Removable Teardrop Pod

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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby drhill » Sat Dec 05, 2015 5:05 pm

I found whenever I stop at a rest area to have a snack, I get asked 3 questions
1. What are you selling ?
2. What did it cost ?
3. How much does it weigh ?

I am not selling anything, just stopped to make a sandwich and stretch my legs.

The trailer itself cost about $860 in materials. The teardrop pod almost $1200 in materials. But both included planning ahead and buying allot of stuff used or on sale.

The weight - well, the flat deck trailer with spare tire weighs 585 lbs.

I have weighed the whole rig fully loaded twice. First time it was 1960 lbs with 3 bikes, full water load of water, propane, beer, food and all else you need for 3 people (including tent and lawn chairs for the 3rd person). The other time I weighed it a whopping 2400 lbs with 6 bikes and two tents and gear for 5 adults and enough food, water and other liquids dry camp for 3 days.

Today I finally went to the effort of weighing the camping pod with no water jugs, but still had the mattress, bedding, folding table, lawn chairs and patio umbrella. It came to 875 lbs, so I would say about 800 lbs without all that gear inside. So total trailer with minimal gear will be in the 1400 to 1450 lb range.

It is surprising how fast all the gear adds up to end up with 2400 lbs with gear for 5 people.
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby drhill » Sun Jul 30, 2017 2:29 pm

Time to update with a couple pictures. Last summer I decided to add a table with a shelf below. This really expands the available counter space.
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And this spring I added some graphics to the side of the camper. That area behind the door just seemed like a big canvas that needed to be filled.

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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby friz » Sun Jul 30, 2017 3:54 pm

8 nuts and mine lifts right off. Image

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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby Ottsville » Tue May 29, 2018 6:59 am

DrHill, what is the bike rack that you are using?

Thanks.
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby drhill » Tue May 29, 2018 8:38 am

I welded up my own bike rack.
It is very similar to the NorthShoreRack
http://www.northshoreracks.com/

The 2x2 upright of the rack is bolted to a plate mounted on the trailer tongue which is 3x3. If I expect to use the rack independent of the trailer I also take along the mount to install the rack into the hitch receiver on the vehicle.
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby Ottsville » Tue May 29, 2018 11:58 am

Any plans/sketches/pictures of that rack that you would care to share?
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby drhill » Tue May 29, 2018 9:02 pm

Too bad we can't send PM's on this site any more. The patent holder was rather upset when I posted a picture of the rack I built on Pinkbike.com

Have a good look through their website. There are lots of pictures. http://www.northshoreracks.com/photo%204bike5.htm The only tricky part was mounting the fork hooks at the right angle. Took me several attempts.

What area are you in? Are there any bike shuttle trails nearby? These racks are very popular with the downhill bike shuttle crowd as they are fast to load and unload and the only contact point is the crown of the fork. That is one disadvantage - you have to have a suspension fork on the bike(s) you want to carry. No road bikes.

As mentioned, my trailer has a 3x3 tongue. If you have a single 2x2 tongue I would not mount this as it puts a fair load on the tongue.

Fortunately my wife pointed out to me when I was building the tongue box that I should put doors on the ends rather than having a hinged top, so no need to move bikes to access the tongue box.
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby drhill » Tue May 29, 2018 9:16 pm

Also you can click on my username to view profile, then click on search user's images. There are a few pictures in there that might help.
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby Ottsville » Wed May 30, 2018 7:20 am

I've looked through your photos but couldn't gather any intel from them. Thanks for pointing me to pinkbike - I found this thread:
https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=136031 Is that the one your build is in? I haven't looked through it all yet.

I had looked at the North shore site - your linked photo was exactly what I needed though. Any pointers on making the hooks?
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby tony.latham » Wed May 30, 2018 10:42 am

Interesting bike rack. I think I've seen those disappear in my mirror. (I feel a bit guilty over conspiring to hijack this thread but I'll get over it.)

I'm leaning hard towards build #4 this winter. I'll probably do a bike rack system similar to what Inka Outdoors does with theirs. They weld a receiver hitch vertically on the frame and hang a modified Thule above the tongue box. (We've got a couple of fat tire ebikes and might be a bit heavy to lift up above the box to a vertical rack.)

:thinking:

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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby drhill » Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:01 pm

I had a look through that thread on pinkbike. No my rack isn't in there. I built the first back in 2009. I posted just a picture in my album and that got the NS patent owner excited. I removed the picture. Just study all the pictures you can on the NS site. I used 3/8" solid rod for the hooks and covered them with 3/8" ID compressor hose. The rear wheel tie down that NS uses is no good. I used nylon cleats (CL203) about $3 each at a marine supply store. For mounting the rack to the trailer, if you can zoom in on this you should be able to see the mounting plate.

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Tony - lifting 38-40 lb downhill bikes on and off the rack is easy, but a 60 lb electric bike might be an effort. The electric fat bike likely doesn't have a suspension fork so wouldn't fit anyway. Lifting the bikes isn't as much effort as you might think. Your right hand goes on the lower fork and guides the bike into the hook, the left hand is on the seat tube and doesn't need to lift the bike very high, like below the waist. So it isn't too hard.

Going to downhill bike races is what got me into building a teardrop in the first place. It makes camping in the parking lot of a ski hill much easier. (bike races held at ski hills in the summer).

There was also a vertical rack called the Rat Rack that held bikes by the front wheel. They were designed and build by Richard Ratti in Calgary. He built it out of need as his 2 boys were downhill racing. He never patented his design and anybody can build one. He is no longer building them but you can find images if you google "Rat Racks bike racks". His racks came before the Swagman Jacknife rack and the racks holding bikes by the wheel that were posted on Pinkbike in 2012.

Here is a trailer I used to have. Hauled up to 16 bikes.
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Re: Removable Teardrop Pod

Postby Ottsville » Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:30 am

Drhill, thank you for posting that information!
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