Tow Ready

A mobile welder came this week to weld on the front new tow and the rear bumper with the new license holder. If you remember in the before pics the hunter had huge boxes sitting on welded grates on the bumpers. I wanted a more original look.

The license holder is welded to a piece of metal that slides out when we want to add the bike rack to take our beach cruisers along!

Let There Be....Wiring!

No lights yet, but they're on their way! The wiring is almost complete and we kept the original box but used all new wiring. We're also putting a light where there wasn't one before, over the table and a couple reading lights on each side of the trailer. We will install 2 single bunks above so we figured if they were occupied we wouldn't have any light if we wanted to read on the king sized bed underneath.

In smaller trailers the front kitchen floor plan, like this Santa Fe, is just my personal favorite by comparison to the more popular side kitchens.  With the kitchen in the front, it turns the rest of the unit into huge wrap around benches with table. Enough to seat 6 adults. But for bed time, the table will fold down to the bench heights and a great quality king sized blow up mattress sits right on top. When not in use the mattress is conveniently folded up & stored in closet or under one of the benches. I LOVE the bigger bed and the fact we can sleep together. (awwww)
In the side kitchens there is a dinette area up front which usually sleeps 1 adult and in the back there is usually a jack knife sofa that sleeps 1 1/2 adults, with the kitchen in the middle breaking up the 2 sections.

TIP: In searching for the best floor plan for yourself in a smaller sized trailer, consider what you will be using your trailer for the most. We actually camp in it, but we are more often going to car shows and car meets for the day in which we knew we would need to hang out and eat in it more often than actually sleeping so making up the bed every so often wouldn't be too much trouble. But having a huge table would be a great asset.
If however you only plan to use it for camping, you may like the idea of one person being able to still be asleep while the earlier riser wants to sit at the table and eat breakfast and read the paper. But prepare to sleep separately or tighter together in a smaller bed.
And in a teardrop, we managed to put a queen sized bed in by extending the axle and putting the wheels on the outside with fenders above like a car.(See the pics under my page "Past Glampers") Most vintage tears have the wheel wells on the inside which you need a smaller mattress or cut out the wells around the mattress in which you still have less space.
Just a few things to consider when shopping floor plans. :-)

Interior Walls

Oh wainscoting, how much do I love thee? Let me count the ways...I love the crisp, clean look of white. It also will make the small space seem a little bit bigger so I will be painting it white. But wainscoting can be painted ANY color which can put a custom look on your glamper. This trailer is being designed as a big wrap around dining area, it will not have a separate sofa, so the wainscoting to me suits a kitchen space. Also I thought since we have insulated the whole trailer, I didn't need to worry about using a nice grade wood. We also wanted to keep the weight down and this is thin and light. (I have noticed some trailers have beautiful wood still in place and if that were the case with this one, I would've kept it wood. But this Santa Fe had really bad looking 70's paneling which had water damage in alot of areas.)

At this stage we are cutting and marking.  You don't want to screw it in place yet until you have made sure all your electrical is finished and all the insulation you want to add is in place. In our case, its not. So we are just pre cutting.

New Aluminum

And just like that, we have a perfect new front without a million dents and the cave in from the original owner's hunting box that he had mounted on the front.

New Skin

Wish I could get new skin this easily when I'm old. LOL  If you remember in earlier pics, the front was really beat. The hunter who previously owned it pulled it thru woods and rocks and it had a huge dent right in the middle from his huge metal box he had installed on the hitch, and lots and lots of rock dents! Mike found an aluminum man here in Vegas who made the new sheet for us in one day! He had to make it custom since this pattern isn't made anymore but we didn't have to pay shipping since he was local. Very happy with that.