boulderv7 wrote:I am basing my design off of Tony's trailer plans in his book, except we are only going 9' long instead of 10'.
Let me know what you think.
Mostly weight, cost and need. After I figured out everything we needed/wanted, it all fits in a 9' profile, so I figure why the extra foot? We basically decided we don't need/want the headboard in Tony's design, so that essentially dropped a foot from the profile. Hence the 9'. Are we gonna miss the extra foot? Maybe....will that mean I need to build another teardrop? Maybe....lol. That's ok with me.Tom&Shelly wrote:boulderv7 wrote:I am basing my design off of Tony's trailer plans in his book, except we are only going 9' long instead of 10'.
Let me know what you think.
Why only 9'? Whenever I modify dimensions in a design, I seem to mess something up somewhere along the line. Not a big deal--just wastes some material and time. (And usually I can re-use the material somewhere else, eventually.) But that's just me. I'd need a pretty compelling reason to cut off a foot.
Tom
This is a good suggestion. I assume the 3" dimension would oriented vertically, correct?saltydawg wrote:Well I would shift to 2x3 .085 wall rect tube and save some weight and be a little stronger over all. It saves about .3 lb for every foot of tube, which adds up when you figure all the lengths needed.
boulderv7 wrote:This is a good suggestion. I assume the 3" dimension would oriented vertically, correct?
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Well I would shift to 2x3 .085 wall rect tube and save some weight...
tony.latham wrote:Well I would shift to 2x3 .085 wall rect tube and save some weight...
It is a good suggestion. Just keep in mind that .083 is more challenging to weld than .120" --that's why I avoided it in the book. The other thing is that square tubing for the tongue works well for the removable coupler. But you could certainly stick with my tongue and the thinner rectangular steel for the frame.
Tony
Very good points all around. And something I have thought about. I'm still trying to keep the weight down though too, and would ideally like to be able to tow it easily with a vehicle with a 1500lbs tow rating. My wife wants to upgrade her sedan to a crossover type, but I currently have a Honda pilot with a 3500lb rating, so going a bit heavier wouldn't exactly be a deal breaker. I *think* 9' would be in that sweet spot for us, just big enough and just light enough...swoody126 wrote:most materials come in 2' increments w/ metal coming in either 20' or 22' lengths neither of which divides by 9 evenly
so ... IMHO making a frame members roughly dividable by 2'± wastes very little/much less
plywood comes in 8' lengths x 4' widths
w/ frame members set on 24"± centers one can maximize the use of plywood
when targeting the 24" marks w/ a slight bit of fudge factor for mounting convenience you waste less material
stretching your 9' idea to 10' will consume virtually the same amount of labor ... like within 15 minutes± either way/operation/day's labor
just something i try to wrap my mind around when designing/selecting a project and i still end up adding to my collection of pieces of materials for tiny projects
Tony's headboard might could be quite handy ... specially if it didn't consume any extra materials
just this old cheapsteak's 2¢ worth this morning
BON CHANCE
sw
I *think* 9' would be in that sweet spot for us...
boulderv7 wrote: I'm still trying to keep the weight down though too, and would ideally like to be able to tow it easily with a vehicle with a 1500lbs tow rating. My wife wants to upgrade her sedan to a crossover type...
But thats why I'm here, to ask questions and get feedback from people with experience.
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Thanks guys!
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