Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi All:

I have acquired an old, but very serviceable tent trailer chassis. An older fellow had stripped it to the bare chassis and was selling it with two good tires and a questionable spare, for $40. It measures 76" wide and 96" long.

My tow vehicle is a Ford F-150 and I would really like to be able to carry an ATV inside or as a last resort modify the chassis like the "Little Guy 6-Wide Sport Tear". http://www.golittleguy.com/teardrops/mo ... ide-sport/

I have spent many enjoyable hours reviewing everyone else's designs and ideas, however have yet to find the "right" one or the one I can modify to suit my needs.

Having said that, I would appreciate any input you might have or links you can direct me to.

Thanks,

gibby

Napkins and a pencil. Take what you have seen and like and start dreaming.

There are so many ways you could be going. Have you measured whatever it is you plan on "putting in"

john

make a list of "must haves" and "wants"...figure out the space needed for each, and then try to work them all in...

gibby wrote:...snip...
I have spent many enjoyable hours reviewing everyone else's designs and ideas, however have yet to find the "right" one or the one I can modify to suit my needs....snip....
Thanks,
gibby

What they said above. You'll have to give us ideas of what you want, or what you don't want before you get ideas in return. What kind of camping will you do. What gear will you expect to bring. How many will be camping with you. What tow vehicle will you tow with.

Thanks for the input so far. As was pointed out to me above, I need to give a little more input.

The ATV is 42" at it's widest point, 80" long and 46" at the highest point. I need it to accomodate just two people and would like to have some kind of galley.

I am considering a flat back with barn doors to load the atv from the rear and doors on both sides. My thought is to build a galley configuration on the rear doors.

My crayon drawings are coming along and will post soon.

Thanks

gibby

The simplest galley I've seen is on Prem's CT conversion. Basically a small box attached to the rear door to handle a stove and a few utensils. He carries supplies in the bed of his F-150.

http://mikenchell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25377

Thanks, Ageless. the link helped.

Still working on drawing my ideas. I need to find a program to draw it on. Whenever I try to scan my drawings, they come out incomplete.

I am going to try to photograph them and try editing to fit into a post.

Take care,

gibby

I wish I had a picture or could draw a sketch to show you. The idea comes from an old full size Chevy Blazer I saw where the owner modified the back of the Blazer to a wedge shape (tapered down to the back) allowing him to drive a dune buggy right up on the back of the Blazer.

Why not build a tear with a flat gally hatch which allows you to drive your ATV up on the back. When you unload the ATV, you can open the gally and you are in business. Use some ramps to get your ATV from the groud to the rear bumper height and then store them under the flat back tear when not in use.

Make sure you have everything balanced so it will tow ok with or without the ATV

wait a minute, TV is an F150, ATV in the bed of the truck, teardrop on the bumper. If you put the ATV in the trailer how tall will it have to be to get it in? Do you want to ride it in? You may need to think about a bigger design. Also, will the camper frame handle the weight of the ATV?

From what I've seen and read, tent trailers seem to have marginal chassis - there's rarely an ounce of spare strength or weight-carrying capacity in them. However a teardrop body is likely to be lighter than a tent trailer body, if built lightly. If 3/4" ply is thrown at it, it may well overload the chassis before the ATV is added.

The tyres are likely to be the guide to what weight the chassis can handle, since they seem to generally be used near their maximum by trailer manufacturers. The tyres should have a maximum load written on the sidewall, but if not then post the tyre size here and we'll tell you the capacity.

Hey Guys:

Thanks for the input so far. It is much appreciated. As you can see in the subject line my pictures haven't panned out.

Thanks Buck, you and I are completely on the same page as far as the rear flat doors go. My idea is to have a cabinet on the top half of both doors and a fold out table on the bottom half. In addition I am planning to have a pocket door in the ceiling to drop down and separate the sleeping area when the galley is in use.

dh; the F-150 will have an ATV in the box, I need room for the wife's ATV. As far as height goes I am thinking five feet. I'm not worried about driving it in. The chassis is low enough to the ground I can push it up the ramps.

angib; I agree with what you have to say about the frame. This one is at least as sturdy as the HF frames I see many have chosen to use. On that note though, I was planning on boxing the main structure of the frame.

For the past year I have been using this as a utility trailer. It has no problem at all with a 600 lb ATV. I was really testing it when I got a load of limestone screenings. The scale operator told me I was paying for just over 1300 lbs. It did pretty well, although there wasn't much clearance left in the fenders.

Thanks again for the input. Will endeavour to get images posted soonest.

gibby

If you plan to tow with a pick up I would consider starting from scratch with a 16 foot trailer, side load the ATV in the front and build on the back. Perhaps something self contained and removable so you could haul a car if need be. Or build on the front with a side galley since weight distribution would be off with weight on the rear of the axles and no ATV in the front. If you already haul 2 ATV's weight is not really a concern. but you still want to keep the overall weight down as much as possible. I feel a popup chassis is too light duty. They are correct when they say they build them only to carry the factory load and the axles are rated at 1500lbs or less. I recommend a #3500 pound axle if you are going to haul an atv. Better than breaking or bending an underrated axle and lose the entire rig and get someone injured or worse! Good luck, careful planning will assure that you are happy with the finished product. Bill

Thanks Wild Bill, you pegged it. I had logged on today to discuss my thoughts on a build as you described.

I am going to build like the http://www.golittleguy.com/teardrops/mo ... ide-sport/
trailer that carries the ATV sideways in front. That way I can keep the teardrop more traditional.

I am still going to use the trailer chassis I have as the base of the teardrop, but I am going to strip it of the axle mounting hardware and weld it onto a new framework.

Going to get started soon. Will, start a build journal then.

gibby