Help with design

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Help with design

Postby Dig68 » Mon Dec 07, 2015 3:40 am

Live in Ohio. Looking to be able to travel all over. Wanted 14 or 15" tires. If I keep them inside frame and put bed over wheel wells, doesn't the door get too high to comfortably sit down and head room is about 33 or 34"? I was trying to figure out what the dimensions were on a 6-wide Little Guy. Was thinking it was close to my drawings. Thanks for the feed back. I see lots of people go 5x10 with outside tires. You think 6x10 would not look good then and is a bad idea? Appreciate your advice. Want to have a good plan. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.
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Re: Help with design

Postby starleen2 » Mon Dec 07, 2015 4:00 am

I see from your drawings "two people" in a lay down position. Five feet wide might be a bit too tight. Overheard many time at group outings "I wish I had built wider, maybe on the second build!" 8)
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Re: Help with design

Postby S. Heisley » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:43 am

starleen2 wrote:I see from your drawings "two people" in a lay down position. Five feet wide might be a bit too tight. Overheard many time at group outings "I wish I had built wider, maybe on the second build!" 8)


Scott, I think those people were the ones who built on the 48" wide, 4x8' HF frames, without extending them. That is tight, especially for two. A 60" wide, 5x8' or 5x10' is really pretty decent. A queen-sized bed (5' or 60" wide) is usually preferred over the king-sized bed (72" or 6" wide) by most folk, even at home. Of course, with a 6' wide or wider, one can turn the bed sideways and have a ton of extra room, as you did in some of your builds. :thumbsup:
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Re: Help with design

Postby S. Heisley » Mon Dec 07, 2015 12:21 pm

Dig68 wrote:Live in Ohio. Looking to be able to travel all over. Wanted 14 or 15" tires. If I keep them inside frame and put bed over wheel wells, doesn't the door get too high to comfortably sit down and head room is about 33 or 34"? I was trying to figure out what the dimensions were on a 6-wide Little Guy. Was thinking it was close to my drawings. Thanks for the feed back. I see lots of people go 5x10 with outside tires. You think 6x10 would not look good then and is a bad idea? Appreciate your advice. Want to have a good plan. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.


You make a good point. If you wanted the bed lengthwise, it wouldn't work on a 5x10' with a low ceiling; but you have a 76" wide frame and could even put the bed crosswise with that and still have room to chase each other around inside! :lol: If you left the chassis at 76" wide and used a queen sized bed, it would fit between the wheels, lengthwise, with 8" to spare on each side (except at the boxed-in wheels) and you wouldn't need a platform at all. There are so many things that you could do with that chassis that it would keep me up at night, thinking with excitement!

If you are going to cut down your frame to 6x10' size (72 x 120"), you can put the put the wheels partially on the outside and/or possibly partially indented and it should be fine. You won't need much of a box for the wheels or even to build a bed platform. It kind of depends on how far your wheels and fenders will extend past the cabin. The point that I was trying to make is that the measurements that DOT (Dept. of Transportation) uses are from the farthest point to the farthest point, for both length and width. It is my understanding that this would be inclusive from fender to fender. If you left the frame width at its present 76" and put the wheels outside, the measurements for the width of your trailer might exceed 80" from side to side (tire/fender to tire/fender) and extra lighting requirements would come into play. In this scenario, you would need to be aware of the width of your tires and fenders as well as the width of your cabin/chassis. It's not just about aesthetics. That's why I included the website in my previous posting. As long as you keep that in mind, you should be okay.
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Re: Help with design

Postby Dig68 » Mon Dec 07, 2015 8:17 pm

My head is spinning LOL. I have drawn up all these scenarios I think over the last couple months. Today I was on a 4 hour drive and was trying to picture myself pulling a teardrop that was 6' wide with tires outside. I can now see the better choice would be to keep it in tighter. Going thru construction, etc, I would prefer to be not much wider than my Trailblazer 75". Thanks everyone and I am gonna keep drawing. Have some cardboard cutouts I am gonna try this weekend. Supposed to be near 60. Hopefully this comes together. Too many options.
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Re: Help with design

Postby S. Heisley » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:30 pm

Dig68 wrote:My head is spinning LOL. I have drawn up all these scenarios I think over the last couple months. Today I was on a 4 hour drive and was trying to picture myself pulling a teardrop that was 6' wide with tires outside. I can now see the better choice would be to keep it in tighter. Going thru construction, etc, I would prefer to be not much wider than my Trailblazer 75". Thanks everyone and I am gonna keep drawing. Have some cardboard cutouts I am gonna try this weekend. Supposed to be near 60. Hopefully this comes together. Too many options.


That's a good idea. When I designed mine, I taped out the size on the garage floor and moved in boxes to represent cabinets and walked, crawled, and laid in that area to be certain it was okay for me. I also carried a 4' ruler around to check how the height would feel (I wanted to be able to use my build with and without the roof raised.) I checked things during every step of the building process. I even put the potty in place and sat on it! You can't be too careful. Sometimes, every fraction of an inch can count. Best wishes to you, Dig.
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