Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

i was brain storming on ideas and i thought about campers and trailers. I thought how the dining rooms on rv came out, and said to my self that would be ausome to have that way i could fit more people into it. Now i am building a 5x9 trialer. would this work? make a room come out from the inside jsut big enough to fit a bed and person?
please send advise and suggestions, thanks

would this be hard for a beginner or maybe should i consider building it on my next tear

Hey Ki4eit


The first thought I had after reading your idea was how to seal the joint before & after ya slide it in or out. Also how to support the overhang while it is out. Great idea for more room though. I might think on this one!

u could all ways use some 2x4 or poles or something thats not that hard part. you xcould sucure the thing while its in side with wether pro seal and a clmap im thing of that locks in place to get a tight shut 2 on both sides. dont know about going as far as a oning but dont know how to stop from water getting threw while its open, i think i jsut talked my self out of building it unless some ones got a idea.

Do like the Big RV's do, a retractable awning thats attached to the slideout and pulls out on top of the slideouts for additional weatherseal

Two thoughts

Our recently "deceased" travel trailer had a slide out with weatherseals attached to the trailer, all 4 sides. They were large enough and flexible enough to maintain the seal whether the slideout was in or out. Slideout often made a "sucking" sound as it popped out through that weatherseal.

Our very first travel trailer was an Appleby. It was an aluminum box about 4' x 7' and 18" deep with a double top. On each top there were 2 of those gadgets that are used to screw pipe into when making a table or bench with galvenized pipe "legs." We'd srew the 2 pipe legs into one top... Flip it open. repeat on the other side. Pitch tent on top. Ended up with 2 double beds. When traveling the "box" held all the camping gear. Bottom of the legs didn't have sand pads or anything like that but did have a cap to keep the pipe from filling with dirt. I wonder if something like that could be rigged to support the slide out on a tear.

Roger and Lois

ki4eit,
When I first found this forum, Those were somewhat my same thoughts, except I was leaning more towards going up at first instead of out.
"Why build something that I can't even stand up in?"
As time passed my designs started to lean towards exanding outward.
I had some pretty outrageous designs and all the parts and supplies are out there on the net.
Then something magical happened...
The "teardrop thing" really took hold and I got over all that pop-up, slide-out stuff. It became more challenging to me, to do a fixed design to meet all my wants and needs.
Just my thoughts...

Boodro wrote:Hey Ki4eit


The first thought I had after reading your idea was how to seal the joint before & after ya slide it in or out. Also how to support the overhang while it is out. Great idea for more room though. I might think on this one!

I have a little more experience with the slide-out leaking issue than most. Its a problem and its a big problem to get them right so they don't leak. When they do leak they do massive damage because of the water intrusion, wood rot, bonded walls separating, mold, etc. The larger manufacturers can't get them right on a uniform basis. This is why they have now changed the maintenance guidelines to call for checking the "sealant" every 90 days. They know the slides leak like sieves and this is their cover their rear method to claim neglect as a defense when people have water damaged units.

The awning approach is not any more helpful. Seems the mounting of the awnings is also an area for water intrusion.

I think a slide out is doable, with a couple of caveates..

First would be a good design that was rigid. Like, it moves out and gets bolted in place, not just hanging out there.

Second would be a good flexible seal... This could actually be a seal just pushed in place when the slide out was extended. Like a piece of that foam pipe insulation shoved into the gap.

Third,and most important, would be an open bottom on the interior frame that would allow water that got past the seal to have a way out the bottom.

Personally, I would only bother if I was going to a foot well and table design, and wanted another 12-18" of room near the table..... Could be a neat picture window thing.... would lose one door, though....

I think the face of the slide out should be inset into the wall, and the seal arrangement should look something like what Steve Frederick did on the Stripper. Then add a drip edge over the whole thing for good measure...

Very little water will ever make it to the seal. The water that does make it that far will just drip down along the seal, hit the bottom edge of the wall and drain out.

Oh, and just in case... the whole thing is sealed with CPES!!!

Mike...

Search back in the fourms about six months ago. We spent at least a month discussing this very topic and came up with a lot of ideas. There were several designs floating around too. Check out Sumners pop-up tear, that is something to see as well.
Really, because of the small size of both trailer and slide-out, all you need is basically a big drawer.
I think Mike had drawn up a few ideas too.
Check out this file for more on the drawer idea: Camping Trailer

arnereil wrote:I think a slide out is doable, with a couple of caveates..

First would be a good design that was rigid. Like, it moves out and gets bolted in place, not just hanging out there.

Second would be a good flexible seal... This could actually be a seal just pushed in place when the slide out was extended. Like a piece of that foam pipe insulation shoved into the gap.

Third,and most important, would be an open bottom on the interior frame that would allow water that got past the seal to have a way out the bottom.

Personally, I would only bother if I was going to a foot well and table design, and wanted another 12-18" of room near the table..... Could be a neat picture window thing.... would lose one door, though....

I would add some things from talking with several RV experts:

Ensure a good fit, most leaks are caused by excessive or abnormal gaps. Make sure the opening and the slide itself are perfectly aligned.
Add support around the openings and any longer surfaces, things tend to sag over time and they leak at the sags.
Ensure sufficient but not excessive clearance for the seals, a rolled under seal leaks.
Ensure it moves straight in and out and does not bind, a twisted slide damages the sealsgoinf in and out.
More as I remember...

If you haven't already seen it - check out this one. A VERY tiny trailer indeed. It expands, but the expansion is more like a tip-out than a slide-out. Think miniature hybrid trailer...

http://www.tante.nl/zzhugo/index.html

mkw

My little camper is growing. I now have most of the pop up constructed. Have front wall and back wall and top working. From the inside I push up the back wall and the top goes with it. Then I push up the front wall and the top goes with it. The top falls into a little gap at the end of the slide that keeps the wall apart at an equal distance and standing up 90 degrees. Am now working on the side walls which will just swing up from the inside and press against the top and will be held up by bar latches. So far all works. But.....not only will I have a pop up with hard sides I will have a small pop out or slide out, like a drawer, extending out from the right side pop up wall so's my daughter who will sleep on top under the pop up will have a place for her feet. My camper pop up side walls are only 54 inches across so I am adding the slide out to gain an extra 12 inches. My thinking on slide outs is to not make it any larger than necessary. My slide out is only 13 inches tall and 12 inches deep like a drawer. Not so big. Only going to stick feet in it. Solves a lot of problems. Won't take much to secure it in place. It will seal the same way my slide out AC seals with the foam insulation and compression provided by levers. The door to the slide out will swing up and act as an awning again just as the door on my AC slide out. The hinge will have a rubbler strip for weatherproofing the piano hinge. In my case since the slide out is up in the pop up I will have to store the slide out drawer below in the cabin during transit but again it is only drawer sized. Anyway just wanted to say that the idea of adding a pop out/slide out so's a person can sleep across the tear is not all that far fetched. When eet eez all finished and verking and zee sun she is shining I vill post zee photos zo you can see.

But until then I did take a few pics inside the garage where the light is not so good. First this is the front and back wall popped up with the roof. May be a bit hard to make out 'cause of all the background stuff on the garage wall.





Here you can better see the piano hinge, the flat top area where my daughter will sleep and the access hole to the lower cabin area. On the right side pop up wall is where the little drawer slide out will be for my kid's feet. It will extend out about 12 inches toward the garage wall there.





And here you can better see the aluminum slide for the walls to slide up on when pushed up from beneath. At the corner you can see the little inset or gap created at the end of the aluminum slide where the top of the wall sets into to lock it into place. The back wall does the same.

Well , so much for thinking about a slide out. Ya'll seem to have all ready covered this ! Oh well , on to other things. Like getting my hatch sealed.