Andrew's Dinette on HF frame

[Jimbo]

Well, I have a long weekend coming up this week and am looking for something to get into. I was looking at Andrew's dinette and it's fairly nice. My only complaint about the TD is the size. The Mrs and I are healthy peoples so the TD's a bit cramped. She likes the idea of having somewhere to sit inside. After looking at the drawings, I found myself wondering if this couldn't just be built on a HF frame.

It looks like the box of the chassis is 42"x108" which is a hair over 9'. By using the crossmembers as rail supports, the HF could be lengthened to 9' rather easily without risking too much as far as stability. Granted the HF is a tad bit wider though.... Built light, it should fit well within a 1800# frame... Actually, it'd probably fit within the 1400 frame... Thoughts?

[angib]

Here is the HF-1800 trailer overlaid on the Dinette:



You can see that the HF is smaller in rather a lot of dimensions (and the Dinette chassis wasn't that generous), particularly on axle width. It also rides several inches higher which would cost you in fuel economy. But it could well work with a bit of adjustment here and there, as long as it was built light.

While looking for the Dinette drawing, I came across this alternative version that's 6" wider (78"), so allows sleeeping across the width. The first layout is like the smallest Shasta while the second uses a fold-out toilet compartment that gives more space the rest of the time (this fold-out idea was taken from a boat my Dad had whenI was a kid!).





Andrew

[Jimbo]

Andrew,

I'm glad you replied. I went ahead and bought a 1800# trailer today so the fun begins. I'm going to extend the trailer by 1.5', using the center crossmember to reenforce the frame rails. That will give me a total length of 9.5'. I still need to figure out where to mount the axle on the frame though.

I think it will be a Dinette design with just a few modifications. The wife has asked about the possibility of including a small shower facility. I thought about hanging a handheld showerhead in the water closet and making it dual purpose. Putting a drain in the floor and lining the walls with something like FRP designed for the bathroom should meet the need. Unfortunatly, that means hanging a fresh and greywater tank...

[Jimbo]

Well, after playing in Visio today, here's what I came up with. In order to accomidate the dinette that I was looking at. I had to widen it by 5 inches total.

[angib]

Jimbo,

I think you need badly to do a reality check on what you're thinking of doing. The drawing you've posted shows loads of 4" thick walls - even internal ones! There is no way this is compatible with building on a 1800lb trailer. And it's a huge structure to get just a 42" wide bed - that's a decent-sized single bed, right? You don't need even a double bed, but you need a 39" x 24" hanging locker?

Sorry if this seems negative, but it's better to get this sort of basic stuff right before you start. If using Visio to make the drawings is causing the least trouble, stop using it and draw on squared paper at a convenient scale. It's a good design, not an attractive picture of it, that you want.

Andrew

[Jimbo]

Jimbo,

I think you need badly to do a reality check on what you're thinking of doing. The drawing you've posted shows loads of 4" thick walls - even internal ones! There is no way this is compatible with building on a 1800lb trailer. And it's a huge structure to get just a 42" wide bed - that's a decent-sized single bed, right? You don't need even a double bed, but you need a 39" x 24" hanging locker?

Sorry if this seems negative, but it's better to get this sort of basic stuff right before you start. If using Visio to make the drawings is causing the least trouble, stop using it and draw on squared paper at a convenient scale. It's a good design, not an attractive picture of it, that you want.

Andrew

Ooops... I noticed that but couldn't figure out how to fix it in Visio. I was planning on using 2x2s to do my framing with. I may just try some graph paper. I never could get the hang of CAD. ;(

[Jimbo]

I'm hoping that Andrew reads this and replies. I have been working on assembling the trailer. I have the trailer box at 118" now. Any thoughts on where I should mount the axle? I love this 1800# trailer. I'll never buy another 1175# after seeing this one.

[angib]

I drew the axle at 52" from the rear of the 120" body - so 68" from the front of the body.

But to use a HF trailer with this body, you're going to have to come up with a plan for how you will both lengthen and widen the trailer. You could leave the length as it is and just make up a longer tongue, and you could add new longer cross-members in front of and behind the existing trailer frame to widen it.

Then you are just left with the problem of a 4' 6" wide axle under a 7' wide trailer. I don't have an answer to that one.

Andrew

[Jimbo]

I drew the axle at 52" from the rear of the 120" body - so 68" from the front of the body.

But to use a HF trailer with this body, you're going to have to come up with a plan for how you will both lengthen and widen the trailer. You could leave the length as it is and just make up a longer tongue, and you could add new longer cross-members in front of and behind the existing trailer frame to widen it.

Then you are just left with the problem of a 4' 6" wide axle under a 7' wide trailer. I don't have an answer to that one.

Andrew

That's I good point on the width. I may just have to give up a bit of width in order for it to be stable. I've been playing with designs in my head for the reduced width and I have a couple of ideas. I'll post once I work the bugs out of 'em.

Thanks Andrew