Project Camper

 I have never plumbed anything before, ever. I tried installing a water filter under my house kitchen sink and failed. So I was nervous about doing this part of it. I cut out the sink outline from the countertop and placed the sink in. First try - perfect hole. Yes! I used a drop in bar sink The sink had clips that 100% did not fit which was really annoying. I ended up securing it with sealant. For the faucet I used an outdoor faucet  because I thought it was more rugged. Finding a way to connect that to the water inlet  was tricky but the good people at Moss True Value were super helpful. It did leak at first but then I remembered I needed to use tape on the fittings. Once I did that no more leaks! For the grey water I decided to use a 5 gallon water jug  and Snappy Trap . It was easy enough to install and get right the first time. I have a working sink!

For the kitchen cabinets I bought the Cassette Toilet , Sink and Mini-Fridge first so that I could make sure they fit. I built the dividers around them to triple check it. The front wall that I am building the cabinets against is not flat. So I bought some MDF for the backing to stabilize and have them straight. I'll have to do the same for the upper cabinets when the time comes. This might actually be beneficial in the long run because there is about a 1 inch gap between the wall and cabinet that cords and pipes can go through.  Next I installed the countertop. Rounding the corners was tricky - it was my first time doing so with the jigsaw. It ended up fitting really nicely. Disregard my messy tools.

I decided to do a lighter green on the walls than I plan to do my cabinets with. Lucky Clover was what I got from Lowe’s.                                                  First Coat                                                                                                    Second Coat The brown trim is Granola - also lighter than I plan to stain the cabinets.                                                First Coat                                                                         Second Coat I am not patient or careful in any way, shape or form so yes - I got paint on the metal. I bought some Goo Gone to fix it later. 

Well my 21' Kia Seltos and I had a great run (it was my first ever brand new car!) but she had a hard time pulling the cargo trailer empty so I knew I would need to upgrade if I wanted to tow a finished camper. Towing capacity on my 2021 Seltos was 2000 lbs - the 2022 Seltos is 2900lbs. Pretty much the exact same car with a little bit more power. I even got lucky at the dealership because the car I ended up buying already had a tow hitch! Someone had custom ordered it and then decided not to buy it. It still needs an electrical hookup but that will be much cheaper than getting the whole hitch kit done. The car salesman was very nice but his manager gave me a really shitty deal. He pretended that he was a partner with my bank and gave me bogus rates to show me that he could give me a better deal. I wish I would have applied for the loan with my bank before I went to the dealer because it was WAY better. Like more than $200 per month better.  Normally I would have walked out of the d

In lieu of insulation I bought some insulation paint from Lowe's and some roof insulation paint from Home Depot. I am very limited on weight capacity (need to stay under 2000 lbs) so I decided to forgo real insulation.                                  Both these items have good reviews so we'll give it a go! This is two thick layers of Cool Coat - I used both gallon cans. I did initially want to stain the ceiling and floor wood but decided to do the insulation coat on them instead. I felt it was more important to get the insulation on as much surface area as possible. I'll just use brown paint. 

 Now that I have the trailer I can do the floor plan. This is what I am looking at doing: Inspired by this guy on YouTube who did a really great cargo trailer conversion. Since I get paid every two weeks I made a budget for myself to do a new step every other week so that I am not spending a whole bunch of money at once. Step 1: Painting Walls Step 2: Paint and Seal Ceiling & Floor Step 3: Install Windows & Hatches - I bought Chicken Coop/Shed windows - they were SO much cheaper than RV windows Step 4: Cabinets Build-Out with: - A/C unit slide (in and out of hatch) - Cassette Toilet slide (hidden in a cabinet) - Slide-Out Cutting Board - Using plans from Extreme How-To Step 5: Main Bed Frame Build (Futon-style with storage underneath) - I will be slightly modifying plans from these guys Step 6: Seating Area Build - I will be making a smaller version of these plans from Etsy Step 7: Upper Cabinets Build-Out - Using same plans as above - just making them smaller Step 8: Install

I cannot keep the camper in my carport forever so I made a little parking space to the left of my house.  Again - I am inpatient so at first I tried to attach the metal rings to my neighbors fence and the side of my house. The wind ripped them right off. So I erected some posts in cement like I should have done to begin with. Also pictured is Heidi who supervises all my work.                                                      Next I attempted to build a gate. At first I tried to make a 10 foot wide gate. It fell apart - that is just too wide to be stable in the TX wind. So I made two 5"gates and that worked much better. Same with the canopy I attached the two gates to the fence and the side of my house. Again the wind ripped them right off - taking some of the siding with it. I then erected more fence posts like I should have done to begin with. Still leaning. Still sagging. Sigh. This is such a pain. I even bought ground brackets ( MTB Fence Post Anchor ) to set the posts with.

I'm the kind of person who always needs a project. This summer - after taking a weekend hiking trip with Heidi (one of my dogs) - I have decided to build my own camper. During the hiking trip I realized that I enjoyed it - but it was kinda pricey to do all the time. I'm not a tent camper, I need a bed! and A/C! Yes - glamping. I'm not ashamed. The Airbnbs I stayed at were fantastic but I knew that I could not afford to do these hiking trips as often as I would like if I had to spend hundreds of dollars each time on a place to stay. The camper will practically pay for itself! Eventually... At first I was going to build the camper on top of a flat cargo trailer. While plausible I was worried that I did not have the skill to make the structure as stable as it needed to be. So I decided on an enclosed cargo trailer! At first I looked at a 5 x 8 x 5 but it was really small. I could not even stand up in it. While it could work I decided to go with the bigger 6 x 10 x 6 trailer. T