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Interior width question

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2007 5:28 pm
by Steve F
My design is for an offroad camper but with a 5' wide body and 10.5" wide tyres (Oz spelling there ;) ) I'm concerned about the overall track width, I'd like to keep it the same as the Jeep. I'm thinking of recessing the tyres in so that the width at the internal wheel wells is 4', now I like a bit of room in bed and the TD is for two, is 4' wide enough around the legs. It's 49" down from the front of the TD which I guess puts it around the knees. Will I be smacking my knees all the time and regret not just puting up with a track wider than the Jeep?

I'm also going to try and keep the interior wheel arches as low as possible (they are quite high in this pic) and try and do it so I at least get an inch or two of matress over the top of them. Any other suggestions other than smaller tyres ;)

Image

Cheers
Steve

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2007 5:41 pm
by Kens
I have the TSC trailer and did the same thing you are planning. With the matress and the wheel well being down below your knees you will not even notice.

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 9:53 am
by jagular7
Depending on the suspension, you could also look at 'rounding' the wheelwell to curve to the tire at compression.

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:37 am
by mikefowler
Smart thinking on the smaller tires especially on a outback/off-road style.
One of the many jobs I do is cut Lawns and when going over nasty terrain bigger is better more tread on the asphalt too with fewer revolutions means cooler running and easier on your bearings.
:thumbsup:
How about using Extenders on the Leaf Springs Would put your whole body higher- good for an off road-er and the tires wouldn't intrude on the cabin.
:twisted:

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 11:13 am
by Miriam C.
:( I put extenders on the leaf springs and I worry about pot holes. You only need a couple of inches normally. The truth about wheel wells is they are usually where your feet are and your feet don't care if you have 4" of foam. You can trim the foam around and leave a couple of inches or go with a thicker mattress.

Mike F has his frame laid out the way you need to do this. Mike S. also has a great picture of how to do the framing.

GirRdun :thumbsup:

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 12:33 pm
by madjack
...one optiion is to build a "sleeping" deck on top of the wheel wells to remove them from the equation...the space under the bed will make for additional storage...depending upon the height of the wheel wells in the cabin, trim the mattress(foam type) to fit around the wells and you probably(maybekindasorta) will never be bothered by them...(if they aren't too tall)
madjack 8)

PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:15 am
by Steve F
Thanks guys, confirms my thoughts that it wont be too big a deal.

Cheers
Steve

PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2007 7:03 am
by GPW
Steve , since you're going with a rather Boxy design , why don't you just put a conventional door on the rear... then you could have all kinds of room in the interior for a sleep deck /sofa/storage ... crumbs for thought... :roll: