind i only work 6 months out of the year and ive also been divorced for over a decade but, with permission from the manager i parked my rig right outside the home depot and built the fucker right there. three weeks and boom straight to my best fishing spot.

[@TheAmericanWanderer]

Nice Job.... I am in the process of converting an 8x16 v-nose cargo trailer into an RV and Mobile Sign Shop. I am just starting the walls and cabinets construction. I just sold a 15-passenger shuttle bus that I lived in for 3 years and traveled out west during the winters. I had to sell the shuttle bus because I purchased a large format color printer to make contour cut decals/stickers, koozies, t-shirts, magnetics, banners, mousepads, etc. The large format color printer would have taken up a lot of storage space so I needed to get something bigger. I did a complete conversion series on the shuttle bus from the ground up and now am doing a new series on the cargo trailer conversion. They are on my YT channel.

[@KevinSlawinski]

Looks awesome!

[@lovesdoggies1481]

Me too