Our trailer, Ali, as in "Tin Can Alley", is a 2014 NEO NAVR trailer – 7'x16' with an interior height of 7'. The V-nose adds approximately 24" inside. The side door is 32" wide. Seven (7') foot rear ramp. All aluminum.
Here is the interior layout:
WHY convert a cargo trailer?
A major factor in the decision to convert a cargo trailer was Jennie's power wheelchair. The 7' long rear ramp allows her to use her wheelchair in the trailer and the area at the front provides enough space for her to turn it around.
WHY NOT buy a real travel trailer?
Jennie and I looked at various small "lite weight" travel trailers with permanent beds but these commercially manufactured trailers were just terrible – very expensive for what you get, poor fit and finish, and really lousy layouts - would you like to sit on a side-facing leatherette sofa and look at the dinette? Not us! We'd rather look out a window at the view outside! And not only that, manufactured trailers are typically 8' wide, 24' or longer, and weigh in at around 4,000+ lbs empty!
WHAT did you put in it?
We will mostly plug in to park power so I installed a 110v panel, wiring, plugs, all 12v LED lighting, etc. Future additions might include solar.
HOW much does it weigh?
On Sunday April 26 2015, the conversion was very close to being finished. So I took the trailer to the weigh scale. From 1,870 lbs empty when purchased, the completed trailer now weighs 3,410 lbs.
HAVE you added anything new from the original design?
After living in Ali for six months, we decided to add a proper sewer connection. The 5 gallon "portable" grey water holding tanks work well; however, most of the time we are in a site that has an available sewer connection. With a proper setup on Ali, we don't have to worry about how full the portable blue tanks are.
The next addition was a 2.6 gal hot water tank. Small enough not to take up any real space, but it is nice to have - no more boiling the kettle for hot water.
We recently replaced the batteries in Jennie's wheelchair, so rather than recycle them, I moved the batteries to the trailer to power the LED lights, water pump, and MaxxAir ceiling fan for when we are not connected to "shore" power.
Finally, during our trip east in 2016, we decided to investigate adding a shower in Ali. Campground showers are okay, most of them, but the addition of a proper shower in the rig has been one of our favourite additions.
So that's it. Converting our cargo trailer into a completely liveable and comfortable travel trailer has been a very enjoyable exercise - I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
During our trip east in 2016, we added a shower.
Another simple addition to Ali was the installation of a 15' LED light strip under the awing. Simply amazing how bright 600 soft white LEDs are!
We got tired of our drop-down table. As nice as it looked, it was a pain to put away when we travelled, and to set it up again. Also Jen really didn't like looking at the bottom of the table when it was stored. So......I made a Gateleg table. It's really easy to move around and it gives us, with both sides up, just about 5' of table top.
Gif from Ana White, with thanks.
