My Offroad Design

[MSG Hall]

well I like it! And I very well may build one like it when I get home. I am torn between this little one that is cool and would just be really handy, or a bigger one I can be more comfortable in for longer periods and be able to take my ATV...

[PresTx82]

Toasty,

Your trailer design would look great behind a JEEP.

[brian_bp]

the bottle i just sized in there but i just measured it and it was
20'' x 7'' x 12''

Since the tank (bottle) is cylindrical, I'm not sure what that third dimension means.

A typical "barbecue tank", 20 lb capacity, is 12.2" in diameter, roughly 18" tall (including the foot ring, valve, and guard/handle around the valve), and has about an 8" diameter foot ring. The tank itself is only 14" of that height. Maybe that's the size... but is looks smaller than 20" tall and 12" diameter in the drawing.

Manchester Tank is a major manufacturer of these things, and has the specs on their product website.

[toasty]

oo i thought you guys were asking about the water tank thats in there

[brian_bp]

oo i thought you guys were asking about the water tank thats in there

I assumed that "bottle" was propane, and I think that was the intention.
A 20" x 7" x 12" rectangular box is about 27 litres or 7.2 US gallons.

[toasty]

yeah that makes sense..and yes that was a 20 for the propane tank

[4123]

Hello Fornesto,
I've been studying your off road trailer sketches. I really like your ideas. I mean REALLY like them! So much so that, if you don't mind, my son and I are going to build one. I'm serious about this. I have a fully equipped welding shop and nothing much to do lately.

We've been teardroping and/or RVing for over 30 years. I purchased an old U S Forrest Service 'Hot Shot' Fire Crew Bus about 20 years ago and turned it into a fully equipped motorhome. It was a very short bus (5 windows on one side) with extended roof (6'6"). It had 15 forward speeds, Detroit Locker rear end, skid plates underneath etc. A very durable off road vehicle. I invested over $20K on the interior doing all the work myself. The bus served our family of myself, Olga and three boys very well and we put well over 100,000 miles on it before I retired it due to terrible gas mileage. If you are interested in seeing what it looked like, I can send you a couple of photos.

Anyway, I recently restored a 1947 Cub that we also used very much and gave it to my oldest son as a wedding present and have recently ordered a new Camp-Inn 550 Ultra 550 SUV to pull behind our Nissan Xterra.

My son and his wife don't fit very well in the 4 foot wide Cub so he is going to sell it and we will build your version of an off road teardrop. The only radical change we will make is that it will be 5 feet wide.

Please let me know if you are OK with us copying your ideas. I hope to hear from you and also invite you to come visit us and watch the progress. We live in the Siskiyou National Forest and there are plenty of great places to go off roading and camping in the wood right on our land and all around us for that matter. Check out my album.

My email address is [email protected] what is yours?

Its starting to snow out and Olga is getting on my case to get some more firewood to heat the house so I gotta for now.

Hope to hear from you, Ron

[fornesto]

I'm flattered. Work away! Just post the progress on this site for all to see. You can PM me with any questions.

Good Luck and can't wait to see it come together!

[rabs]

Hey Fornesto, I really like the design, I hope i see one getting built, again well done, there sure are some smart designs around

cheers

Rabs

[Cruiser]

MSG Hall,, First, thank you for all that you do,, I have friends over there now and some that just came home. Second When stateside are you stationed up at Ft Drum? I had a friend in the same group as you I believe..
Sorry for the off topic,,
Back on,, this is a nice design, very similar to one I started a couple years ago,, but never finished. Hopefully soon I'll have the time and money to do so(at the same time)

Steve

[toyotarig]

Man, I love this design. If the upper cage is curved and it is 2"x2" square tubing how will that work out? Will it be hard to do without getting creases, or will it even be possible?

[Joker]

This looks like a great start to an extreme TD. Exactly where I was headed for my next project. I probably won't get started on it until next summer. I would like to dive in to the design your idea a little more if you don't mind. I would have to adjust for my TJ. I have a 4.5" lift and 33" Swampers, but that should not be an issue. Would you mind sending me a break down of your design?

[Joker]

OK, OK, here's the door and some solid sides. It seems you could make modular sides (insulated even) that could be attached for colder weather or be left in the garage. The excitement with this model would be the ultimate strength vs. weight challenge - some classic geometric engineering. I like the curve up front just because it makes it more teardropish.

I agree totaly with the shape. It has to keep the round to keep the look.

[wagonmaster]

Only problem I see is how to secure the sides while towing.

Tim

[bgordon]

Hi all,

Thought you might be interested how something like this would look like in real life... (I came across this teardrop on the Internet a while back...) It weighs 400kg (880pounds).





General Specifications

GVM 750 kg
Load Carrying Capacity 350 kg

Overall Dimensions

Overall Length 3 760 mm
Overall Width 1 845 mm
Overall Height 1 720 mm
Cabin Length 2 000 mm
Cabin Width 1 370 mm
Cabin Height 1 150 mm
Ground Clearance (loaded) 320 mm