Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

The ATV never shifted a millimeter with those cater-corner wheel webs. I have a buddy who flat trailers his 450 a thousand K up north every year and he does the same. Never an issue.
In any case I changed it out to two crossways strips of 4' E-track because those webs were just too much PIA to get on and off in the narrow confines. I use shallow crossed nylon tiedown straps now.

The awning was ordered with the trailer by the original buyer. I take no credit, I just use it!

Hello;
Thanks for posting your trailer. I am new to the site, starting on my 5x8 and I've been trying to figue out a bed and bench idea. The way you did yours fold up/down is just what I'm looking for. Thanks again for posting your pictures.
S.G

Thanks Susan, glad I could help.

Someone might be interested in this, I just finished my ceiling storage netting setup. Since I have the 6'6" ceiling and I'm... not 6'6", what the heck.
I like a couple of pillows a night and so does the G/F, so it only made sense to put this under utilized space to work storing this bulky but fairly light stuff. I can use it for towels and other such cloth stuff as well, and an extra bar at front makes a food prep area towel bar. It also passes over the small floor area not covered by the bed when it's down, so I can hang any wet clothing by wire hangers off this bar, if need be. Just in case I get caught in a downpour when out quadding and my rain gear doesn't make it all better.





I loved my Tinkertoy when I was a kid.
You can't see it so well anymore with the netting rods in place, but here's where I keep the reflector for my Olympic heater (thanks to thejonescompany1 for the idea), up along the ceiling where it's already a curve. I just turn that sash latch and slide it out. Fits behind the heater to deflect the I/R heat out and down to where we'll be, on those cold nights.

nice rig.

hows that go? a place for everything, and everything in its place.

cheers

Thanks Pappaw!
I added an escape hatch yesterday. A huge escape hatch, the whole big ramp door.



That`s a spring loaded latch bolt on the side where the outside ramp door pull handle handle is fixed. The tapered end on the bolt is reversed from the way it was supplied so that it latches when the ramp door shuts like a domestic room door. That's unless the latch is disabled by hooking the pull ring on that screw head just below it that`s out 1/4" from flush.
The pull chain passes through a sturdy screw eye just above the pull ring. Keeps the chain and ring from flopping around and makes it so that if I'm in a hurry I won`t have to find the ring in order to pull the bolt back, just pull any which way on that chain, sideways or whatever.

I'll lock the outside cam lock latches open at night (so no 'jokester' can lock me in) and the ramp door will be secured shut from within with this bolt, but if I should need to get out in a hurry all I have to do is pull on that chain and the spring loaded bolt retracts and releases the ramp door. And I'm outta there!

Not a bad idea at all. I've considered locking my ramp from the inside while camping for the exact same reason..

"I almost laughed as I found this site and it's already been done a hundred times over... "

Yes, only took me 3 years to find yours and other swans after hacking away at my ugly duckling box truck

I appreciate the generosity in sharing your mods and space-saving steps, as well as the detailed photos.

I added an outdoor shower to the 6 X 10.



It's made using common hardware. The curtain rod is of bent 1/2" conduit that clicks into conduit sockets that are mounted in a couple of hasps, the bar being held in the socket ends using spring buttons.
The hasps are for safety should the bar be forcefully pulled down and they have pieces of plastic spoon handle that will shatter and release the bar to swing harmlessly down before the trailer wall would be damaged. I tried to use rare earth magnets for the breakaway but just couldn't get a strong enough arrangement with the space for leverage and the materials that were available.



There are rare earth button magnets sewn into the curtain so that on the 'window' side the shower curtain gloms on to the vertical steel wall brace running down just beside the window, Another magnet on the other side of the shower curtain at the top attaches to the steel behind the aluminum skin above the door, when the curtain is closed.
The door can be partially opened enough for the bather to get out, and it just raises the curtain a bit on that side, which falls back into place once the door is closed again. Or one can shower with the door open, water doesn't seem to get inside. One can enter and exit without being visible from outside.

That 12 volt shower pump setup is sold on eBay for $20.00! Works just fine. There's an electrical switch near the shower head and outside the trailer so you can shut the flow off to conserve water while soaping up or shampooing. Biodegradable 'camp soap' of course, because it's just falling to the ground and running off the shower mat. The soap caddy hangs inside normally, easy to move to the outside hook.



Water is heated in the all purpose stock pot. It takes about 15 minutes to heat a 2/3 full pot that's good for a nearly 5 minute shower.
You start the water heating while setting the shower up. Poke the 12 volt plug and the pump through the access door from outside (the shower head is too big for this), hang the lines on their hooks, and plug it in. The pump dangles from that hook on the microwave shelf above the stove, so that it barely touches the bottom of the stock pot. The shower curtain rings are held with a velcro strap when not in use so that you don't have to thread each one each time you hang the curtain, just poke the rod through all of them at once and then take the strap off.
The curtain fitted shower rod, normally stored inside on clips around one window, is then pushed into the sockets while squeezing the buttons in, and the shower curtain is attached to the outside wall via the magnets.
The heat is turned off once the water is the desired temperature, and voila, shower. No adjusting to get just the right temperature, all the water is the exact temperature you wanted right away.

The pump and shower stuff stores in the stock pot under the oven when not in use, the shower curtain gets draped over a bar on the inner door surface.
When set up but not in service the curtain can be held open by the one extra long cloth strap on a middle magnet pocket that wraps around from the inside and goes back under its magnet to hold the shower curtain open like a sash. Then the privacy curtain can also be used for a porta pottie, that sits in front of the wheel well.
Now I just have to come up with some sort of toaster cover type cover for the porta pottie, so that it looks a bit more... elegant sitting there.

Sir;
i comment on your method of using the rear ramp door as an escape route. i have a a 7x14 v-nose with rear ramp door converted to be my deer hunting cabin and prime mover for a Polaris Ranger. Your use of spring loaded latches on the inside is wonderful while you are camping and the 4 wheeler is outside. My question is when you pack up, put the 4 wheeler in, and close the ramp, and the latch springs shut. How do you open the door again, I guess you have to climb over the top of the 4 wheeler?

My solution, because believe me, with the Polaris Ranger inside, there is no way to get to the rear, was to go to a farm supply and get the large gate barrel bolts, one on each side. Not as fast to exit, but can be left unlocked.

Cargo trailer conversions are better than factory campers. The gugs at my deer camp want me to sell mine all the time.

Best Regards.

Thanks for the interest in the ramp door escape latch.
The nice part is that it latches when the ramp door shuts, like a domestic room door, but for normal operation (not as a night escape hatch) the latch is disabled by hooking the pull ring on that screw head just below it that has been left sticking out 1/4" from flush."
It's difficult to see that screw head in the photo but when the chain ring is on it the spring bolt stays retracted.

I only enable the latch at night when I'll be occupying the trailer, by releasing the ring from that screw head. The rest of the time the chain ring is hooked on the screw head, the spring bolt is held retracted, and the door operates as though that latch doesn't exist.

I was actually at the hardware store about to buy two barrel bolts for that very purpose just like you describe, when I spotted that spring latch bolt, and the light bulb went on.

ps. I was just at an ATV meet with the trailer and a few guys were looking it over and they wowed, "That would be the perfect hunting rig!" "You should make those and sell them"

wow, what a fast response. yea, cannot see the screw. but i think i need to stick with the barrel bolts because my ramp has the "beaver tail", so my bolts have to be mounted horizontally.

my reply to the guys at the club is "make your own".

i'll post pix of mine soon, i'm pretty darn proud of it.

rob113 wrote:... i think i need to stick with the barrel bolts because my ramp has the "beaver tail", so my bolts have to be mounted horizontally.

my reply to the guys at the club is "make your own".

i'll post pix of mine soon, i'm pretty darn proud of it.

You could still do a latch like mine if you wanted, by cutting the last two inches or so off the appropriate side of the beaver tail, as being underneath the door recoil wire (assuming you don't have the wireless one with big counterweight spring mounted on the ramp door hinge), it's in a spot never driven on anyway.
Of course then you'd better never accidently let the door latch shut when the sxs is inside! : You'l need to have a pool cue handy to reach past the machine, tug down the ring and unlatch the door. Or send a little kid in there.

Yes, please do post pics of your setup. I'm always willing to pilfer ideas.

Great build! You have inspired me to do something similar with my 6x12.

I am ambitious though. I want to fit a RZR and sleep 4 (two are small kids). And haul another RZR in the pickup.

Thanks for sharing. Keep up the good work!

I am so thankful to have found this website. This is exactly what I have in mind. Kind of a minimalist but comfy approach. Great build.