I have a 2h sl-ld GN with a 4.5' sw, and am thinking about gradually building a weekender in it, like maybe over the course of several years so I can sneak the whole thing past hubby.    I have a lot of questions, many of which have to do with keeping the whole thing as lightweight as possible. 

I should tell you up front that this really is NOT going to be any sort of LQ.  It WILL have cabinets, some level of insulation, and electricity from batteries.  It will also have a cowboy shower (even if just a portable unit), and a chemical toilet, but those will be used in the front stall.  It may have a sink built into the cabinet, but if so it would just have a 5-gal jug cooler with a spigot sitting on the counter, that would drain into a bucket underneath... I have no interest in any tanks under the trailer.  It MAY someday have propane tanks, heat (probably no AC b/c I'm in Maine), fridge, and microwave... but not real soon.

I should also tell you that I AM familiar with the todd.redwrench site.  His installation looks very complicated compared to what I'm talking about, though, so while there is a lot of useful info, a lot of it goes over my head.

Stage 1...

Floor... currently wood with rubber mats over.  I'll take up the rubber, lay foamboard, then put thin plywood on top.  Can I just screw this to the wood planks through the foamboard?  How thin can I get away with doing the plywood/OSB?  Is there some other material that will work for a subfloor that might be lighter?  Then add laminate flooring on top. 

Batteries.  Around the same time as the floor... handy trailer mechanic guy will put a shelf under the nose (over spare tire) to hold two deep-cycle batteries.  Is a box required, or is a shelf sufficient?  Converter may or may not be added at the same time, depending on cost.

Roof vent, with built-in fan if I can afford it... where can I buy one of these?

Other EASY insulation tasks...

• Would it be best to do the vertical GN bulkhead wall at the same time as the floor, as well as the "floor" in the nose?  What is the best/thinnest way to insulate the nose floor?  My ceiling isn't that high even when BARE, so if you insulate the bottom and top I figure you're gonna lose valuable headroom. 
• I would definitely seal the gap at the top of the slant bulkhead wall... what's the best way to do that?
• To reduce condensation and give a small level of insulation on the walls/ceiling, can I make do with ceramic bead paint?  I don't need to feel like I'm in a luxury hotel, I have NO PROBLEM living for a few days in a space that has cabinets but just painted walls.  It sure would keep the weight down.  And I feel like even if/when I eventually insulate the walls/ceiling, a prior application of ceramic bead paint won't be a problem.  Ideally, I'm thinking I'd do the ceramic paint and then the cabinets, which would be sized so that I (or a later buyer) could remove them temporarily to do insulation/paneling and they'd still fit afterwards.  What are the chances that would work?

Stage 2...  Cabinets.  What material is best for durability AND light weight?  I'm using Rubbermaid right now so anything is a step up.  ;-)

Stage 3... OPTIONAL...  wall/ceiling insulation/covering.  For the walls, I'm thinking foam board between the trailer ribs, with firring strips over that going the other way, and bubblewrap overtop as a vapor barrier.  But maybe the bubble wrap isn't necessary?  Todd's site only has the foam and firring strips.  Then what?  What is the most lightweight wall covering?  For the ceiling I'm a little lost right now, don't really have a clue how people are handling that curve at the top of the wall.  I'll do my research before I bother asking anyone about that.

Stage 4... Fridge/micro/heat/AC.  This is pretty far in the future so I don't have any questions EXCEPT is there anything I need to do in stages 1-3 that will prepare the space for these additions down the road?

FLOORPLAN IDEAS.  I realize this next part will be very hard for some folks to visualize.  I have it drawn out but not scanned in.  If your mental spatial relations skills are poor, stop reading here. 

My door is on the street-side short-wall, right up against the horse bulkhead wall.  It is 28" wide.  To the left of that I have roughly 25" of shortwall.  The GN bulkhead is 48" high.  The trailer is 77" wide and the slant bulkhead wall is 93".  I have a walk-through door in the middle of the slant wall; the door is 29" wide (leaving 32" on each side).  There are no windows except for in the nose.

I'm thinking I'll do a floor-to-ceiling cabinet to the left of my main entry door.  The cabinet will be about 24"W x 28"D x 84"H.  The bottom 50", which would be below mattress level, would open towards the living space and would have a cabinet with a hang-bar and drawers below it.  The upper 34" would be drawers that would face the bed area.  (Actually, I think it would be totally cool if the drawers could be opened from either the bed-side OR the LQ side... full slide-through... does that exist?)  Anyone have thoughts on this cabinet idea?  Pictures of something similar?

To the right of this tall cabinet I'm thinking a 2-step "bootbox" cabinet.  It would probably look best to have the taller step next to the tall cabinet.  That section would be about 30"H x 25"W x 18"D, and would probably have shelves with a front cabinet door.  The lower section would be about 20"H x 25"W x 18"D, and would probably have a front-opening door but no shelves.  This lower section would double as the bench seat.  Just in front of the bench, a small table would fold down off the long wall.  This table would be narrow, as I don't think it would be used much... maybe 25"L (same as bench section) x 14"W.  Just big enough for me to sit to eat, write, or use my laptop.

The floor under the fold-down table would be empty.  To the right of the fold-down table, I would like to have a 48"L countertop with cabinets above.  The left half under the counter would be an open cabinet so I could someday add a countertop-height fridge.  The right half would either be an open cabinet to hold a bucket for a sink to drain into, or, if I didn't have a fake sink, it would be shelves.

Finally, in the awkward corner formed by the slant bulkhead and the long wall, there is a 32"W x 32"W x 28"D space where I would like to put another full-height cabinet.  I would probably leave the bottom 50" of this open for storage of step-in fenceposts and folding canvas chairs, and then put shelving above that all the way to the ceiling.  The cabinet would have two doors... lower open section and upper shelved section.

OK.  I know that was long and detailed and hard to visualize.  Any thoughts?  Bueller?

PS... I didn't realize until afterwards how similar this floorplan is to the todd.redwrench installation.  I hadn't seen that website in months, and wrote this whole thing before I went back to review it.  LOL  Too funny!

Well, first of all you'll want to put your vapor barrier under the foamboard. A fan such as you describe is called a Fantastic Fan and can be purchased on ebay fairly reasonably...or a trailer/rv supply store. The last time I priced these you could get them for around $125, depending on whether you wanted the rain sensors for instance.

The ceramic bead paint-I have it and it certainly did end my condensation problem. That can also be your vapor barrier; I think with that you could eliminate the foil/bubble wrap and go right to the foamboard. As far as keeping the trailer from getting hot, it has helped but certainly not as much as adding regular insulation. The other thing it did was lighten up my oh-so-small interior, quite a bonus.

For your cabinets you might look at Sauder or Sullivan office supply type cabinets. Walmart and Target both carry these in their home furnishings area also. With a variety of pieces you may be able to find exactly what you want without building it.

Cabelas or Campmor or similar outdoor stores carry a portable sink. It is roughly the size of a large makeup case/small suitcase. The lid opens to reveal a sink and holders for toothbrushes. It has a mirror and the case itself is a water container with spigot. You could wash your face and brush your teeth with onboard water.

As someone who refinished a bench seat to be a porta-potty/seating/step up into the nose I see where you are headed with this. I will be curious to see what information you get. Good luck.

Mmmmmmmmmm, there's an idea.  I kind of like having the toilet in the back though, in case I have a friend camping with me.  Clever, though, very clever!!!

I'll quickly offer this up:

http://cedarviewpainthorses.blogspot.com/2009/02/building-better-trailer.html

I'll get back to your other concerns later - gotta go feed the boys and that damn donkey!

I do not know how to post pictures but our trailer had a nasty job done with moldy panneling house insulation ect, so the first thing we did was strip it to the empty walls and wiring, which my husband checked and redid anything that did not jive. then we put the insulation (used the foil covered styrofoam) it was more expensive but is okay if it has some moisture, between the aluminum joist making sure it matched up with the width of the bows of the trailer so it was stout, then we had some fiberglass foam filled product that was not to expensive and not to thick (about 1/4 inch) that we put up over all of the above when we put up the insulation we just glued it in, it fit really tight, the fiberglass we glued and screwed to the aluminum bows, the reason to use it is it will make the walls really stout and will also cover the aluminum bows of the trailer to keep condensation out. At this point we probably have $300 in the walls and ceiling, it looks good, materfact my husband wanted to caulk and paint the fiberglass, but I had bought the FRP which is fiberglass reinforced plastic wall panels like you use on showers to cover everything, yes they are pricey but once more moisture and water is not an issue and they will just wipe down. I will try to get out and take and down load pictures since we have only one sheet of the FRP put up and you can see how it looks before with just the fiberglass thin insulation up, it took my husband and myself a few hours to put up the styrofoam insulation and then he had a cousin help him and they put up the other in one day, but they are not professionals and it would probably be quicker if you knew more. We went to Quarterfest in Murfreesboro and it rained solid for 4 nights and 32 days and it was very cosy and worked well. We did have one leak but when we got home figured out where we took off the Satellite dish and covered it up it was leaking, we had put the Tape that is silver and has a foam backing around all seams but put another piece down and solved the problem.

Pat Moore