Curved weekender

[mikeschn]

Bev,

I have a hunch it will. But we'll find out pretty quickly. I'll get some walls built, get the table in there, and then we'll just sit and see what it feels like.

I wish I could do it today, but we have other engagements we have to tend to... and next weekend we'll be gone too.

Oh Arne, check out this thread...
http://tnttt.com/viewto ... =8096#8096

Mike...

[Arne]

Mike, I will follow your new design with great interest.... but is Grant sitting in a T/D? Looks like way too much head room for a tear.

Anyway, if this all comes together, I guess my van will have to stay outside while I build no. 2...... and I'm beginning to understand the table thing..... complicates the bed/cushion thing a bit.

When sitting, I have a bottom to top meas. of 36". Say, a seat height of 16" min, that's 52". With a footwell, it works if I can keep my head out of the curved area...... sounding better all the time.

What do you figure the min ground to foot well distance is? 12" or so...?

[mikeschn]

I guess I need to come up with a new name eh?

Why don't you have a contest for the new name?

Here's a few that come to mind...

1. Table For Two
2. Monthlonger
3. Lil' Diner

Yea, why not... lets have a contest... Check the notices thread....

Mike...

[mikeschn]

Mike, I will follow your new design with great interest.... but is Grant sitting in a T/D? Looks like way too much head room for a tear.

Anyway, if this all comes together, I guess my van will have to stay outside while I build no. 2...... and I'm beginning to understand the table thing..... complicates the bed/cushion thing a bit.

When sitting, I have a bottom to top meas. of 36". Say, a seat height of 16" min, that's 52". With a footwell, it works if I can keep my head out of the curved area...... sounding better all the time.

What do you figure the min ground to foot well distance is? 12" or so...?

Yes, Grant is sitting in one of his teardrops. I don't know any of the sizes... but I'll bet he can tell us... Grant?

As far as the ground clearance... just eyeballing it, yes about 12" or so. I've seen people get a lot closer to the ground than that.

It only seems complicated, cause you haven't built it yet. Just follow the design as I develop it... it'll all make sense. I'll even start up a page for it, after you guys come up with a name...

Mike...

[OurStuff4You]

Hey Mike - where's that coffee pot?!

I was real impressed when Mike showed us the designs for this trailer. There were these little ovals that I thought were porthole windows. They were heads to check for clearance for Mike and Michelle. He even designed in which side of the trailer they'll sit on for the best head clearance!

Of course, then he was out measuring my Metropolitan and assured me I could pull a 5' wide trailer rather than my smaller Benroy.

This is sooooo bad.... she says to herself as she goes back and looks at other designs again.....

[Grant]

"Yes, Grant is sitting in one of his teardrops. I don't know any of the sizes... but I'll bet he can tell us... "

Yes, I am sitting in a teardrop - my first one, 20 years ago! That one had an interior wall height (at the crown) of 48", an interior width of 46", and a bed length of 80" (the trailer was 10' long). The 4 cushions (4" thick) are 20" each, and make up into two couches facing the table. The footwell is about 7" deep, 40" wide, and 30" front-to-back. I'm 6'4" with a 36" inseam, and I was always quite comfortable sitting in that trailer. Notice, too, that the seatbacks are NOT verticle but tilted back a couple of inches - this scoots your rearend forward a bit and lowers your head-height considerably, not to mention being much more comfortable. Later trailers have a 44" wall height (at the crown), but it only means I can't wear my cowboy hat inside (which isn't very polite in the first place, ya know ... ;-} ;-} ...!)!

One of the secrets to comfortably sitting in a teardrop with a footwell is that you DON'T place your feet directly under your knees, but stretch out and place your feet against the oppsite side of the footwell, or tuck them under a bit and sit slightly "indian-style". During one rainy event several years ago, we had five adults sitting inside one of my 4'x8' models with a footwell & table, playing cards and killing time while we waited for the rain to let up - yes we were "cozy", but we were surprisingly comfortable ... and we stayed dry!


"As far as the ground clearance... just eyeballing it, yes about 12" or so. I've seen people get a lot closer to the ground than that."

O.K. - my typical frame-to-ground clearance is usually around 13-14", the frame is 2-1/2", and the floor is 3/4". If I start with a footwell pan that is 7" deep, I end up with a ground clearance of about 9-1/4" to 10-1/4". I built one teardrop about 2" lower than standard (looked very cool behind my streetrod!), which gave my footwell only a bit over 6" ground clearance, but I was still able to take that trailer off road behind my pick-up and follow some logging roads without any problems. It's not something that I would normally recomend with a trailer that low, but if you pay attention and are very careful, there's agood chance you'll get away with it ... I did, several times, while I had that trailer!

Hope that helps some of you. Good Luck, all of you, and in the meantime ...

CHEERS!

Grant

[Larwyn]

Curved Weekender

I've been trying to package a curved Weekender and it's been full of surprises..

Just thought you might like to see how far along I've gotten... This is a work in progress, things are changing by the minute...



Mike...

That's great Mike...!!

But now what do I call my "curved weekender" based on your earlier design...? I know I'll be calling my trailer "The Escape Pod" (probably not very original) regardless of it's final shape. At this point I am planing to base the profile on the 4ft tall curved weekender you posted in another thread last week....

[mikeschn]

You could stick with curved weekender, since we have a naming contest for this new thing... my fav so far is the Lil' Diner, because the table was the whole reason for this new trailer in the first place...

Mike...

[mikeschn]

I guess it's time to think about the fenders that I am going to put on this...

My first thought was to put on the flanged fenders from the fix it shop... similar to this...

oh darn... I'm having a hard time finding the photo of the flange mounted fender now... I thought I saw it on ebay... it was a good side view of the fender, with the flange and the bolts showing... I saw it within the last couple days, posted on the board I think... does anyone remember it?

http://teardropparts.com/fenders.htm

It's the Kit fiberglass fender...

Ah... I found it...

[Mark Mckeeman]

Mike

Those fenders are all right but I’m not fussy about the exposed fasteners, they kid of cheapen the look.

I think the coolest fenders out there are Grants Deluxe and DeluxePlus fiberglass with the built in taillights. They mount the same way but the flange is down to hide the fasteners.

Since this “back to the future” Li’ldiner is a more traditional looking tear my vote goes to the retro fender.

Mark

[mikeschn]

Yes, I was afraid those exposed fasteners would not be the best look for the Lil' Diner. I'll go check out Grant's fenders.

Thanks,

Mike...

[Frank]

Check out Gage's 37 chevy pickup fenders on his tear.