Franswa's Trailer :: "The Breeze"
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"The Breeze"
Franswa Franswa is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Courtenay, BC
Posts: 1,163
Registry
Trailer Name "The Breeze"
Year 1997
Make Bigfoot
Model B 17 CB
Length 17 feet
History Unfortunately The Breeze can't talk and the previous owner was not much help with any history...

I live on Vancouver Island (Courtenay). I bought this trailer in Sept. 2013. This is my first RV.

After twenty odd years of sailboats (trailersailors), I made the switch to a "land yacht"....I kept it as small as I could stand it because I already knew that "the smaller the boat, the more it gets used, the more interesting places it gets to"....I figured that RVing would be a lot like that too.

The trailering is the easy part. I used to trailer a boat (Mac 26 S) that weighed 1/3 more than the BF and was ten feet longer. The BF now sits in my backyard where the boat used to live.
Interior
Calling a 41 inch wide bed a "double" is just wishful thinking.......so I cut two inches off the dinette table (bulkhead end) to make it fit and fill in the area between the kitchen cabinets and the fridge. This turns the rear bed area into a "V-berth" (like in a boat except the access is from the narrow end)...a dinette seatback just fits between the fridge and kitchen cabinets...a 12" wide strip of foam fills in the last bit. The new bed is 6' long... it is 6' wide at the top end for the first 42"... and then 40" wide the rest of the way.

I removed the center panel from the overhead cabinet above the sofa so that all the bedding could be rolled up in a bundle and stuffed / stored up there during the day...a relatively quick and easy put away / deploy process

Cutting two inches off the table greatly improved access to the left dinette seat when the table is set up (it used to be a real squeeze to get in there before)

The dinette area without the table there makes for a nice open area at the front of the trailer...so much so that after a while I devised a way to store the table vertically against the front bulkhead and enjoy that extra space whenever I want...I like that configuration while traveling...parked at home...loading/unloading...or working on the inside of the trailer.

storage area above dinette...added dividers to create two 28" wide compartments with their own access doors (for his/hers clothes storage) and a seperate linen closet. Doors turned up side down...cargo netting on the back

towel rack relocated to wall outside bathroom....bathroom door turned upside down so it opens the other way (towels stay dry and are within easy reach of the shower)

moved/replumbed the 2" heat duct that used to come out under the dinette table...it now sends heat into the bathroom

Exterior

Customization
a few storage solutions / improvements

counter extension for right side of kitchen...doubles as a serving tray for taking items outside and back into the trailer...stores against the wall at the back of the stove...storing/deploying is a one handed operation (aluminium support bar doubles as extra rack for drying dishtowels)

built two drawers for the area under the rear sofa...when closed they make contact with the back wall... as the front drops 1.5" to the floor the top front corners get "trapped" by the opening side to side (no movement whatsoever during travel) these drawers serve as the coach pantry

built a shallow cabinet for the bathroom...mounted it on the wall just below the existing storage comparment

moved/re-routed the two heating ducts under fridge to make room for a pastic tub that is now the coach tool box

Renovations
Electrical system: I got rid of the converter/charger...moved breaker/fuse panel to an area that was previously difficult / impossible to use for anything else...a charger is mounted under dinette seat, plugged into new receptacle on its own breaker.

Two six volt GC batteries located under the right dinette seat in a custom made battery box.
There is 70W of solar panels on the roof and a 40W deployable panel stored inside trailer.

Small, portable 150W inverter to power laptop or small TV and charge devices (only AC needed/used when unplugged)

All lights switched to LEDs

Area where power center used to be converted to a shoe storage drawer

Other Information
If anybody is wondering where "The Breeze" name comes from....highlight and open either of these links...J.J. Cale said it all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aCOMU6qpJI

https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=i8hLDGqjcKs

Tow Vehicle
07 Dodge Nitro, 3.7L, auto, 4x4, tow package

The goal was to explore northern Vancouver Island....perhaps drop the trailer off somewhere, go find a remote, suitable spot with the truck, come back and get trailer....that spot could be up high in the middle of a logging slash (log landing) or on the shore of some lake...where the kayaks will come in handy.
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