If you have a fair amount of wood working skills and are comfortable with wood working tools, I believe that you can build your own Tiny Travel Trailer from my easy-to-follow plans. I consider myself an average, not expert, woodworker. When I began this project, I had never built something of this size before except for a couple of utility buildings, nor had I ever done any cabinetry work.

My plans are more detailed than most that I’ve seen. I wrote them the way I would like to see plans written. The 69 pages of written instructions take you step-by-step through the build with detail and embedded illustrations. I have created 39 pages of diagrams with dimensions and helpful notes for all phases of the build. I photographed the entire process and provide over 300 photos to augment the instructions. All of these provide a surprising amount of detail to help you complete your build successfully. If you can read, you can follow these plans.

I provide parts and tool lists and helpful WEB links and sources for hard to find parts.

The cabin frame is constructed from spruce or clear pine with an outside skin of1/4” hardwood plywood and inside skin of 1/8” paneling or hardwood plywood. It is the plywood that provides most of the rigidity and strength of the cabin. The side wall frames are3/4” thick and the front, back, and top frames are 1 1/2” thick. The area between the outside and inside skins is filled with Styrofoam insulation. All electrical wiring is run between the skins. The exterior skin is sealed with epoxy, then primed and painted with exterior enamel paint. Optionally, the outside skin can be finished as a Woody, or covered with sheets of aluminum or RFP (reinforced fiberglass paneling).

Before I added my couch cushions and 3" memory foam topper, I weighed the trailer at a truck stop. They trailer was first unhooked from my truck with jack stand lowered with the trailer and the truck on separate scales. I am not sure they let me get off the scale before registering the weight, so my 170 lbs may have been included in the 1400 lbs that it did register. I am going under the assumption that the weight did not include me on the scale. With my camping gear (camp stove, cooler, bedding, and misc. stuff), I think I am probably towing approximately 1600 to 1600 lbs.

Some of the dry weight could probably be reduced by using lighter materials in some areas. My galley counter and top of the porta-potti cabinet are both 3/4" oak plywood, when 1/4" or 3/8" would have been sufficient. Besides, nothing very heavy will rest on either surface. I have estimated that the chassis is about 350 lbs of the total 1400 lbs dry weight. I used 1/8" x 2" x 2" square tubular steel for the frame and 1/4" x 2" x 2" tubular steel for the tongue. The frame could probably be made with a little lighter steel, but I woudln't want to go below 3/16" x 2" x 2" tubular or 3/16" 2" x 3" channel steel for the tongue. Except for the expense, an aluminum frame would be ideal.

I made my own 5' x 9' chassis from locally purchased steel and axle. My axle is a Dexter Torflex torsions axle for a softer suspension, although a spring axle can be used. A ready-made 5' x 8' chassis could be modified to 9’ long, although the axle placement might have to be moved to achieve the correct tongue weight. Having a trailer made by a local manufacturer to my specs is an option. Finding an old trailer that can be purchased cheaply and stripped down to the frame is another option.

If I had known that I would be selling plans to build the Squidget, I would have designed it to fit on a standard size trailer one could buy. There are several ways to modify the Squidget to fit a 5' x 8' trailer such as the Harbor Freight trailer item #93747 and one of these modifications is shortening the cabin by a foot and widening it by 16 to 20 inches with fender wells inside which would leave room to built in an enclosed potty room. One could possibly fit it on a 4' x 8' trailer frame with 6” overlap off the frame all the way around, but I’m not sure I would want to do this due to problems with balance and load capacity. If you would like to discuss these modifications, please email me.

This is a question that I've been asked a lot as garage storage in the Winter is a plus. Unfortunately, as it is, the Squidget it too high to fit through a standard garage door while allowing stand-up height inside. There are modifications that can be made which would allow it through a 7' high garage doorway. One is to lower the roofline to the point where you cannot stand upright, or to install a "sunken" (i.e. "drop-down") floor area by the galley where you could stand upright. I would be happy to discuss either these with you via email.

I have not put any kitchen equipment in my trailer yet. I plan on using a camp stove, mostly outside. The countertop is large enough to easily install a cooking unit and sink. There is adequate room for a 5-10 gallon water tank.

No. Nearly everything is available locally (most of it came from Lowes, Home Depot and Harbor Freight). I did have problems looking for mobile home type awning windows, so I purchased windows designed for a teardrop camper that worked out great. Later, I found a source for a surplus dealer who sells awning type windows at very reasonable prices. My RV door can be purchased at most RV dealers. I found one at Redneck Trailer near my home, but bought from a local RV surplus dealer at a lower price. My electrical converter, windows, and ceiling vent/fan were purchased online.

It is possible to build the TTT 4 2 with basic hand tools, but I would recommend at a minimum to have a table or radial saw, orbital sander, belt sander and at least one power drill/screwdriver. Other optional tools to make the job easier would be a router drill press. Also, hand tools such as a pocket hole jig, tools to measure and transfer angles, level, squares, etc. are very helpful. I have a section in my plans about these tools.

My final cost was around $4200. I opted for quality materials and some high-end items like the 5000 BTU A/C unit, quality mattress/seat cushions, crank-out windows made for campers, a standard RV door with integrated screen door, and a Fantastic Aire 3-speed, reversible vent fan. Your cost could be less or more than mine depending on how well you shop for parts and supplies and on what you want to put into it. My stated costs did not include costs of any additional tools that you want to buy. I considered my tool purchasess an investment for future use, not part of the trailer cost.

For 18 years, I was a Proposal Manager, involved in creating, writing and managing proposals to sell multi-million dollar information technology solutions to the Federal Government. This work involved both technical and business writing and creating graphic presentations, diagrams and illustrations using Microsoft Office Tools, Adobe Acrobat Professional and Visio Business Graphics software, all of which were used to create these plans.

Actually, I had nothing to do with the creation of the name Squidget. A fellow tiny trailer enthusiest, Andrew, an engineer living in England coined the name. Two of the three trailer designs (Midget and Widget...the latter being a Winter Midget) that inspired my design were his. Andrew said my trailer looked like a squared off Midget trailer, therefore, it ought to be called the Squidget, so Squidget it was. A few months later, when my trailer was almost completed, I considered changing the name to something more conventional, but the majority of the members of the Tear Drop and TTT forum who responded to my idea of changing it said NO...Keep the name Squidget, so I did.