Life in a Small Place

Barbara's counterpoint to Life in the Slow Lane: Life in a Small Space

Brownsville, TX





The Boma is a 21 ft travel trailer built by the Canadian company Safari Condo. The primary reasons we chose the Alto A2124 (https://safaricondo.com/en/travel-trailer-alto-serie-a-2124/) was because of its shape and light weight. The pointed and down sloped nose and tail helps the trailer be more aerodynamic. By reducing wind resistance (or drag) one decreases the energy required to tow it. With an all-electric car, energy efficiency is paramount. Depending on the weather (e.g. headwind vs. tail wind) we can tow the Boma for 150 miles before needing to re-charge the car battery.

The Boma is not as tiny as a teardrop, pop-up or some other trailer designs, but it is small, especially when inhabited with another. It has been 12 weeks on the road living in the Boma with Krem and Pemba. To illustrate (and perhaps validate) my experience of life in this small space, I created a sketch of the layout.

With my 12” ruler I measured the floor spaces where one can stand and take steps. This turns out to be 3,635 square inches which equals 25.2 square feet.



When one opens the door from outside and steps up into the Boma one arrives at the “entry hall”. The entry hall is 9.5 sq.ft. In two and a half steps one goes from front door to refrigerator door. From the the refrigerator one can turn left and enter the “thoroughfare”, which functions as the central artery of the Boma and covers 8.7 sq.ft. of flooring.

To use the kitchen one stands in the thoroughfare. To get to the bed or use the head one traverses the thoroughfare. The person using the kitchen can press themselves up against the counter to make room in the thoroughfare for the other person to pass by, or use the head.

The “head” consists of a toilet, sink and 3 sq.ft. of standing room. One can pull a shower curtain to create a shower stall.

What I term the “bonus bed area” is an additional 4 sq.ft. of flooring made possible by unmaking the bed. The morning ritual of unmaking the bed entails folding back the comforter, sheets and memory foam topper. Next step is to remove a rectangle section of the bed platform. This gets used to weigh down and hold in place the memory foam and bedding that has been folded back. The newly revealed 4 sq.ft. of floor space permits one to stand and reach into overhead storage cupboards. This is much easier than crawling and kneeling over the foot of the bed in order to find or put away clothing.

From entryway to the bonus bed area I can take a maximum of six contiguous steps. Small space, small walk.

On the occasions when I have the Boma all to myself I move quickly to clear off all flat surfaces: the kitchen counter, the benches for sitting, the dining table, and triangular shaped sideboard. I put all window shades into their maximum open position and if the weather is conducive, I open the windows to invite the outdoors in. This bolsters the illusion that Boma is bigger than the small space my ruler shows it to be. 

Stay tuned for more Life in a Small Place!


xoxox

Barbara


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