Converting an enclosed trailer into a livable space

>>17951407
Why not just live with a roommate? You are trying so hard to avoid society aren't you?

>>17951413
I'm in Silicon Valley, the school I go to is in Santa Cruz

Rent is 4-600 to just share a room

Upwards of 1000 to have my own room

Payment for my trailer is 106 a month and I can sell it in a few years when I graduate

Please don't make silly psychological assumptions

Bump for justice

Bump for truth

>>17951407

put some insulation on the walls & cover it with more plywood ? drywall weighs too much ?

ditto underneath the floor

>>17951434
university student with an RV here. It's a great idea. That said, if you're a former carpenter, consider getting a shitty, moldy class-A RV for 1-2000 that still runs and redoing the entire interior. All the plumbing is taken care of and most of the electrical. Plus when you're done uni, you can either sell it and get all of your money back (and more), live in it for that low-expense life or travel, or charge rent for it.

Bonus points: it feels like a house inside and not like an RV. Plus when girls come over and you say you built it all, you can refill your water tanks from how moist they are.

>>17951407
(1/2)
Mechanical engineer here
To me at least, looks would be the last consideration. Primary considerations would be how to

>Have electricity
Don't hit me with the "hurr, solar panels and batteries" bs because that sounds way simpler than it really is. It's not that its super complex, but to get decent power for decent weight and decent cost and not need new batteries every 3 months because you've fucked them up with shallow charging cycles, you're at least going to have to do some homework on this. Or buy a generator or something. Appliances like ovens (I recommend just a big toaster oven) and TV's eat fucktons of power.

>Have running water
I assume you're going to want to shit, shower, and wash your hands every once in a while. Unless you can plug into a water source, you're going to need to be able to store lots of water (I'd recommend doing this underneath to keep center of gravity low, and in multiple compartments to keep the sloshing weight of 2500kg of water from making you tip when you drive around a corner). If you have electricity solved, pumping and heating water shouldn't be too hard to figure out. An on-demand water heater isn't all that heavy, the hardest thing will be making sure your pump is always sucking from the lowest point in your tank, so you don't run out of water and overheat the pump trying to run it dry. When boats dock they can plug into water and power supplied from land, I wouldn't be surprised if there is an RV/ trailer park equivalent to this, which would simplify your task tremendously.

>have HVAC
Air conditioning really isn't important if you have enough windows you can open and other vents and shit to let a breeze through, but if it gets cold you're going to want heat. A space heater should be plenty with adequate electricity, but in a wooden box it will be worthwhile to make sure there is no chance of it starting a fire while you sleep. It might be worth also getting a small dehumidifier.

File: Dryer vent duct.jpg (91KB, 1000x1000px) Image search: [Google]

91KB, 1000x1000px

>>17951407
(2/2)
In a space that small, I would also want to probably have a small fan and a couple of simple ducts to either suck fresh air in from outside or suck gross stale air out. You can greatly reduce how much electricity you need to heat/cool etc. if you also insulate your walls. Weight will be a constant concern, so other than key structures I would keep everything thin. Ribs sandwiched by thin aluminum flashing would have an air gap in between that you could fill with insulation for a lightweight but warm/cold house. Making sure you have legit gaskets on your doors and windows will also help tremendously with this.

What's left? Internet access can be done with a hotspot, although it sucks you have to pay for that. Not really any way around that unless you're on someone else's network. Maybe build a bigass wifi antenna to get on your school's wifi from a couple miles away? This can probably actually be done really cheaply and would be super cool.

For keeping it light, you'll want to "spend" your weight on making it strong, and use thin light materials to cover your strong frame. The smarter you design the frame, the less material you'll need to get just as much strength out of it.