Could I get some help on trailer conversions that have been done on 2-4ft short walls? We are going to start from scratch on a trailer that has not had any thing done to it. If any one could let me know that would be great or just email me some pictures of ones that you have done.

Thanks a bunch

Welcome to HTW!!! Here's a site that may help.... http://todd.redwrench.com/index.htm

Another for "stuff" you'll need... http://www.jazzsales.com/index.php?route=common/home

Hi there,

We're just fininishing the last details on our 4' shortwall Featherlite trailer and are VERY happy with how it turned out. Much of our information came from this site. I spent several weeks reading through the past pages - I think I read 80 pages of questions here, and learned alot. I also got alot of information from the toddredwrench site, look at his links as well as all his "how to" information. We bought the DVD on how to do your own trailer, that was okay and probably worth the $30 that I paid on eBay for it. We also looked at alot of interiors of living quarters at dealers, and took their ideas home with us.

We chose to not put in water or sewer. I had concerns about installing tanks, and felt that I'd rather use our space for eating and food preperations. We also chose to install appliances that work on power only because I knew I would use my trailer almost exclusively when plugged into show facilities, and therefore didn't want to spend $1000 on a RV type fridge. Our costs were $100 for insulation, $400 for lining with plywood, $150 for wallpaper/primer, etc. We bought a bar fridge, small microwave, and portable toilet, that was another $350. Our big expense was our cabinets - we ordered kitchen quality cabinets in the exact size we wanted from Totem, the cupboards and countertops cost me about $1200 but they look wonderful and will last a lifetime. For that price we have wall cabinets to hold the microwave and dishes, floor cabinets for food and another for our bathroom items such as portable toilet, towels, toiletries, ceramic heater. We bought a small fold-up table from Costco plus a fold up chair, and redid a wooden bench. Oh, i didn't mention - instead of getting an expensive custom made cabinet for the corner where the long wall meets the slant wall, we simply installed a closet rod there, between the slant wall and wall cabinet, and we'll hang clothes up high and store things below it. By using our space carefully we did the whole thing for about $2500 and it looks very, very nice. Better than most bought living quarters trailers!

But I also see many people who do the job sloppy and poorly. This would never have succeeded for us if my husband didn't have some carpentry skills to start with, if he wasn't a perfectionist, and if he wasn't creative and willing to take the time to think through each step. I could never have done it alone, so consider your abilities before you start. If you don't know how to do it, is there someone who can give you advice and help? For us the most difficult part was the electricity. Putting in light switches and plug-ins is much more difficult in a trailer where you don't have the 4" wall space. But by being creative we managed and things look great.

Good luck. Keep reading this site and you'll slowly get an idea for what you want to do.

I think I've figured out how to post photos, so I'll try to put a few on. It's small, but clean, useful and was within our price range. I'm really pleased how it turned out - it works for us. Others might prefer something different. But it is a BIG improvement from what i was using before!!!

Now, to see if I can do photos.

We DIY'ed a 2 ft short wall trailer.  We did not put any plumbing, but had lots of cabinets, bench storage, built in fridge and microwave.  We used a portable toilet in horse part that we could get to through the walk-thru.  It was tight, but we built the cabinets so that someone could sleep on the floor if needed.  My husband isn't overly handy, but we were able to get it done. No stove, I just used an electric skillet.  I can send you picks if you like--don't see too many 2ft short walls with living quarters.

"We chose to not put in water or sewer. I had concerns about installing tanks, and felt that I'd rather use our space for eating and food preperations. We also chose to install appliances that work on power only because I knew I would use my trailer almost exclusively when plugged into show facilities, and therefore didn't want to spend $1000 on a RV type fridge".

We felt the same way as our 4 Star 4H w/4'SW is a runaround trailer that we didn't want to load down. Our goal was to have a nice finished area to stay in the event that we decided to spend the night at the last minute or were going into an area that our large LQ rig didn't fit. I had my weekender drypack done commercially. Cost was $3500 plus appliances. My was done by a guy in MO that used to work for one of the really nice conversion companies and now has his our cabinet shop.

"We chose to not put in water or sewer. I had concerns about installing tanks, and felt that I'd rather use our space for eating and food preperations. We also chose to install appliances that work on power only because I knew I would use my trailer almost exclusively when plugged into show facilities, and therefore didn't want to spend $1000 on a RV type fridge".

We felt the same way as our 4 Star 4H w/4'SW is a runaround trailer that we didn't want to load down. Our goal was to have a nice finished area to stay in the event that we decided to spend the night at the last minute or were going into an area that our large LQ rig didn't fit. I had my weekender drypack done commercially. Cost was $3500 plus appliances. My was done by a guy in MO that used to work for one of the really nice conversion companies and now has his our cabinet shop.