Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

would some kind person be able to re-size the ultra design here for me

http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear03.htm

to fit on a 80" x 44" sheet for me please useing the string/compass method of drawing!

if possable i would like the bottoms of the shape to radius right round to meet the flat floor as per the 'cub' teardrop design

any help here would be welcomed (read 'im not to bright')

ian

Andrew?

mikeschn wrote:Andrew?

mike, hi
ive just looked again at the site and found out andrew only lives 50mile form me

so ive sent him an e-mail

I have quite a few of the different profiles saved in my Sketchup files. It didn't take much to shrink the Ultralight to fit the parameters you stated.

If this is what you are looking for, I can work up the x,y co-ordinates to loft onto a grid; but unfortunately not a string/compass method. The door in this pic is different from the original profile; I was experimenting. It wouldn't take much to change back to the original.



Given time, I could probably work up a full size paper pattern; but I don't know what postage would be to get it to you.

Are you sure you'll have enough space with 80" x 44"?

80" is only 6'8"... by the time you take off the thickness of the roof skin & spars, your sleeping area will be snug to say the least! Are you having a galley too?

A standard plywood sheet is 8'x4' in other words 96" x 48". Why not make the most of the standard sheet size & match to that.

My own build is still (I'm ashamed to say) at the design stage, and I'm thinking of going bigger than 8x4, but then I am 6'4" and a bit of a fat b****d.

good luck whatevr you dcide on - and there are very few "wrongs" ... if you build it a certain shape/size/colour because you like it that way, then that's what matters. I'd just hate to see you on a cold UK campsite one day sleeping with your feet sticking out the roof!

80x44 sounds like a one man tear, with the feet tucked up under the galley.

Mike...

mikeschn wrote:80x44 sounds like a one man tear, with the feet tucked up under the galley.

Mike...

Owning a one man tear, I would think even that would be tough. The flat spot between the front and rear curves when I re-sized it with the "Cub" style lower curves to meet his requirements is just about 4' 8".

thanks for the help guy's i am tryimg to built it as small and as light as i can as my tow vehicle has only a 34hp motor! not planning a galley just one shelf at about half hight no opening rear hatch, just the one door. only planning on useing 1" spars and a 1/8 ply roof skin. im 5'11 in hight, my bed i sleep in is 76" long so thought 80" would be big enough.
drag will also be a big factor, and the ride hight will be as low as i can get it. so every inch i can shave will be less weight and will help the tow vehicle.
all comments welcomed as im sure you guys know more about building teardrops than me, and any advice is welcomed

You just gotta post a pic of your tow vehicle!!!!!

i have

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... highlight=

tinksdad wrote:

mikeschn wrote:80x44 sounds like a one man tear, with the feet tucked up under the galley.

Mike...

Owning a one man tear, I would think even that would be tough. The flat spot between the front and rear curves when I re-sized it with the "Cub" style lower curves to meet his requirements is just about 4' 8".

thanks for the help, as you say the front and rear radi will need to be smaller to allow it to work over the lenth i had in mind im planning a 1/2" floor on a 1,1/2 frame plus a 4" mattress the sides will be flush with the bottom of the framing so that should lift my head about 6" or so from the bottom edge of the side profile! if you follow me!

Your 4" mattress will compress somewhat when you lie on it, so you won't in actuality be 6" from the bottom of the profile. Let me play around with the lower curves and see what I can come up with that might work for your height. I should have something later tonight on our side of the pond.

BTW.... love your tow vehicle. At 34HP, I think that's right around what my '64 VW beetle used to put out, and I used to pull a 14' wooden outboard with it. The outboard back then, probably weighed close to what my tear does now!! I will admit pulling the boat and trailer away from the launching ramp was sometimes a challenge.

tinksdad wrote:Your 4" mattress will compress somewhat when you lie on it, so you won't in actuality be 6" from the bottom of the profile. Let me play around with the lower curves and see what I can come up with that might work for your height. I should have something later tonight on our side of the pond.

BTW.... love your tow vehicle. At 34HP, I think that's right around what my '64 VW beetle used to put out, and I used to pull a 14' wooden outboard with it. The outboard back then, probably weighed close to what my tear does now!! I will admit pulling the boat and trailer away from the launching ramp was sometimes a challenge.

cheers mate, normaly i sleep with a pillow so that will lift my head also + i sleep on my side with leggs bent! im sure ill fit in somehow may be put my head on the shelf for the night lol

I love a challenge, so the house cleaning I was working on, got put on a back burner. Your trailer just seemed more important at the time, and the accumulated dust will still be there when I get back to it.

Just by changing the front lower curve a tiny bit (it leaves a 6" high flat spot on the front), I think I was able to come up with a workable design. If I were going to make another light weight no frills, it's something that I could live with. I would seriously consider Andrews ultralight chassis for this. It would be a natural mating to shave pounds (Kg?).



The dotted line represents axle placement using the 60/40 method. I'm sure that could be adjusted slightly if necessary. I put in a non-opening porthole window for fits and giggles.

If you were to use a 4" foam mattress and shape it to the profile using an electric carving knife, it would give 6' 1" (+/- a fraction) at the top surface. It's really more room because the curves still are outbound at that point. I drew it 4' wide because I didn't know how wide you were going. Don't mind the teddy bear, he goes in a lot of my designs. I also added a ceiling surface just because it was easier for me to do it that way. You could leave the spars exposed inside to save weight. For ease of rolling over at night, the shelf really needs to be about 18" off the floor.



Hope this helps. Looking forward to seeing whatever you ultimately decide to build.

P.S. Let me know if you need an x-y plot.

That looks pretty good. On the uber ultra I played with the front curve so that is was one radius from the floor to the apex of the trailer and I didn’t tuck it so far under. It’s tricky, because the look is good, it just has to be cheated so it looks like the look but is actually a little less tucked it – does that make sense? Engineer… words… can’t speak…. Ugh!