Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I really like the looks of this. Seems like a much better idea then a slide out.

Well, if done right there are certainly advantages to a slide-out. Minimal set-up time, I suspect.

But, it would also require the slide-out to be open to be usable. You couldn't just hop inside and wait for it to quit raining or whatever.

With this, you could.

Everything is a trade-off of one sort or another, I suppose.

I agree... I showed my wife your idea and she loved it. Even tho my build is for solo use... I think I might do something like this. With all the computer and camera gear I have to carry, a bit of extra space inside would be welcome... more so on rain days.

True.

Plus, I did the 6' tip-out because I wanted it to be big enough for 3 people. If you only needed it to be big enough for 2, you could cut the tip-out down to 4' or 5' and have an extra foot or two in the cabin for storage if you only slept sideways.

Or, you could leave it at 6' and only use the tip-out for storage.

As it is, though, the area under the galley, where you'd normally have your feet, is pretty much open for storage as well. Things like shoes, duffle bags, etc. A pop-up canopy. Whatever.

I really liked the idea of a rear door. Just could never figure out what to do for storage with that idea.

Best I could come up was to eliminate all the cabinets on the back end, slide the bed (and tip-out) all the way back. This would increase the front storage cabinet to 2' by however high it would end up being. Probably end up having somewhere around 16 cubic feet of storage space that way. But, you'd lose the galley.

I like the designs so far. I have been working on an expanding design for about a year now. I've covered every type of tipout and slideout you could imagine. Although you lose the galley one thought is to use a kitchen that slides out from the side. when it slides in it will be under a bench or a seat of sorts, maybe for the dinette. I'll try and get some drawings on here at some point. Maybe some collaboration would help us both. My wife won't let me build it unless she feels it's roomy for us and the baby and the dogs.

I thought about a slide-out galley when I was looking at the rear door design. Couldn't really figure out how to work it.

I mean, I could put it anywhere on the right side of the trailer, but it would need to be pulled out before the sleeping quarters would be usable.

I greatly prefer the ability to button everything up at night so I'm not sure how viable that would be for what I'd be wanting. Might well work for somebody else, though.

The only other thought I had was to do a tongue box on the rear entry design. Could probably build a slide-out galley into that, depending on the dimensions of the box. Might be a bit much to put onto a typical HF type frame without lengthening the tongue.

It occurred to me that I was probably over-thinking the concept of removable sides on the tip-out.

There's no real advantage to making them completely removable. Simpler to just hinge them to the tip-out so that they lie flat.

Have you considered making the ends of the tip out a different shape?I'm thinking a half barn roof would be good(instead of rounded it would be a single angle).Then with just a piece of conduit and some brackets you could support the roof/top of the wall.I don't have the skills to do sketchup...

this reminds me of an idea I had similar the picture is of a van but I thought it would be easy to convert it to a trailer

PanelDeland wrote:Have you considered making the ends of the tip out a different shape?I'm thinking a half barn roof would be good(instead of rounded it would be a single angle).Then with just a piece of conduit and some brackets you could support the roof/top of the wall.I don't have the skills to do sketchup...

There's no real reason why you couldn't. Although, if the pieces were just a single angle (triangles) you'd lose a bit of your foot space. The curve gives a bit more of a verticle wall at the end.

You could do 2 angles instead of one, though, and more or less achieve the same effect.

I am sure that many have tried to tackle this concept and I am hoping to add to this discussion. I have a couple ideas that I am drawing, and soon want to build a small working prototype. Someone mentioned earlier that a build is a no go unless it is roomy. I am in the same boat though I am not pitching it until the "final" concept is drawn.

Look forward to contrubuting.

Bear

On YouTube I’ve seen this one. It is a small teardrop that raises up on one side and have a pop-out for foot room.
I’m guessing he sleeps sideways in it. It is designed to be pulled by a three wheel motorcycle.

“tall teardrop”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRuPkx2u4C4


Also take a look through Navigators photo gallery. The gallery is full of nice concepts drawing or pop-ups and pop-outs.
Not sure if that person is still active in the forums or if any of the camper where built.

Here is the link
gallery/search.php?user_id=6428

That "Tall Teardrop" design is interesting. Although, I hope there is something keeping it locked in the up position. If that thing ever slipped, with those metal edges, we could be talking Highlander.

Hey TJinPgh

I was bored tonight and was looking through some Youtube Video Caps I made and found these. I did not
remember what video it was from so I looked through what I think is all the Youtube TD videos online.
This time I cropped and left the name on the video in there.

That's pretty cool.

I'll have to take a look at the whole video.