With all this camper talk - I couldn't resist the temptation to sleep in my trailer last night to test out my new $9.98 heater rated at 500 watts.
https://www.homedepot.com/pep/living-zone-500-Watt-7-in-Electric-Personal-Cer...

A few months ago I tried sleeping in my camper when the temperatures dropped into the teens, and I discovered the 350 watt heater was too small and I got cold and went in the house after a few hours.  A few night later I tried a 1,300 watt heater and it worked too well and I got too hot.  The 1,300 watt heater does have an adjustment for room temperature that could have been adjusted - but it is just a knob without any degrees and it is a trial and error approach.

The temperature last night was 37 and the temperature of the ground the trailer was parked on was 30 - as the ground is still frozen from the single digit temperatures we had last week.  I put the heater in the trailer yesterday afternoon when I parked the trailer outside so the trailer had plenty of time to warm up.

The temperature in the trailer was right around 64 degrees all night, and the ceiling and wall temperatures showed the same temperature when I used my infrared thermometer.  The floor however was right at 56 degrees - I believe the floor stays colder as it is facing the cold ground and there are aluminum beams running across the floor that are in contact with the plywood floor.  The floor has a couple of inches of foam insulation between the beams - the beams are 3" deep and therefore are exposed to the air.  Wrapping the beams in foam would not be very durable as any road debris would likely just tear it off.  I have considered installing a smooth bottom covering below the trailer to protect the foam and make the bottom more aerodynamic - but I will likely just leave it "as-is" because this is a trailer I use when motorcycle camping, and I sleep on a mattress and the colder floor is really not an issue.

So - for my insulated 5x10 trailer it appears a 500 watt heater is a pretty good size for temps in the mid 30's - the 350 watt heater will be a good size when temps are in the mid 40's and above.  Small heaters will have a tough time heating up the trailer if it is cold when you turn the heater on, and it will take hours to get the inside toasty warm.  A bigger heater might be required if you want to warm things up in a hurry.  For my little trailer -  believe one of those diesel heaters would be too powerful and would turn the trailer into a "toaster oven".

Deb doesn't understand why I go out and sleep in the trailer in my driveway when I have a nice, comfy bed inside.  My response was that I need to experiment a bit to find out what works - so that when I do use the trailer I know what I need to get a good nights sleep.  I hate being cold while trying to sleep!

Only in Montana will you find a mom and pop shop dedicated to making custom tent and pipe berth bed canvas.  I don’t know how places like this make it.  You certainly aren’t doing it for the money, but more the lifestyle.

You can’t coax Deb into testing the heaters out there with ya?  Body heat would be good for another 5-10°.

Nice job with the floor insulation, Dave.  I agree about value, and there are no $188K RVs in my future either.

Changing topics a bit, but circling back to weight distribution.  How did you install your wheel chock?  I'm thinking it needs to be easily removable so it doesn't become a shin-buster once the bike is out of the trailer and you're using the trailer for "living space".  I don't want to be dancing around the thing.

This guy put it pretty forward in his rig.  This location makes sense to me.  The trailer needs some sprucing up, but has some decent features.


https://www.facebook.com/share/1BJisQt3kP/


I also included a link for a removable wheel chock.  This Zoro place has some pretty cool, unusual, and sometimes hard to find items.

https://www.zoro.com/erickson-6-removable-chrome-motorcycle-wheel-chock-07506...

MMRanch wrote on 01/29/25 at 16:15:31:


I think the 6 foot trailer width would be better if you are going to use it for a camper for 2 people.  It gives you a lot more flexibility on how you create your camper.  I used a 5 foot wide trailer as I was going to be the only one sleeping in it - when Deb comes along we will be using the RV as it has a bathroom and a comfortable mattress for Deb, and I don't need my little trailer to sleep 2 people.

However - I chose the 5 foot height for exactly the reason you state - I wanted less wind resistance and better mpg.

Although this won't be easy to explain and maybe even harder to understand - the V nose trailer actually get worse fuel mileage than a trailer with a gently rounded front with rounded corners.  Wind hates sharp corners like the V nose trailer has, and it creates a lot of turbulence.  As the wind starts to close in behind your tow vehicle it hits the angled V nose almost head on, then the wind bounces off and makes a big turbulence at the outside corner, then it comes back into the trailer a few feet back and slams into the side of the trailer again. With a slightly rounded front the wind hits head on, then flows around the corner and does not create a lot of turbulence.

I think you are not going to like how much less fuel mileage you get with a trailer in tow - there is not much you can do about it.  You might want to consider putting a cap on the truck bed with a small spoiler/wind deflector on the top to help with wind flow.  This fellow did that with his mini van and improved his fuel mileage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bvaEYFTKS4&t=578s



Airstream has been famous for making trailers that pull easily, and this new trailer is an example of what the wind prefers......a nice rounded front!

For my trailer I made a couple of adjustable rods that bolt into the front of the wheel chock.  They have holes and I use a clip to adjust how far forward the wheel chock is located.

My wheel chock can be inserted into the rack using any of the holes to center or offset the wheel chock, and the adjustable holes in the rod let me move the wheel chock if I want to change the tongue weight.

When I want the wheel chock out - it just slides out of the rack and I can move it out of the way.

When the motorcycle is tied down the chock does not move side to side at all.  The carpet underneath is there to keep the rubber feet from making black marks on my floor.

As good as it is to tie down the front of the motorcycle - it really gets stable when you tie the back down.  Have the rear tie downs either sideways or slight forward - don't have them pulling the motorcycle backwards.  It also helps to have the tie downs connected to the motorcycle as high as you can. for better leverage.

MM:

That is a cool mini split unit - however at 12,500 btu it is likely way too big for a small camping trailer.  What will happen is it will cycle on/off constantly.  It would likely work great for the room in your rock house guest room - it is too big for a 6x10 trailer.

A 12,500 btu air conditioner is good for 500 square feet of house room - your trailer is only 60 square feet!  While the poor insulation of a trailer may require a bit more heating and cooling than a house, it is not going to require a system that big.

Talk to your HVAC buddies and ask them what problems to expect from an AC unit that is 8 sizes too big.

Here is a nice budget build.

I like the way he has used cots and hinged them to the wall....it makes it easy to store them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54sPTyQPTc