Ok a few more questions

[TAILGATINGnNUT]

1. Can you build a 5 by 10 structure on a 4x8 trailer? Safe?
2. How are you guys powering all your electronice? Generator? Marine batteries?
3. How about balancing you trialers? I am finding I am going to have a lot of stuff in teh back of the trailer thus making it pop a wheelie? How you offset that?
4. How many of you have a battery/genreator box at the front of your trailer?
5. What ar4e the major things that you would change aobut your trailer and what are some things you would have done differnetly to make construction go smoother?

Thanks fella

[mikeschn]

1. Can you build a 5 by 10 structure on a 4x8 trailer? Safe?

No, it's not safe. The most important thing we can do here is promote safety in our hobby, and that means designing and building safe teardrops and tiny travel trailers. A 4x8 trailer, especially the bolted together one are not designed for a 5x10 body.

2. How are you guys powering all your electronice? Generator? Marine batteries?

A teardrop or a tiny travel travel trailer is a simple affair. Compare it to tent camping. You have a coleman stove, and a coleman lantern, and a fire in the fire ring. That's camping. The teardrop or tiny travel trailer is just one step up from that, adding 12 volt lights and a 12 volt ceiling vent. As such a simple deep cell battery is all one needs to power that for the weekend.

What you are talking about is in a completely different league. You are talking about a party on wheels. For that you need power, and lots of it. You are talking a generator to power all the 110v stuff you want. Don't waste your time with batteries. Buy gas, and lots of it!

3. How about balancing you trialers? I am finding I am going to have a lot of stuff in teh back of the trailer thus making it pop a wheelie? How you offset that?

Calculate your weight in the back with Andrew's spreadsheet, and locate your wheels accordingly. Here's where he keeps his spreadsheets...
http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear45.htm

4. How many of you have a battery/genreator box at the front of your trailer?

A lot of us have a box in the front. But we all use it for a different purpose!

5. What ar4e the major things that you would change aobut your trailer and what are some things you would have done differnetly to make construction go smoother?

The best thing you can do to make it go smoother is to have a written design, a written plan, and build the whole thing in your mind before you cut the first piece of wood.

[Chip]

tailgator sounds like ya need to buy a Winnibago and have a teardrop build to haul the beer kegs around,,ya got a lot of large things,,ie, shower, potty, sleeping area, beer, large tv etc etc,,a 5 lb sack will only hold 5 lbs of taters,,if ya can get 10 lbs in it its a 10 lb sack,,,,,a teardrop will only do so much and then you will either have to make concessions or go to a larger vehicle,,if ya build one its gonna take "you" a lot of design time,,or open up tha check book and someone will do it for ya,,good luck on the project,,

chip

[Shrug53]

1. Can you build a 5 by 10 structure on a 4x8 trailer? Safe?

I will have to disagree with Mike slightly here. I would not build one of my designs on a 4x8 from Harbor Freight. However the 4x8 I have purchased used is a monster. The guy I got it from used to haul everything from Harleys to sacks of concrete. With a good subframe built from plywood, it will handle a 6' wide structure.

Old teardrops, 4' or 5' wide were built on Model T frames which were only about 3.5' wide. The "How to Build Trailers book even shows 7' wide stuctures on those frames. But again those were very solid, as opposed to those flimsy ones sold by places like Harbor Frieght.

I sent all the measurements of my trailer as well as one of my 6.5 wide trailer designs to my brother-in-law (an engineering student) and he says that either a subfloor made from 2x2 lumber or a couple of pieces of rebar of 6.5' each (one front, one back, and one center) is all you need to give you a solid floor.

I will search my book and post a few interesting photos.

[Shrug53]

Here are a couple of example drawings. The first three show bodies considerably wider than the trialer itself, and the last is an example of a no-metal frame:

[TAILGATINGnNUT]

I have eliminated the shower and the bathroom, maybe just a portapotty with a tent around it ? outisde the tear drop. I have spent the past week loooking voer every therad and realized that I can have most of the things I want minus the shower and the bathroom. Ihave draw up leiterally hundred of designs and I am going to post my most recent one tongiht after i get over to kinkos to scan it. It is a 10x5x5 built on a 5x8 trialer. Included on it are........
TV 19 INCH
C02 COMPARTMENT /SMALLER QUARTER OR PONY KEG
FIBERGLASS COOLER BUILT INTO THE BOTTOM OF THE HATCH
STEREO/CD CHANGER
DVD PLAYER AND A SATELLITE HOOK UP
4 6 X 9 SPEAKERS
FOLD OUT TABLE ON THE SIDE OF THE TRAILER
FORWARD MOUNTED GENERATOR. BATTERIES
QUEEN SIZED BED
MICROWAVE /REFRIDGERATOR/SLIDE OUT PROPANE STOVE

i HAVE IT LAL DESIGNED NAD READY TO POST JSUT GOTTA SCAN IT SO YOU ALL CAN PICK IT APART

[Chip]

schrug,, one thing I noticed on the old plans is that the framing wood is hardwood,fir or spruce,,it aint none of this new growth soft, knotty pine we get today that most people use,,, the pine does not have near the strength of the wood that is listed on the plans,,,if ya had to buy those timbers in hardwood then I would venture to guess it may cost close to or more than a good steel trailer,,good hardwood is like gold,,,just an observation,,

chip

[Shrug53]

shrug,, one thing I noticed on the old plans is that the framing wood is hardwood,fir or spruce,,it aint none of this new growth soft, knotty pine we get today that most people use,,, the pine does not have near the strength of the wood that is listed on the plans,,,if ya had to buy those timbers in hardwood then I would venture to guess it may cost close to or more than a good steel trailer,,good hardwood is like gold,,,just an observation,,

chip

No doubt. This was just to illustrate a point. Personally I am just going to bolt on a couple of rebars using u-bolts (similiar to what holds the suspension on my Chevy) and that is it.

I have just started to realize that a lot of these trailers are being built twice as beefy as they need to be. Like the discussion here on walls. It turns out that the walls can be as thin as 1/2' total and still have plenty of structural strength.
As the the trailer size, nothing says that you can only build the exact size trailer. That old trailer by my new hose that I posted photos of was about 7'5 wide but the main frame is only 5' wide and it uses three crossbars made of simple 1/4" steel plates.

Tailgater, there is really no need to give up your shower if your tow vehicle can handle the weight. I am planning on having just a small chemical toilet in a "water closet" since we are only planning on going to campgrounds with facilities or on 1 or 2 night trips where a shower is not that critical. As long as there is a sink to wash our faces and brush our teeth, we are good.

[Chip]

I wasnt throwing water on the ideas,,I just realized my self that the wood was different and if someone used say a 4x4 pine post for a tongue they might get into some real trouble,,if the trailer was built out of hardwood then it would be great,, if its out of the typical junk wood we have access to now days I want to be ahead of that trailer in a caravan,,thanks also for posting the old pics,,real interesting,,,

chip

[TAILGATINGnNUT]

I realized that we will not need the shower or the bathroom. We are going to be using this thing for tailgating and the occasionla camping trip (to a parking lot)
forinstacne maryland opens with norther illinois this coming september, we may drive down friday night camp in teh parking lot and wake up and start tailgating on saturday. I will berring a good amount of water with us for general cleaning purposes, but it jsut becasm obvious that i could get more lay downh space if i bagged the shower .

[RC]

schrug,, one thing I noticed on the old plans is that the framing wood is hardwood,fir or spruce,,it aint none of this new growth soft, knotty pine we get today that most people use,,, the pine does not have near the strength of the wood that is listed on the plans,,,if ya had to buy those timbers in hardwood then I would venture to guess it may cost close to or more than a good steel trailer,,good hardwood is like gold,,,just an observation,,

chip

Realize something else. Peoples perception of safety has changed dramatically since those old articles were written. Remember, back then kids could ride standing up in the front seat of a car, there were no safety belts, safety glass, etc. Things have definitely changed since the "Good Old Days".

[mikeschn]

That's a good point RC. I think highway speeds are a lot faster too. I'm not going to get on a soapbox and preach what you should or shouldn't do, I'm just saying keep everyones safety in mind as you build. If in doubt, don't do it. We have the materials, the technology and the information to do it better and do it right. So why not do it right?

Mike...