Extended top?

[Shrug53]

I had an idea for an extended top trailer. Basically it would give you an extra six inches of head room inside. My idea is to take the flat part of the roof, and instead of skinning it flat, you build kind of a rised rib for that section, and skin that so it flows in to a bubble kind of top. This lets you have a higher top without having to have taller walls (which is difficult is you use 4x8 plywood). I have attached two very quick basic drawings to illustrate my point. Hopefully somebody, who is good with 3d rendering (hint hint) will be willing to model this for me. Let me know what you think of my idea. With a bit of extra work you could probably use this angled ribbing all the way down.





Many thanks!

-=Tony=-

[Joseph]

Unless you're more than four feet from your butt to the top of your head, what's that extra five inches going to do for you that's worth all the trouble?

Joseph

[Shrug53]

Well first, think of it as psycholgical headroom. Just like in a house, you can settle for 8' ceilings, but 9' seems nicer somehow.
I fit perfectly in my GrandAm, without bumping my head, but the extra high roof in my 53 Chevy is nice to have.

Second, I enjoy rolling these concepts around. It is fun to see if I can come up with something workable which will yield a nice unique result.

So no practical purpose, just something to be fun and different.
Nothing says that everything has to be practical. I have a buddy with a 54 Chev and original hubcaps, I run moon racing discs. The only difference is in appearance. Both cars would run equally as well even without hubcaps. Sometimes it is just fun to imagine the possiblities.

[mikeschn]

Hey Shrug,

Interesting place to have a bumpout. The only thing I think it might be good for is to install a roof mounted air conditioner. But for that I don't think 6" is enough.

Now if you want to talk serious bumpouts, design me a bumpout that will allow a queen sized bed in a 4x8 teardrop!!! Can you do it???

Mike...

P.S. A queen sized bed is 60 x 80!

[Shrug53]

Oddly enough that is something I have been considering.
I was watching the RV 2004 show the other night on HGTV and saw these mammoth motorhomes, which also had slide out rooms. I said to myself "self, why does something that big need a slide out"?

I thought that would be much more useful in a small trailer. Imagine pushing the wall out just two feet, then you have more than enough room for a queen size inflatable mattress.

First I considered the whole hyraulic slide assembly the big boys use. Then I went to a company called www.bayslides.com , but that was still too heavy and expensive.

I saw that a couple of the early homebuilt camping trailers had slide out bunks. Basically the same as great big drawers. I have recently bought a couple of early magazine articles (actual paper articles) from Ebay which have designs like these.

When I get them I will scan them in and convert them to pdf documents which I will post on my website at: http://www.forgottenclassics.com

I am probably going to go the simple route myself, and end up building a 5x10 teardrop with a dinette table and booth that converts to a queen size bed.

[tdthinker]

Hey mike I can design any teardrop to have All the comforts you want, just give me a hollar!

[mikeschn]

Okay Ryan,

Show me a 4x8 with a slideout and a queen sized bed!!!

Mike...

[jay]

the more seams in the cladding the more potential for leaks. look at some english caravans from the 50s & 60s - think "clerestory".

[tdthinker]

Jam you are right, unless you roll the top out of one big sheet of aluminum. I myself would build a pop up top if any because you can have more room and it can lock down tight to stop leaks.