Need some design advice

[superfly8]

I am trying to design a way to fit an electric wheelchair into the tear for travel. I was thinking of building a ramp that I can store underneath attached to the chasis. Then I could pull it out and attach to the lip of the door some how to roll-it in. The problem is it weighs 198lbs. plus the weight of two deep cell batteries. If i place it as close to over the axel as I can would you think it would work ok? If anyone does anything like this and could fill me in or have any ideas they would be greatly appriciated.

[mikeschn]

In your situation I would design a mini "wild goose" and store the ramp and the wheel chair in the back behind the axle.

Of course then you won't have a typical teardrop galley. It would be more like the wild goose, but there is only room for a cabinet on 1 side.

Take a look at these wild goose plans...
http://www.tinytears.cc/Scans/Wild%20Goose.pdf

Mike...

[Chip]

Troy,, some where I saw a design for a motorcycle trailer hauler/teardrop,,,the rear hatch was a bit longer than normal ,,and the rear galley cabinets were split in the middle so that they would swing out rearward to load the cycle,,at camp or travel the cabinets swing back in place and are locked down,,also there was room with cushions for a sleeping area where the cycle normally sits for travel,,it would be a design challange but it is feasible,,the ramp could be folded into the cabin from the rear,,on the floor,,if ya got a bit of engineer in ya it could all be motorized with cables, pulleys, hydrolics etc,,,and even remote controled,,lol,,just what ya need ,,another remote,,
good luck with ya design,,keep us posted,,,it will be interesting to see what ya come up with considering the design criteria.

chip

[Ken A Hood]

I've seen 2 different motorcycle "haulers".

http://www.droptear.com/

http://www.eastcoast-teardrop.com/449281.html

Both look like the back of the trailer is the ramp, the front end is lifted till the back hits the ground to load the bikes.

[Shrug53]

Superfly, will the person in the wheelchair need to guide the chair in to the trailer or can it be put in place without somebody actually sitting in it.
Can you give me the dimensions of the chair?
Will the person in the wheelchair be camping by themselves or with help?
This type of design work is not new to me as I used to have a girlfreind with cerebral palsy and figured out a way to let her drive her electric wheelchair in to an 85 Mustang and drive without ever getting up.
I also installed a ramp in the back of her fathers pickup and a door on the back of the cab so she could drive up and right in to the passengers section.
If you give me as much detail as possible I believe I can design something for your needs.
Also will you be wanting a traitional tear shape, or will a squared off one be ok (would work better).
I also need to know the maximum width and length trailer you are willing to pull.
I look forward to helping.

[DANL]

Superfly,

Here's another approach to consider. Frank's RV here in Minnesota makes ice fishing shelters on trailers that can squat right down to ground level. There are three ways to do this. Either the wheels retract until the back end is on the ground or, with the trailer disconnected from the tow vehicle, The entire unit will sit on the ground. With the optional flexible tongue, the entire unit can be made to sit on the ground without disconnecting from the tow vehicle.

http://www.outdoorsweekly.com/ultrashacktrailers.html

The retracting mechanism uses a customized boat trailer winch to manually lower the trailer. You could probably create a lighter weight version of this and use an electric motor to raise and lower it.

Overkill? Maybe. Fuel for the thought machine.

[superfly8]

Thanks for all the ideas, as far as the wild goose I dont really like how the galley is inside, already have a pop up trailer and thats one of the thing i dislike about it most(hate being inside cooking for everyone while they are outside having fun). The motorcycle carriers are a good idea may think about that some, although it looks like it may be difficult to adapt much cupboard space wich is something I would like to have. I might be asking for to much, have to really think about what we need and not what I want. Shrug if your serious about helping out here is some info on the chair it is 24.75" wide 31.5" deep and 29.5" tall with the back folded down 41.5" withback up, it can be loaded without anyone in it, and she does not have to use it all the time, she can walk in short burst. So it can be load first and unloaded last. And on the shape issue I dont relly have anyone shape in mine still open. The sive of trailer i have plans on now would be 54"x120" trying to keep it the same width as my jeep, so if it fits i konw the tear will fit. thanks again for all the suggestions

[Shrug53]

Hey superfly. Look under the contest entries. I drew up a wheelchair friendly camper for you. It still has a nice curved front, but with an angled back in order to convert to a ramp. Once the chair is in place (out or in) the rear galley opens up just like a regular tear. I have tried to put in a few touches like an oversized door to make it more comfortable.
I can also adapt a similar design to a more traditional teardrop shape. In this option the passenger side door lowers to become a ramp (I did that on an old girlfriends Mustang for her. In her case the door lowered by remote.
I can draw up that too if you like. If you decide you like one, I will put as much information as I can in to a PDF file for you. You can use this to go to Kinkos and have large scale printing done to make a pattern. They only do 3' wide (so for a pattern it has to be cut in half for printing and then taped to the plywood) and they do any length. Only 50 cents a foot.

The only drawback to a side lowering door, is that you need at least 4' of space to open it. Any shorter and the ramp would be too steep.

[superfly8]

Hey Shrug thanks for the design you posted, gave me some ideas i dident think of, I would like to see your plan for loading it in the side door. I already have a layout kind of designed that would fit it in side just need to figure out a good way to get it in.

[Shrug53]

Send me the design you have and I will modify it for door entrance.