I like threads like this. We get to brainstorm. Benchrace, etc.
And I'd like to set the tone of my post here with my compliments on your oak-framed, 580 lb work of art, sir! You know what you're doing.
dwgriff1
I'll restate: Would the tow vehicle get better mileage pulling a 300 pound trailer than a 6 or 800 pound one?
Of course! Especially when starting and stopping...
dwgriff1
Would it make a lot of difference if the trailer were very flat, like a folding trailer might be?
And yes, to get any where near that weight one has to look beyond the materials most of us have used.
Like Andrew said,
"If the trailer expands into a size 3 (whatever that is), then it is likely to weigh more than non-folding size 3, because the folding/sliding/magic bits weigh more than rigid bits.
So in this case smaller and lighter don't go together." dwgriff1
My tow vehicle is a small Chevy coupe. It is 62" high and even though my current trailer is quite low, it is taller than that. Width wise it is about the same.
And at 115 hp I might well be considered under powered. Still it has worked well.
It seems that many tear builders begin planning the 2nd build while working on the first. I am wondering if a 2nd build is worth the trouble.
There's no harm in engineering it "on paper" first!
I have posted elsewhere that for my first build, I'd like to use traditional teardop construction materials, i.e. plywood, mild steel and a lightweight skin. From what I have gathered from one of the first plansets from the late 1930s - 650 lbs using 3/4 ply and a massive, custom-built galley w/ ice box - and Bill Harper's claimed 450 lbs empty for his Quik N Easy, I know I can build a 4 X 4 X 9 using additional "lightening techniques" to "add" even more "lightness" and come in well under 500 lbs empty.
My 12V system's 105-amp-hour, 70-lb agm battery may take the trailer's weight through the 500 mark, but not too far over. With almost 400 lbs of my stuff including a good supply of bottled water, I hope to go down the road at 900 lbs. I hope I am being realistic; I think I can do it with a minimalistic approach...
As you've noted, those who've been asked about what they'd change for their second (and third) builds always answer, "I'd build it smaller and lighter - I went too big and too heavy..."
My particular tow vehicle, a Ford Focus ZX3, is rated to tow 1000 lbs, but that's for the 2.0 L version with the wimpy pre-'05 front discs. The 2005-and-newer Focuses are rated to tow 1200 lbs with only a mild front brake upgrade. My car has Ford's (first) PZEV 2.3 liter Duratec engine (155 lb/ft!) and I've added the even bigger, massive SVT/ST170 Focus brakes, so I hope that keeping the entire towed package at 900 lbs will result in a more-or-less understressed arrangement.
dwgriff1
I am sure it would get better mileage, but would the margin be enough to justify the search for the lighter weight solution?
A lighter trailer that sleeps a taller person such as yourself will have to be built entirely of luan (like Roly's) or one of the popular composites, as Ageless has just noted.
In addition to the posts I hope your thread here will generate, there're several composite-build threads posted. You may have already seen most of them.
