Camping Cabin Concept

Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about drawing the free plans for the 8×20 Solar House with Gables. I’ve just had my head filled with two other tiny house concepts, a new design for Nine Tiny Feet and this tiny camping cabin concept. I spent a couple hours tonight drawing this new version of the camping cabin and thought I’d give you a peek at what I’m noodling over.

The idea is to simply design a tiny house that would be lightweight, aerodynamic, and suitable for a family of three on weekend trips. The configuration borrows some of the ideas I’m using in the Tiny Free House like a flip-open bench/bed on one wall, a sleeping loft for two and a little bathroom and kitchen. But this tiny house wouldn’t be built out of pallets because that would make it much to heavy. This tiny house would need to be very lightweight and easy to tow.

The house would sit on a small single-axle 7 by 12 foot trailer with the walls on the inside (not over) the wheels and fenders. This would make construction easier although it would also make the house only about 7 feet wide. I added a porch because I can imagine spending a lot of time outside this house. The aerodynamic roof line would make it easier to tow down the highway.

The porch is 2 feet deep which should be just enough for sitting or getting in out of the rain while opening the door. The house itself is only 10 feet long so the total living space would be less that 70 square feet. Two people could sleep in the loft and one below in the twin sized flip out bench/bed. There’s a little storage space over the porch, (across from the loft), and a little more under the bench/bed.

I can see building the bathroom as a wet bath or just as a tiny private space for a composting or chemical toilet. I’ve drawn it with a composting toilet. The kitchen cabinets aren’t deep enough for a mini fridge but just right for a small 12VDC cooler. I didn’t draw any solar panels on the roof but adding a small RV solar panel kit on a house like this would give you just enough power if you wanted to camp off-the-grid.

Also not in the drawing are transparent skylights above the loft so you could look up at the stars at night. These would also help with alleviating the claustrophobia some may experience in such a small space. Julia suggested both the flower boxes and skylights.

Above: Bench/Bed folded up into a bench.

Below: Bench/Bed folder open into a bed.

Before I move onto the drawing the free plans for the 8×20 Solar House with Gables, I want to whip up a 3D drawing of a super lightweight design for Nine Tiny Feet that’s been cooking in my head this past week. It’s a triangular 3 walled micro house with a 7-foot tall shed roof. The habitable living space will be only nine square feet. It will have a grey water soil box like the last variation plus a rain water collection system. The main difference between this new design and the previous design is that there will be no sleeping loft. Instead the bed would fold-out to make a flat 80″ long space for laying down above the kitchen counter and seat. I’ll do my best to post that design in the next few days. It works great in my head; I’m just not sure how it will look in pixels.

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