Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've now completed the drawings for the Scotty 12ft rear-door interior-galley trailer. Here is my Scotty 12ft page.



Andrew

now That's a practical trailer!

whoever thought a rear galley was a good design?

The layout is basically the same as in the Compact, which I would probably build if I ever built another tiny trailer. This one is terrific if you want to build a TTT with the vintage look. The compact, however, will give you a lower profile and should have less wind resistance. My preference would be the alternate layout with the wider bed.

Andrew, you did a great job of creating the drawings...as you always do.

Thats great Andrew, as usual.
Perhaps the open unused space was for chairs and they used the counter and stove space for eating.

A little too boxy for my taste but the inside seems to work.
Miriam

Andrew,

It is an interesting design, but it begs a question.

How much effeciency is gained by making the trailer shorter. I can see some, but is it worth the low head room?

Would there be any real advantage over your Widget? or over a standard , walk in version 12 footer?

dave

Andrew,
Thanks for taking the time to draw up this trailer. I have downloaded the files to my "next trailer" folder. I really like the vintage look and the rear door. I think it's a good compromise of size and useability. You did a great job as usual!

Scott F.

jay wrote:whoever thought a rear galley was a good design?

Mostly southern Californians who had very little rain to deal with while camping. IIRC, every set of original magazine plans from the 30's & 40's came out of SoCal.

Personally, I've never thought that the dinette that converts to a bed and back again was a good design. Too much hassle at bedtime and again when you get up in the morning and want breakfast. But obviously some folks like it.

Joseph

dwgriff1 wrote:How much effeciency is gained by making the trailer shorter. I can see some, but is it worth the low head room?

It's pretty significant. Let's say you have a trailer that is 5' wide and 5'6" high (about the height of my Voyager). The trailer essential rides in the draft shadow of the minivan, most of the additonal drag is caused by surface turbulance. Now let's consider the alternative of a TTT that lets me stand up inside, say 7' from ground to roof. The frontal area of your combination has increased by ~28%.

Andrew Thanks for sharing the drawings of this Trailer. You are awsome with your talents. I saved the 12' Scotty to my files. I want to build my teardrop first then I will look at this one very hard... I really like the simplicity of this one and for the size it apears to be very open and roomy.

Joseph,

With any TTT that has standup room inside (12' or less for the cabin), if your bed doesn't convert to a dinette or couch, there just isn't room enough to do much inside except stand up. Yes, it can be a hassle to convert from one to the other, but it makes for more living area. I'll have to roll up and tie my mattress topper to get it out of the way, then fold up my bed into the couch which only takes a few seconds to do. It's making up the bed at night that will be the hassle. I had a pickup camper once that had a queen size bed over the cab, a dinette on the side that converted into a 40" wide bed, and drop-down 40" single bunk over the dinette. As I had two daughters, we used both singles. It wasn't that much hassle to convert the dinette to the bed.

Melvin,

I can attest to the drag on a higher trailer. I was surprised that the drag was as bad as it was when I towed mine to get it weighed. I've made a "wing" to put on top of my truck cap to deflect air up and over the front of the trailer, but haven't tried it yet to see if it will be successful. But, I am optimistic that it will help...we'll see. I'm thinking it would have been better to build and use the compact design with the pop up top over the galley area. It would have been over a foot less in height closed up, still have the standup room in the galley area, and a dinette or couch that converted into the bed. I would have to had compromised one of my requirements, that is the width. It would have been wider than my TTT and required add-on outside truck mirrors to see behind me while driving. The compact design also has the door in the rear, and I like that.