Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I don't really have a set of plans.
I'm building Benroy inspired, stretched to 2.7m (nearly 9 feet).
Figured out the front and rear curves on paper, and set to work.

The stretch to 9 feet is so I can fit a standard 80 inch queen mattress and still have nearly 2 feet of lower galley space.
I had the trailer length to do it, so why not?
It's working out so far.
But I am at a decision point:
How much height above the mattress should I allow for foot room under the cabin cabinets?
Appreciate hearing what works for you,

About a foot

I'll vote for 22".

8" inches for the mattress, 10" for your feet, and a bit of room for a down comforter.





That works for us.

Tony

Note the actual question was

MickinOz wrote:How much height above the mattress should I allow for foot room under the cabin cabinets?

His emphasis

John61CT wrote:About a foot

guess I deserved that.

tony.latham wrote:I'll vote for 22".

8" inches for the mattress, 10" for your feet, and a bit of room for a down comforter.

That works for us.

Tony

Thanks Tony.
The comforter,etc, was what caused the question.
As our comedian mate says, you need about a foot , but I was wondering whether extra room was required to ensure I didn't get tangled up and belt my toes against the bottom of the cupboards.
I reckon I can do 20-22 inches OK. I've lost nearly 4 inches due to running the sides down and screwing sideways into the rails, but I'm gunning for a 6 inch mattress which claws some back, compared to your setup.
Then, too, my roof doesn't slope as much as yours so I reckon I can do the height and still have shelf space.
Speaking of shelf space, the missus looked over my shoulder at your simple shelves and pronounced them acceptable instead of actual cupboards.
Another win for the KISS principle.

I was being Ha Ha But Serious

I really only need a "cubby" not the whole mattress width.

To me 22" height is giving up too much storage space.

The overkill / ideal would be (re)movable storage shelving/cupboard modules, change the configuration as desired.

I did some mock-up and testing last fall, to determine this measurement for myself and my wife.
The first important thing that we learned was that bedding does matter. If you don't factor in a good comforter, or a few layers of other blankets, your feet may be cramped.
In the end... We came to the same conclusion as Tony - 22" height from floor - but with a 6" mattress.

So, to answer the original question, as posed: I think 16" is comfortable. Not too tight. Not too wasteful.
If the 'foot well' is very deep, however, the height must increase to avoid bashed shins and knees.
It could be squeezed a little tighter than 16" with a 6" mattress, but then a thicker mattress might not work if an upgrade was made in the future.


Mock it up and test it out. Our coffee table was the perfect height for such. By sliding in or out from under it, we were able to determine how deep it could be at that height. I don't have my plans with me right now, but I believe my wife and I settled on 18" of overhang, with 16" of clearance over the mattress. Any more overhand or any less clearance results in shin bashing (for us).

Oh... She's 5' 8", I'm 5' 11". We both have long legs. She has tiny feet. I have average feet (9-9.5 US).

Squigie wrote:In the end... We came to the same conclusion as Tony - 22" height from floor - but with a 6" mattress.

* My TTT is set-up backwards from most, with a headfirst entry layout, but getting the proper amount of room for head and feet inside, is similar to standard teardrop floorplans (at least in a cramped 4x8 footprint).

* I originally set my head/foot room clearance at 22" (above the floor) also, after I found out I would be solo camping in it, so I figured I could experiment if it wasn't right; but after several re-configurations of the sleeping surface (4" thick mattress, 8" thick double mattress, angled 12"-4" mattress, 4" mattress with 1" spacer underneath-for airflow-), I finally settled on just the 4" mattress alone, to give me the best amount of room to rest in.

* I always use two King-size pillows (about 6" thick when compressed), so when rising to a sitting position, I would often clip my forehead on the underside of the rear-wall shelf, except when using my first (and now fifth/final) mattress set-up. Still, there's enough room now to clear that shelf everytime. At my feet, the hinged wire shelf (actually suspended by a mesh net and bungee cords, that holds clothing and compressible items) can give way if I inadvertently contact it, so there's no real conflict at that end. 22" head/foot clearance seems to be a pretty reasonable height in several instances, even if on differently arranged trailers.

22 inches being almost unanimous, I will shoot for that.
That is a very useful diagram.
I was wondering about a little full width shelf at about the same height at the head end of the bed, somewhere to put my phone, glasses and watch, etc.
I was fixing to make it only 4 inches deep, just enough for the small stuff. Looks like this would work fine.
I think I'm going to end up with something like this:

MickinOz wrote:22 inches being almost unanimous, I will shoot for that.
That is a very useful diagram.
I was wondering about a little full width shelf at about the same height at the head end of the bed, somewhere to put my phone, glasses and watch, etc.
I was fixing to make it only 4 inches deep, just enough for the small stuff. Looks like this would work fine.
I think I'm going to end up with something like this:

At 19.25 inches I hope I didn't undersize my design since my bare feet measure out to exactly 12 inches!
I am assuming only 4" thick mattress, but I also considered that the countertop should be at a practical height. Most kitchen countertops are 36" high, but my galley countertop will be almost 42" above ground surface. Perfect for me at 6'-7", but not so much for most people.
I will also have a shelf above the headboard, 3" wide, but it is flared out at the ends (enough to hold a pint of Guinness).

nice attn to detail

I'm shooting for 16 inches above my mattress.
You are aiming for 15 1/4 inches.
At 100 yds that'd be less than a minute of angle.
Good shootin'.


It'll be fine.

eLink wrote:I am assuming only 4" thick mattress, but I also considered that the countertop should be at a practical height. Most kitchen countertops are 36" high, but my galley countertop will be almost 42" above ground surface. Perfect for me at 6'-7", but not so much for most people.
I will also have a shelf above the headboard, 3" wide, but it is flared out at the ends (enough to hold a pint of Guinness).

I've made a bit of a blunder there myself.
My counter top is going to be considerably higher than I am comfortable with.
The missus who is quite a bit shorter than me says its fine.
She said it when I had it mocked up, too. I coulda changed it.
When will I ever learn to listen to that nagging voice in the back of my head?

Happily, I have the solution.
Funnily enough, going through Tony's build, it's the same solution.
As a prep surface, it's high but not unusable. The issue is I think its too high to put my butane stove on to cook.
The things I am storing underneath will leave a bit of space for a drawer. I can easily set my stove down at make me happy level and slide it away when not being used.
I will also be able to run a wider drawer on the other side. Things is looking up. I'd be able to run a two burner butane stove on that side.

A cautionary tale about slide away stoves for every reader here.
A mate of mine built a flash camper trailer with a pull out kitchen. Spent tens of thousands of dollars.
When the trailer was done, he quit his job, loaded up his missus and the three little kids (all under school age) and set off around Australia.
Life was good for the first 6 or 8 months.
The kids had a ball. I remember watching a video scene where the old man was creeping into the scrub with a hunting bow and one of the kids can be heard saying, "mmm, goat for tea." No delicate city upbringing for these kids. Real bushies they were growing into.
The trouble is further long in the same video, we saw the trailer burning to the ground somewhere on the Birdsville Track.
The only sound on the video that could be heard over the fire was his wife sobbing her eyes out as nearly everything they owned bar the car and clothes they were wearing went up in flames.
That's what happens when you pull up for a meal on your slide out kitchen, and either put it away too hot or forget to shut the burners off.

That's what happens when you pull up for a meal on your slide out kitchen, and either put it away too hot or forget to shut the burners off.

Sheeesh....

We find the 40" countertop is fine. Obviously, I'm a fan of slide-out stoves that are hard-plumbed in.



Snap the piezo, and the coffee is on.

Tony