Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

With the help of Mike, I rounded some curves and came up with this



I'm 6'6", the Mrs is 6'2" and the twins will become large.

Do you drop the floor to get leg room for the poo box or just stay standard and go for simplicity?

Frame is 5 x 10.....wheels outside.

You're going to have a lot of room in that tear. that extra height will cost you much more then just a four foot high wall.

What ya planning for the inside?

John

potty box, transverse bunks up front and galley outside. The Mrs. can get claustrophobic so I hope the extra room can help.

Yours is 5'8" wide. Does the extra 8 inches make a difference?

BTW.....ignore the naysayers. Your dualie is outstanding.

mk10108 wrote:With the help of Mike, I rounded some curves and came up with this.....

One thing to check with this profile is how you will build it: the front and back bottom corners are very tight - about 6" radius - so if you are planning to carry the roof right under the floor, you will need thin bendy ply down there.

Many bodies are built with the bottom 3" or so of the sidewall just hanging below the floor on its own, with the roof skin stopping above the floor and in that case those very tight radiuses are mostly below where the roof skin ends.

Andrew

angib wrote:

mk10108 wrote:With the help of Mike, I rounded some curves and came up with this.....

One thing to check with this profile is how you will build it: the front and back bottom corners are very tight - about 6" radius - so if you are planning to carry the roof right under the floor, you will need thin bendy ply down there.

Many bodies are built with the bottom 3" or so of the sidewall just hanging below the floor on its own, with the roof skin stopping above the floor and in that case those very tight radiuses are mostly below where the roof skin ends.

Andrew

Thanks for the chime...by the way enjoyed all your drawings.

Each square is 3" x 3". The frame is 2 x2. I'm new to TT construction....I'll have to think about this.....

I tried that flat spot in the front of the curve. The plywood did not like it. I had to pop the brads out and let it do the curve it wanted and fill the space with bondo.

You can do it, but be prepared to fight the plywood with cleats and straps.

Unless you want a window there (which was my original plan), I'd eliminate that flat area in the front..

mk

Thanks for the positive BTW, same advice back to you.

Arne gave you some very good advice, I would listen to him.

As for my width, one place people forget about is the galley, mine is REALLY wide, the insides will be filled up, no matter how wide or narrow you go. Look at the mattress you are going to use, give it a couple extra inches so you can get the blankets around it and build the width to that. Wider trailers are more expensive because dimensionally nothing fits and you have extra material wasted, not to mention if you use metal on the roof.

As for the dropped floor for the potty chair, what you going to do with the mattress? I dropped my floor, but put in a couch. When I wake up before Mona and head up to the waffles and coffee, I get dressed and Mona doesn't even know I'm awake.

MK, you are going to love whatever you build, IT will be the best teardrop/trailer ever. Just put your ideas down on paper and build/buy to make them possible.

Take all the advice from this forum, BUT build to your needs/wants/abilities.

John

Dear MK,

I have a tear approximately the same size as your. My toilet and closet are between the galley and the bed. I am only 5'11" and I use the yoilet without a sunken floor, however I only have two inches heardoom while sitting on that throne. My bed sits on drawers (milk cartons) that are standard height. It gives me great headroom.


Bendy Ply has really turned out to be a problem and I would never use it again in a build. It all depends on what type of finish you intend. Finishing with epoxy and then poly made for constant refinishing since the bendy is constantly shifting and therefore cracking since it has little integral strength along the bend direction. Making your regular plywood conform to the curves, using some of the methods discussed on other threads on this forum would be much better in the long run and also save you a lot of money.

MK, I reversed my design for the aerodynamic benefits. Plus, I liked having a rear door that could double as an awning. This design caters to my wife's desire for a house on wheels for us and our two teenagers, though it's probably all my Tacoma could stand when fully loaded. Sixteen feet long, six feet tall, and five feet wide inside. Just an experiment, and it doesn't include a potty, but maybe it'll give you some different layout ideas.
Hey, I like to draw. Peace.

it's actually more aerodynamic to pull the blunt end -- kind of hard to tell if that the direction you are going or not. With a blunt body the air piles up front and kind of makes it own shape -- with the tapered end aft, the air then transitions with less drag. With the big end aft you get much more turbulence and more drag.

Kind of looks like mine, and yes, going from flat to curves there in the front doesn't work well. Most cases it will break the ply.

that is almost exactly the profile I did on mine with the exception of the the curve inward at the bottom of the front.

Not to take away from your build , it looks like you'll have a lot of fun in it.Actually it would be a TTT not a Teardrop. A TD is not a standup type trailer & maxes out at 12ft long, with the galley in the rear. Keep up the good work & get camping!!

Don't let those curves put you off. I did them on mine with the flat front, it takes a little patience but it's not really that difficult. Use 2 layers of cheap wood paneling and over lap it. I say cheap because I found the cheaper stuff to be much more flexible. I paid $3 a sheet at builders surplus for it. If I'd had had some more funds I'd have bought the whole stack at that price!