Searching for ideas for teardrop project

[Freedom II]

Andrew

It might have been, I watch the Travel Channel a lot. As a matter of fact that is how I got the idea search for Teardrops. A remarkable, functional and most of all fun way to spend the summer.

Morgan

[cracker39]

I have also been looking at camper designs as I want to build a small, lightweight camper. The teardrop as originally designed isn't quite what I need, but I have a 2000 lb load limit with my Nissan Frontier with auto trans. After seeing the Widget, and a fiberglass Eriba that my Dad owned some years ago with the same basic layout, I decided to try my own design and this is what I have so far.

I could modify a 4'x8' trailer chassis, but I will see what it will cost to build a custom chassis myself as my son-in-law is a welder. The chasis needs to be 9' x 5'3" (floor area) with 14" wheels/tires set 50" apart (using the 4' trailer axel) under the trailer body. The bed will be queensized. It will have a front galley with a sink and small water tank. I will use my propane camp stove. All systems except for a 5KBTU AC will be 12V. I will have one 110V outlet for small appliance use if needed.

The galley in front has a standing area that is dropped 8" below main floor level. That will be about 27" front to back, and either 37" or 45" wide depending on my chassis design and give me 72" height (I am 5'8"). With the 14" tires, that should give me about 9" road clearance beneath the drop-down floor. The chassis will have a rear bumper added (adding 10" to the length).

There will be a "closet/shelving" unit to the left side of the galley, with a small cabinet on the counter top, forward of the closet. The bed area will be open in the center, from galley to the back wall, where a dinette table will be hung. The bed will be made up at night with the dinette table being part of the platform center. Underneath both sides of the bed will be storage compartments.

I plan on a 3/4" floor in the drop down part, with 1/2" between and below the beds. The walls will be 1/4" hardwood plywood on the outside, 1/8" ply or paneling on the inside with 3/4" thick framing and 3/4" foam insulation. I have not yet gotten accurage weights of the building materials and chassis, but I think, with my estimates, I can build it to weight no more than 1200 lbs, and probably less.

The exterior will be finished in multiple coats of white epoxy paint with caulked aluminum trim on joints. I think I have a source for a ready made, aluminum-clad door of about 5' in height. If not, I will make my own or cut down a standard mobile home type door.

I am looking forward to comments and suggestions about my plan.

[mikeschn]

Your tiny travel trailer idea is a good one so far... I'd like to see more...

I too am working on a new old design. Or is that an old new design? Anyways, there are similarities... once I get it done I'll post it.

I'll be out of town this weekend, so I won't be able to work on it. I also just switched over to a new CAD package, so I have to get back up to speed...

But if you feel like doing some solid modeling while you are waiting, we'd like to see what you got!!!

Mike...

[angib]

Dale,

Welcome. That looks like a really nice design - the profile is ready to build, I'd say, and very attractive.

One thing I'd be concerned about is the 5'-3" width, which is getting really tight to have a facing dinette, even if you make the seating very upright. A quick mock-up of your proposed dinette in some OSB would be good insurance.

I'll be interested to watch further progress.

Andrew

[cracker39]

My image for my message didn't work. I hurriedly did another plan for the interior (top view) and exterior finished view and put them on a web page. The link is http://home.tampabay.rr.com/wdsummers/camper.html

You can get a pretty good idea of what I want to do.

[cracker39]

Good advice Andrew. I did think about the narrow dinette width. But, I wanted to keep the unit narrow so as to be able to use my truck's outside mirrors. Also, I wanted to keep the air drag down. I could increase the width 4-6 inches without making it so wide I couldn't see around it without add on trailer mirrors. As it is, with a 4" mattress, the seat would be 15" from edge to seat back with 22" width for the table. I'll have to try a mock up of that to see if it is too narrow.

The front is a little higher than I would have liked, and I could round it down more over the galley. But I have a cap on my truck bed that is higher at the back, sloping upward from the cab, that would deflect air up so that not much should hit the front of the trailer. I am still in the design stage, so I am open to change ideas that make sense. I probably won't get around to attempting a build before the end of this year as I have two other building projects to do at my home. One is a workshop where I have a place to work on my camper parts.

[angib]

You can get a pretty good idea of what I want to do.

Yeah, they're clear - I like the way you've cranked the frame to the right to bring the dropped floor out near the door.

One trick with a narrow dinette is to recess the bunk fronts under the edge of the bunk - this allows your feet to stick under some of the bunk opposite and overcomes some of the shortage of space. Of course it costs you some storage capacity under the bunk.

The Widget got its name as the Winter Midget, so as you've taken the same idea and squared it off a bit, I think you should call it the Squared-off Widget, as Squidget sounds good to me.

Andrew

[purplepickup]

Cracker, I like your design. It’s very similar to what I'm building.....probably that has a lot to do with why I like it

I've got a question. What is your overall length and how far is it from the front of your bed to the front of the trailer? The reason I ask is that I'm having trouble fitting a 75-80" bed in and still have a reasonable sized sunken floor and countertop. I’m trying to keep my overall length at 10 or 10.5 feet.

My bed is on top of my wheel wells too and I'm putting space for a small dinette in the front part of the bed (next to the recessed floor). It will give me a place to sit while cooking or washing up and also put the table close to the galley where it will be handy to set things while using the galley. A seat will be on top of each fenderwell. The table I'm planning to use is one of those small plastic topped fold-up tables so that I can either use it inside or outside. It will stow away easily too and it's light. Most of the time I won't use the dinette option but I want to have it for the times I will need it.

I'm still in planning stages so I'm tweaking my floorplan and listening to different ideas too. I haven't decided whether I just want one door, like yours, or two. I could sure make use of that area where the second door would be but everyone keeps telling me to have two doors.

The frame is basically done. The back half steps up about 8". I'm making the sunken floor framework this weekend. Since I made this sketch I've moved the body back on the frame a few inches to make the galley countertop shorter and add more room for the mattress. That should help keep the tongue weight where it should be too.

The mattress is folded here because I haven't decided to use cushions or a full mattress yet. If I use a mattress this is a (probably wrong) way to keep it out of the way when I have the table up. I want a rear hatch also to have access to rear and under bed storage.

[cracker39]

George,

You can see my plans on my web site at http://home.tampabay.rr.com/wdsummers/camping.html I don’t have a link back to the home page, but will put one in soon and clean up the camping page. That was a quick and dirty 5 minute job just to get my plans uploaded and displayed.

My plans are subject to change as I tweak it. First, the overall dimensions outside, from forward most part of the cabin to the rearmost part is 5’ 3.5”W x’ 10.5”L. The chassis frame, not counting the bumper or tongue, is 5’ 3”W x 9’ 0” long. The axle placement may be moved forward as I get further along in estimating weight and tongue length to determine how much hitch weight I will have. I’d like to keep that to 150lb or less. My entire floor, except for the drop down area, is at the same height.

I skimped on Galley size, as you can see, by having a counter top of only 23” deep and about 47” wide. But, then, my kitchen cabinets in my home are only 24” deep. The lower cabinet starts at only 10.5” deep at the bottom and increases as it goes up. If a water tank is added under the counter, it would have to be on a shelf. I think I’d prefer the water tank under a bed side compartment to better distribute the weight (8lbs per gal). I have not designed in an upper cabinet at the moment. At the left side of the cabin, is a 12” deep closet with narrow shelves to one side. Forward of that, on the counter top, is a 12” deep cabinet. The lower cabinet will extend full width of 60”, side to side.

My standing, drop-down area is only 27” front to back, and 44” side to side. I achieve the extra width with my chassis design. I could get more depth to the dropdown if I wanted to extend the angles of the front and back to, say 11’ 4”. Even then, I’d probably put 4” of the added space under the galley cabinet front so you could stand closer to it. Actually, I could do that by moving the 2nd cross member forward 4” under the cabinet front without adding any length to the cabin…See what happens when someone asks questions? You start to think up new things. That’s what’s so great about feedback from others.

I decided to square off my front and back, rather than try to curve ¼” hard plywood very much. Also, a flat back end makes installation of a window AC (My wife insists on it) easier to support and seal. I also like the look of it that way.

I think I’ll find good quality foam (preferably Latex) for the mattress parts. I can sew the covers myself. I can either go one piece 19” wide with a 11” piece for a back bolster sitting on the other, or, make both 15” wide and place the bolster behind the seat part. Either way, with 4” foam, there will be 15” of seat and 11” of back rest. Not much, but enough. I plan on a dinette hanging on the rear wall with a front support leg (Table is part of the center of the bed platform).

At first, I wanted only a front dinette with the rear half of the bed platform as storage, but then, I entertained the idea that if we has company, we’d need the entire 60” as two divans. The AC will be over the rear of the dinette table, but with only two people eating, a 22” x 48” dinette would be plenty big enough. My plan shows it as only 36”, but I just decided to extent it to 48”.

I hope that answers your questions. Thanks again for the feedback..

And Andrew, I like it. As you can see from my Avatar, it is now the Squidget.

Cracker

[cracker39]

Sorry, make that URL http://home.tampabay.rr.com/wdsummers/camper.html

Dale

[Chris C]

Dale....................that's a great looking trailer. Good design and great layout. You've done yourself proud. If I were seeking a trailer that size, I'd knock you in the head and steal your plans. Looking forward to seeing the real thing some day.

[cracker39]

Thank you for the kind words, Chris.

As you can see from my posts, I am constantly getting new ideas and making changes. Who knows how it will finally end up. But, I am sure getting some good info on which to base my changes. I am the type that has as much fun planning as doing. My poor wife says it has become my obsession...LOL. But, I am now retired and have a lot of time to spend on it. Building is in the future, maybe next year as I have to build a storage shed and workshop first. Gotta have places to work and put stuff.

As for the plans, when they are proven to work, I'd be glad to share them. And when I do build, I'll keep a photo and video record of the steps.

Dale

[cracker39]

I Have updatted my web site to add links to my home page and to the two versions of Squidget I have done so far. The new link to my camper pages is now:

http://home.tampabay.rr.com/wdsummers/squidgethome.html

My home page is on my profile and you can get to the camper pages from there.

Dale

[Woody]

cracker39
Where exactly is Lake Alfred? I live outside of Ft. Lauderdale.

[cracker39]

Woody, Lake Alfred is just outside Winter Haven and 16 miles East of Lakeland. It's a small community, but it does have a traffic light right where hwy 17/92 goes from 4 lanes to two before the light, and back to four lanes after the light, and that causes as much traffic backup as a big town. It's other claim to fame is that it used to be (and may still be) a speed trap.

Dale