Hexagonal designs

[Zack]

I was idly sketching a bit, and came to the realization that a profile that has the shape of an symerical extended hexagon seems awfully pretty to me.



This is the first design I came up with, I call it the "blimp" its a large canned ham sort of thing.

Then I came up with the "submarine" which has a more conventional 4' height, but has a pop up to give you standing height.




I'm not a designer like Andrew or Mike. These are obviously "back of the napkin" designs. But I notice a couple of things:

thing one: the hexagon shape Extends the lenth of the body past the edge of the trailer. On the submarine, a raised sleeping platform( shown in the sketch, but not labelled) could be parked in the corner of the hexagon, giving you about four feet square to stand and dress or shower. (using a Hartline portashower).

Thing two: Obviously, it has weekenderish ease of construction. Also the shape has a kind of zepplinesque steampunk look about it. I'd like to build a cardboard model to see how it looks in 3D.

[Arne]

I like this 'thinking outside the box' stuff... If people stop asking me about my tear, just for ego sakes, I might have to build a mini-submarine....

One thing I will definitely do is try to keep the profile low to keep wind resistance down.... It would still be queen sized and it will be longer. The raised bed is very nice..... I'm getting tired of sand-in-the-bedding and raising the bed, lengthening the trailer for foot space, would help in several ways. It would allow 'foot dangling' for dressing, storage under the bed, etc.

more later, you have me thinking....

[Guest]

Zack,
That really surprised me when I saw your submarine design, because I did the same thing early on while fiddling around with different designs, trying to decide what to build.

Yellow Sub Down


Yellow Sub Up

I decided against this design and theme, mainly because of the overpowering theme... I didn't want to do anything to draw more attention than what the teardrops already get right now.

[GeorgeT]

I was idly sketching a bit, and came to the realization that a profile that has the shape of an symerical extended hexagon seems awfully pretty to me.



This is the first design I came up with, I call it the "blimp" its a large canned ham sort of thing.

Then I came up with the "submarine" which has a more conventional 4' height, but has a pop up to give you standing height.




I'm not a designer like Andrew or Mike. These are obviously "back of the napkin" designs. But I notice a couple of things:

thing one: the hexagon shape Extends the lenth of the body past the edge of the trailer. On the submarine, a raised sleeping platform( shown in the sketch, but not labelled) could be parked in the corner of the hexagon, giving you about four feet square to stand and dress or shower. (using a Hartline portashower).

Thing two: Obviously, it has weekenderish ease of construction. Also the shape has a kind of zepplinesque steampunk look about it. I'd like to build a cardboard model to see how it looks in 3D.

I like that design. My original design had the front extended like that with the raised platform for the bed. But the length of the trailer wouldn't allow me to keep it in my little garage. So, shortening it, made the bed platform extend too far into the pop up standing area. Alas, no raised bed. As far as wind resisitance goes, if you make the pop up you will need to figure that the pop up roof will be at least 6 or 7 inches tall when closed in the travelling position. That's if you use my method of popping it up. A lift mechnism that lifts it straight up might allow for a little less roof height when in travelling position as the sides would be down into the cabin. But then there's the problem of the door if you use this method. Just some food for thought.

Another note. The door is placed so that when you step inside you can step in standing up. The door height and the height your trailer frame is off the ground will determine whether or not you can accomplish entry without bumpin' yore hed every dang time. I built my HF trailer with the axle underneath the springs to gain height and the door height is just 2 inches from the top of the camper. I can enter very easily stepping straight up off of an 8 inch high stepping stool and into the cabin without ever hittin' ma hed. I believe if these factors were any shorter, trailer heighth and door heighth, your entry experiences would be somewhat less than desired.

[Arne]

I've seen tears here with sections that raise. How much trouble is the door being in 2 sections? How are they tied together in real life use, or are they dutch door, with each section opening separately.

I like the idea, but question it's sealability in rain, etc.......

[angib]

OK, so I've tried out the idea. I've built on a 5x8 Red trailer and used a 4 foot sidewall height.



(I don't go for the portholes on such a squared-off design - simple rectangles look most suitable to me.)

Now if you want an external galley, you get this:



The bed is raised 6" (not more, as otherwise there isn't headroom over the bed) - but there's no floor to act as your desired 'sand trap'. Big lockers at the front - this design is not short of storage. I've shown some very simple flaps at the back to get at the galley, though actually having the joints falling on the angles makes them fairly complex.

If you want some floor, you have to give up the external galley (as I think you intended, Zack):



Having a little floor area does cost a lot of other facilities!

I think this design idea might work best if combined with features of George's Compact GT - use a hex front and square back with door.

Andrew

[GeorgeT]

I've seen tears here with sections that raise. How much trouble is the door being in 2 sections? How are they tied together in real life use, or are they dutch door, with each section opening separately.

I like the idea, but question it's sealability in rain, etc.......

You might contact Rayvillan who made the Winter Warrior pop up (Hall of Fame) with the two piece door. Great job on that thing. The pop up tent camper I used to have used a draw down latch that mated the upper and lower door together. The upper door would swing on its own hinge that was attached to the pop up wall. And the lower door on its own hinge that was attached to the lower cabin wall. There may have been some sort of notch thing too that the upper half engaged the lower door half. Don't remember now. Go to an RV place that sells pop up tent campers and look.