Storing Preps when you live in an RV

[nomifyle]

I'm looking at FEMA campers that have bunks on one end. By taking out the mattresses and possibly the bottom bunk should give me a good space to store food, canners, dehydrators and other items that I would want close by. Of course my eyes are always larger than I can actually fit in a space. The Fema campers don't look like that have any outside underneath storage because they are really designed to stay in place but can be moved like a regular camper.

These campers may have storage under the main bed but doesn't look like there is any under the couch.

How do you full time RVers store your preps, whether you are on the road or in a stationary place?

When we lived in our camper in Washington state I had to get a mini storage to hold the stuff I brought in my F150 that has a camper top. LOL I had a huge amount stuffed in my truck. DH cursed me every time we moved. But I had packed like I might not get back home for a long time.

Judy

PS I put this on the main for more visability, please let it stay here for a couple of days or so.

 

[Volleyball Granny]

Measure the height of the trailer and see if you can put up-top storage there. I'm thinking that you could fit a lot of #10 cans of dehydrated food in an 8" deep storage space (if the roof will bear the weight).

You could build a light weight frame with compartments so the load wouldn't shift. Frame it in using 1/4" plywood, then cover it with a tarp--so put screw-eyes where you can bungee the tarp down. (You could put a hinged lid on the box, but you'd have to factor in the weight.)

There are lots of nook-like places to store food...I've read that you have to replace the floors in the FEMA trailers. Can you put in the new floor with a 2"x4" 'spacer'? You could store lots of little stuff in a 4" floor hollow...family size bags of beans and rice, small cans, etc. Just remember that anything you 'store' will add to the weight of the trailer.

 

[Pass Go]

I, too, am looking at the FEMA trailers and prep storage with questions.

 

[nomifyle]

Measure the height of the trailer and see if you can put up-top storage there. I'm thinking that you could fit a lot of #10 cans of dehydrated food in an 8" deep storage space (if the roof will bear the weight).

You could build a light weight frame with compartments so the load wouldn't shift. Frame it in using 1/4" plywood, then cover it with a tarp--so put screw-eyes where you can bungee the tarp down. (You could put a hinged lid on the box, but you'd have to factor in the weight.)

There are lots of nook-like places to store food...I've read that you have to replace the floors in the FEMA trailers. Can you put in the new floor with a 2"x4" 'spacer'? You could store lots of little stuff in a 4" floor hollow...family size bags of beans and rice, small cans, etc. Just remember that anything you 'store' will add to the weight of the trailer.

Thanks for the suggestions. I doubt the roof would support any weight. One thing I'm taking into consideration will be heat. I would prefer to store as little food as possible where it will get really hot.

Hopefully the camper I get won't need the floor replaced.

For the most part weight won't be a huge issue because I won't be moving my camper. And actually I plan to get it blocked up and take the wheels off so no one can hook it up and drive off with it when I'm not home. I have a mini storage in the area (25 miles away, closest I could find) and will keep a lot of stuff there. I just don't want my food to be that far away.

Judy

 

[ejagno]

I'm not familiar with the inside details of the campers you are referring to although my neighbors and friends all had them up until this past year. I know in my first camper we packed those bench seats and under the sleeper sofa full and had off site storage. Currently in the 5th wheel we closed up the large cabinet for the television with doors and this made a never nice pantry and simply put a flat screen on the wall. There is also an abundance of storage underneath our bed which although it's narrow it fits canned goods, drinks, and most normal food items so we refer to it as our "horizontal" storage. Five large packages of Charmin Ultra fits very nicely in that void between the hide-a-bed and wall behind the couch. We store tools and extra bulbs, fuses, electrical supplies in the step that leads up to the bedroom. Simply put a piano hinge ont he back of the top riser for a nice little tool chest. We have under carriage storage as well which is where I keep my large canner and a few cases of jars on hand during the harvest season. The rest will go into an off site storage building.

The main thing in an RV is to keep only "in season" (3 month) supplies on hand in the RV and rotate the rest out to storage. IMHO, if you have so much stuff that you can't move then it's simply not worth it.

 

[nomifyle]

I'm not familiar with the inside details of the campers you are referring to although my neighbors and friends all had them up until this past year. I know in my first camper we packed those bench seats and under the sleeper sofa full and had off site storage. Currently in the 5th wheel we closed up the large cabinet for the television with doors and this made a never nice pantry and simply put a flat screen on the wall. There is also an abundance of storage underneath our bed which although it's narrow it fits canned goods, drinks, and most normal food items so we refer to it as our "horizontal" storage. Five large packages of Charmin Ultra fits very nicely in that void between the hide-a-bed and wall behind the couch. We store tools and extra bulbs, fuses, electrical supplies in the step that leads up to the bedroom. Simply put a piano hinge ont he back of the top riser for a nice little tool chest. We have under carriage storage as well which is where I keep my large canner and a few cases of jars on hand during the harvest season. The rest will go into an off site storage building.

The main thing in an RV is to keep only "in season" (3 month) supplies on hand in the RV and rotate the rest out to storage. IMHO, if you have so much stuff that you can't move then it's simply not worth it.

Great suggestions. And you are so right about so much stuff that you're tripping over it. I'm bad about that. And DH, rightly so, goes thru the roof when he trips over my stuff.

Sounds like you've got your RV ready to take off, if necessary. And with what's going on in the gulf that very prudent.

Judy

 

[Volleyball Granny]

Thanks for the suggestions. I doubt the roof would support any weight. One thing I'm taking into consideration will be heat. I would prefer to store as little food as possible where it will get really hot.

Hopefully the camper I get won't need the floor replaced.

For the most part weight won't be a huge issue because I won't be moving my camper. And actually I plan to get it blocked up and take the wheels off so no one can hook it up and drive off with it when I'm not home. I have a mini storage in the area (25 miles away, closest I could find) and will keep a lot of stuff there. I just don't want my food to be that far away.

Judy

If you're going to block it up, look into blocking it up high enough for storage underneath...the trailer will help provide insulation to whatever you store underneath. You could even slide your Rubbermaid containers underneath until you figured out something more permanent. I'd put a skirt around it...an easily detachable or hinged one.

 

[nomifyle]

If you're going to block it up, look into blocking it up high enough for storage underneath...the trailer will help provide insulation to whatever you store underneath. You could even slide your Rubbermaid containers underneath until you figured out something more permanent. I'd put a skirt around it...an easily detachable or hinged one.

Underneath storage is a great idea and I was already thinking about lattice for skirting. My concern about putting just anything under it would be varments (especially snakes), I'm gonna be living in the woods by myself most of the time, except for the cat and the chiwawa.

Judy

PS I'm also thinking trellis over the camper for shade. Loup suggested this for my shipping container storage (I've moved the shipping container to second place purchase because I've decided I don't really want to live in the back of my truck, so I'm getting the camper first))

 

[Volleyball Granny]

Underneath storage is a great idea and I was already thinking about lattice for skirting. My concern about putting just anything under it would be varments (especially snakes), I'm gonna be living in the woods by myself most of the time, except for the cat and the chiwawa.

Judy

PS I'm also thinking trellis over the camper for shade. Loup suggested this for my shipping container storage (I've moved the shipping container to second place purchase because I've decided I don't really want to live in the back of my truck, so I'm getting the camper first))

I wondered what happened to the shipping container idea. You can adapt the shipping containers for living, too. I've always thought that two shipping containers placed side-by-side, but about 14' apart (to allow for using 16' boards), would be good for an 'instant' home. I'd build a roof between the two containers and use the breezeway in the middle as a living room of sorts--the old fashioned breezeway/veranda that we used before there was A/C.

Snakes and critters will be a problem no matter what you try--if you live near the woods. (My property backs up to acres and acres of wilderness in the city and I have to deal with all kids of critters.) I would advise that you double-wrap food that comes packaged in boxes or shrink-wrap before putting them in the Rubbermaid containers--then make sure the lid is on tightly. Make a lot of noise when you're getting ready to pull out the container and wear leather gloves.

 

[CherylOK]

We now live WAY in the woods, up a mountain. So we have critters by the wa-zoo up here. We always have several outdoor cats. In seven years, we've only had, maybe, 5 mice in the house. Our indoor cats caught a couple, and I had to catch a couple with traps.

I credit the low number to having outside cats. And, I've only seen a couple of snakes around our living area, in these seven years. I think having the movement around the home, of the cats and the dog, helps with that, too.

But you have to stay ahead on spaying the cats, or you'll QUICKLY have more than a few outdoor cats!

 

[Dennis Olson]

Fema trailer floorplan:

 

[nomifyle]

Fema trailer floorplan:

While nice, its not the one I'm looking at. i think the is a handicap one.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

I wondered what happened to the shipping container idea. You can adapt the shipping containers for living, too. I've always thought that two shipping containers placed side-by-side, but about 14' apart (to allow for using 16' boards), would be good for an 'instant' home. I'd build a roof between the two containers and use the breezeway in the middle as a living room of sorts--the old fashioned breezeway/veranda that we used before there was A/C.

Snakes and critters will be a problem no matter what you try--if you live near the woods. (My property backs up to acres and acres of wilderness in the city and I have to deal with all kids of critters.) I would advise that you double-wrap food that comes packaged in boxes or shrink-wrap before putting them in the Rubbermaid containers--then make sure the lid is on tightly. Make a lot of noise when you're getting ready to pull out the container and wear leather gloves.

Pretty sure I can get a camper cheaper than a shipping container outfitted to live in. Although the shipping container would probably be safer in bad weather, if converted properly. I just want the shipping for secure storage. And the camper will be up higher than the shipping container being on the ground. A good friend talked to me sharply about getting something to live in before some thing for storage. When I first starting planning this move the weather was cooler and I thought what the heck, I can sleep in the back of my truck with the camper top on it. Reality on many levels kicked in so the shipping container had to be moved down my list, not off my list.

Talked to a cousin the other day about tornados in the area and she laughed and said "yeah, you're gonna be on top of that hill in a camper", she thought it was really funny. Not. I don't remember tornados there when i was growing up but guess they had them. Some kind of grounding should help. DH is an electrician, maybe he can rig something up. Years ago one lady had a storm shelter built. I always thought it looked funny because she had a big mound in her front yard with the shelter built in it. The water table isn't all that far down. Good for a well but not underground building.

Judy

 

[etdeb]

On the Fema trailer, Gulfstream Caviler at least come with full size fridge, if you went with small fridge you can add storage, also front bedroom, bed it built in and have some useless night stands, we have reboved the bed and turned it against a side wall and added cabinets across front for storage.

 

[etdeb]

That floor plan the Dennis shared is no where near the floor plan. I have hear there are hanidicapped versions out there be hare not seem one, I would love to get my hands on one though. Another wasy to add storage space is remove the bed total, replace with airbed and free up space for more stoage. I have done this in a couple of them theat I rent, just because it was cheaper than replacing bed and matterss. Serta has one and sleeps better tank most beds in peoples homes.

 

[Caplock50]

Hmmm, just a thought, but get about 4 of those tall, collapsable, tool cabinets. They will need to be at least 6 feet tall. Once you reach a destination where you will be staying a while, set up two to each side of the front door and store the stuff blocking the use of the trailer in them. You could place several long poles across their tops and cover it with a tarp. Storage area and a 'porch'.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Oh. Well, that's what came up when I Googled it.

 

[etdeb]

Nomiflye do you have a source for the FEMA trailers. There is an auction in Carencro, LA on 7/10/2010 Henderson Auctions will conduct it and the do allow the public in and sell sigle units. I have bought from them.

 

[etdeb]

No Dennis, not a put down, I have heard of those, just have not seem any at auction, but I sure would like to fine one. I do offer shelter to a couple of handicap people on occasion and that would be helpful.
Also everything FEMA had are not Fema trailers. IF you find one build before Aug 2005, that means Fema bought them off a R V Dealer that was selling to the public as a true RV. Aug 2005 into 2006 were mass produced for Fema.

 

[etdeb]

If this posts it is pretty standard for the Fema Trailers, sometimes the sink is moved forward and couch to back.

 

[etdeb]

Inside Fema trailers

Last 2 and these is the Gulf Stream Cavalier only, other RV may look different

 

[CnMO]

Look for Free/non working Chest Freezers to used for storage of All kinds of items, they are rodent proof and if the seals are tight/good then no mildew will ever grow inside them. If door seals are bad replace them , not to expensive. Weld padlock hinges on the doors, and lock them up.

If you get a Free one that doesn't freeze, but cools, plug it in and use to keep your long term food somewhat cool in the summer, and from freezing in the winter

Place them all around the inside edge of your pole type covered roof. This will help protect trailer from wind.

Dig a storm cellar/root cellar.

just a thought, (cheap), if you have to leave, freezers / storage have cost you nothing.

good luck

 

[nomifyle]

Nomiflye do you have a source for the FEMA trailers. There is an auction in Carencro, LA on 7/10/2010 Henderson Auctions will conduct it and the do allow the public in and sell sigle units. I have bought from them.

Thanks for the heads up on this, I knew there had been auctions, but I didn't know when or where. I should be able to find a good deal at an auction.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

If this posts it is pretty standard for the Fema Trailers, sometimes the sink is moved forward and couch to back.

This is exactly what I'm looking at. And beyond the full size fridg are the built in bunks that I want to use for storage.

I've seen all kinds of places that have them, from Slidell to Natchitoches and I look constantly on craigslist all over Louisiana. It looks like I can buy one in decent shape for around $4,000, but possibly could do better at an auction. I've haven't actually stopped to look at them because I don't have all the money I need saved yet. But we are getting some timber cut soon and that will take care of that and hopefully the septic tank so I can get electricity as soon as possible.

Thank you so much.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

I, too, am looking at the FEMA trailers and prep storage with questions.

If I remember correctly you said you will be traveling around (I'm not) I suggest you look for a Fema camper that has the holding tanks. The white ones I'm looking at do not have the holding tanks and the refrigerator is run only on electricity. When we traveled around in a camper a few years back the fridge switched to propane when it was unplugged from electric.

Most of the FEMA campers do have the bunks which I think is a great place for storage. But if you're traveling around weight is going to be more of a consideration for you than for me. Gross weight is a big deal when you are traveling around in a camper (RV). It can be handled though. There is always the back of your truck. We also had one of those tall closet like rubber maid outside storage units that we just lifted it up (empty) and put it in the bed of the truck.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

Look for Free/non working Chest Freezers to used for storage of All kinds of items, they are rodent proof and if the seals are tight/good then no mildew will ever grow inside them. If door seals are bad replace them , not to expensive. Weld padlock hinges on the doors, and lock them up.

If you get a Free one that doesn't freeze, but cools, plug it in and use to keep your long term food somewhat cool in the summer, and from freezing in the winter

Place them all around the inside edge of your pole type covered roof. This will help protect trailer from wind.

Dig a storm cellar/root cellar.

just a thought, (cheap), if you have to leave, freezers / storage have cost you nothing.

good luck

What an excellent idea on the freezer. As for a storm cellar/root cellar in my area the water table is not far below the sand and red clay. So I have to build up a big above ground mound and put the root/storm cellar in that, good idea.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

Hmmm, just a thought, but get about 4 of those tall, collapsable, tool cabinets. They will need to be at least 6 feet tall. Once you reach a destination where you will be staying a while, set up two to each side of the front door and store the stuff blocking the use of the trailer in them. You could place several long poles across their tops and cover it with a tarp. Storage area and a 'porch'.

Cappy, I could see turning the bed around side ways and where the top of the bed use to be to put a couple of cabinets in that space. Thanks.

Judy

 

[etdeb]

My brother bought 5 at Shreveport auction for 2500.00 each, 3 even had stainless sinks instead of fiberglass. Mine a set up in a park, I have another set up for guest house at farm. I thought of getting another and park near the guest house and gut it to make more sleeping and storage spac, the make pole roof over the two.

 

[nomifyle]

My brother bought 5 at Shreveport auction for 2500.00 each, 3 even had stainless sinks instead of fiberglass. Mine a set up in a park, I have another set up for guest house at farm. I thought of getting another and park near the guest house and gut it to make more sleeping and storage spac, the make pole roof over the two.

What kind of shape are they in for $2500? If I get something that needs work done I'd just have to pay someone to do it for me, I'm pretty much doing all this on my own except for the electrical. My sons might initially do some things for me, but they are both married and live in the New Orleans area and really can't get away much.

Judy

 

[etdeb]

Three looked brand new, one had been smoked in because ceiling vent had tobaco stains, One had dirty carpet, I think from lookers at auction. Check the front corners, that is the source of leaks. All five had 2 propane tanks with covers. Check under covers to make sure tanks are there.
This shows the bunks, there is already storage under the bottom.
We saw some with damaged interiors go for 500.00. Those would be fine to gut and rebuild like I had the idea of doing.

 

[Dennis Olson]

What is the length of these trailers?

 

[etdeb]

22-33 foot tongue to back bumper.

 

[BoatGuy]

Not related to your current question. But, Karnie and I were discussing formaldehyde outgassing (yeah.. we do talk about such strange topics... LOL) and I found this link. Thought it might be helpful to ya... Sounds like these trailers (mfg around 2005 should be pretty safe by now)..

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/299721.html

 

[etdeb]

I bought monitors to test every Cavalier we have purchased before I would let anyone live in them.. I put the monitors in units that had been setting for over a year sealed with no A/C running or vents open, left them for sim months while we worked building the park to set them. Not a trace was registered. Mine are all 2005 models built in Feb and March of 2005. I read all of the horror stories from NOLA and even when Fema sent trailers to Iowa for flood victims. I think those were just trailers that never gots used after Katrina and Rita.

 

[AustinPSD]

We have a 2008 Jayco 30BHS - this is a 31' bunk-house rig, with the "master" bedroom in the front/tongue side, kitchen, living and bath mid-rig, and bunk-house in the rear.

We removed the standard mattress in the master section, and replaced it with a standard residential SelectComfort (aka SleepNumber) bed. This is longer than an RV queen, so it cuts down on the normal foot-room at the end of the bed, but I'm 6'2" tall, so the standard RV "short" queen won't cut it. There is storage under the mattress platform, partitioned from the pass-through storage that is accessible from the exterior compartment doors at the tongue end of the rig.

We also removed the J-steel sofa (a convertible sofa/folding bed), and the dinette, both of which had underneath storage. The dinette top was repurposed using tubular desk legs from Ikea into a computer desk along the front wall of the left-hand slide. The remaining space has two leather residential recliners and a pedestal table/lamp. The only draw-back in this case is that you forgo the storage space underneath, while gaining the comfort and utility of residential furnishings and a useful desk.

The rear of the rig converted three of the four bunks into bulk storage space, reinforced underneath the upper bunks to support 400 lbs. each, along with organizers and eye-bolts for bungee cords and netting to retain things in the rig while in motion. The narrower lower bunk on the left side has removable shelving and Elfa rack units (the inverter, circuit-break/fuse panel and electrical entry are in this area), while the wider lower bunk on the right retains it's mattress, topped with a 1/8" plywood cover and additional Elfa shelving. We left this mattress in place in the event we needed to accommodate a third/fourth person, which can be easily done by unloading the bunk/shelf elsewhere.

The spaces under the left/right lower bunks open to additional exterior-accessible storage at the rear of the rig.

We use a clamp-on receiver hitch on the rear bumper of the trailer, along with a Gear-Space 34 receiver mounted cargo carrier (34-cubic foot weather proof capsule) to carry additional gear, about 300 lbs. worth.

I tow this rig using a crew-cab 2004 Ford F350, with a full eight-foot box, 4WD, diesel, and an Equal-I-zer weight distributing/anti-sway hitch. The weight distributing function isn't necessary, but the anti-sway is a must-have.

We carry about six months of preps in the rig at all times, along with survival gear, day-to-day living needs, and a few luxuries. Our additional preps are stored in various cache locations, including our permanent retreat, our parents and children's homes, and a few other strategic places.

We've been full-time in this rig for a little more than two years now, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It takes some getting used to, and your ideas of what is necessity vs. what is luxury will definitely change.

Being mobile takes some additional effort, as weight is still an issue, as is being actually mobile - keeping the rig ready to move in thirty minutes is an interesting prep exercise in and of itself. If you are stationary, weight, specifically towing and mobility may be less of an issue.

On blocks, or more permanently installed on a foundation would be easy...

I've attached a floor-plan of the OEM rig for reference.

 

[nomifyle]

Three looked brand new, one had been smoked in because ceiling vent had tobaco stains, One had dirty carpet, I think from lookers at auction. Check the front corners, that is the source of leaks. All five had 2 propane tanks with covers. Check under covers to make sure tanks are there.
This shows the bunks, there is already storage under the bottom.
We saw some with damaged interiors go for 500.00. Those would be fine to gut and rebuild like I had the idea of doing.

This is it exactly. I've searched high and low for the floor plan. So glad to know there is storage under the bunks. Is there any outside underneath storage? I was hoping there would not be any carpet though.

Thanks so much,

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

We have a 2008 Jayco 30BHS - this is a 31' bunk-house rig, with the "master" bedroom in the front/tongue side, kitchen, living and bath mid-rig, and bunk-house in the rear.

We removed the standard mattress in the master section, and replaced it with a standard residential SelectComfort (aka SleepNumber) bed. This is longer than an RV queen, so it cuts down on the normal foot-room at the end of the bed, but I'm 6'2" tall, so the standard RV "short" queen won't cut it. There is storage under the mattress platform, partitioned from the pass-through storage that is accessible from the exterior compartment doors at the tongue end of the rig.

We also removed the J-steel sofa (a convertible sofa/folding bed), and the dinette, both of which had underneath storage. The dinette top was repurposed using tubular desk legs from Ikea into a computer desk along the front wall of the left-hand slide. The remaining space has two leather residential recliners and a pedestal table/lamp. The only draw-back in this case is that you forgo the storage space underneath, while gaining the comfort and utility of residential furnishings and a useful desk.

The rear of the rig converted three of the four bunks into bulk storage space, reinforced underneath the upper bunks to support 400 lbs. each, along with organizers and eye-bolts for bungee cords and netting to retain things in the rig while in motion. The narrower lower bunk on the left side has removable shelving and Elfa rack units (the inverter, circuit-break/fuse panel and electrical entry are in this area), while the wider lower bunk on the right retains it's mattress, topped with a 1/8" plywood cover and additional Elfa shelving. We left this mattress in place in the event we needed to accommodate a third/fourth person, which can be easily done by unloading the bunk/shelf elsewhere.

The spaces under the left/right lower bunks open to additional exterior-accessible storage at the rear of the rig.

We use a clamp-on receiver hitch on the rear bumper of the trailer, along with a Gear-Space 34 receiver mounted cargo carrier (34-cubic foot weather proof capsule) to carry additional gear, about 300 lbs. worth.

I tow this rig using a crew-cab 2004 Ford F350, with a full eight-foot box, 4WD, diesel, and an Equal-I-zer weight distributing/anti-sway hitch. The weight distributing function isn't necessary, but the anti-sway is a must-have.

We carry about six months of preps in the rig at all times, along with survival gear, day-to-day living needs, and a few luxuries. Our additional preps are stored in various cache locations, including our permanent retreat, our parents and children's homes, and a few other strategic places.

We've been full-time in this rig for a little more than two years now, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It takes some getting used to, and your ideas of what is necessity vs. what is luxury will definitely change.

Being mobile takes some additional effort, as weight is still an issue, as is being actually mobile - keeping the rig ready to move in thirty minutes is an interesting prep exercise in and of itself. If you are stationary, weight, specifically towing and mobility may be less of an issue.

On blocks, or more permanently installed on a foundation would be easy...

I've attached a floor-plan of the OEM rig for reference.

Thats a very fine setup you have and oh, all that storage space. We lived in a 1982 24' Prowler for six months on the road, with three cats. DH slept in the bed (one side was against the wall and neither of us could stand sleeping there. And I slept on the folded out sofa that was in hideous condition. I put 2x4s on the bed and plywood on top of that. And a couple of those egg crate pads on top of the plywood. It was very comfy, but I had to leave it folded out all the time, giving less space to move around. At the foot of the sofa I placed a half sheet of plywood to give some table/desk space and I had to lift that up (with boards on the back of the sofa on one end and on the little table on the other end so I could stretch out me feet to sleep. This gave us a nice flat surface for the tv, computer monitor (this was in '01) vcr and my usual stack of books. Above the sofa was an attic that folded down that a child could sleep there, I used to for storage.

it is possible to use every little bit of space you can find. The electrical was 30amp and DH (being an electrician) wired in a second 30amp circuit so we wouldn't have a problem using the electric heaters, microwave, etc at the same time. We pulled it with an '01 F350 dually with a special cooling package.

Anyway, your rig looks to be ideal, after the end of the summer if you are down my way pm me, you can stay at my place.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

I bought monitors to test every Cavalier we have purchased before I would let anyone live in them.. I put the monitors in units that had been setting for over a year sealed with no A/C running or vents open, left them for sim months while we worked building the park to set them. Not a trace was registered. Mine are all 2005 models built in Feb and March of 2005. I read all of the horror stories from NOLA and even when Fema sent trailers to Iowa for flood victims. I think those were just trailers that never gots used after Katrina and Rita.

That stuff disapates over time. We had it in our new camper after Katrina and just aired it out. DH was more sensitive to it than I was.

It sounds like some kind of thing the gov would do to not air the darn things out.

Judy

 

[Housecarl]

If you are going to "take the wheels off" and park this trailer a few thoughts....

- If you do not already have a concrete pad to park it upon, and for cost that is not an option, rent a powered compactor and compact the soil of the location you are going to place the trailer. If a compacted pad is the option, after compacting cover it with gravel.

- If you haven't done it yet, I'd strongly suggest looking into concrete piers or other anchoring/mobile home foundation elements under the trailer.

- Another storage option would be clean unused open top 25 to 55 gallon steel or poly drums. You can either place them in the "patio area" Caplock50 suggested, or in the case of the polys, they could be used as mini-root cellars. You'd just have to be careful about drainage, closure/covering and selective as to what you put into the space.

 

[etdeb]

AustinPSD, thats the idea, customize. I think the J couch and the dinning table bed have to be the worse sleeping you could find. I am thinking of pulling the J couch out also. I do know how important weight and proper towing vehicle is. We wrecked a brand new Keystone Residence last October . We had been very careful of the weight added and distributed in the RV, towing with Ford F350. We were traveling at 55 in the right lane and 6 or 7 18 wheelers passed, and according to another trucker that saw it all from behind, created a suction we could not overcome. the rv flipped pushing the truck down the road toward a 35' imbankment until we spun sideways and the truck was then hit with the RV almost turning over.