Ok, so don't shot me for pasting this info below as it is from another thread. But after ordering and picking ours up, here is what we consider we would do different next time:
Here is some things:
- Get the 7’ ceiling, or ceiling height that will accommodate you and the lights mounted.
- Make sure the doors are tall enough for you to walk in and out without banging the schit outta your head (those of you who have been in my trailer know what I mean; you WILL bang your head!)
- Check the thickness of the exterior walls. Mine is thinner than others.
- 8’ porch is good for me. I have a BWS Fat-Boy and WSM 22” I put back there.
- As Kit mentioned, make sure you can get the smallest “lip” that is at the bottom of the doorway going out to the porch. You WILL trip over it, and it makes it much easier to wheel smokers, etc…, in an out. The “lip” on my trailer is much smaller than Kit’s trailer and I’m ok with it.
- I ordered the doors on mine to be the RV type that have built in screen doors. The mistake I made was not requesting them to be “true RV” type doors. By that I mean the top corners are rounded and not square. I cannot put a retractable (Dometic brand) awning on mine that will cover the door on the side. The top of the door on the side is only about 5-6 inches from the roof. If I were to put an awning up that went over the door, I could never lower it. The rounded corner RV type door and taller ceiling/roof will allow you to have an awning that will cover the door and you can lower it. Even though the top of the door will scrap the underside of the awning when it is lowered, that’s ok. I have had 4 travel trailers and all were the same way; rounded doors.
- Make sure the roof is one (1) solid piece of metal. Mine is four (4) different sheets with the seams crimped and coated with some goopy stuff. It might not ever leak, but if I had to do it over again, I would request the solid piece design.
- Make sure the ATP on the porch and/or the inside floor (if that is what you go with) is thick. Mine is not as thick as I would like for it to be.
- If you get a V-Nose, ask that the exposed frame be extended a little so you can easily install weight distribution bars and steering stabilizer. I had to have the system modified a little bit to work for me. It was not that big of a deal, but, it is something I would have asked for if I had known up front.
- Ask to have stabilizers installed instead of trying to do it yourself. They will re-enforce the frame to accommodate them.
- If you get a roof mounted air conditioner installed, ask to have another roof vent framed out and installed. I know I would have.
- As for insulation, check to see what is available from the seller/manufacture. I ordered mine without insulation as I have seen where they will use Styrofoam board. I did not want that and once I got it home, I took down all the 3/8” plywood walls and installed the Rmax Thermasheath-3 R-6 insulation board from Home Depot. It really helps with temps, helps with the rigidness of the walls and ceiling and really quiets the trailer.
- Ask Kit mentioned about the outside external plug/port for your power cable, might want to consider that. I have a 25’ shore cord that I snake through the hole in the floor to connect mine. No problems for us.
- Consider if you want 120 volt AC / 12 volt DC power convertor or not. EDIT: We installed the convertor ourselves. The trailer came with just a regualt 50AMP breaker panel. I went with that as I can run the 12 volt lights, BBQ Guru, car radio, etc… from an external mounted 12 volt deep cycle battery. If I lost 120 volt AC and did not feel like starting up the generators, I could get by for a while with lights inside, and run the BBQ Gurus.
- 8’ wide at least.
- D-rings: Do you want them? Inside, outside??? Make sure that if you have them installed either place the builder reinforces the underside of the floor with metal plates. I saw one where they just drilled holes through the ATP and used a couple of washers on the underside right up next to the bottom side of the plywood flooring. Not good!!!
- E-Track: Do you want it, need it? Most likely you want and will need it. You can purchase the stuff yourself and install where you want.
- I would have ordered 5,000lb axels with 16” wheels.
- Do you want any type plumbing? Shower? Toilet? Etc……..
- Make sure your door openings are wide enough to move your smokers or other wide items in and out!!!
If you look at Myron Mixon’s trailer, he has Freedom Trailers build his, but I am sure they go out of their way to make sure it is quality. Also, he has electric jacks for all four corners of his trailer for stabilizers; nice!!!
Also, you are more than welcome to come take a look at mine.
We paid $7,000 even. Ordered it from wowcargotrailers.com who they subbed it out to southgeorgiacargo.org trailers in Pearson, GA. They are down the road about 25 miles from Lang Smokers.
What we got/ordered was: the trailer, 16' enclosed (not including the V-nose part which is about 2') and 8' porch, with 50AMP AC panel, 2-4’ 120 volt florescent lights, 1-12 volt light inside, 1-12 volt light outside for porch, 2-120 volt outlets (which I rewired most of the stuff anyways), 3/8” plywood walls, no ceiling cover (they normally use 1/8’ luan board), 13,500 BTU air conditioner with heat strip (the heat strip will NOT heat the trailer if it is really cold; it will only "take the chill out of the air"), RV screen doors, no spare tire.
I know of another team that ordered a "porch trailer" but it was called a "deck" during the deal and when they went to pick it up, well, it was a deck with no roof!!!! Make sure of what you order!!!
Ask (demand) a CAD drawing and/or some type blueprint!!!
We removed the walls, installed the Rmax insulation, did some caulking where the overlapping of exterior walls met, and some other places, installed Rmax in the ceiling, installed ¼” plywood, redid the entire electrical system so we have about 8 - 120 volt outlets including one outside on the porch (I should have installed another outlet one the side close by the side door), painted the floor and walls with high grade outdoor paint, installed some rubber type flooring material that is normally used in garages (got the idea from DivaQ here on the forum; purchase it from Sam’s online), installed FRP on all walls, going to have the stabilizers installed in the next couple of weeks, and looking for an electric jack for the front.
