weight distribution question

[natureboy68]

i am going to build a TTT based heavily on the puffin and squidget design, i am going to use the HF 4x8 trailer and keep the weight under 2k and tongue weight to 200lb...
my question is, can i put the bulk of the weight (A/C, fridge, potty, etc) towards the back of the trailer and keep the bed towards the front?
basically opposite of the puffin floorplan...
this is to keep more of the weight in the back or over the axle, then towards the front on the tongue...
is this a good plan? am i missing something?
thanks!

[asianflava]

Beofre reinventing the wheel, why don't you ask Steve what the tongue weight of the Puffin is.

[natureboy68]

the puffin is about 150lb tongue weight, i plan on adding a mini-fridge, which would put me over 200lbs...so my idea is to flip the floorplan, bed in the front, kitchen/potty in the back. i guess its like a typical tear.

[caseydog]

Be careful about shifting the weight. If the tongue weight is too low, and the weight in the rear too high, you could induce some serious sway when you hit highway speeds.

Andrew (Angib) probably has some charts and graphs to help you get the balance right.

CD

[brian_bp]

In addition to Andrew's Trailer Balance worksheet from his (linked at the top of T&TTT) Design Library, I coincidentally just saw a link to a relevant and very interesting web site from Bailey Caravans (in the UK): Caravan Stability Studies. Of the four pages, the Stability Studies Simulator has an interesting video and the "Stabilty Studies Game" is actually a design tool and simulation, running in your browser as a Java applet... try shuffling some stuff around and see the effect.

[madjack]

...let's see, you are going to take all the weight out of the front and put it in the rear...and ya wonder if this is going to be a problem...as long as you keep about 10% of the total weight on the tongue, you should have no problems.....2000# trailer=200@ tongue weight...........
madjack

[natureboy68]

I decided to go with the original floorplan (bed in back, galley in front) but put AC in back, and keep the fridge in front, these are the two biggest weight hogs (about 45lbs each). so it should balance out...and keep tongue weight to 200lbs with tongue box, etc...
now i have to get the trailer and start!

[angib]

....the "Stabilty Studies Game" is actually a design tool and simulation, running in your browser as a Java applet... try shuffling some stuff around and see the effect.

If you get it really wrong, it flashes up DANGER in big red letters - cool!

The one thing they don't seem to include is the aerodynamic effect which reduces nose weight at speed - some old wind tunnel tests in Yurp (so big-ish trailer and small tow car) suggest that some trailer designs result in zero nose weight at 60/70mph because there's so much aero lift on the front of the trailer. But I should stress this is of much less importance for teardrops, where they are usually in or near the wind shadow of the tow vehicle.

Andrew