Here's an unusual question...

We have 2 (soon to be 3) children who will be accompanying us to horse races.  Children take up space... and we're very limited with our 7' short wall, 6'9" wide trailer.  Unfortunately, we're not going to be in a position to afford a new trailer any time soon... the new truck payment took care of that chance.  But we need to find a way to give the kids a comfortable place to sleep.

My wife has seen/heard of add-on "rooms" for RVs.  Is anyone aware of such a thing?  I wonder if they might be useful for the trailer.

Another option would be to put the kids on cots in the horse section, but that's kinda nasty after the horses have been riding back there all day...  Another option would be to buy a truck tent that goes into the bed of the truck.

My biggest concern is that most of our rides will be winter/spring rides, and I need to keep the kids warm (hence my thought on putting them in the horse section, opening the door, and heating the entire trailer.)  The horse section has rubber on the walls, and insulation in the ceiling, so there is some thermal barrier there.

Thoughts are appreciated...  Maybe I should just get a job that pays more?  :-)

Mike

Before we had our LQ trailer, we camped in a truck tent.  It is okay for overnight lows in the 40's.  If you have electricity, an electric blanket will keep you very toasty.  The main headache was the gooseneck ball in the bed of the truck.  We cut plywood to fit the truck bed and placed it on top of milk crates which were the perfect height to get you up over the ball.  This also makes for a handy place to stash your clothes and shoes, etc.  However, I would worry about my kids being out there alone...I'd probably sleep in the tent myself and put the kids inside the trailer.

If it were me, I'd clean out the horse area and put down some carpet.  A big air mattress and an electric blanket will keep them plenty warm.  And they will be close enough to you for you both to feel safe.    Happy camping.

RIDE ON!

Thank you for the suggestions, everyone.  I guess I'll let the young'uns sleep with the pooey (cleaned out, of course!) in the back of the trailer.  They are KIDS after all, they can handle it!

We'll see how well the heat takes care of the back of the trailer.  A bathroom heater would probably do well since it would be located in the middle of the trailer and might be good enough to throw out enough heat to make things bearable.

Mike

I have a cowboy shower in my trailer (in the 1st stall) so I always wash out the trailer upon arrival.  Alot of people in our club do this.  I can leave the pass through door open and use the whole trailer when camping.

     If you have electric, a small electric heater will do just fine.  Be sure to buy one that has a fan and automatic switch as we've found it can too warm and need to adjust the temp.  Cots or foam mattresses work best, I've found the blow up kind tend to deflate during the night. 

let me try this again!!

racesarabhors,

I clean the back of my trailer out each time I set up camp and have the facilities to wash it out also, but my thought was hammocks, is there a way you can hang small cheap hammocks in the horse part of your trailer? They take up less room than an air mattress or cot when traveling and they get the kids up off the floor, for more than one reason,1.Hot air rises so they would stay warmer 2. If you can't wash out the trailer at least they are not down in stinky shavings and 3. Kids love hammocks!!

Just a thought!!

I actually bought a Mr. Heater Big Buddy awhile back.  Lowe's didn't sell the filter for running the heater off 20lb propane, and I suspect that filter is necessary as I had problems with the first heater from NOT using it.  The last one I bought finally worked and has continued to do so using 1lb bottles.  VERY EFFECTIVE!!  I do need to find a filter to run in line with the 20lb bottles before running them again, though.  I'm convinced that those tanks are dirty and that the dirt in one bottle is what caused my first Mr. Heater to fail.

My concern with the Mr. Heater is that, although it has a safety shut off, if you place the heater on the floor and go sleep in the gooseneck you'll be dead long before the unit shuts off.  This is assuming the CO rises with the heated air to the ceiling of the trailer and is present in large quantities at that height.  I'll accept that a Mr. Heater is maybe safer than many other heaters for use in enclosed spaces, but don't patently accept that.  Any combustion releases CO gas.

Cracking a window can help to some degree if any air is moving.

I also wasn't aware that some heaters ran on trailer batteries.  This would actually be a satisfactory solution if I could run such a heater for 4 hours at a time, then charge the batteries during the day when I can run my genset.  At the endurance races, we're not allowed to run generators at night.  Run the Mr. Heater till bedtime, pray that the insulation keeps things fairly warm till 2, then run battery-powered heater till 5:00 or so.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts on these issues...

Mike

Plastic tarps work great as well.  They come in all sizes, are cheap, water proof, easily rinsed off, and compact.

A friend of mine throws one over the entire outside of the horse area and uses guide ropes and stakes to secure it to the ground on either side.  Works as a great rain fly. He uses a portable corral for the horse.  Probably can't tie the horse to the trailer with this method.

A person could get innovative with sticky backed velco and tarps for the inside walls.  Great for portable privacy curtains for cowboy showers, etc.

jailer,

Just something that you may want to consider about your use of the add a room and the exhaust from your trailer furnace. The exhaust in my opinion would contain considerable amounts of carbon monoxide within it. The air that is heated within a furnace is not normally exchanged with the heated area in which your heating, only the heat is exchanged and the exhaust is vented outside to escape doing no harm. Just be safety conscious and good luck!    Ardly

When we have used the horse section for overnight sleeping space we place a tarp or plastic shower curtain liner on the floor, after sweeping it clean and spraying, if needed, it with Lysol or something to sweeten the smell.  Put the kids on cots- the cots w/ metal springs that suspend the mat- because they aren't half bad to sleep on.  The tradional cot with the fabric suspended only off the metal frame is brick hard and uncomfortable.   Rubbermaid totes fit under those cots and the kids sleepwear, toothbrushes and pillows can be placed in there during the day to keep them clean and free from flys, dirt, et. al. 

If the butt wall has manure on it and getting it cleaned isnt an option, again, cover it w/ a plastic shower curtain liner or the plastic liners used on long banquet tables which comes in rolls.  Very inexpensive, easy to store and easy to put up.

Good luck w/ your plans! 

I've used the fabric cots for years in hunting camps.  Just put a foam pad on the cot under your sleeping bag.

Prior to my LQ, I slept in the front of my Gooseneck all the time during hunting season. Frequent temps down to 10-12* at night.  Run the Heater buddy when I was awake and turn it off at bed time and crawl into a sleeping bag. I didn't get cold until it was time to get up and get dressed. I never trusted leaving it on while I slept. The trailer would be cold when you first get up, but it warms up pretty quick.

As far as add on space, I've seen all kinds of solutions at endurance races and CTR's.  Lots of folks sleep in the back. Sweep them out, lay down a tarp and use a cot.

If you have an awning, build some curtains that can hang off the awning to give you some privacy and set cots up under the awning.

Also the Truck bed tents.  Unhook your trailer, set up the bed tent and the kids can sleep in it.

The truck tents are handy.  But, again, I have to say that I would feel uneasy letting kids sleep in tents alone.  Freaks and perverts come in all shapes and sizes...sometimes they wear cowboy hats.  At one camp, we awoke to find a drunken cowboy passed out in the bed of our truck.  Not having any kids with us, we chuckled and went on to breakfast.  However, had we found a cowboy in the truck with one of our kids...DEAD drunk would be the appropriate term.

You wouldn't leave your wallet sitting out on the tailgate all night, would you?    Are your children any less precious?

RIDE ON!

Dwight, great reminder, thanks! 

5 years ago my daughter was showing up in Kansas City, MO at the American Royal.  We overnighted in the horse section of the trailer I had back then, a CM two horse slant, BP w/ small dressing room, no walk through.  We were parked up close to the buildings and under an overpass.  At bedtime we got the rear doors secured/boobie trapped as best we could then bunked down on our cots. 

The next morning several friends asked if we had any problems with some "no gooders" who were going door to door to the LQ horse trailers and asking people for money at 11:00 p.m.  I said "Nope and do you think anyone who is wanting money or to steal things is going to find it in the pockets of a person actually sleeping in the horse section of a horse trailer?" 

 I have a couple of friends that had a bumper pull stock trailer and every year they'd put a large tarp over the trailer, cleaned out the back, put down carpet, end table with lamp, mattress or cot, and a coffee pot.

  It worked great for them until the year we had record lows in Missouri during the first week in October.  It was so cold that when they woke up one morning, their coffee water was frozen solid.  Needless to say now they have a gooseneck trailer they insulated and made a mini living quarters.

Information on add-a-room

http://www.rvawningsonline.com/products/details.php?r=84