A new LivinLiter

[illusha]

*stands up* Hello. My name is "illusha" and I'm a LivinLiter. I never thought I'd be one until recently. Here's my story. I've eyed LivinLite campers before, but never thought I'd get to own one, due to their price and relative rarity. I'm more used to the regular aluminum box cargo-type haulers and they serve their purpose well, but I must be getting older, so I've lately caught myself thinking about a toyhauler with more amenities or a travel trailer. Yet so much product out there has a ridiculous build quality. So many are stick built, it's sad, they are still building trailers from WOOD in the 21st century. Then there are ones with walls you can punch a fist through. And most of them have rubber roofs and wooden floors. Mic drop. Having had a few motorhomes before, I knew that I wanted nothing with wood inside ever again, no way. I have no time for that. I almost talked myself into a fully molded fiberglass trailer. Then I read about them getting internal leaks and needing the floors rebuilt from the inside and I was done with that idea. So I decided to stick with aluminum boxes. This time looking more for an "all-aluminum" unit to avoid frame rust. Almost started building my own conversion based on a 28ft FL snowmobile trailer and I still might some day. But then it happened. I came across this unique original 2012 (manufactured 05/2011) LivinLite VRV 615 with 4400 lbs GVWR tandem axles and a tipout tent. Never before did I think that I'd be okay with such a small unit. But now I see all the numerous advantages of this one off road and in emergency situations. So I think this trailer is here to stay. This particular trailer is already modified with a full solar system and a unique water system. I started posting about them here and then decided to move the discussion to a separate build thread in another section of this forum. Stay tuned for more details coming up.

[ADR]

Interesting system on the side- had to look it up.  An evaporative cooler built by Webasto. 

Are you in a dry part of the US?   I know those are used quite a bit in low humidity areas-

[Diversteve]

I love the solar water heater on the front!
Welcome aboard.

[DavidM]

Ok, I see the coil of tubing as a solar water heater and I think that the thing on the top side is the evaporative cooler, but what is the white plastic corrugated looking thing lower on the side?

Edit: The white plastic corrugated thing is the water tank for the evaporative cooler. Another question- how much DC does it use?

Interesting technology at work. The solar heater only works if the front is in the sun and the evaporative cooler only works if in dry climates. But in open, dry camping areas it should work fine.

David

[illusha]

It's true that there are some limitations to some of these alternative gizmos. But that's like everything else in life. Regular AC and water heater have their own needs and drawbacks.

Solar water coil was handmade from copper. It holds 20 Gal of water. It gets warm enough when it's sunny outside even in 50*F ambient temperature. I'd imagine that it works in colder temperatures as long as there is direct sunlight shining on it for a few hours. I still have to experiment with this system and take a refresher on solar water heating concepts.

Evaporative water cooler is actually made in Spain by Dirna (purchased by Bergstrom Climate Control Systems in 2013). They've been making top notch Bycool Mochila truck cab coolers since 1980. The Aussie Webasto reseller probably gets away with it because they are on the other side of the world. It's true that evaporative coolers work best in dry climates. But I've tried it around here, an hour away from the coast with relative humidity 30% and it's making quite a difference, I'm not asking for much as far as AC goes most of the time.

As for the specs on Bycool Mochila units, they have internal and external tanks totaling 7 Gal capacity and flow 470 CFM, mine is a 12v DC model with "low electrical consumption" of 0.8 AH - 8 AH.

I should have probably mentioned that this trailer was custom built by the last owner for Burningman...

[Paul]

Welcome to the forum!

[Chappy133]

Welcome and enjoy your camper.