Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

At nearly 6'5" with a 5' 12" wife, going cross-wise imposes some width requirements. Though both pop-ups we've had had crosswise beds.

Tom....while it's just my personal opinion...I'd do the bed crosswise in a standy trailer. The whole idea of a gaucho is great, but reality is....do you want to convert it regularly? If it's a lengthwise gaucho...you still need to convert it for sleep. Not a big deal if you are in a sleeping bag, but I make a regular bed and making a bed in a trailer is a pain in the A$$. On the Nomad, it's on a Scotty floorplan, but I know that I'd never want a gaucho anyway so made it a fixed bed. Chances are...I'm not going to be doing that much "entertaining" and won't need the extra seating. By making it a fixed bed, I could get more storage space under it, water tank, battery, wash tubs, awning etc... Just my thoughts. Doug

A good bit depends on how tall you are! At 6'3" lengthwise is the only way I have any possibility of fitting with a bit of foot room. Our bed has the head board in the rear and this works very well except for making the bed. It seems to me that it is simpler to enter and exit as you have only to skooch down and swing your feet out. I will admit we have never tried to enter or exit a conventional tear so do not have a comparison. The other consideration is two doors means not crawling over your partner in the middle of the night and we did have experience with this on our first Mega Mini. That by the way was the only one built with a single door, at our suggestion.
One of the things that hit me recently was that a teardrop could work very well for some one that was disabled and using a wheel chair.

"...with a 5' 12" wife..."

I think you should go ahead and give her credit for being 6' 0" tall.

My '74 prowler had the the front kitchen and two long benches that folded into a bed and I just assumed I should put the pillows to one side because that's how they always are, but then I realized how deep it was and it was actually a King size bed when I put the pillows at the back. Quite frankly, It just looked alot cooler that way to me to walk in and see it set up like a bedroom with the headboard at the back and the bed taking up the whole back of the trailer. I had never seen one set up like that before. Once the bed was in place I never even thought about changing it back to the benches and table, that's outside stuff. It is gutted now, but that is exactly the way it is going to be once rebuilt, with a permanent bed and the headboard at the back and plenty of storage underneath. The cool look was worth it to loose square footage for my personal taste.

A pic before I gutted it with the bed (it's a panorama, that's why the bed is round at the bottom ):

Re: the L bunk configuration. Dreaming up shoving 6 people in a 15' (more like 12' inside length) Scotty.
Thinking same small "double" bed in the back and double decker L bunks (four sleeping spots) in the front.
Anyone seen anything like this?

Hey Tom,

What about a teardrop solution, a small exterior door for egress?

Interesting thread.

Dave

doug hodder wrote:Tom....while it's just my personal opinion...I'd do the bed crosswise in a standy trailer. The whole idea of a gaucho is great, but reality is....do you want to convert it regularly? If it's a lengthwise gaucho...you still need to convert it for sleep. Not a big deal if you are in a sleeping bag, but I make a regular bed and making a bed in a trailer is a pain in the A$$. On the Nomad, it's on a Scotty floorplan, but I know that I'd never want a gaucho anyway so made it a fixed bed. Chances are...I'm not going to be doing that much "entertaining" and won't need the extra seating. By making it a fixed bed, I could get more storage space under it, water tank, battery, wash tubs, awning etc... Just my thoughts. Doug

Great points Doug! Storage is a premium even though we camp lightly. And, as you say, the thought of converting the bed and making it each evening is not something I/we want to do.

I keep changing my mind as to what my second build may be - canned ham, bread loaf, or cargo trailer conversion. My heart is saying to build the bread loaf, although life's interventions and lack of a workshop larger enough to house the project will probably rule out a from-the-ground-up scratch-built trailer. More than likely, my second build will be a cargo trailer conversion. If this is the case, then I will have the real estate to consider other bedding options such as a Lucy and Ricky double twin murphy bed setup.

Please keep the ideas coming!