Bitty Squaredrop planning

[SandraMort]

Hi, guys!!!! I am so excited! I've been watching videos for a few months now. Other than my youngest, the rest of my family is pretty much uninterested and ignoring my latest obsession. Even I wasn't entirely sure if I was going to drop the ball on this one.
Yesterday, I made a decision. A small trailer isn't a good long term solution, but a large one is going to cost me more than I ought to spend on something that may end up being dropped due to finances or lack of knowledge.. Worst case scenario, if I drop the ball and don't make another, I still have a trailer, which can be used for hauling trash or whatever.
So, anyway, yesterday afternoonI bought a used 4.5ish' by 6' trailer from a guy upgrading to a larger one. There's a little bit of surface rust on it, so I stopped at Lowe's and picked up a wire brush and some of the rust prevention paint spray to put on over it. I was wondering how to tell if I've scrubbed long enough? The areas without rust don't seem to do anything when I scrub them, so I'm guessing I should just scrub until nothing more flakes off... but maybe I am wrong there?

I originally was going to bribe my teenagers to brush it for me due to sensory issues, but I decided that I wouldn't until I made sure that I really COULDN'T do it myself. I got home and tried. Lo and behold, it was nothing like I'd anticipated and I will be doing it MYSELF, thank you very much. This is my project and I'm not going to fail straight out of the gate because I didn't bother to even try.
Sooooo, here's my question. I love the youtube videos, but I need more. Are there any books on building squaredrop campers that I can actually read in detail? Plans, either for free, or not too expensive? I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible, since I can't really afford a LOT.

Also, the trailer says it can hold up to 2,000 lbs. However, what I don't know how to do is to figure out how much weight the floor can support safely.

Second, I don't know how to calculate how much weight the walls can support for shelves, cabinets, folding down furniture and whatnot.

Lastly, I need to figure out how tall or square I can build it before it starts to mess with my mpg. I'm currently driving a Prius Prime, which is a smallish car, but I'm hoping to upgrade to a RAV4 before the thing is done being built.

That's another thing -- if I don't get the RAV4, there's no point in building a big one, since the Prius probably can't pull it. How do I find this information? Thank you!!!!

[Pmullen503]

Mileage really starts to suffer as you get taller or wider than the tow vehicle. A Prius is aerodynamic to start with so expect a significant mileage drop towing a trailer.

Look at this thread:https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=76217 and follow the link to the Polydrops aerodynamic data.

[KCStudly]

Even though you posted in the foamie section, Tony Latham's book on TD building is probably the easiest most straight forward instructional book on building a traditional looking TD. He has developed a very practical build recipe using easy methods and commonly available materials. Might not be the lightest building method, but seems to spell out all of the basic build requirements that anyone should be able to follow. (Caveat: I haven't actually seen or read his book... sorry about that Tony... but he is on here all the time freely sharing snippets from the book and offering follow up advice, that I feel sure enough about offering the suggestion.)

Don't be afraid of curved roofs. IMO they are easier to fit and cover than mitered joints, are less likely to leak, and are structurally stronger while potentially weighing less.

Read the forums. Read a bunch of the forums. There is such a wealth of knowledge here that you can avoid a bunch of mistakes easily by just soaking in it all.

If you're not even sure you know what you want or if you will see it through, maybe just go tent camping a bit and see if you even want to do it more. For a first time builder without much experience, building a camper can evolve into a major effort... probably bigger than first anticipated... so just be sure you really want to make the commitment.

[tony.latham]

(Caveat: I haven't actually seen or read his book... sorry about that Tony...

I'm laughing. Here's the opening:

I remember when she spoke those words, “Coming home isn’t a big deal like it used to be.” Her words rattled me.

My wife, Stephanie, and I were on the last ten miles of a 1400-mile round trip to Zion National Park. The journey had been the shakedown of our newly finished teardrop camper. The weather had been reasonable, and the scenery was incredible. I thought we had a great trip–at least until she spoke those words. Was something wrong between us? Why wasn’t she happy to be home after ten days on the road? What had I missed?
After gathering my wits, I turned and asked her what she was talking about.

“I love our new teardrop. The mattress is just as good as our bed.”

I exhaled.

But yeah, I lurk here.



Tony