by richlowndes » Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:01 pm
are you going to build one then?
the reasons behind my designs were as follows:
8foot by 4foot: because i thought this would be quite large enough to fit two people in comfortably. i didn't want it to be any bigger than this because i thought it would be a waste of space. as it is, it is dead easy to tow, and is narrower than the car, which makes it a doddle going through tight gaps such as in cornwall.
the positioning of the wheels was not much more than an educated guess. i tried to take into account battery weight and the mass of the kitchen stuff- fridge, gas bottle, cupboards, water tank, etc. as it happens it is really well balanced, with a bit of nose weight. you can just about sit on the kitchen cupboards without it tipping. it tows really well, and you can sit at 80 quite happily. crosswinds aren't too much of a problem either.
i really wanted it to have curved sides, rather than right angles where the roof meets the chassis. i achieved this by fitting the sides onto the edge of the chassis, and the sides overhang the chassis quite a lot. it's really to make it look better, but it has the added advantage that i can put a footwell in at some point in the future.
the bed is 6 foot 8 long, and exactly 4ft wide inside. there are wheel arches inside, which narrow the width between the wheels to 3'6'' but that's where your feet go so it doesn't make a real difference. i did it like that again to improve looks- i don't like it when the wheels stick out miles from the chassis. on mine the wheels do stick out from the chassis a little, but only inches.
apparently with curved teardrops there can be a real problem with wind getting underneath the trailer at speed and the whole thing lifting. this is not the case with mine because the drawbar is really short- only 70cm so the body of the trailer sits really close behind the car.
i'll scan a copy of the chassis soon and post on here.
rich
