Step 1: Planning the design.

[toypusher]

Mike,

what if you made the door a little shorter and a few narrower, so it could be pushed to the front a little bit?

Maybe 27 or 28 wide by 36 high or so? Maybe move it forward a couple inches and find a axle location somewhere between the two locations and compromise on the tongue weight. Try to get it down a bit, but maybe not as low as 10% of the overall.

Kerry

[gardenwood]

Mike,

Regarding the air conditioner:

Our tear will have the general profile of the Benroy. 5' wide; 10' long. We're not putting in a furnace.

Our air conditioner will be mounted under the rear cabinet in a "hanging drawer" arrangement that will mount to the rear cabinet framing. Air conditioner drawer will pull out the driver's side when we're set up and travel inside hanging over the foot of the bed. Air flow will be across the tear. Exterior opening will be covered by an appropriately sized door. Door construction the same as for other doors... just one more to make.

This arrangement did require that our cheap air conditioner have front controls rather than those mounted higher / nearly on the top of the unit. We still had several models to choose from and bought for price. The unit requires about 13 in. depth and 23 in width.

We'll frame the base of the rear cabinet so it's stong enough to carry the weight of the air conditioner on one side and a pull out shelf on the other. The shelf will permit us to watch DVDs on the laptop or have a cup of coffee while inside.

Even with the shelf and sliding aparatus for the air conditioner, we think we'll have plenty of room for our feet.

Roger and Lois

[renzo]

anyone out there know where I can get a side profile drawing or plans for the benroy trailer?
thanks
renzo

[mikeschn]

Hey Renzo...

If all you need is the side profile, I can share that with you...

Let me install my CAD software.... (I rebuilt my machine this morning)...

Mike...

[renzo]

hey mike
thats all i need.
have a frame thats 10 by 5 feet .
a beautiful profile for starters.
i have the knuffel plans
sorry for bad englich spaek dutch
thanks renzo

[mikeschn]

Renzo,

Here's the original benroy which I am modifying to turn into the generic benroy. The first modification is to make the door longer, so that you don't cut off the circulation in your legs when sitting on the bed.

The second mod, which I am still working on, is the rear wheel location... the jury is still out on that one...

Oh that phantom line on the back hatch, that's the original ellipse. My simplified version with 2 arcs is so close to the original, that you'll never be able to tell the difference!!!



Mike...

P.S. You can stretch it to fit your 5x10 trailer...

[toypusher]

Mike,

What is in the 22" section between the door and the front of the tear? Could the door be moved forward to allow the axle to be moved forward?
I have never seen a Benroy in person.

Kerry

[mikeschn]

Certainly the door can be moved forward... there is nothing but mattress in that 22" space... But I can't move it too far forward, it makes it harder to get into bed...

For example... go lay down in bed. Then in one smooth motion, go from laying down to sitting up on the edge of the bed. How far is the center of your body from the head of the bed? That's where the center of the door should be, plus or minus a few inches!!!

Mike...

[toypusher]

Mike,

Of course that is correct, I did not really consider that too much

Kerry

[toypusher]

Mike,

When you did the tongue weight calculation, is the tongue really only 36" on the red trailer? I thought that it was more like 48", but I don't know for sure. I guess I could ask TomS.

Kerry

[mikeschn]

I've been tweaking things a little bit trying to get the tongue lighter... I'm still at 168 pounds, but that's considerably less than the 200+ something of the original design.

So here's what I am proposing...
1) move the wheel forward 2.5"
2) use a 13" wheel instead of the 12" wheel that comes with the trailer
3) use a northern round diamond plate aluminum fender for 13" wheels
4) move the door forward an inch
5) and of course, make the door longer...

What do you guys think?

Mike...

[renzo]

mike,
thanks for the profile.
i wil stretch it to fit 5*10 trailer.
i love the generic building plans ,great info for me .
thanks for the info.
renzo

[wayner]

Wayner here As you know i bought mine as a half completed project, when it came to the axle there was no race for the grease seal so i tore it all apart. My new idea is to go with the spuds off of a cavalier and us either 13 or 14 inch tires from either a firebird cavalier or sunfire camero Pictures to follow on my site thanks mike keep up the good work

[grant whipp]

Good morning, All!

Thought I'd start off easy this morning and get sort of caught up on the happenings over here. Nice project, Mike! Hope you don't mind if I make a few comments/suggestions (as a few of you know, I've got a little experience with this sort of thing ... ;-} ;-} ...!)

• The Benroy design is a good basis - it's good looking and makes the best use of available space.

• I'm personally not in favor of the "box-on-a-frame" approach to the design. It's a simple thing to either narrow the frame or widen the body a bit to allow the walls to extend past the floor to hide the frame rails and really give the unit that finished look. After all, one of your design parameters from the beginning was to have an attractive, well-finished trailer in the end, and historically (as I've said before) the best known and respected vintage mfgs. hid the frame rails with the walls, including Benroy. And, it is NOT difficult for the first-timer to pull off successfully!

• Door placement: All of my 8'L models & designs have the leading edge of the door 16" back from the front of the profile, and the door is either 30"W or 32"W (my personal Off-Road Benroy Project has a 32"W door) with a threshold height of about 2-1/2". I'm 6'4" and have been camping in my 8' designs for 20 years and have not experienced any problems or discomfort either in entering the trailer, or exiting it from the laying-down position. (Two things we need to keep in mind during the design phase of our teardrops is 1, that EVERYTHING in a teardrop is a compromise - sometimes we get lucky and end up with a bed that is more comfortable than the one in our homes, but believe me, the rest is all compromise! - and 2, that we are building a CAMPING vehicle here - allbeit a LUXURY camping vehicle - NOT an RV!)

• Axle placement and tongue-weight: I'd have to check, but I'm pretty sure that the axle on my O-R Benroy Project is about 33" from the rear of the profile. I'll have a front overhead cabinet, and I'm estimating a tongue-weight of not much more than 100#, if even that. I came up with a general rule-of-thumb many years ago that basically says the axle placement on a teardrop WITH ADAQUATE GALLEY CABINETRY should be ABOUT 1/3 it's bodylength from the rear of it's profile, and it's proven to be pretty darn reliable (of course, as in everything, there have been exceptions to that rule!). Some of you may also know/remember that I have serious issues with the "industry standard" and "expert recommended" 10-15% tongueweight "rule" - I WON'T go into that here, but suffice it to say that I don't agree, and I've got over 35 years of experience in building and pulling trailers to back me up.

• Wheel size: I use 14" as standard, sometimes 15". I KNOW the 12s & 13s work well enough, but with a trailer this size (5'W), I think going it a bit bigger to 14" would look a bit more proportional, not to mention a slight increase in the safety factoy (oopppssss, did I open another can of worms, there ... ;-} ;-} ...?).

• Window size: The bigger the better! For traditionalists, there's the 12"Hx18"W (which is pretty standard and readily available), but the 15"Hx18"W offers a bit more visibility and airflow without taking much away from the traditional look. I've put large radiused corner windows in traditional-styled doors with great results, and even managed to get a 28"Hx18"W in that looked superb. Think airflow, and light-and-view as it might apply to possible claustrophobia!

Well, I think I'll call it quits with that. Remember I'm not being critical, just offering a few things to consider based on experience. GOOD LUCK with this great project! And, Good Luck to all you builders and potential builders out there!

In the meantime ...

CHEERS!

Grant

[mikeschn]

Excellent suggestions Grant... I'm glad you chipped in early in the design. Especially on the covering the rails portion!

I'll review what I've got and try to incorporate as many of your suggestions as possible!

Thanks,

Mike...