Skier's Cargo Trailer Conversion into Stealth Off-Grid Camper

Cedric Yves Denis is a freeskier who converted a cargo trailer into a super stealthy off-grid camper that he can park and live in almost anywhere! The interior is simple and functional with a converting couch bed, a wood stove, a spacious kitchen, removable table, and loads of storage. He even has a garage built into the back to house his ski gear and solar power system, and even more storage space in the bed of his pickup truck.

Video Script:: 

what's cool about the trailer is really just being able to park at all these trail heads for the most part nothing beats being able to wake up in the morning and go straight to skiing without having to drive anywhere go straight into ski boots pop off your ski boots at the end of the day and you're already home you know put some food on originally I built this thing so I could head to Western Canada and pursue a couple classes as I was looking at taken there I looked at staff housing I looked at apartments and stuff like that I just thought this was such a cool option I had a little money saved up started building this thing and when I brought it up to my parents especially my dad who's a craftsman I thought he was gonna try to talk me out of it being the sensible man that he is and on the other hand he'd been watching van life conversion videos for months on end so when I told him about this idea he was all about it and he already had all these plans and stuff so yeah this ended up being very much a father-and-son project I'm completely off grid I have solar panels on top I built this thing to be comfortable enough to live extended periods of time in without it being too complicated that wouldn't be able to fix it while on the road I started this whole build by adding an inch and a half of closed-cell spray foam all around provides fantastic insulation I then added wood planks all around its 5/8 plywood just cut into the tongue and groove to give it this log cabin feel after that we started building the cabinets and everything else you see the bed frame everything else so I heat this whole trailer with the cubic mini Grizzly it burns these little 5-inch logs it actually burns super hot the bummer part about it is it doesn't burn through the night so around around like 2 or 3 a.m. I either I gotta start filling it back up I gotta start adding a couple blankets so that's not ideal but I did get this fancy fan that works super well it's one of two ways I heat it so in the mornings when I wake up and it's a little chilly I'll start up my little propane burner which I have on the side or not I got a bunch of gear hanging here I didn't want to make a closed wardrobe or anything I really want my stuff to actually dry especially I'm skiing all the time then I have various bags a little all around the trailer helmets this is my couch turns out in my bed it's a pretty simple little six-inch piece of foam I covered it up with a sheet I also keep a bunch of storage under here right now I think all I have is I got a wetsuit some climbing gear I got a lot of tools you know little little things extra propane and then this thing pulls out this thing folds down and I got myself a bet so super simple doesn't add a ton more room but you definitely feel it when you're in such a small space these are my two closed bins are than that I keep some haps up here I keep a couple books obviously being out of the backcountry all the time I don't usually have service most the time so books definitely keep me well entertained I got a couple guides for being around the different mountains out east I got the mountain bike helmet and a bunch of little goodies in here I built this fancy little laptop holder which I also put my phone there at night ends up being pretty handy especially my head's there when I sleep my guitar oh is more things to just keep me entertained I have my solar controller so this charges the batteries I have in the back and I also have my inverter so this is only a 300 watt pure sine wave inverter I really don't run much I run my lights I charge my laptop and I charge my phone but there than that maybe a camera here and there for the most part I really don't use much electricity also I have my USB plugs here a lot more efficient to charge your phone directly off of this then instead of running it through the inverter those hot spring days I can still put my fan in and then I got a super noisy fan I work as a farmer during the summer months and people that actually fund all of my skiing for the rest of the year after that I leave and I go free ride then I do some professional guiding as well I bounced in between Japan Western Canada Eastern Canada and the states any time I'm in North America this is my main living situation I had originally budgeted for around $12,000 but things really add up quick so I think easily the trailers over 16,000 Canadian dollars which is a little bit over budget but for the luxuries that last you know $4,000 or $5,000 added really made it more comfortable and then after that I just keep adding stuff and keep changing stuff you you never really perfect the house until you're living in it I keep a like camping propane stove right here it's still pretty easy to set up but I found myself never really using it and since my fire is always on it's just so easy to just cook on my wood stove so I do that pretty much all the time and in case I don't start that would still pull this thing out then all I have to do is connect to propane I'm good to go I have a lot of kitchen gadgets in here some spices I was always looking for solutions to wax my skis while out in this thing because my inverter is not big enough to hold the heating iron to actually watch them but I found these things which are antique irons I just leave it on my wood stove for a while pop it out leave it on let it warm up and then when it's up to temp pick it right back up I can just go out back and wash my skis I only have really a cooler that I fill up with ice every once in a while it's snow and ice so it's a big Yeti 65 litre holds all the food I need you between this and keeping another cooler outside which I use is my freezer I've held enough food for easily three weeks after that I got some snacks got some Clif bars well Nutella in this cabinet we have all my cooking gear I got a little lazy at this point of the build where I didn't want to figure out how to make these cabinets work so yeah we just put a little tab and kind of keep stuff in there same thing with these other triangular ones down there as far as like using a sink and stuff goes I don't want have any pipes flowing all the way down I've had past experiences with freezing temperatures where that pipe just kind of accumulates ice really slowly and eventually just clogs up so I substitute it instead for just a bowl which I use my water out of these jugs which I can easily fill at pretty much any gas station I have one of these and another one that's doubled the size and if I need more water or anything I usually just melt snow I've got my fancy little cutting board covers everything up gives me a little extra counter space as well cut my towel holder I do have another cabinet down here holds all my toiletries got some electronics some extra towels dish soap the slower one down here holds all my boots and got these things which I found out a real gamechanger especially in frisky mornings the floors takes a while to actually warm up in the center cabinet here it's actually a lot bigger than it looks just because we're kind of in like a little triangle spot I have my crampons I got you know snow study tools first-aid kits lunch stuff like that that bottom one usually kind of a laundry dump so I just throw all my dirty laundry under there keeps it out of the way so this is my other heat source this is a buddy here it's a propane heater so I don't love using it it's usually pretty moist heat that comes out of it but on mornings where I kind of just have to get up and go just gives me enough heat to really be warm enough to just put on my clothes and stuff like that but definitely not a full time heating solution I think I do have for travel build these little things so that we could close up the cabinets and nothing falls out and we're driving and stuff like everyone else who lives in a kind of stealthy thing you need to block out a lot of light so I built these things with a nice little log cabin pattern on the back kind of fits right on top creates little extra layer of insulation as well all those really cool nights it actually makes surprisingly a big difference blocked out all the light and nobody knows I'm in here so makes it really stealthy I'll also have a table out here makes it pretty easy to work on anything if I need to work on my laptop for extended periods of time stead of just having it on my lap I take this thing out I have this little rail here and it fits on just like that easy to work on this thing is a lightning all aluminum cargo trailer it's the 6 by 12 version my trailer has the one axle this is my garage holds everything I really need different times obviously require different skis so I have my little infantry of skis I got my ladder that helps me reach the solar panels on top wipe off all that snow I changed my chimney when I'm driving as well so needed to use for that I have a bore to keep with me I've got some snowshoes saw axe a cleaner for my flue pipe in my my chimney and my whole electrical system I have 300 watts of solar on top which is what powers this entire trailer I'm completely off grid the solar panels run down from on top here come down into the solar charge controller that we saw inside it all feeds into a hundred sixteen and power carbon foam battery it's a pretty old technology that kind of resurfaced and there's not a ton of people making it I Hank and drain it all the way down like 20 percent without actually damaging anything from there on it all get speeded up to a car fuse box here and then on to the inverter and the lights and whatever else it needs to go to in the back here I also have these car jacks which come in super useful I've had up to 80 click an hour wind gusts and I just threw these two on through my front jack on as well and this thing was bomb-proof he didn't even feel it instead if I were to keep him off the whole thing would be swaying back and forth and just uncomfortable to sleep in really I also got this sweet little table I use as my waxing table for my skis on a nice day I'll probably cook out here as well I do have my surfboard back here I got my mountain bike I've got some lawn chairs yeah this whole trailer obviously was a joint effort it's not easy to build one of these things I had tremendous help from my father who's an amazing craftsman it makes it a lot easier to have help from professionals building these things it's not as glamorous as I think Instagram makes it out to be obviously there's a lot of struggles with it but it's a small little trailer it's super cozy the smaller the trailer it gets dirty a lot faster but you can clean it up super quick it's super easy to maintain and it's just such a simple lifestyle when you're out here be sure to subscribe to exploring alternatives for more videos like this you can also follow Cedric on instagram at cedric Yves Denis and Bigfoot the trailer Thanks to everyone who made this video possible and thanks for watching