Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Okay guys and gals...

I'm going out of town for a couple days, and I'll have some idle time on my hands. (That translates into thinking time!). So what are we going to think about? How about Canned Hams?

I'd like to do a tiny canned ham design. Not as small as the one Andrew just came up with. I'm thinking 10' or 12'. But my question for you is, what is important to you in a Canned Ham? What features would you like to see? How much headroom should there be? Should there be a portapotty? Should there be a dance floor? You get the idea... What would you like to see in a canned ham design?

Mike...

Mike:

I haven't put much thought into it since I would have to upgrade my tow vehicle first, but one thing I've bounced around my head is having the galley in the rear of the trailer so food cabinets could be reached from inside or outside. While I would have an inside stove and countertop, sink, etc., I would also like to have a rear hatch similar to a tear so I could do most of my cooking outside with a portable stove. The inside stove would only be used in the most inclement weather, and maybe for the early morning coffee.

Requirements would be porta potty, table, and bed. A shower would be nice if room could be found to combine with the porta potty. A good heat, and A/C source would also be a must.

Since I camp alone, I can do more since I'm only designing for one person.

Paul,

So you're thinking something similar to the Giant Teardrop, right?

http://www.mikenchell.com/Generic_ET_Ph ... dex11.html

Mike...

P.S. I hear you on the Porta Potty/Shower...

A custom frame with a dropped floor entry in front of the wheels and continuing to the back under a bed/settee on each side, facilitated by split torsion axles. A porta-potty for night time use. Galley across the front. A small closet , Gas RV oven/cook top, gas heat. Boondocking capability. 6'3" headroom. 117" frame length ( 2X4 on each end comes to 10') Nice radius corners top and bottom, front and back. How's that Mike?

If/when I build #2 - a canned ham - it will have a shower/potty, minimal inside cooking facilities (if any), and a gaucho-style bed. Interior headroom will be around 72". Instead of teardrop-style hatch, I would have an exterior storage hatch to access a large storage area under the gaucho bed. Hopefully this storage area would be large enough for 2 camp chairs, camp stove and pop-up shelter. The wild card for me is whether or not to use a cooler or refrigerator and where it would go.

I never liked showering in my sailboat because of the humidity that stayed in the boat.... I did like the galley though. I could manage to go without a shower, but never did figure out how to go without eating.

I would want a galley a little like this one

Steve_Cox wrote:A custom frame with a dropped floor entry in front of the wheels and continuing to the back under a bed/settee on each side, facilitated by split torsion axles. A porta-potty for night time use. Galley across the front. A small closet , Gas RV oven/cook top, gas heat. Boondocking capability. 6'3" headroom. 117" frame length ( 2X4 on each end comes to 10') Nice radius corners top and bottom, front and back. How's that Mike?

Wow, all that detail. Have you already made drawings of that, or is it still in your mind's eye?

Mike...

aggie79 wrote:If/when I build #2 - a canned ham - it will have a shower/potty, minimal inside cooking facilities (if any), and a gaucho-style bed. Interior headroom will be around 72". Instead of teardrop-style hatch, I would have an exterior storage hatch to access a large storage area under the gaucho bed. Hopefully this storage area would be large enough for 2 camp chairs, camp stove and pop-up shelter. The wild card for me is whether or not to use a cooler or refrigerator and where it would go.

So the gaucho bed would go across the back of the trailer? Something like this?



Mike...

mikeschn wrote:

aggie79 wrote:If/when I build #2 - a canned ham - it will have a shower/potty, minimal inside cooking facilities (if any), and a gaucho-style bed. Interior headroom will be around 72". Instead of teardrop-style hatch, I would have an exterior storage hatch to access a large storage area under the gaucho bed. Hopefully this storage area would be large enough for 2 camp chairs, camp stove and pop-up shelter. The wild card for me is whether or not to use a cooler or refrigerator and where it would go.

So the gaucho bed would go across the back of the trailer? Something like this?



Mike...

Mike,

That is exactly what I had in mind. It would either be a pull-out with legs as you have shown or be a folding/sliding arrangement that is supported by side rails like in the Squidget. Of course, I'm not sure you could do a 78" free-span.

I'm with Steve on the dropped floor and door. I know that makes the frame more complex but I don't want a step over. I too could probably do without an actual shower, but my wife wants a potty room rather than being a part of the open area.

Thank you and take care,
Tom

This is great! I have been trying to design something like this on a 13ft long base. I would also like a simple potty/shower set up as these can be purchased as a combined pan with the holding tank built in. The problem I have been having is fitting the potty/shower thing in a location that isnt impacted by the wheel well. The minimum size of that combo is 24" x 32" and the 12" or so taken up by the wheel well moves it out too far into the middle of the trailer. Of course you could put it in the rear or up front but that ruins the rear gaucho across the back/ dinette across the front set up that I like so much. I would love to see if this problem could be worked around.
thanks,
Lori

mikeschn wrote:

Steve_Cox wrote:A custom frame with a dropped floor entry in front of the wheels and continuing to the back under a bed/settee on each side, facilitated by split torsion axles. A porta-potty for night time use. Galley across the front. A small closet , Gas RV oven/cook top, gas heat. Boondocking capability. 6'3" headroom. 117" frame length ( 2X4 on each end comes to 10') Nice radius corners top and bottom, front and back. How's that Mike?

Wow, all that detail. Have you already made drawings of that, or is it still in your mind's eye?

Mike...

I don't do drawings Mike, it was just a concept I have in mind.

I've seen several gaucho slide out beds and one thing they all had in common was no good access to the space under the seat. Good place for water tanks or drawers. I think external openings are just sources for water intrusion.

Mike,

How about a canned ham with a small, outside, bumped out galley. Think of the internal space freed up! Think of the design as a "Continental kit" or a leather bag box on the back of a stage coach. Could be fairly large, with matching curves on the sides, same as the trailer sides.

Prem

Mike,

The build I've been working on (http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=37391) is 7' x 12' (at the longest point, floor is like 10.5'). I've been thinking about a similar floorplan in a canned ham.

I'm quite happy with the layout, we've had 3-4 people in that thing working at the same time and we weren't all kinds of bumping into each other. There's a lot of storage space, the couch will easily seat 4 and pulls out to a full size bed, and the bathroom has a toilet, shower and a sink. The bath could be shrunk for porta-potty only, or converted to a combo stool/shower unit, or omitted all together for maybe a pair of bunks.

- Frank

Is this what people think about when we say canned hams? Scottys and Shastas?





Mike...

Well - what I've been thinking of is kinda like this Widget

with about this size dinette


but moved forward like this


but the porta potty size close to the Puffin or Generic ET