Bought a Trailer!

[bennelson]

I just bought this!



My plan is to park it in the backyard and use it as home-office space.

It does need some work. The inside is pretty scuzzy -definately will require some cleaning and eventually some restoration.

The trailer is a 1967 Whirlwind.

Now all I need is a cantenna so I can get wireless internet out there.

Also, trailers and RVs are big users of renewable energy and battery systems, so I would like to use this trailer to experiment with solar and battery systems, rainwater collection and graywater. Maybe even a little tiny wind generator?

Anyhoo, I can do things like cut holes in the roof that I would never want to do on my actual house!

[justpassntime]

If you cut holes in the roof get a product called Snow Roof. It's a weather proof roofing compound that you can paint on with a brush. It's made for this type of application to RV's. I have used it on RV's in the past and works really well.

When I first read it I thought it said cantina instead of cantenna. I was thinkin what the...whole different vision. I tried a cantenna to boost my signal but it didn't seem to make a difference. Someday I guess I'll have to get my own internet.

Are you going to rent out the other half? Man, I wish I could afford a duplex. Nice yard BTW with local mail delivery. If you sell your place you can always move to the Walmart RV park.

I like your ideas, at least you won't have to worry about heating or cooling, cuz it'll be hotter hell in the summer and colder than a bioch in the winter.

Is that a VG on the roof or just a wood block?

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by justpassntime

Is that a VG on the roof or just a wood block?

Just a wood block.

What's a VG?


I hear ya on the hot in summer/cold in winter thing. I would like to do some passive heating and cooling systems on it. I have actually seen some solar powered fans that REALLY work. Great for cooling.

For heat, I may eventually do some refinishing to include real insulation. My little camper has 3/4 pink foam in the walls and it gets warm really fast!

[justpassntime]

VG = Vortex Generator

Does it have a silver aluminum roof? If so cover it with that Snow Roof stuff it's white and will help reflect the heat.

Use the spray foam it will get into all the crevices and help seal off drafts.

They have solar powered vent fans that go where your crank up vent are now.

Need to put some solar (reflective) window tint on the windows. Also need to double insulate your windows with the clear window shrink wrap stuff. The single pane windows don't insulate very well.

The awning will help lots too.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Now all I need is a cantenna

I finally got around to experimenting with this. Unbelievable 1 meg flakey connections now at a solid 45 meg, for the price of a 4" tomato juice can. I just took a pigtail off an external leaded antenna (it sucked) and stuck the center conductor into the can through a small drilled hole (projects 1.21" straight into the can), hot glued the sheath to the side of the can and soldered the braid to the can. Measuring carefully of course.

Then dialed it in and propped it up to point at the router and haven't had any signal issues since.

Thanks for the tip, I've scratched my head a lot over antenna design, this one you just do it Only one element and dimension to measure.

How to build a tin can waveguide antenna

[dremd]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Now all I need is a cantenna so I can get wireless internet out there.

I have a few of these things arround at various places 2.4 GHz 8 dBi Flat Patch Antennas
They work about as well as a good cantenna, but with a wider beamwith, are very professional looking and are weatherproof.

I also have one of these 2.4 GHz 24 dBi Die-cast Grid Antennas in the attic of my camp hooked up to a WRT54GL running tomato in client mode.

[zjrog]

I love those old trailers. I need to get busy on my mid 70s Starcraft tent trailer soon...

[JacobAziza]

I've been living in an RV for the past 8 years. (owned 3 different ones, currently in a 32ft, 150 sq-ft travel trailer).

I just added a rainwater collection system, was easy and cheap.
I wrote about it on my blog.
Stage 1 complete - Bakari's Personal Blog - Powered by Doteasy.com
I had a solar panel on my last RV, but I am only paying $5 a month on electricity anyway, so its hard to justify adding one to this one.

Grey water is built in to an RV by default, all you need to do is direct the grey tank water where you want it while keeping the black tank closed.

I discovered not long ago that I went from having to fill up on propane (about $40) every couple of months to filling up only once or twice a year by leaving the water heater off (except 15 min before a shower - it has an electric heat option that keeps the water lukewarm the rest of the time) and using a small portable electric heater instead of the central furnace.

I also found that with low ceilings, its possible to use LED lights at 1 watt each instead of regular bulbs.

For the most part though, you don't have to have to do anything to make RVs efficient - they are designed by default to allow people to live out in the woods with no hook-ups for weeks at a time, so they have to be, from the gas-absorption cycle fridge to the tankless toilet.

A video was made of my home by the Spanish company FairCompanies.com:
*faircompanies - Living small: when home is a 150-square-foot RV

Feel free to ask me any RV related questions you may come across.

[Johnny Mullet]

If most of the electrical is 12V, you could hook up a windmill to an alternator hooked to 4 12V batteries.