Insulation and Paneling
All of my frame work was done using 2”X2” I beam, to insulate the spaces in the I beam I took ¾” blue foam insulation and cut it into strips that fit in the gaps. I used spray foam in all the areas I couldn’t get the blue foam.
I wanted to spray foam the entire thing; I had a roofing company across the parking lot that could have done a good, professional job but it was three times the cost. I’ll probably regret not doing it later but I decided to go with 2” polyisocyanurate rigid foam sheet. This foam has an R value of 13, which is what most homes built in moderate climates have and it’s a lot better than any commercial camper. Spray foam would have been close to the same R value but it would have sealed better and there would have no gaps to let heat in or out. I tried to carefully cut each panel to fit tight so there would be no gaps but in the places where it was unavoidable I used the can spray foam.
For sheeting I used the same 5mm poplar plywood I used on the outside of the camper and I clear coated it with a polyurethane clear coat. I wanted to do a stain on it first but decided it would be better for lighting to not stain it. I still need to trim everything out and do some cosmetic work before I build cabinets.
Trailer Mods:
Before leaving LA I got a few more things done to the trailer. I knew I wouldn’t have easy access to metal working equipment so I had to finish the spare tire mounts. I also needed to mount my jerry cans and propane tanks and it turned out I needed to extend the ball on the truck since the tailgate hit the trailer jack when it was down.
The mounts for the jerry cans and propane tanks were easy. I was going to make some custom mounts but then I found some on amazon that totaled around $80 for two jerry cans and two propane tanks. I would have easily spent that much on material custom making them not even counting the time. I used ¾” plywood to build a platform then mounted to that.
When I hooked up the trailer to the truck I couldn’t open the tail gate without it hitting the jack on the trailer. To fix this I bought a hitch extender that moved it farther out. Having the extender on there does lower my towing capacity but I’m so far below it won’t matter. I had a 10,000lb towing capacity which drops to 5,000lbs but I’m only towing around 3,000lbs. The hitch extender also meant I needed to extend my electrical plug and chains as seen in the last picture.
I still have the original two tires that came with the trailer that I will be using as spares. I talked about switching the tires here. I wanted to mount them out of the way so I built two custom mounts on the tail end of the trailer. I made sure to give myself enough room to mount a bigger tire, such as the ones I replaced these with, later if I decided to. For mounting studs I used regular wheel studs and lug nuts.
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