While I was waiting for the truck (I didn't have a ride back to the office so I waited for the work to complete) I brought my sketch pad and did a few more floorplan ideas. I tried to keep the designs to 6x12, wondering if I could shave another foot off. You may notice that with most of these floorplans I did a single 30x30 "room" for the bathroom. In this situation the toilet would actually be floating, I wouldn't have a black tank. I saw one of these toilets when I was talking to Jess about options, and figured it might be worth at least perusing if the space savings were worth it.
1: Very basic, very similar to prior floorplans. Basically just taking the 7x12 and shrinking it. This was kind of just a baseline to get started with.
2: Another basic floorplan, just with a slightly different layout due to changing the bed orientation. I might replace the mobile desk in this one with more closet space.
3. This is where things started to get interesting. In this plan, I intended to use a lofted bed. It limits expandability in case I have guests, but in this case it gives me an actual office/living room. It makes the trailer taller, but for a mobile office, is it worth it? While an imaginative floorplan, I had a little trouble bringing this one to life in my head (I am not a big fan of almost half the camper I can't stand in.
4: With number 4 I went back to some of my old tiny house designs: you may notice that this design has a folding murphy bed. Most of these designs were designed with a futon in mind, meaning the bed turned into the couch. I went with a twin for this one. The floorplan has ample floorspace, but I couldn't help but feel this floorplan felt fragmented and not as open as it should have been, given the half size bed. It did have a real desk in it, an island that expands the kitchen when the bed is up.
6: The 5th didn't make the cut (it was similar to 4 but nothing fit as I liked). Those two however led me to this one. Number 6 is a very interesting floorplan. I don't like the thought of going back to a twin bed, so I incorporated a full size murphy bed instead. It folds down onto the kitchen counter (no long legs like my current bed). The full size bed frame however presents opportunities that weren't possible with only a twin bed though. In this design, I would have enough space to build furniture into the bed framing. I could build a desk that folds out, I could mount a TV underneath (which I would have done with the prior one too, but that would have taken up all the space since clearly it has to be a big TV...). I put a couch in this one which could be a sleeper sofa, but I would more likely use mobile rocker recliners instead since I would have to move them to see the TV (even though I intend to put the TV on an Ergotron arm). It doesn't have an island, but it has a full 2' cabinet more kitchen than the other floorplans. There isn't anything stopping me from building an island for it either, it would fit under the bed. The bed doesn't overlap so much so that I couldn't put wall cabinets up or appliances on the counter. The only problem is the lack of a closet (and therefor a place for the water heater). The bottom right is supposed to say shower and bath. It has no closet, though I could replace the couch with an armchair and put a shallow closet all along the back wall which would instantly make it one of the best floorplans for storage. In theory (though it would make it feel tiny and cramped) I could even shrink this design down a bit more to 6x10, though I don't think I would.
I actually really liked number 6. I liked it better than some of the bigger 7x12 floorplans that I came up with, though the concepts could theoretically apply to those as well. You may be asking why I am trying to shrink it: now that solar is out, the roof size is of no consequence. The smaller I make the trailer the easier it is to tow (as long as I don't make it taller as a result). It also means that I have a bigger weight allowance. All the trailers I looked at had a gross weight of 3000 lbs. If I get a 6x12, the trailer itself will be lighter, giving more weight for the structure on top of it. There was also the problem of a 7x12 is not actually 7x12. Many of the so called 7' wide trailers I saw were only 6'6" or 6'8" between the rails. This way I am not pidgeon-holing myself into the very few trailers that actually are a true 7' wide. 6x12 though is a size that everyone makes, it is the most common size for landscaping trailers. I also don't want things to come crashing down because I am two inches off and now all of a sudden my shower or bed doesn't fit by a couple of inches, and so on.
Thinking I wouldn't top that last floorplan (in case it wasn't clear yet, I like number 6 a bit), I also made a list of another sort: I started to list out all the things I want readouts and control over. I expect I will have to make an app for a tablet (or a Raspberry Pi and display) to display it all, but first I need to know what I would like. Here is the list I came up with:
- Trailer tilt/level indicator
- Power meter for 12V
- Power meter for 110V
- Battery gauge
- Solar meter
- Water tank levels (both fresh and gray. Black if I have one)
- Water pump control. I might want a real physical switch for the control and just a readout for the display though
- Propane gauge
- Air conditioning controls (temp and setting)
- If I put electric legs on it, controls for those
- If I go with a murphy bed, controls for a motor to raise/lower it. This may go on a switch somewhere though, not on the main control panel
- Clock of some kind
- Outdoor temperature sensor
- Fan control (if I have any built in wall fans)
I started to do a little more research into 12V panels and batteries, like I looked up that Uncle's trailer is using dual 64Ah batteries, so I will definitely need probably a 200Ah one at least (perhaps dual 150s?). I will finish all that up tomorrow though, I didn't finish it today. I hope to finish up the trailer and some of the other projects tomorrow too if I get out early enough. I am rapidly running out of time before I leave for KY.
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