Idea

I have been watching lots of youtube videos about people building mobile camper trailers, or tiny homes, etc.

I do not want to build a tiny home, because that would require me to own land.

I do not want to build a normal camper trailer, because I do not want to buy a car, or pay for the stuff required to use a car.

I do love to bike though

So, i looked into bike camper trailers, and then I found this beautiful man: https://elkinsdiy.com/nomad-bicycle-camper/

Look at him go!

Now, I could purchase his plans, for 20$, here https://elkinsdiy.com/product/nomad-bicycle-camper/

but like, i dont wanna do allat. I will buy his plans if i must but he has given me enough information to throw some ideas together.

Initial things to notice:

1. Coroplast is free from political campaign signs. You can just have it. It is also very cheap to buy online.
2. Coroplast is very light
3. Coroplast is not great at insulation
4. Coroplast flutes should run vertically for strength.
5. Very few things will stick to coroplast.
6. Paul Elkins joins coroplast segments together with zip ties, then tapes over them for waterproofing. He does not need wood or metal anywhere outside the bottom, as that is the only part that supports any meaningful weight. Everything above that is just Coroplast, zipties, and tape.
7. Coroplast will suffer from UV degredation.
   1. Paul Elkins solves this with Krylon Fusion rattle-can spray paint ( meant for plastic )
8. Room will need ventilation to avoid condensation from my breath building up.
9. Paul Elkins uses 1x2” wood for his bottom frame
10. Paul Elkins build does not solve:
    1. bathroom
    2. shower
    3. running water
    4. power
    5. and thus paul elkins build is not something you could really live in immediately, though it is a nice place to be, and get some work done, if able to hide it in an urban area somewhere.
    6. I do not particularly need my build to be a place one could really live in. I would just like it to be a nice place to be as well. The closer it can get to being truly livable, the better, though. Shower can be gotten through Gyms, bathrooms can be gotten through pissing in the forrest, power can be gotten through solar, and I could setup a clean and graywater tank for running water, but those things would all take up weight and space, which is unnecessary. Can really just fill up a water bottle for water, at that gym. Can have one of those collapsible toilets just in case. Can charge a Jackery battery at the gym while I shower. Would be livable without REAL versions of these things, and would be so much easier to make, so i think I will just ignore them largerly.
11. Brompton can attach trailer to these without impacting folding once trailer is removed:
    1. wheel axle
       1. https://shop.radoxx.de/Trailer-AxXle-FG-10-5-13-32-x-26-Vollachsen-Adapter-fuer-Fahrradanhaenger/R27111-0084
       2. or https://www.thule.com/en-gb/bike-trailers/bike-trailer-accessories/thule-internal-hub-hitch-adapter-sram-_-20100798 like people say they use with https://www.thule.com/en-us/bike-trailers/bike-trailers-for-kids/thule-chariot-cross-single-_-10202021
    2. rear rack
    3. seatpost
12. Burley travoy is often used with bromptons, and attaches to the seatpost
13. Paul Elkins uses wood for the bottom frame of the trailer, and electrical conduit for the legs
    1. i could just use electrical conduit for the bottom frame, then layer of chloroplast, then throw a thin layer of plywood on top (1/4”) to create a more solid floor. I would still layer coroplast further on top of it.
14. Paul Elkins trailer is a “simple design using a Heim joint rod end and electrical conduit”
    1. here are heim joints
    2. to make the hitch connection, i can grab some 1/2” conduit, bend in s shape, flatten the last 2 inches of it ( big hammer, or vise ), drill 10mm hole through center of flattened section. Then, grab heim joint, thread an m10 nut onto it, slide the threaded tail into the hole in the drilled conduit, and throw a second nyloc nut on the other end of the threaded tail.
    3. to connect to bike, screw radoxx adapter onto brompton axle. radoxx adapter gives me an m10 bolt end sticking out. Slide eye of heim joint over that bolt end, then secure with fender washer + nyloc nut.
15. Paul Elkins uses “foil backed bubble insulation” which is super ugly.
16. I could use XPS Foam Board for insulation https://www.homedepot.com/b/Building-Materials-Insulation-Foam-Board-Insulation/XPS/N-5yc1vZbaxxZ1z0w1xo
    1. I would do Krylon fusion → coroplast (outermost layer ) → krylon fusion → 3m 78 spray adhesive → 1/2” xps foam → 3m 78 spray adhesive → krylon fusion → coroplast
       1. alternatively, can sandpaper down coroplast, or hit it with a propane torch, to make 3m 78 spray adhesive stick to it, if I do not want to waste the krylon fusion.
       2. there would be no frame except for the floor. All above the floor would just be this structure i just described, no wood framing or anything like that.
17. You can bond coroplast together with heat instead of zipties, but you need a lot of heat. Melting point of 160-170c ( 320-340F ). Printer bed maxes out at 110c. Clothing iron maxes out at 180-220C though. Clothing iron + parchment paper for protection = heat bond coroplast, instead of zip tieing it together. Could be better. Can also use soldering iron with flat tip for this, but am sacrificing flat tip. Soldering iron would have me grab a scrap strip of coroplast, put it up next to 2 surfaces i wanna bond, and then melt it into both.
    1. there are a bunch of different ways to mess this up, and from what i am seeing tape + ziptie + sillicon 1 is legitimately the best way to do this.
18. If do not want to heat bond, zip ties covered by Red Tyvek Tape would work. Ziptie + sillicon 1 + tape on top would be best in a non heat bound scenario.
    1. paul did just zipties + tape, and his lasted 9 years.
19. Venting can be done with a small fan and a “no-see-um” mesh, likely intake lower on the ground, output higher up.
20. Winter cold can be solved via insulation + body heat + small space
21. Summer hot cannot be solved as easily.
    1. swamp cooler can make things cooler if it is not a humid day. there are portable swamp coolers.
    2. Coroplast outside will be white, so there’s that.
    3. whirlybird vent could be nice for airflow. Need a computer fan or similar to force airflow.
    4. Water cooled mattress pad could also be goated. They also work like swamp coolers though, so may need ice if it is a humid day.
    5. seems like summer will just generally be sucky though on a hot humid day, unless i get a expensive ass system like a https://www.zerobreeze.com/products/zero-breeze-mark-2?variant=29542713720934 which would cool it down for 3-5 hours.
22. Could add a small water tank.
23. Could add a small portable toilet.
    1. probably wouldnt.
24. Door:
    1. can use piano hinge for opening vertically. Can attach through the chloroplast → foam → chloroplast sandwitch with bolts, nylock nuts, and fender washers.
    2. can make door larger than the area around it by an inch, to stop weather from ingress. Can add d profile weatherstripping to inside too.
    3. Can use plastic u channels to make edges of door not look super ugly.
    4. Can add sliding bolt when closed so that it cannot be opened from outside.
    5. Can add eyelet on front, so can padlock it shut from outside, though of course that wont be super secure, it is a plastic box, any security is just to keep people honest.
25. wheels can be BMX front wheels or wheelchair wheels.
26. i am 18 and strong, so as long as this thing is below 200 pounds, i am pretty confident i can comfortably bike with it. I have done 3 person biking up hills and it has been fine on my mountain bike. Towing is of course different, and has different dangers ( brakes could fail, if have enough weight ). Paul’s was 40 pounds, I am sure mine wont be more than 80. It will also not go very long distances, probably not more than 4 miles at a time, and probably not down any big hills ( brakes ).
27. Trailer would have metal feet I could make it stand up on.
28. I would want somewhere for the brompton to go when i was in the trailer. Perhaps locked to the metal frame underneath the trailer somewhere, when the trailer is stood up on it’s feet. Perhaps inside the trailer if I can get the space, without taking up sleeping space. Storing brompton inside trailer, then locking trailer door, and locking trailer wheels, would also be nice when going somewhere without brompton, from the the starting point of the trailer.

Proposal:

• get coroplast from campaign signs
• get electrical conduit
• get plywood for floor
• get foam board for insulation
• get wheels
• construct the basic proof of concept for this

Once constructed, would then build a way to attach to brompton by attaching to wheel axle.

after doing all this research, i have realized a few more things:

1. i knew towing anything on a brompton was a weird choice and highly unsupported, but rim brakes means it is also unsafe to tow any meaningful weight
2. because of how the brompton axle is setup, when i brake or pedal forward the trailer will probably lurch back and forth, which may wear stuff out quicker, which sucks.
3. trailer has huge surface area, and is very light, so may be tipped over by wind.
4. a real big ebike would make weight not a concern, so you could do a heavy trailer, and it’s fine, and my dad has an ebike, but an ebike also could not be stored in the trailer ( too large ), so it would be much sketchier to spend any time in your trailer, as you would constantly have to check to make sure no one had stolen your bike. not good.
5. This is gonna suck in summer, and there’s no real way around that without spending absurd amounts of money
   1. any real AC unit will suck up infinite power and be super expensive and often large
   2. swamp coolers will only work sometimes ( pretty much just the afternoon in NC )
      1. that mattress thing was based on a swamp cooler, so no good.

I should find better ways to do luxurious stealth camping. I think this may not be worth it, even though it is a cool idea.

pressure treated wooden frame → sheet metal → coroplast floor