I came up with an idea to solve my teardrop problem.

[Marck]

Thinking about it a while, I came up with an idea.
Please check it out, and tell me what you think.
The idea and pictures are on my website.
http://users.adelphia.net/~marckm/teardrop.html

[Nick Taylor]

Cool design. You'd certainly win the award for getting the most people in a teardrop at once. Only problem I could see is if one of the kids needs to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Nick.

[mikeschn]

Thinking about it a while, I came up with an idea.
Please check it out, and tell me what you think.
The idea and pictures are on my website.
http://users.adelphia.net/~marckm/teardrop.html

That is a good way to add sleeping arrangements for your children. Very nice, I like it!!!

Mike...

P.S. The slider should be on the street side, and the door should be on the curb side!
Like this...

[BufordT]

I also like the idea very much.

How are you going to build the slider part?

How wide is the slider part going to be? appears to be around 4 ft.

Bufordt

[Turtle49]

6 at once...cool!
This idea is similar to what I plan on doing. My wife and I have 2 sons. I plan on doing a hard sided fold-out instead of a slider. When I'm finished it will accomodate 3 adults and 1 child. 2 adults will sleep like normal with a child crossways above there legs like the 2+2 design and then the other adult will sleep in the fold out.
I really like the idea of a slider but don't have enough experience with them to attempt it. I curious to see what mechanism you come up with. Keep us posted!

[Marck]

Ok first off, mike how'd you do that??? never was great with graphics myself, but I do agree, I didn't think of the fact that I was putting the door out in the street.

As for how I will do the slider, I have been looking at a roller set up, it's like a very heavy duty drawer slider setup.

The slider will be about 4' X 5', not quite sure yet, will let you know when I get it all figured out.

Thanks for the compliments all.

[Chip]

OK you asked,,,use a rear entry hatch lid with a minimal kitchen to each side at rear,,,,install two tip or slide outs,, one on each side,,have a hard end that would seal against the side when reduced for travel,,,when extended, use a custom made snap on boot soft top to cover the top and sides much like a standard popup bed,, sleep 2 on the floor as normal,,two on left side and two on the right side,,,coordinate all bathroom schedules and provide a lot of ventilation

option 2,, build a tear for you and the better half and buy a large comfortable tent for the crew,,if ya get to go solo then ya leave the tent at home,,,believe it or not the little buggers grow up, have other interest , want to stay home etc,,ya still got a tear that you can enjoy that was not a night mare to design or build or set up,,,

just my thoughts,,chip

[Shrug53]

OK, check out these two sets of plans, one or the other should work out really well for you:

http://www.forgottenclassics.com/downlo ... travel.pdf

http://www.forgottenclassics.com/downlo ... er0558.pdf

Both of these are solid sided foldout trailers that have a nice low profile when closed, set up in minutes, and sleep six!

[Shrug53]

I am all for Chips option 2. You could even make the tent to attatch to the tear. Then when the kids are older and may not want to camp out, you will have a clean unspoiled trailer to continue to use.

Though I would love to see something like this built. If you look at those plans I posted you can see that the slide out can work just like a big drawer, and you already have to folding support legs I see.

Here is a thought. You could have two different slide out units. One of them could be only a foot deep, and maybe have the whole side open up, then you could enjoy a great view when you and your wife are comping alone.

[Turtle49]

http://www.forgottenclassics.com/downloads/campertrailer0558.pdf

This is exactly where I got the idea of an adult hard sided foldout. Way to go Shrug!

[Marck]

More updates on the six-pack tear model.

http://users.adelphia.net/~marckm/teardrop2.html

[Flyfisher]

It looks pretty good to me. The problem I had when looking at doing a pullout that size was the cost of the slides. When I designed my own slides, they were bulky but that was because they were made of wood, if you are an accomplished welder, then you could make a small enough slide I believe. One thing I did notice and liked is how you had taken into account that part of the slides frames left on the inside could run the entire length of the bunks on one side and cabinetry on the other.

[Shrug53]

The slide-out in the original plans do not use any kind of slides because the weight of the actual unit is fairly low. If you are concernred with scraping wod against wood an old trick was to rub the surfaces down with soap (that is how my grandpa kept the drawers working smoothly on his 60 year old jewelers bench).
Another option would be some simple rollers.
Remember the plywood on the pullout only needs to be a 1/4" along with some basic framing so will not weigh much.

Also remember that slides are designed to have weight on them on the vertical plane, not lateral.

In other words slides are meant to be mounted upright and not flat. Weight along the wide side will cause the slides to flex. So even if you used them for a drawer of this size, the would not give you the weight support you needed. The weight ratings you see for slides are for vertical support.

[Flyfisher]

This thread got me to thinking and what would I do if I needed to add room in my design for children. Shrug 53 posts got me to thinking and this is what I came up with. Basicall I would have an opening (the length that I want) that swings up the then the bed swings out from inside the tear drop and the the outer side swing up to support the original opening. Add sides and two knee braces and you have a bed for a child to sleep in. See picture.

http://tnttt.com/album_ ... pic_id=560

[DANL]

Hey Mike, Your fold out is very much along the lines of what I'm thinking about for my next trailer. The difference is that the floor of the extension is hinged at the point where the wall and bed platform meet. To provide strength the frame of the opening is welded up from rectangular section aluminum.

The roof of the extension is hinged with a hurricane hinge and is slanted and protrudes further than the floor in order to allow rain runoff. The outside wall works about the same as the one you have drawn but the endwalls fold up and have flanges that lock into place against the frame of the opening to keep the floor perpendicular to the trailer wall.

This foldout is intended for use with either of two trailer designs--both are five feet wide, five feet high, and eight feet long on the trailer deck but hanging out over the tongue about two additional feet. Popups are optional and, if used, would be hinged at the front and pop up at the back. They would have solid walls similar to the Compact design that Angib is working on.

The first trailer is shaped basically like a vertical wedge front cargo trailer with the door in the curbside wedge, full width galley in back, dinette type berth on the street side and foldout on the curb side. The other design is a "rimple" sort of shape with a vertical back, the two foot wide door in the back wall on the street side and hinged on the street side next to a galley only three feet wide. This one has the dinette on the curb side and the foldout on the street side.

Pretty complicated explanation but I haven't had time to draw these up yet. With cold weather coming, my wife wants to get her car into the garage so it's time to clean up the mess from trailer construction.