Interesting discusssion. I like the portable ice shanty idea!
The Pod Caravan from England
http://www.podcaravans.com/ also has a dropped fabric footwell (see photo at upper left of site).
Mike: how much road clearance is needed? Seems like you are saying 6" is not enough and that 10-11 inches is desirable. For my trailer I have designed for 6.25" of clearance from the bottom of the footwell*. This was done is close consultation with Grant Whipp who insists that this is more than enough and that he has trailers with 5" or less of clearance that he has taken down rutted dirt Forest roads with no problems. So unless we are taking about real off-road capability (i.e, not gravel or dirt roads but real off-roading), this should be plenty. Most passenger cars have a ground clearance of 5-6 inches after all.
On my trailer the top-of-floor height is designed at 13.25"*. The footwell drops 7" below that (it hangs down probably about 2" or so below the bottom of the axle.) The footwell has a floor that is just over an inch thick, so you about 6" of usable footwell below the floor level. I'm going to have 5" cushions, So that's about 11" of seating height (unless I double up the cushions) before taking into account the cushion compression. While that's 5" less than a 16" standard seat height, it feels pretty good for lounging. I have a convertible sofa bed that sits at about that height and it's very comfortable.
So maybe that rigid floor would work after all for the Camp-Inn. Anybody have any further thoughts on ride height/ground clearance issues?
*I say design height based on the listed compression of the Dexter torsion axle when fully loaded. So far with the trailer almost complete, the height is about 1.5" higher than anticipated. Maybe the axle will settle down further after some use?
Rik