Trailers

I have been looking at trailers since I got back early last week and went out again this morning to look some more. I want an 18 footer- which is not the easiest to find. They are running around $2300-$3300 depending on the load they will carry and the brand. Really most of those on the cheaper end wil probably do. I am a little concerned about weight as 7000 lbs trailers(2- 3500 lb axels) will weigh 1500lbs- 2000lbs so that leaves 5000 for the load and I am just not sure how heavy this house will be. Wish I could just get the 5000 lb axels without the beefed up trailer. I have been scheming on two other thoughts too. 1. have someone build me a custom trailer- the axels I want without the wood deck and a bunch of other things I don't need. and 2. Could i build this myself. Maybe if my sister- miss welder herself- was out here I would tackle that but just seems like too much to take on and also get building here soon. I will keep looking and hope to have this taken care of by next week.
6/12/10 After a couple weeks of looking I finally decided on a 7000 GVW less beefy trailer that I will do a few modifications on to fit my needs.

Resources

I am going to make a list of resources for building small - hopefully I will be able to update it as I go.
Heaters:
I like these first two stoves but they are pricey
Wood
http://www.marinestove.com/sardineinfo.htm
Propane
http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/
and a link to another list of many different small stoves
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000666.php

Refrigerators:

Kate relaxing at home and my tiny house design

The 18 footer plans I drew up this afternoon.

Sharing house designs in Boston

Boston

It is Sunday evening and we have returned to rural New York after spending the weekend at the tiny house workshop in Boston. Was very interesting. I didn't learn what I had thought I might, however am taking home some pretty valuable information non the less. I have pretty much decided to build an 18 footer, but have another delema to solve- whether to place it on a trailer bed or just build it sturdy enough to ride on a flatbed when/if I need to move it. I'll figure that all out in the next few days so I can get cutting and hammering soon. I had some fun today drawing up potential house plans which I will post here shortly. I think they will be my basic plan and I can then just make adjustments as I go.
Last night we visited Harvard Square-we wondered around looking at the buildings and wondering what things must be like there- there were tons of chairs sprawled across the lawn outside the church -guessing for graduation-pretty cool.
Tomorrow its back to the west coast. It has been so great here with cheesepuff. So nice to spend a little time together, talk about life and tiny house ideas.

Planning

I haven't completely decided on the size of trailer I will get- thinking 18' but 16' may be all I will need.
I have been doing some unplanned indoor plumbing in my main trailer house so am scheming on pluming in the new one as well- hopefully will not run into the same problems that I am here.

My summer project is about to begin. In a few short weeks I will be traveling to Boston to partake in a workshop on the wonders of tiny house building offered by Jay Shafer the master of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Check it out: http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/