Design Gurus

[tj0llll0]

Ive got a little challenge for you guys who like to doodle with trailer designs. I have been tossing designs around in my head for almost 2 years for having a camper and being able to get 2 dirt bikes where I am going. Im looking for the advantages of a big toy hauler and the light-weight towability to use my JEEP as the tow vehicle. I want it to be able to be towed safely with 0 to 2 bikes loaded. I want to be able to sleep 2 people, but preferably able to sleep 4 with 2 beds. I want a galley, not nessesarily "fully loaded", but able to store my cooking gear. I love the teardrop style, but to make this work, Im willing to forgo the cool TD shape for a more practical one.
With those parameters in mind, here is my idea. First, I figure that to have the axle placed correctly for the weights of 0,1 or 2 bikes, they will be loaded inside. To get them in, I need the galley to be able to swing open. The size is another area that im not too sure about. The min width would have to be 6 foot, the handle bars are about 3 ft each. The height needs to be at least 57 inches at the hatch to clear the bikes, and high as possible inside so I can walk the bikes in. Length needs to accomodate approx 7.5 feet tip of tire to tip of tire, plus the room needed for the galley.
I will use air mattresses so I can deflate them and store them out of the way. For the sleeping arrangements, I was thinking about one mattress on the floor and maybe a tent type flop out in the front.
I also want it to have electricity, both 12 and 120 volts.
I want it be be areodynamic with no drag, weight to be under 100 pounds, enough room iside to host a large party and the cost to be around $100. I know those requirements are impossible (my attempt at a little humor), but I need to come as close as possible.
The bikes I am planning this around weight about 425#s, but Id like the trailer/frame to be able to handle about 6003s of bikes. another thing I would need to know is with all this weight, will the trailer need brakes?

I can build anything, but admit I have no creative talent to draw plans to build off of that would be engineered safely.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing your ideas.

John in Vegas

[bobhenry]

SO are you yanking our chain or are you serious!

If you are we can help if you are wasting our time GOODBYE

[madjack]

...save yourself some time and trouble and go look at the Lil Guy 6 Wide Platform model or even better a 16" cargo van and convert it...
madjack

[Miriam C.]

Well you really can have a party but please remember to take lots of pictures.

I am not a design guru or an engineer but getting the axle right I would just position it for no bikes and put the bikes over the axle and balance the load.

You have your dimensions so build and add the axle later???

Beds, First thing I think of is gas and oil smells. Put the bikes on front and beds inside.

Towing with your jeep...............

If the little guy will work then build one like it but big enough for double beds.

[tj0llll0]

SO are you yanking our chain or are you serious!

If you are we can help if you are wasting our time GOODBYE

I am serious. After posting, I looked thru the plans again and am probably leaning towards the 12ft Scottie. Most of it will have to be modified, with the first mod being no drop floor. With that plan, I think I can eliminate the the interior galley setup and figure a way to make a TD type galley that has some sort of slide and hinge set up.

Madjack, you are probably right about starting with a van or something, but I want to build something and if I can make this work, it would fit in better with my overall situation.

John in Vegas

[bobhenry]

All right your humor started to escape me. Zero drag coeffecient had me convenced you were overboard. My appologies !!!

Minimize the space needed for the bikes by putting the 1st in nose first and back the second in you should be 16" to 20" narrower since the handlebars will hang over the tail of the other bike. By incorporating rear doors you could mount a mico kitchen on the doors themselves. Storage on 1 side flip up counter on the other. I have to agree with Mad Jack you will be time and money ahead to look for a suitable sized cargo trailer and install bunks in the nose and swing out galley on the doors. You probably would want an extra front entry door of some type. HOWEVER I have seen 12-14 foot standard campers where a large rear door has been added so your scottie idea is doable To.

[angib]

It seems to me that some of what you want is feasible.

A 8ft long by 6ft wide by 5ft high box should be able to carry the bikes with the centre one reversed. Getting the bikes in would be a bit of a nightmare and it would be much easier if (a) the roof could be lifted up so you could reach above the bikes and (b) there was a door/doors in the side near the front so you could reach in to lash the front ends down.

The same space could sleep four people - most easily on four separate bunks about 28" wide that could hinge up against the sidewalls when carrying the bikes. No, wait, that prevents you getting in through doors at the sides to get to the bikes - how about using 'canvas' bunks between aluminium tubes?

Putting a removable galley at the back strikes me as so difficult that it's pointless to try. Instead put the galley at the front, like a Jim Dandy, with a removable tongue to save the wear and tear on your shins. That would add a couple of feet, so the body's 10ft long overall.

The back end is maybe a three-part door - the two outer parts are hinged on the sides and are opened for loading the bikes - the centre part is hinged to one of the outers and is the access door when camping/sleeping. Make the trailer low enough and it's easier to carry one loose bike loading ramp than to try to make a ramp of the whole back end.

Combining an opening back and an opening roof makes the trailer body as weak as anything, so it would need to have a steel frame at the back that holds it all together.

10ft long by 6ft wide by 5ft high, with the wheels outside, isn't really a very small trailer anymore, so your dreams of low weight and low drag stay as dreams.

Andrew

[brian_bp]

Whatever the design details, this will need brakes. It's going to weigh a ton -literally - when loaded. That's not a criticism at all, just a reality check.

What Jeep are we talking about? Any of the traditional short-wheelbase models are going to be at their stability limit; the recent "Unlimited" versions (with their huge chunk of extra wheelbase) would be fine, other Jeeps (Cherokee, etc) should work, too.

... getting the axle right I would just position it for no bikes and put the bikes over the axle and balance the load.

This is an appealing approach, but it makes a traditional rear-galley layout unlikely, although the door-mounted galley is an interesting concept.

Bunks could be hinged to fold up against the sidewalls, beside the bikes, over the axle, if a full-width body is used (fenderwells inside)... now we're at a 7-foot-wide body. I see 3000 lb looming...

[jdarkoregon]

MadJack gives GREAT advice! Listen to him

John

[SuperTroll]

SPLIT IT LENGTHWISE with the joint straight down the roof...heavy duty piano hinge the two outer edges at the frame...leave the galley at the rear, just design it to split in the middle so one side goes right, one left when it splits (like an old doctors bag)...height will be predicated by the highest point on the bikes stored.....

Gas and oil smells will be mitigated with flow thru ventilation while in transit...remember the bikes will not be long term stored here, just tansported to and from.

this is split on the leading edge....






I'm thinking like this:



notice the nice flat floor?

the beds could fold up along the inside edges othe walls during transport, and fold down after the bikes are unloaded.

[SuperTroll]

hmmmmmm.......

http://www.canvaswedge.com/FAQs.shtml


add this:

[tj0llll0]

Thanks. This is what I was looking for. The good and the bad. There were some good points to consider. I think for now I am going to set one of the bikes up next to some plywood and rough an outline of the space I think I will need to get the bikes in/out, then use that to come up with a workable design as close to a TD as possible. I will go without the galley, at least for now. Right now I have more time to think about this than to build it. So I have plenty of time to shoot holes in any idea I come up with before I build a useless trailer.

Thanks again guys,

John in Vegas