Building a 5x10 Square-Drop (The Bradbury)

[gearsoup]

Living in Maine, I've been tent camping all my life, it's something I really enjoy doing with my kids. The one problem is that my wife has never been. It's not that she doesn't want to go, it's more that we both know what's going to happen if she doesn't get a good night's sleep. Between the neck and back pain of sleeping on a cot/mat/air mattress and the ensuing irritability, it's something we mutually decided on (even without speaking about it much).
As my kids are getting older (4-5 years from now we'll be empty nesters), I've been somewhat worried about how solo camping would effect us or the idea of just giving up camping. Neither one of those are palatable to me, so I've been keeping my eye out for a solution that didn't involve a huge RV.

Well, last time I was out camping, a neighbor in the next site over had a Hiker XL and it impressed me how compact it was. Long story short, I'm going to embark on a build. It will be slow going, I work a full time job (and a half), so it's likely just the weekends when I can spend time on it.

I'm not a wood worker, I'm a machinist. I have most of the wood tools I need (not nearly enough clamps) and I've never laid fiberglass. Thankfully, both my father and brother are carpenters and both have refinished old wooden canoes with good results, so the fiber and wood working is well covered.

To get some scope of what I was in for, I spent dozens of hours scouring the web and watching YouTube, consuming all the "DIY" content I could find. With that rudimentary knowledge in hand, I set about to design it in Fusion before even buying the first component:

Obviously, I still have a ways to go:
Hatch
Galley
Framing between the outer and inner wall skins

Walls and ceiling/roof will be 1/4" BB in and out. Ceiling framing will be with trimmed down 2x2's (1.5x2"), walls will be with 3/4" pine, insulation in between. Floor is a mix of 3/8" ply and 3/4" pine along with insulation.

I'll be going with both solar and shore power, battery system along with a 12v cooler.

 

[gearsoup]

Why am I'm calling it The Bradbury? A cute little "mountain" we have within short driving distance, so it seemed fitting. The wife and kids like it, so it sticks.

 

[gearsoup]

Added a nook for a fold out stove:

 

[gearsoup]

And then got to work on the galley. I still have cupboards up top to model up, but it's coming along

 

[gearsoup]

Tomorrow morning I'll work on the rest of the galley and then turn attention to the interior

 

[S. Heisley]

Keep going! It's looking good.

 

[gearsoup]

Worked on the internal framing (between the skins). It's a bit of a mishmash, not sure how far I should spread them out. The door is fully supported all around, as is the cubby where I'm going to have a fold out stove setup:

Rough weight thus far is 376 pounds for the main cabin (no galley)

 

[gearsoup]

Did some more work on the galley. While it looks somewhat decent before, the counter height was at 46", which, while tolerable, doesn't work when you have a spouse that's 5'2". Did some massaging all over and got it down to 39", as well as deepening the counter by a few inches:

Also got to work on the front box:

With the IceCo APL55 offset in the box, I have room on the other side to set my battery and whatnot:

 

[0verBuilt]

Loving the “build” thus far. I’m halfway through my first square drop build and have learned a lot. You’re already avoiding many of the mistakes in overbuilding that I made. Can’t wait to see more.

 

[gearsoup]

Ok, here's some more
I think that's where I want to mount the water and spare tire. I thought about going to the same size tires as my Tacoma, but A) added cost and unsure if I'm always going to be a Taco guy and not move into a Colorado or Canyon (greater towing capacity, needed for other uses).
I also move the front angled roof back a couple inches to give me proper mounting for a 200w panel. Previously, the footprint was the same as the panel, which could likely lead to overhang issues depending on mounting solutions.

Next, I modeled up the propane tank and found a model of a RotoPax online (didn't feel like spending too much time on that).

Playing around with some galley layouts. I think I like a larger center drawer for the big items (at least for now). I had a play with the rendering in Fusion, looks rather nice I think. Still need to decide on either open shelves, cupboards etc.
Depth of main counter is around 19" and distance to shelves above is 8.75", offering sufficient room to prepare food

I still need to build the side cabinet for the camp stove as well as interior shelves/cupboards.


I suppose some could argue that I'm going a bit overboard in designing it, as some prefer to just design as you go along. I'm doing this to help ensure that every spar, every piece of wood/material is where it should go and "oh crap, that was a mistake" is kept to a minimum.

 

[Tony Latham]

You might take a look at my galley; I suspect there's something that may help your design.

Also, the door opening should be halfway into the mattress, not just an inch or so.

 

[gearsoup]

You might take a look at my galley; I suspect there's something that may help your design.

Also, the door opening should be halfway into the mattress, not just an inch or so.

Noted, dropping them another 2 inches

 

[DrewsBrews]

IDK if open shelving is particularly practical unless you have a method of retaining items while in transit.

Possibly cut a dado to act as tracks for thin plywood sliding doors. Or, If the open shelving is still preferred, maybe incorporate a string of hooks above and below to zig-zag chain a rope or bungies across, or possibly some sort of netting... To be removed at camp setup.


And, just a personal preference for simplifying a build: I'd continue the enclosure for the stove all the way up to the ceiling and try to move the enclosure back enough, and/or move the back wall so the enclosure doesn't encroach in the interior. The extra space above the stove could be used to house some sort of extendable light to deploy over the stove. And/or act as extra plenum space for running wires between the galley and interior or otherwise hiding/protecting unsightly infrastructure. But that is my jam.. I like to simplify and find ways to turn it into a plus. I find it a sort of elegance in design. That, and simple means less chances for me to mismeasure or miscut.

 

[gearsoup]

Yup, just iterating thru the design process and taking any sensible feedback. I didn't really like the idea of open shelving in the galley area, save for a few small areas on the counter for things like coffee pot, spices etc. That said, I'm also concerned of the depth and space I lose with doors/hinges. In reality, it's really not that much when you use 12mm Baltic.

I've also swapped the mattress direction around. I was originally thinking that my head would be towards the front of the trailer, but when I tried to get the 33"-36" distance to edge of door, I needed to move my axle back another 6", and it's already set slightly beyond the 60/40 point. Flipping where we sleep allows me to push the door 10" forward and no chance of bashing a knee on a wheel well.

Currently, axle is set 25" beyond the theoretical "Center of Mass", which is 22" behind the measured centerline of the trailer (including tongue).

 

[Tony Latham]

I was originally thinking that my head would be towards the front of the trailer, but

Part of the reason teardrops work with their side doors is that getting in and out of them is easy, as it's similar to getting in and out of bed. And of course, that's with your head facing forward.

Tony

 

[gearsoup]

Now that I've got most of my doodads placed on the exterior, I'm starting to rethink just using 3/4"x2 spars to frame it out. I might investigate the process you took, Tony, with full sheets of 3/4" ply. A sheet at my local Home Depot (Birch or Oak) is $80, I'd need 3-4 of them depending on where I want to put the seam. (4' tall, 10' long)

There's more work in routing everything out and I really don't have a lot of use for the waste, since the interior is going to be 1/2", but I wonder if I can build it stronger with the ply, having it all connected and "reinforced" in all the right places. Not "reinforced" by adding material, but just by leaving it well connected all around key areas, using gentle radii to increase strength

 

[DrewsBrews]

As long as the tongue and tow vehicle can easily handle the tongue weight IMO there are more positives than negatives to having the axle farther back.

Since you have an angle built into the tongue box anyway you could carry that forward to an A frame tongue. They tend to be less "noodly" than a single bar for the same amount of material weight. And with the stickout of a ball hitch from the receiver you don't realy lose useful bend angle. Though the couplers seem standardised to 50deg angle. Or convert back to a stub bar at the point for whatever angle you want.

 

[gearsoup]

Yeah, my trailer guy mentioned the same regarding an A-frame layout, following the same angle as the front box, terminating in a stubby tongue

 

[Tony Latham]

with full sheets of 3/4" ply. A sheet at my local Home Depot (Birch or Oak) is $80, I'd need 3-4 of them depending on where I want to put the seam. (4' tall, 10' long)

I might suggest using 3/4" CDX 4 x 8'. They are easy to join using a spline joint. (You can do the walls with 3 sheets.)

Just place the joint so it's covered with interior/exterior sheathing.

Some yahoo wrote a book about this stuff.

Tony

 

[gearsoup]

Yeah, I've got your book on order! I was more wondering how this framing would bear out on a squaredrop style, coupled with adding all the doodads outside the vehicle. (water, rotopax, spare tire, etc.)