1017a camper/tiny house buIld

[Pilat]

Looking at those pictures, in particular the last two in the post above, it looks like you merely nailed them together with no bracing whatsoever. I am fairly certain it will shake itself apart in short order. Regardless of the claim of building upmarket houses, nailing things together like it seems you have done in those pictures may be somewhat okay in certain areas and where laws doesn't dictate metal bracing to make sure it stays together. But this is not a static house. It's on a moving truck which will flex and shake. I'm giving it 7k miles at most in its current iteration.

With that said, I thoroughly enjoy the thinking of having a tiny house as a "camper".

http://www.criticalcactus.com/most-beautiful-tiny-houses-on-wheels/

http://www.housekaboodle.com/escape-traveler-tiny-house-on-wheels/

 

[Joe917]

If you intend this to be more than a static home you need to get rid of the romex house wire and replace it with multi strand copper wire.
If it falls apart no big deal, if it catches fire...

 

[universalmind303]

If you intend this to be more than a static home you need to get rid of the romex house wire and replace it with multi strand copper wire.
If it falls apart no big deal, if it catches fire...

Hmm from what I heard, solid is better than stranded? Am I wrong??

Update: I just looked into this and you are absolutely correct! Thanks for the heads up! I have the spray foam guys coming in 2 days, really glad someone pointed this out to me!
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[universalmind303]

Looking at those pictures, in particular the last two in the post above, it looks like you merely nailed them together with no bracing whatsoever. I am fairly certain it will shake itself apart in short order. Regardless of the claim of building upmarket houses, nailing things together like it seems you have done in those pictures may be somewhat okay in certain areas and where laws doesn't dictate metal bracing to make sure it stays together. But this is not a static house. It's on a moving truck which will flex and shake. I'm giving it 7k miles at most in its current iteration.

With that said, I thoroughly enjoy the thinking of having a tiny house as a "camper".

http://www.criticalcactus.com/most-beautiful-tiny-houses-on-wheels/

http://www.housekaboodle.com/escape-traveler-tiny-house-on-wheels/

Before the insulation comes, I am attaching hurricane clips to every stud and truss, there are carriage bolts attaching the box to the frame, and I added metal straps on the exterior further attaching in to the frame. the insulation and the siding material give it most of its strength as well

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[DzlToy]

Solid core wire does not have the flex or give of a multi strand wire. It is not likely to break inside a wall, but there is a reason that Romex is used for a house and braided or stranded wire is used in automobiles and RV's.

 

[Sitec]

Either way, I'm watching with interest, as I will soon be building a body on the back of my 1222, and I was going to use lightweight steel RHS... I'm interested to see the outcome of this build. Keep up the good work.

 

[universalmind303]

I now have all the walls secured, insulated, and started sheathing them. I went with ply over drywall for obvious reasons. I installed the door, a full 36" door over the usual smaller ones typically found on campers. I tidied up the mech room, and switched to stranded wire where I could. my 2nd battery came, boosting me up to 430 ah capacity. I started working on the bathroom. I'm using nature's head composting toilet, and one of the only ways my other half would consider this build, was the full shower stall being installed(32×32) still pretty small by her standards though.


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[universalmind303]

so its been a long time since an update on this. I will get some pictures up tonight or tomorrow. I am nearly finished with the exterior. i am just stuck on one major decision, i can not decide upon diesel or alcohol stove. I am looking into the dickinson diesel, or the origo 6000. I have heard the diesels get pretty hot, i was hoping to use some of this excess heat for a water heater, and come up with some heatsink to keep it from heating the camper too much. The upfront price is about the same with the diesel and alcohol, from what i read, the alcohol one doesnt burn nearly as hot, and diesel is much easier to come by. Please someone who has one of these 2, chime in.

 

[Sitec]

I'd be going with the diesel, as you always have a tank of the stuff on board.. Its easy to add a pickup line into the tank (just make the pick up point higher than 1/4 of the tank!). Re alcohol, I've never used it, don't know its availability, but do know it goes bang easily! I've seen a really nice simple single ring stove top that runs on diesel, and will be putting a small combustion stove/pot belly in mine for those cold winter nights..

http://www.webasto.com/int/markets-...-vehicles/comfort-solutions/cooking-solution/

 

[Pilat]

Wallas has some "closed" diesel stoves, so you won't have the odour inside. I had a boat once with one of their stoves. The downside is that diesel stoves are not the quickest stoves around - especially when compared to gas.

http://www.wallas.fi/index.php?id=22

The Wallas stove can also work as a heater, blowing hot air out.

As for alcohol stoves and explosion risks, you can get an Origo stove that is unpressurised, and it has glass fibre mat in the container, so it doesn't spill. Now, the problem with that (and any alcohol stove) is that not only does it produce a lot water vapour when burning (more so than gas), some people react to the smell of alcohol, giving them headaches and nausea.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dometic-2-Burner-Alcohol-Fueled-Free-Standing-Camping/dp/B002BVYK16

It is also available in a built-in version and as a single burner.

 

[DzlToy]

I have a small alcohol stove that I use for backpacking and it works great for those trips, as long as the weather is not too cold. I am not sure that I would want either in a tiny house unless they were to be sealed off from the living space. If it's not too much trouble, I would get the Wallas stove that runs on CLEAR Kerosene and use that for a fuel instead of diesel. It will burn cleaner, hotter and more efficiently as there are no additives in it for use as a motor vehicle fuel, such as lubricants, etc.

Alcohol has the same advantages but also has some disadvantages depending on your planned use.

 

[Pilat]

Have you seen a Dickensen Stove in person ?
They are fairly heavy, expensive & take a long time heating up. They are much like a kitchen woodstove excepting they burn oil.

That's a great way to put it. I agree.

 

[universalmind303]

Have you seen a Dickensen Stove in person ?
They are fairly heavy, expensive & take a long time heating up. They are much like a kitchen woodstove excepting they burn oil.

Thats kinda my understanding on them. I was planning on having a small electric range for when i just want to make some coffee or do other small things like that, but i like the idea that the diesel can be used as a water heater/ space heater. The only other model i have been looking at is the origo 6000 alcohol oven. I have read mixed reviews, some people say they work great, others say they do not heat hot enough. The origo's are nice because they only weigh 30lbs as opposed to 150lbs.

 

[jostein]

I have very little knowledge of diesel heaters, but if I understand correctly, the main reasons for using it over gas is:

1) Avoid using up space for LPG bottle(s), which in my opinion is more relevant for small camper units than a large Mercedes truck. If you run other equipment, forexample a fridge, on gas anyway, space saving will not be a relevant argument.
2) Not having to find places to fill the bottle, which should be doable in most regions.

Disadvantages?:

1) Diesel smell.
2) Need Some sort of ventilation or chimney.
3) Not as fast as gas?
4) significantly higher purchase cost.

To me gas seems to be the sensible choice in most situations, which pros and cons am I missing here?

Sorry for Just asking, and not giving any answers

 

[Pilat]

The wallas diesel cookers doesn't smell of diesel as the combustion chamber is vented to the outside - sort of like how a forced air heater running on diesel would work.

I'm a gas man too, though. It's not really feasible to use an induction hub on anything but the largest "overlander" trucks (i.e. needs lot of battery Ah and solar wattage).