My Off Road Teardrop Idea

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My Off Road Teardrop Idea

Postby Chuckie » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:43 am

Hello all. This is my first post on here. I have been trying to get everything together to build a teardrop and would like to bump it off you guys for any suggestions.

I really like the SoCal and Adventure Trailer Off Road Teardrops. The shape (profile) is perfect to me. I already have all my steel ready. 2x3x.120 tubing. 3500 lbs axle with 10" brakes. Haven't got springs yet. Not sure what to got with there. And I have 2 huge sheets of 5 x 10 marine grade fir plywood.

The above mentioned campers are roughly 54" wide, 9' long with overall length of 12.5' for the Adventure and 13+' for the SoCal with a cabin height of 44". With trying to stick with the 12.5' lenght overall I would like to stretch the body deminsions to 54" in height and 10' long. If I have a 10' sheet of plywood I might as well use it. And for how expensive it was I plan on using every square inch of it. I will keep the same 54" wide inside. I would like to do things a little different on the inside. If I could use a computer worth a damn I could show a picture of what I want. I only want a door on one side. On the far wall from the door I want a couch that can fold down into a bed. This means the couch would be in longways. And where the cabinets usually are on the galley wall I would have a small fold down table top. Or have a table top that can lay down on the floor and use the rear couch cushion as the second half of the bed. On the same wall as the door I would put a small tv and small storage cabinets. On the front portion of the curve from side to side I would install cabinets and drawers across. They would only be about 14" deep. I have always thought the galley areas on teardrops were kinda big. I think I can get away with around 28" of space in the galley. If i need more than 28" for a fridge or something I can adjust the space on the door side inside. This would leave around 78" for the length of the couch.

Seeing where the camper will be somewhere between 20-24" off the ground I can make an L-shaped drop floor starting where you come in and right down the center 30" wide or so. I'm only talking about a 12" drop so I can lower the couch for headroom and still have room for my legs. I'm not going to do any serious off roading with the camper so I'm not worried about the drop floor getting in the way of anything. The room I would use up on the tounge of the trailer with the extra foot in length isn't a problem. With useing the large flat fenders like they use on the mentioned campers I will have room for the propane bottle or the batteries. Plus both my Jeep and Excursion have dual battery setups with quick disconnects at the hitch for power. My winch has a quick diconnect on it so I can use it on either vehicle.

The hardest part is trying to get the profile I like on the plywood. The stretching it to match the larger size. Let me know what you guys think. And thanks ahead of time for any input.
Chuckie
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:06 am
Location: Chesapeake Va.

Postby Yuri4x4 » Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:38 pm

I like the sound of this, but not sure if some of the details are workable. Do yourself a favor (and us)... Download Google Sketchup, than do some of the tutorials. It's intimidating, but doesn't take too long to learn how to use it. Try-out your shape there.

I'd be interested in hearing more on your couch/dropped floor idea...
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Yuri4x4
Teardrop Builder
 
Posts: 37
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 10:46 pm
Location: Winchester, VA

Postby Bikerman » Tue Jul 05, 2011 7:36 pm

Any progress?

I'm technologically deficient, I can't even get to the pics. So I need to take a class for old pharts I guess, so the folks here will be happier with my posts, I have to explain everything and a pic is worth a 1000 words.

As to drawing it out, I plan on laying the plywood down and drawing it on the plywood. After I get what looks like what I want I can cut out the sides. Then start measuring what it is and build backwards in my drawings and notes for the framing and parts needed.

Don't know the size of your couch, but most are about 36" from the back to the front of the seat, IMO, way too big for the space. A bench, even with a web seat, is not that hard to build, even I have done it!

But, be it know, I have never built a teardrop trailer, but I have stayed at Holiday Inn.
Bikerman
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 73
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:30 pm
Location: Springfield, Mo.
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