Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Greetings. I'm liking the Honeymoon trailer from the Vintage Plans link at to top of the page.
http://www.mikenchell.com/VintagePlans/ ... railer.pdf

How does one go about getting the plans for this or any of the trailers listed?

I did try to blow up the Honeymoon image on our Mac, bring it to a scale using a ruler and then trace the image onto graph paper. It was successful to a point but not exact. I realize that I could fudge my drawing(s) a bit here and there and be content with a close resemblance. I'm just wondering if there have been any updates or upgrades to the Vintage Plans. Maybe they are just meant for reference. Dunno.

Thanks,

Have a look here
http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/teardrop/tear00.htm

Cheers
Paul

Thanks for the reply. The ellipse drawing is great info.

I actually was messing around with graph paper and have a satisfactory profile. I need to compare it to the Honeymoon trailer but it's close.

regis101

Greetings. I'm liking the Honeymoon trailer from the Vintage Plans link at to top of the page.
http://www.mikenchell.com/VintagePlans/ ... railer.pdf

Welcome to T&TTT!

Nice to see someone take an interest in vintage teardrop plans; you're starting your build from just about the earliest known source and therefore are continuing a tradition.



If I were to use a planset from that neat-looking teardrop, about the only thing I'd alter would be to move the axle forward at least 6 to 9 inches... gotta pay more attention to tongue weight these days (although it might've been perfect for he and his car back then. Who knows...).

True dat. I'll be using a 4 x 8 open floor from TSC. It's pretty close to a 60/40 split.

That article is from '39. Ooo la la. I'll figure it out. Maybe Kinko's can do a blow up or something.

To expand on that, this is gonna be my first build. The purpose is a cargo hauler for the camping gear, bikes and whatnot. It'll be a low key low buck carcass made from 1/2" 5 ply and necessary stiffeners. Wide doors on both sides and a rear hatch as per the norm. It'll have about a 24" flat roof and a 20" front radius. The rear swoop is based on a 52" radius. For my cargo use I must retain about a 10" tailgate so the rear roof will not end at the floor. At times I haul some camping carpet and shelter fixins' that are 8' long. I hope to get the body down to around 200 lbs. Along with the tailer it should hover around 500 lbs.

What I like about the Honeymoon trailer is that the front radius is an ellipse and it does not use a flat roof.

Well, after 15 sheets of graph paper, numerous zoom ins and outs, a coupla tasty beverages, tedious tracing, some penciling, erasering, and another tasty beverage, I have a comfortably close drawn to scale profile of the Honeymoon trailer.

Does anyone else go through this?

I even went into the garage to measure the trailer fender and drew its location onto the final profile sheet. I had to move the door forward about 4" and down 2" but it still looks good.

In the end I'm sure that this profile would be hard to tell from most others. But in my mind it's a replicated '39 homemade design from....
The Vintage Plans

We all go through that! Welcome to the madness! Have fun! Start thinking about build number two also!!!

Mike...

It’s painful – turns out that there are an infinite number of lines that can be drawn on a sheet of paper.

So I took two of my best drawings to Kinko's to have them blown up to 4 x 8. They could only do 3 x 8. No big.

Picked up a sheet of 1/8" hardboard, ( weighs 20#, FYI) as a template. I cut out the two patterns and laid each onto the hardboard for a test fit. Well, after two hours of penciling, taping and using both patterns, I have an as close as I'll get to the Honeymoon trailer. The profile in the article is a bit larger than the square grid. I compensated a bit on that by bringing it down

I had to move the door forward since the TSC 4 x 8 trailer has a 60/40 split. I also have it at 34 wide and 36 tall. Gives some illusion of height.

I used the new door location center as the apex of the roof line. Puts it at ~30" from the front on the horizontal. The vertical starts to curve at 24". I do seem to like when the apex is at 3' when using an 8' length and the rear roof line has a lazy arc from there. Gonna need to learn how to do an ellipse.

I'm impressed with this profile because it has a sense of forward motion for some reason to me. Maybe it just looks good on paper.

I had hoped to get started on this project last weekend but it didn't happen. Going to get some plywood tomorrow. And a saber saw.

Glad to see interest in the vintage trailers. Why not move the axle back if you are building the Honeymoon. It's not that hard to do. With the door moved forward you loose the ergonomic benefit of not having to scoot toward the foot of the bed to lay down when you get into the trailer. Also it would look like a Honeymoon trailer, not just another teardrop. In my opinion the axle offset is what defines this trailer and the era from which it came.

Glad to see interest in the vintage trailers. Why not move the axle back if you are building the Honeymoon. It's not that hard to do. With the door moved forward you loose the ergonomic benefit of not having to scoot toward the foot of the bed to lay down when you get into the trailer. Also it would look like a Honeymoon trailer, not just another teardrop. In my opinion the axle offset is what defines this trailer and the era from which it came.

<img src="http://www.mikenchell.com/VintagePlans/honeymoonhousetrailer.jpg">

I'll second that thought!

While the "kit" trailers may be handy, taking the extra effort to build a frame to match the trailer, instead of building the trailer to match the frame...will make ALL the difference in the final look and feel.

As an added bonus, putting the axle far back where it belongs will give you a trailer that can be pulled at high speeds with wonderful stability.

Take note too, of the wheel size used on the original(s).

Using an 8 or 10 inch cheapo trailer wheel instead of a tire wheel combo that stood at or near 30" high will certainly "take something away" from the look and feel of the design that you fell in love with.

Rob

Thanks for the kind words. I have to work with what I have for now. In the photo you can see the fender outline just to the left of the door. This is gonna be a bolt on shell.

Well, to start off with, I'm not really sure if build pic's go in this forum or the General forum. But here's what I did today. So far it weighs under 150#.
The side panels with the doors not cut out and the full ply sheet for the floor came in at 112#. Add one sheet of 1/8" luan top skin and 3 - 2 x 2's. Still need a coupla spars up front and build the rear lid. I used the 2 x 2's to help me fasten the sides to the floor. I fastened the roof skin without spars so as to let the ply set the width. I just nailed it to the sides with a ringed drywall nail. Used 4" centers. Amazing how adding the roof skin stiffened thing right up. Gonna have to start an album soon. This is just a cargo trailer to haul the camping gear , bikes, firewood, and the tasty beverages. Low budget build. It'll be painted to match the Bus. Besides I only have three tools.

Regis,

Looks pretty good!

Rob

Today I put in a coupla more spars. I tried to weigh it by tipping it up and walking it onto the scale. I tried to do my best by keeping it steady. Came it at 130. The 1/8" plywood is 10#, a few timbers, some screws and nails add up. Dunno how much the rear hatch will weigh. 30-40, I suppose.
Tongue weight is at 64 with out the rear hatch. The hatch should lighten up the tongue weight I'm hoping.
I'd like the tongue weight to max out at 125 when loaded.

The wife and I picked it up with no problem to set it onto the trailer. She wanted her half of the garaj back. It's MY garaj but I let her think half is hers. Right, guys?

Here's a link to an album on photobucket. Nothing major. Just didn't wnt to burn up bandwidth by posting pic's in the forum.

http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x33/ ... /teardrop/