Regal Eagle Done! Video Tour 6/29/15

[Gunguy05]

I think the reason you are having trouble "wrapping your brain around" roll pans for a rain drop is because they would have to be formed in compound curves, whereas the roll pans on a standard tear are merely radii or ellipses.

If you are serious about doing compound formed metal, I would recommend looking at some of Ron Covell's videos. But be warned, he is a master metal craftsman and makes it look far easier than it is in real life for us mere mortals.

Two separate issues.. sorry, didn't mean to confuse that. The roll pan that I am talking back is just on the rear. I just want to make sure that the floor, hatch, and bottom radius all meet up where they should. We are meeting with the guy on Sat that is going to be cutting off the trailer and welding in some extra supports. I just want to make sure that I have all of my ducks in a row. I think I will make a template soon of the profile that I want. Put in on the trailer and then use it to take measurements particularly for the galley and where everything will be there. Up until this point i have been focusing on the axle, the front bow, the doors.. Now I need to get the galley worked out because it will dictate the lengh of trailer. initially I was concerned that they trailer would be long enough.. Now it looks like a little short is better, then use the roll pan to make things work out.

For the front, not roll pan. I wouldn't even attempt a compound curve in that area... sounds like I was on the right track, just going to frame out beneath the overhanging area to the depth of the frame, then run the Al down to cover that.

As always, thanks to everyone for all the help. The suggestions and experience shared are invaluable.

Brian

[RandyG]

Draw a mock~up with tape on your floor, or what ever else you have, sidewalk chaulk? The bow front, although adds alot of storage and a bunk, takes up more space than on a traditional. By the time I laid out the front and enough room for the mattress, my galley ended up being smaller than most. Since your frame may be too long, it might be just right for a bow front. If I could, I would make mine about 18" longer.

[Gunguy05]

Draw a mock~up with tape on your floor, or what ever else you have, sidewalk chaulk? The bow front, although adds alot of storage and a bunk, takes up more space than on a traditional. By the time I laid out the front and enough room for the mattress, my galley ended up being smaller than most. Since your frame may be too long, it might be just right for a bow front. If I could, I would make mine about 18" longer.

They depth of the gally is something that I was/worried about too. I have made the bow front about 30 inches, and the rest 8ft overall. It give me about 18-20 inches of depth on the bottom of the galley floor. I think that will do what I need it to, but that is one of the things that I want to check with a full size pattern. To be able to set it on the frame, look at the counter height, depth, and clearance to the hatch. I did a ROUGH... I mean ROUGH mock up a few weeks ago using CAD "cardboard aided drawing"..

This was when we decided to go 6 wide instead of 5.. I think the extra room will be worth the $$ and effort.

This is also before we decided to stretch the front from 24 to 30 inches.




Thanks again for the help

Brian

[rowerwet]

just be sure you are comfortable towing a 6 wide. many cars will need towing mirrors to see around a six wide, the big advantage to towing a tear over a pop up is not needing extra mirrors, the car ones do just fine.
measure how wide your TV is at the back end, most will be a little over 5. If you make the tear too large you will end up feeling like you are pulling a parachute...

[be_a_jayhawk]

Your post made me go back and look at the camp-in and redesign my layout for the better. Although I still don't know how he squeezed it into a 5x8 it put my 5x10 in perspective. I am going to use more of a benroy shaped front and stick the bunks up there for my 3 and 7 year old. By the time they outgrow 5 ft beds well my camping days might be over since the wife won't go. The 8 year old can hit the queen on the base with me. How old/big are your kids? Is that 5ft tall on the mock up?

[Gunguy05]

just be sure you are comfortable towing a 6 wide. many cars will need towing mirrors to see around a six wide, the big advantage to towing a tear over a pop up is not needing extra mirrors, the car ones do just fine.
measure how wide your TV is at the back end, most will be a little over 5. If you make the tear too large you will end up feeling like you are pulling a parachute...

I went back and forth on this one. I did look at some 6 wides and the seems to be right on the edge of comfortable visibility (at least for me), but it works. Both of the TV's that would be used are Jeefp commander, and ford edge. I don't really see us going any smaller than that considering the weight will be up there (at least as far as traditional TD's are concerned). My thought was that if I was going to build it, I want it to, at least theoretically, last me until the kids don't want to camp with us anymore. When I looked at the 6 vs 5 wide, there was a considerable amount of difference in the perceived inside distance. I might regret is, but then again, I think we wouldn't be happy with a 5wide.... If we need to, we can get clip on towing mirrors as a last resort. We did do a lot back and forth on the 5/6 wide idea though. Plus if i ever did decide to sell it, there are going to be many fewer 6 wides of this size out there than 5 wides.

Your post made me go back and look at the camp-in and redesign my layout for the better. Although I still don't know how he squeezed it into a 5x8 it put my 5x10 in perspective. I am going to use more of a benroy shaped front and stick the bunks up there for my 3 and 7 year old. By the time they outgrow 5 ft beds well my camping days might be over since the wife won't go. The 8 year old can hit the queen on the base with me. How old/big are your kids? Is that 5ft tall on the mock up?

The raindrop is 10ft long not counting the box... we are at 10'6", with the additional 6" coming from the 30" radius rather than the (I think..) approximate 24" radius on the RD. the benroy front, the Kampster and 2+2 were all designs that I looked at adapting to what we wanted. I just couldn't get away from the flat roof and how the use of space on the RD works out. It just seems like an ingenious way to do things... plus it's different, and I tend to be a little different.. (my first car was an rx-7, and current is prius)

Kids are 4 and 1 1/2 right now. 4 yr old has been camping since he was born, and 1 1/2 yr old has been a couple of times, once in a tent, once in a yurt... tough to get the wife back to a tent once she yurted.

The ROUGH mockup is 5 wide.. it was what really pushed us to the 6 wide. Sitting in it and seeing the difference in space was the winner.

[rowerwet]

don't know about your family, but the wife and I enjoy our privacy camping. Once the kids were out of the crib we put them in their own tent. More than 2 bodies in a 5x8x4 space and you are gonna have air flow and heat issues in a tear. If this is your only reason to go 6 wide I wouldn't count on them wanting to stay in the tear until they hit over 5 feet (age 10 or so), but every family is different.

[RandyG]

You can build for a growing family, once my youngest is old enough for a tent, the bunk mattress can be removed and used as a large self for duffle bags.

[be_a_jayhawk]

Or give a bunk to the dog!

[KCStudly]

The dog will regulate temperature. If he/she is comfortable he/she will stay in the bunk. If he/she is cold, they will come down and keep you warm.

I have cats, but the pet equilibrium is universal.

[Gunguy05]

Things are moving kind of slow last few days, but we are making progress. Have done a few more things towards getting the design finalized. Just trying to work out a semi-plan for the galley.

Thoughts on the pics below as far at the galley proportions? Clear space for feet under is about 18 inches. Inside cabinets are 12" deep, counter height is a little higher than I would like, but was trying to give the needed foot room. Might have to tweak that a bit. Still don't have a definite use on the tops of the galley, probably cabinet storage, some sort of chase worked in the electrical and such as well.

I feel like I need to stretch things another 6" longer. i really don't want to, but I cam getting close on the bottoms shelf in the galley. i want to leave enough space for a slide out 7gal aquatainer, and cooler etc.. Not sure that is going to work here. The aquatainer is 15.25, I'm going to be right there at it. We could cut the radius off the back to gain a few inches, but I just don't like the sharp look of the flat benroy style hatch.









We did have a "sit down" this afternoon and work out some of the more specific stuff. Walls are going to be 1/2 BB ply and insulation, with 5/16 flooring for walls inside, and 1/8 ply, CPES outside, skinned in Aluminum. Will sit on top of frame. Didn't really want to do this, but we didn't want to sacrifice that 4" of head room/bunk height inside (the boat frame rails are 4" on the outsides).

Floor will be 1x sandwich, 1/2 on top, 1/4 on bottom.

Most likely going to make our own doors with sliding windows. Probably just 1 lexan long window in the front, none on the side radii.

Let me hear some feedback on the galley as far as intrusion in the cabin, overall dimensions etc. I know it's rough, but I have to work out the rough stuff first or the details will drive nuts before i even get to them.

Thanks again for all the input,

Brian

[rowerwet]

set your galley counter height on what is comfortable standing on the ground. set your inside shelf height at what is comfortable for sleeping. the counter doesn't need to be the same height as the inside shelf. Make the shelf high enough to raise your knees without trapping them, once you are beyond the area your knees could be at drop the height over your feet as you don't need to raise them to the same height while sleeping. Even sleeping on your side you won't have them as far apart as your person in the picture.
I made my shelf height the same as the galley, my shins end up hitting the shelf all the time... someday I will be raising the shelf to fix that. The height will change at the base of the back splash wall. Save yourself the aggravation and get it set up right now.
(much easier to make windows in my signature)

[be_a_jayhawk]

I am in the same stage of planning myself. I realized yesterday my 30 inch wide bunks just weren't going to fit and had to trim them back to 24. In my galley I really want 2 cooler slide outs. I like to use one for cold and one for a pantry (buns jerky etc) and on adult trips you cold have one for food and one for beverages. I have to decide if that is really what I am going to use that space for. Go back amd look at the pics of the camp inn. It really sacrifices storage to get it all in. There cooler is up on the counter where most of us would put a cabinet. Then yoi have to take your cooler off amd put it on some silly stand while that space it was on is now useless, unless maybe you can put your stove back there. I am at a point where I am looking at my camping supplies and saying what needs to get in here, because I believe that cabin room is my main priority and the shape is secondary. The galley I will make work with what I have left. In fact at this point my plan for the galley cabinets is to have one hale face to the galley and the other to the cabin. I will be keeping a close eye on what you come up with...I may just have to copy some of it.

[rowerwet]

our galley is all counter space, the cooler sits off to one side and the grill is off to the other. if I ever add a sink it will hang off the side, counter space is too important to have dedicated for only one use IMO

[Gunguy05]

our galley is all counter space, the cooler sits off to one side and the grill is off to the other. if I ever add a sink it will hang off the side, counter space is too important to have dedicated for only one use IMO

I am in the same stage of planning myself. I realized yesterday my 30 inch wide bunks just weren't going to fit and had to trim them back to 24. In my galley I really want 2 cooler slide outs. I like to use one for cold and one for a pantry (buns jerky etc) and on adult trips you cold have one for food and one for beverages. I have to decide if that is really what I am going to use that space for. Go back amd look at the pics of the camp inn. It really sacrifices storage to get it all in. There cooler is up on the counter where most of us would put a cabinet. Then yoi have to take your cooler off amd put it on some silly stand while that space it was on is now useless, unless maybe you can put your stove back there. I am at a point where I am looking at my camping supplies and saying what needs to get in here, because I believe that cabin room is my main priority and the shape is secondary. The galley I will make work with what I have left. In fact at this point my plan for the galley cabinets is to have one hale face to the galley and the other to the cabin. I will be keeping a close eye on what you come up with...I may just have to copy some of it.

After I posted Sunday night I went back yesterday and did some more figuring... Modified a bit, brought the counter down to 36" and the top cabinets rearward a bit. I feel a lot better now as it sits. Thanks for the input.

Plan is to cut a profile template and use some tape to finalize the rest of the measurements of the gallery. Maybe next week or 2. Gotta get the trailer cut off and some lumber first, after the garage is cleaned out. The trailer is our method of plywood hauling so, need to make a big run for all of that if possible.

The hunt continues.....