Our Tiny House RV Concept, Progress, and Future
With a new sister company, Tiny House RV Rentals LLC, IsGood has embarked on a project to build a small fleet of travel trailers to be rented for adventure travel and camping. The designs will be a blending of the best of fine architecture, the high mobility of travel trailers, and the cozy comfort of tiny houses. We lean toward traditional architectural styles, and there is no telling where we may take that because it is our intention that each will be unique. Off grid capacity, fine detailing, and luxury with a rustic flavor are all high design criteria.
Tiny House RV rentals is a fully licensed RV manufacturer. Our campers will bear the RVIA medallion, and will be accepted in any campground that allows recreational vehicles.
Below is a brief chronology of our progress on our first edition, #1 Tiny House
This is what came before. I built this in the winter of 1987 and embarked on a journey from Fredrick Maryland in early 1988 around most of the country. I have always had an affinity for tiny. When the money ran out I chose Seattle, and after settling affairs in Frederic, I flew in on Halloween evening 1988.
This is both an integral part of what you see below, and a cherished artifact from my past. It went through some rough times, just like myself, and cried out to be resurrected. The finish was gone, the outside skin had holes in it, and the beautiful back door was destroyed by someone who bought it, busted up a lot of parts, and returned it without the door that he had unsuccefully modified. The poor thing just had to be included in the design below
The door was hung on a single giant Soss hinge and locked open with an arm that reached down both sides. The tent snapped on with camping gear clips
This is it. #1 Tiny House RV. It is very tiny, with just 60 square feet. The high part of the roof is the old camper. It has everything except a shower, and to make up for that we will include a folding sponge bath tub and all the stuff to make sponge bathing work well. The skylight is good for passive solar heating and cooling. The solar awning can produce 300 watts and adjusts to face the sun.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we chose to build our house from the roof down. We had part of the roof, and the design for the lower part was not complete. Sometimes standard practices do not make sense. Throughout this project we were gifted a remarkable amount of help from our Meetup group. Nearly a hundred people have contributed for the gift of our teaching, and simply for the enjoyment. If it is not fun, it is not sustainable, ergo, we make certain to keep it jovial.
Early stages of enclosing the old camper in a warm and cozy new roof.
This was major progress with lots of help. See the long parts in the first picture? Those are the eaves that create the serpentine shape of the roof. They were made of about 120 complex pattern cut pieces on the first full on production day. During the week my #1 volunteer and I built set ups for cutting all the pieces to a pattern with a band saw. We had never tried that before. When the crew jumped in, we had one person cutting out the foam squares, one person blowing them with the air hose to a third person who caught them. Otherwise the pieces were flying from the saw blade. The catcher passed them to a person at the chop saw who cut an angle on the corner, then passed them to a team of two who pattern cut them. It was fast, furious, and hilarious. These beginners made all those pieces for both eaves in one hour and 15 minutes. A few more weekends and the roof was basically built
Next, we applied a roofing of epoxy/fabric composite. We chose Xynel cloth to impart a texture very similar to old fashion painted down canvas. The protective paint keeps the epoxy from being damaged by ultraviolet light, and is the most durable we could find.
The windows are hand made. Nick, the man in the middle and I set up a one saw factory with drop on jigs for all the joinery. The baby factory can turn out varied sizes of our signature window in record time without adjusting the saw once
The door is also hand made and is very sturdy. In retrospect I would change the construction method for an RV because of weight considerations.
Having brought the roof to a good stopping point we shifted to building the house that goes under it. The deck comes first if you do things in anything like the normal sequence. This deck has four inches of foam insulation good for a rating of R 20.
The walls. Upper left shows the grid that forms part of the core. This type of construction is called a structural insulated panel, or SIPs panels. The grid is for connections, and the spaces between are packed with foam insulation. When skins are bonded fully to both sides the result is a panel the is very rigid, and the strength to weight ratio is much less than typical frame construction.
Timber Frame! We did this more by hand than we should have. This is a true structural frame built in the old way with mortise and tenon joints pulled tight with draw pins
We always feed our guests and volunteers a gourmet meal on plastic dishes
Some of the interior parts under way: Top left, benches and bed platform. Top right, pantry cabinet, Bottom photos: Drop leaf table and support.
The Kitchen. It has three drawers on glides, and three basket/crates that can be pulled out to carry outside for fireside cooking. The sink is a vessel sink of hand worked copper from Mexico.
As of July 2017 this is where we stood. We have taken a break from the weekly meetup, and focused on research and development of a solar awning, and utility issues such as designing the electrical pathways. These stories are yet to be told. Stay connected!