Hi all! Joanne found her way here.

[Joanne]

Hi all,

Joanne here. Some of you might remember me from the Teardrop board. When I started thinking about building a Grasshopper I didn't feel that I was welcome to participate there. (I still read, but don't post) I just stumbled across this list and was pleased to find somewhere I won't have to fret about the type of camping trailer I want to build. (Please understand that I'm not upset about the other list. I understand that their focus is on traditional tears and I'm glad to see the renewed interest in tears. I just need somewhere my not-so-traditional ideas are welcome.)

I've recently learned how to ride motorcycles so a lot of my free time has been spent cruising around on my bike rather than building a trailer. My current project is to cut down a small HF trailer and rebuild it into a motorcycle cargo trailer. I'm hoping to finish it up this weekend. The frame is complete but I have to mount the fenders and then start on the paint and wiring.

I have acquired an old boat trailer that I'm going to use as the foundation for my grasshopper. It needs to be shortened and reworked a little, but I think it's a real solid trailer. Hopefully I can get started this fall when the weather starts to cool down.

My original thought was to build a really nice teardrop, but the more I thought about it, the more overwhelmed I felt. Now I'm thinking about building a simple 'hopper that I have confidence that I can successfully complete.

I was pleased to see my grasshopper drawing in the photo archive. I did that as a quick design exercise one afternoon when I had some free time.

Anyway, I'm glad I found my way here.

Joanne

[tdthinker]

I plan to build a grasshopper too, welcome to the club!

[Shrug53]

Yeah, you should talk to ryan, he is planning on building no less than 20 trailers which he will be hauling with his fleet of automobiles!

[Nick Taylor]

Welcome aboard Joanne. Grasshopper talk is welcome here. Even though I have one of those traditional tears I still have the urge to build something different and like all the creativity that goes into all styles of tiny trailers.

Nick.

[tdthinker]

lol, thats right shrug, I will have one for every 2 weeks of the year, lol, I wish, someday I would like a canned ham, origanal tear, and hopefully first an allterain grasshopper. And hey, When you own a car lot you can pull with what you want. Someday I would like to build tears and travel trailers for a living.

[mikeschn]

Welcome Joanne,

You are welcome to talk grasshopper, or motorcyclehopper, or any other hopper you can think of here! LOL.

Please share your design ideas with us too. We enjoy looking at new designs and sharing ideas!

Mike...

[BufordT]

Joanne,

I am glad that you are not upset that I posted your pic of the grasshopper design you had done eariler. I really liked the design and used some of it unknowingly when I build my mini hopper.

Welcome aboard.

Bufordt

[rambler65]

Welcome Joanne,

You are welcome to talk grasshopper, or motorcyclehopper, or any other hopper you can think of here!

Even Dennis Hopper and Edward Hopper? : )

[Shrug53]

Kwai Chang, do you not hear the sound of the grasshopper at your feet?

[tdthinker]

I would love to see your plans Joanne.

[Joanne]

Thanks for all the kind welcomes!


[quote]I would love to see your plans Joanne.[/quote]

To be honest, I don’t have any real plans at this time. I have given quite a bit of thought to what I would like in a trailer, what I need in a trailer, and what I can realistically hope to build. When I first started thinking about building a trailer I really wanted a teardrop.
As I thought more and more about it, the complexity (and projected cost) continued to rise. I wasn’t long before I had a trailer in my mind that I didn’t have a chance of successfully building or financing. I pretty much gave up my dream of building a trailer.

Recently I have started thinking about the whole trailer concept again. This time I started thinking about how I would use the trailer rather than how I wanted it to look. I finally concluded that I want a trailer that strikes a balance between looks, functionality, cost, and amenities I want. I’m not going on the “Show Trailer” circuit, rather I want something I can hook up to my SUV on the spur of the moment and head out camping. Once I realized that my main goal was camping rather than impressing people with my craftsmanship, the design came together quite easily.

I have some skill in metal work, but minimal experience in wood work. Because of that I’m going to try to minimize the amount of wood work.


With that in mind I came up with the following goals:

- Structurally strong
- Simple construction techniques
- Minimize cost
- Simple cabinetry
- Wide enough to comfortably sleep two ( I often have friends join me camping)
- Reasonable build time


This has led me to some specific design/construction criteria:

- Start with an existing boat trailer
- Use a grasshopper profile rather than a teardrop profile to simplify construction
- Use steel tubing for the framework
- Use a Formica countertop from Home Depot in the galley
- Use plastic storage bins rather than constructing drawers
- 12v only, no 110v
- No sink or plumbing
- No built-in stove


I have started to make some sketches of the trailer. Because I’m planning on making a tubing framework I have to make certain that all of the structural elements have a solid mounting point. I’m still trying to figure out what material I want to use for the outside skin. Once I get the drawings completed I'll scan them and see if I can post them.

Joanne

[tdthinker]

I know what you meen. The first time I drew up my tear it was 4x8 and grew to 6x12 and now I am switched over to grasshopper mode and I was at 4x8 and I thought to myself, "self, that is an weird bed maybe I can make the tear 5x9". So I did, then yeaterday I sall a grate design for a 5x10 tear but my trailer is 6x10! So tomarrow I get my 6x10 trailer, old pop up, and I get to start nearly a half month early. I am giving myself 8 months to get it built and usable tell easter vacation when we are going to hit yellowstone national park and the grand canyon national park!!!! I am so excited! So I do have my plans done for the grasshopper but I dont know how my storage is going to be aranged, I do know what space I have to use though. And I really dont know what my kitchen is going to be like but I have a good plan in my head. And the best thing that I found for myself in the old pop up is a sink that has both an electric faucet and a pump action one all in one. I think I can use the fridge and stove too! ok I will tell you how it goes tomarrow, bye!

[mikeschn]

With that in mind I came up with the following goals:
This has led me to some specific design/construction criteria:

- Start with an existing boat trailer
- Use a grasshopper profile rather than a teardrop profile to simplify construction
- Use steel tubing for the framework
- Use a Formica countertop from Home Depot in the galley
- Use plastic storage bins rather than constructing drawers
- 12v only, no 110v
- No sink or plumbing
- No built-in stove

Joanne

You have definitely made your job much easier. The grasshopper shell is easy to build, even out of wood. I don't metal work so I can't help you with that. By eliminating cabinet doors and drawers you've made your project super easy. JiminSav are you reading this?

There's a couple of us now that have used the formica countertop in the galley. So far it's working out good.

I'm not sure about the boat trailer though... I guess I'd have to see a picture of one to see how it would work. Do you have a picture handy of what you are thinking about using?

Mike...