Since I've heard of the Holiday Vacationer, my guts were poking me and asking if this is really what I want. Poke, poke, poke. I did a little research to quieten my conscience.
Seems the 16' camper I was looking at to buy for $750 was actually 19' long. Tandem wheels gave that away. A real 16' Vacationer is a single axle. I did a little research on the Internet before going to see the $750 camper. Thank goodness. That's too long for what I really want from my new camper. Had to stop and ask myself what I really wanted from the small camper. Decided I don't need extra storage because, bottom line, I'm looking for a small camper to sleep safely in and carry a week's worth of gear. And a toilet.
So, ta da, have come to the FINAL decision of ordering a heavy duty trailer frame and building the camper myself. It will be approximately seven feet wide and eleven feet long and six feet tall. Should weigh no more than 1500 pounds when loaded. It will be like a tall tear drop with the stove and sink on the interior of the camper.
I figure six months for the project from start to end. Should be ready by June. Mom and I are looking forward to going out to my farm in it and spending the whole night in comfort. The dinette makes into a single bed, too. Budget of $3500 is now down to approximately $3020. Planning on doing a lot of salvaging, trading, and making do to keep it in budget.
Now, the designing phase kicks in. Shall it be a miniature canned ham camper? A modern rounded edge square box? A combination of slide-in with canned ham lines? Do I keep the propane bottle(s) on the outside on a secured frame or enclosed (as in slide-ins) to protect them from thieves and the weather? Oh, boy. Here I go again. The actual work is several weeks off, so I've got time to ask myself again the same question asked earlier. Okay. What exactly do you want from the miniature camper?
Going out to my farm soon and start striping out of the old camper what I can use in the new one. Just saved $50 on the breaker box and electrical components not to mention the stove, sink, water tank, and anything else I can use. Gotta get the windows out of the old camper and the door. Will grab the propane tank metal box with door, if I can get it without tearing up the old slide-in too bad. Will get the metal skin later on a really cold late winter day. Found a perfect piece of 5'x10' piece of beige Formica last week for the counter tops, back splash, and dinette top. That saved a few bucks. Got to learn how to cut it though.
When you have cats, they get underfoot. Plenty of times, in the slide-ins, had to step over the cats just to get to the bed or out of bed and out the door. And there were the tail stepping on incidents. With a modified Metzendorf plan, a bunk area for the cats could be built. Padded, with windows, and a safe way for them to climb up towards and descend from their bunk without walking over anyone seated at the dinette. Two feet depth and across the width of the camper. Poofy padded. Zeb the Big Cat loves poofy, padded things.
Zeb is a bit territorial and Pilgrim is a bit small and loaded with cat face smacking attitude when Zeb gets too close. Not good for them to be bunched up and try to share anything. They could get up there and not be underfoot. Put their food and water up there, so I won't be kicking it across the floor when I'm barely awake making coffee. Could put an outlet up there and plug in the long, wide heating pad when I'm gone all day gardening, hunting, fishing, or at a cash job in winter. They would be warm without burning expensive propane.
Still in the planning phase. Want to think this all out...don't want expensive regrets.
A doodle of a plan.
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