Cabin vs galley length . What's a tall guy to do?

[nevadatear]

We don't keep the cooler in the galley and that hasn't been a problem. I too wanted a big galley, but a cooler there is wasted space. I like my galley for permeant storage, not things i take in and out every trip. We have a shelf that attaches to the side for the chest at the camp site.

[grant whipp]

Another possibility might be to make that undercounter bulkhead with a "jog" in it ... say, 1/2 deep enough on the cabin side for you to stretch out, the other half deep enough on the galley side to fit your cooler. I've done a couple that way ... even works for when one person is really tall and the other not so much ... ...!

Good Luck, and ...

CHEERS!

[Wolffarmer]

I agree with a lot of people. Coolers take up to much room. Also do not my the back end of the profile to pointy so there is wasted floor at the very rear. My 4x8 came out with an over standard length bed area, though I did not mean to and I do not need it. And plenty of galley space. Carry the cooler in the TV and square off the back.

On a 4x8 more compromises have to be made. Do you really need the cooler in the trailer? Do you really want a sink? For a sink I just use plastic tubs that when traveling had dishes in them and on a shelve. It works for me and there is no sink to plumb in, no counter top given up to it.

[OuttaHand]

All of the suggestions thus far are very good. But I'd like to point out something I noticed when I was building our teardrop:
Most people do not sleep perfectly straight.

If you lay down in your regular bed as if you're ready to go to sleep, are your legs completely straight? Mine are not. I'm on my side and my legs are bent.
If I lay down perfectly straight in our teardrop, my feet are flat against the bulkhead and my head is only a few inches from the front. But when I am actually ready to sleep, and I bend my legs (I sleep on my side), then I have a couple inches to spare. My toes might touch the bulkhead, but it does not interfere with my comfort.

Just wanted to point that out.

[kludge]

I feel your pain. I'm a 6'3" side/stomach sleeper, so my feet hang over the end of a queen bed at night - so I can't have a "footboard".

I've pretty much decided that if I build something, it will have to be longer than 8 feet or give up on storing my cooler/camping box under the galley counter top. Or do something creative... for a long time I've been toying with ideas in CAD for tip-outs, side outs, front, side, you name it.

The easiest thing to do is make the bed as long as you need it and make a place on the tongue for the cooler/camping box, or keep it in the tow vehicle as other have suggested. Besides, I've always done my cooking on the picnic table.

Something I've also been toying with is to make a mattress that is split so I can take a section of the mattress out to store the cooler/crates and not have a lower wall/divider between the galley and the "bedroom" - thus leaving it wide open when you want to sleep. The cooler/camp box can spend the night in the car or on the picnic table (beware of raccoons, etc.). It precludes keeping the bed made up however - not a big deal, I'm a sleeping bag kind of guy. I've seen that some of the Little Guy trailers that do this, sort of. You can lift the galley counter top for storage space underneath, but it's on top of the mattress.

I've got another idea that could be the best of both worlds, but I'm trying to work it out in Sketchup.

Sometimes with the scouts we will use a "patrol box" (aka chuck box)if we know we will be without a picnic table, which can replace the galley, and can be stored on the tongue as well.

[KennethW]

Two thoughts angle the front out instead of in and stove the cooler on the counter when traveling.
You can't get in a cooler when under a shelve and when traveling the counter is empty.
the front angle could be 6" up then a radius and a angle to meet the regular profile. You could and a foot on front without much change in shape.

[kludge]

Here is one of my latest conceptions... adding just a 3.5" overhang to front and rear on a 5x8 trailer with 1.5 inch thick walls yields 100" of interior length. Using 6'6" of that for the bed leaves 21-1/4" depth for a cooler, which will fit a lot of coolers. Trying to fit a queen-length mattress (80") still leaves 19-1/4" and can still work for many coolers, perhaps even if you leave 2 extra inches to make the bed (leaving 17-1/4"). A Coleman 48 quart needs about 15".

In the sketch, a full size bed is shown with the dividing wall at 6'6"... and the profile that gets you there. Overall length is 8'7". The downside, as always, is that a 4x8 sheet won't run the full length, unless you put the 7" in the hatch, which could give you a nasty bump on the head if you don't lift it high enough...