Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm still a long way from starting any construction, but I want a footwell in my tear when I finally get around to building it. Do most people have some tubing welded to the chassis to help support the footwell or do you just build a box that hangs down below the chassis? I've searched through several threads on footwells, but I'm having trouble finding the details to answer my question. Also, if I decide to go with a torsion axle instead of leaf springs, how does this affect how the axle needs to be setup as far as ride height? I don't ever plan on doing any offroading, but I might go on a few bumpy roads now and then. I plan on building an 8ft long by 5ft wide tear with a profile similar to JPLOCK's Windsong. I figure the footwell needs to be about 2ft front to back and 3ft wide. That will give me a nice size table with some space between the edges of the table and the doors for getting in and out. Any thoughts?

Paul Cook
Las Cruces, NM

Paul...you might want to drop a PM to bdosborn....he has a footwell in a 4x8 and I think he has done a fantastic job of fitting in a lot of options into a small tear. I'm sure that there are others out there, but I've seen his a couple of times and it is really done up nicely...ask, I'm sure he'll reply...Doug

Paul wrote:I'm still a long way from starting any construction, but I want a footwell in my tear when I finally get around to building it. Do most people have some tubing welded to the chassis to help support the footwell or do you just build a box that hangs down below the chassis? I've searched through several threads on footwells, but I'm having trouble finding the details to answer my question. Also, if I decide to go with a torsion axle instead of leaf springs, how does this affect how the axle needs to be setup as far as ride height? I don't ever plan on doing any offroading, but I might go on a few bumpy roads now and then. I plan on building an 8ft long by 5ft wide tear with a profile similar to JPLOCK's Windsong. I figure the footwell needs to be about 2ft front to back and 3ft wide. That will give me a nice size table with some space between the edges of the table and the doors for getting in and out. Any thoughts?

Paul Cook
Las Cruces, NM

I think there are lots of ways that a foot well can be built. If steel is used to support the well be sure to consider how to keep water from laying between the steel and the wood. I made my well out of 3/4" ply. Iused plenty of screws. Lots of Liguid Nails adhesive. Then I was careful to seal the grain ends of the plywood. My way was convenient for me, in that I didn't want to do metal work. I have seen wells were the bottom is reinforces with lengths of "L" profile steel or aluminum.



Here is the web page: http://www.nfdc.net/home/cbdb/Teardrop%20Deck.htm

My computer no longer has all the web pages saved on it so I will give you some names.

JoAnne (Desert Dawg) fiberglassed her box for strenght and protection. Steve F has at least one with the frame built specifically for a drop box. Mike Schnider's excape hatch has a box and it is made similar to Dee Bees.
The Lil Dinner has a drop box too. Most of those can be found here.
http://www.mikenchell.com/

Steve Fredericks builds also have some information. His manual might address that also.
http://www.steve-frederick.com/index3.html

If I were building a drop floor just for hanging my feet in or storage I would do it like Dee Bee's. If I was going to jump up and down in it or it was the primary walkway inside, I would put some frame support on it. JMHO.

Hi Paul,

I put a footwell/table in mine. It's just a wooden box with no additional support on the chassis. I beefed up the edges and where it attaches to the bottom of the floor with 1/8" aluminum angle. Even though I built it with fairly light plywood (3/8" sides and 1/2" floor, all baltic birch), it came out very sturdy. I've stood in it and it feels solid (I wouldn't let me 6-year old son jump in it, however ). The framing is made of 1x2s. Here's what it looks like with the table up. The table is 22"x40" and my trailer is 5x8:


And here it is looking at it from the bottom before I put the black glop on it:


I used a torsion axle, but wanted a fairly high ride height (gotta go up kind of a steep driveway, so didn't want anything dragging). I ordered mine with a 22 degrees down start angle. If you look in my album you'll see some side views to get some idea of the footwell ground clearance. I think it's about 7".

Let me know if you'd like closer pics of anything.

Jeanette

I think I over built mine trying to insulate it like the rest of the floor but it’s very strong. I just screwed it to my 1" poplar floor frame and covered it in plastic laminate (plam) it for a finish look. I have a Dexter torsion axle and it dosen’t effect it at all. I feel a foot well will increase your tongue weight so don’t make it too deep like I did. I have 15" wheels and my box is a little low at 5 3/4" from the ground. I think 8" above ground or more would be be better to clear sharp driveways. See my signature photo too.:D Danny

Help me understand something about footwells - where does the mattress go while you are using the footwell?

I had to look back through the pictures to realize there isn't a picture of what really happens.

Boy I read that one wrong. Fold it out of the way or make it in sections to be seat cushions.

prohandyman wrote:Help me understand something about footwells - where does the mattress go while you are using the footwell?

The matress would fold up it could fold in half and you sit on both sides to give you a higher seat, thus, less foot well needed. Or you could fold it and have half as the back rest and the other the seat cushin. or the mattress could be in in several section and the table/footwell could accomodate 4 people. There are probably a few other ways it could be used too.


Paul,
If you are using a tortion axle it is not really any different than using two tortion stub axles and a cross member it is all put together for you. with that said the cross member does not move with the axle so you should be able to put the foot well right on top of that. if you where using a leaf sprung axle you would need to leave clearance for your suspension travel. also a flexride tortion axle is splined and you can adjust your ride height as needed. Here is a picture of my flexride axle. You can see how the crossmember is stationary.

I'm cutting my foam mattress into two parts, one is roughly two thirds of the length, and the other is the remaining third. The 2/3rds part will fold in half to form the back and seat of a couch (in my table pic above in my first post, I'd be sitting on the couch part), and the other part forms a bench seat (no back) against the galley bulkhead. My son's bunk can be easily taken down so we can use both sides of the table for sitting. I'd have pictures, but I just bought the foam mattress yesterday and haven't cut it yet! Maybe this weekend...

Jeanette

Thank you all for the pictures and advice. I was concerned about having to explain to a welder about needing extra bracing under the footwell, but since it's just to put our feet in while sitting at the table I won't have to do that.

Jeanette, where did you get the hardware for your table? That looks like a pretty convenient setup. Very nice , that's kind of what I have in mind. I'm thinking about radiusing the corners on the table so nobody gets scraped on the corners while getting in and out. Since your table is 40 inches long, do you think two people could eat comfortably at a 36 inch long table? How deep did you make the footwell? If I understood one of the posts I saw in my searching, there should be approximately 13 inches from the bottom of the footwell to the bottom of the cushion. The way I'm planning mine, with the floor and chassis thickness it may come out to about 11 inches. I don't know if that makes much difference or not.

Danny, if you had it to do over again would you still insulate the footwell? I'm thinking of insulating mine when I build it, but if I don't really need it, why bother. With the rest of the tear insulated and the floor back in place while you're sleeping, I'm not sure the insulation in the footwell would be necessary. By the way, nice tear

Again, thank you all for the pictures and advice. I'm feeling a lot better about this now. I was almost thinking of leaving the footwell out because I was afraid it would make things too complicated, but I really want to have one.

Paul

Paul wrote:Thank you all for the pictures and advice.
Danny, if you had it to do over again would you still insulate the footwell? I'm thinking of insulating mine when I build it, but if I don't really need it, why bother. With the rest of the tear insulated and the floor back in place while you're sleeping, I'm not sure the insulation in the footwell would be necessary. By the way, nice tear

Again, thank you all for the pictures and advice. I'm feeling a lot better about this now. I was almost thinking of leaving the foot well out because I was afraid it would make things too complicated, but I really want to have one.

Paul

Paul, my next tear will more than likely have a foot well, I just won't make it hang so low. I used 1/2" Baltic Birch for both inner and outer boxes and I would probably use 3/8" next time as that would add up to the same weight as using 3/4" plywood plus the light weight foam. I'm thinking of using 3/8" Baltic Birch for everything else too to reduce some of the weight. Danny

Believe it or not, I forgot one question in all of that. The way I'm planning this, I should have a foot and a half of sitting space on either side of the footwell. I realize this might be a little tight, but does that seem workable? Or should I put all of the sitting space on one side of the footwell and forget about having anyone sitting on the opposite side of the table?

Paul

Paul wrote:Believe it or not, I forgot one question in all of that. The way I'm planning this, I should have a foot and a half of sitting space on either side of the footwell. I realize this might be a little tight, but does that seem workable? Or should I put all of the sitting space on one side of the footwell and forget about having anyone sitting on the opposite side of the table?

Paul

Paul, you'll need to consider the size of those who will be sitting at the table as those are tight measurements. Danny

Paul,

I got the table hardware at a local trailer/RV supply store here in Salt Lake City. You should also check out Bruce's table (bdosborn), since his was the inspiration for mine.

I'll have to get the various measurements for you this weekend. I pondered over this a lot when designing mine, and did lots of mock-ups to see what sizes (footwell depths, table widths, seating sizes) were comfortable.

I agree with Danny, a foot and a half is pretty tight for adults, unless you've got really thin cushions or just a bench seat with no cushion back. I have 28" on the couch side and 24" on the bench seat side. and will be using 6" thick foam. Again, I'd recommend doing a mock-up to see if a foot and a half works for you.

I opted not to insulate my footwell, however my table is insulated. The table is really just a cut-out of the floor, and my floor is insulated (3/8" top plywood, 3/4" foam insulation and framing, 1/8" bottom plywood). I figure if the footwell floor is too cold, I'll just put down some closed-cell foam on it (like the cheap backpacker sleeping pads).

Jeanette