Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Well, as some of you may remember, I was bound & determined to fast track a teardrop. After reading some of the responses and doing some thinking I have decided to just finish this season tent camping and concentrate my efforts on finishing the camper over the winter.

Now, on to my root question/idea...

Has anyone considered putting the kitchen area on a slide out? It would allow for a smaller 8' size but the slide out kitchen would allow for the larger size kitchen of the 10' without loosing any of the sleeping room. My thoughts are just making the kitchen a module leaving enough side/top clearance for it to tuck inside of the camper including the slides. Once at the campsite, you would slide out the kitchen and brace it in the back to releave strain from the slides.

I have a few questions as I think through this so I appreciate any ideas... First, what kind of slides to use? They must be fairly heavy and allow a fair amount of travel. Next, how to seal between the kitchen and the inner area when the slide out is extended. Next, I know the rear wall between the kitchen and inner area adds structure to the camper. Using the slide out, this would be lost. Would the camper still be structurally sound enough to drag down the highway at 60+ MPH? Lastly, how to handle the electrical safely. There will be electric in the kitchen area and electric in the inner area. The wiring must be flexible enough to move with the slide without straining. It must also be durable enough not break from multiple flexes. All of this while not being a fire hazard.

Am I on to a good idea here or am I asking for trouble?

my 2 cents worth: if you consider a slide out from the side of the trailer, you have just eliminated the possibility of a gazillion potential leaks [redundant?]

and if you put it on the "right" [door #1= curb] side, it would simplify & serve twofold setting an awning for rainy days, privacy, or just to chill in the shade.

Gage has his kitchen on (4) drawer slides and when it's out he mounts his trash bag behind it. I chose to mount my cooler on heavy full extension drawer slides and the stove sits sideways on another drawer that pulls out 22". Makes for plenty of room and it is a 8 foot tear.

Denny - So Bay CA

If I were going to have a slide out galley it would be like the Aussie Trailer in the link http://www.campomatic.com.au/kitchen.html here. My thoughts on it at this point are - Can I build/design it so I can load it from the hatch? The concept has great potenial. The Store bought mega Campers have the slide drawer that goes to both sides. If you could do somthing similar with the galley and still have ease of access to load. Everybody keep please keep posting. I'd like to hear more.

In my work as a carpenter I use an outfit called "Woodworker's Supply" ...web site is"Woodworker.com"..as I'm typing this I'm looking at their catalog and they list a "super heavy duty drawer slide" rated for 200 lbs. per pair...sizes range from 20" to 36"... "suitable for chasis extraction, mechanical equipment, air conditioners or engineering access..." looking at the web site you listed the kitchen would slide out the side of the tear..you could use two sets of these slides for 400 lbs...should meet your requirments...as far as sealing the kitchen...based on the depth? of the kitchen itself...treat it like one large drawer with two drawer fronts one on the outside of your unit fitting flush with the side of the trailer...and another "drawer front" a little larger than the opening that fits up against the inside as you slide it out sealing the opening...as far as structural integrity...in order for the back shear wall to do it's job some if not all of it must attach wall and floor together using the opposing forces for strength...one being horizontal the other vertical...some more thought has to be put into this...hope this helps

I was thinking of that, I have some of those bed slideouts for a pop up and thought I could cut them down and use them but decided not to.

Now you got me thinking...the electrical...treat the kitchen as a seperate unit that gets pluged in when its fully extended...seperate wiring with a seperate plug...the shear wall your eliminating is the biggest problem i forsee...let me think some more..."I'll be back"

Ok...more thought....the drawer slides must attach to some type of frame work...if the object here is to gain more sleeping room...this frame work may impeed the ZZZZZZ's...think of casters...then when the kitch is fully extended drop down legs for support....now the shear wall question...and let me say this is all poke and hope here...large, sturdy, thick steel angle braces...lets say 4" wide x 12" long on each leg ,1/4" steel, bolted to walls and floor...even straight thru to the frame..even if an extra cross member must be welded on...or....the kitchen itself becomes the shear wall when it's retracted...some how it must attach itself to floor and walls with some type of sturdy locking mech. or cross braces...have fun!!!!!!

I've been giving this one some thought. How about if only the bottom part of the galley was on slides? The top could be a partial bulkhead and remain stationary. The upper cabinets both inside and in the galley would remain fixed and provide support at the same time....

geeze...after all that work ...you change your mind!!!!...your startin to act like some of my clients...had a client at one time that used to change her mind so much...that my estimates to her included what she wasn't getting...all kidding aside...for strength you must constuct the back wall using two opposing forces for it to work properly...wall(vertical)...floor(horizontal)..any other way the trailer can "rack" when going around a corner....same principal used when framing a house...corner bracing braces wall to floor to resist wind forces and downward pressure from the roof...otherwise you can actually push a structure over without corner bracing...

Na, not changing my mind... Just looking at all options. I looked at those heavy slides mentioned and they look good. I'm fairly certain that the entire galley wouldn't weigh over 400# plus the support of the legs you mentioned would eliminate that concern anyway. I may grab some cardboard tomorrow and mock some of these suggestions up. That seems to work well for Mike. If I do, I'll grab some pics and post em.

I had a teardrop built without a galley. To provide support for the sides and top this is what the frame looked like.



This is what it looked like with the sides an top in place.

[img]http://community.webshots.com/s/image14/0/29/46/164702946yozBbT_ph.jpg
[/img]

Without the galley the total trailer weight is 600 #. I wouldn't think that a "dry" galley would weigh much over 100#.

Edit: If all else fails read the instructions for posting images. I'll return soon with some images, I hope.
Well, I have struck out. I have tried three different ways to post a picture
and all three have failed. Sorry, you get to see no pictures.

FYI, Came accross this while searching ebay for "camping" equipment.

http://www.joeybed.com/index.html

the Austrians have been doing pull outs for years here are two.

Campomatic Camping Trailers - Australia's leading Camping Trailer.
http://www.campomatic.com.au/kitchen.html

JPEG image 445x290 pixels
http://www.tracktrailer.com/images/tvankitchen.JPG

the above is from my favorite trailer a kind of backward teardrop it's site is below.

Tvan
http://www.tracktrailer.com/Tvan.html

there are pull out arms for carpenter to pull out tool chests from trucks and they might work it you are thinking of
extending your bedroom.

but The Ausies have been using pull out's for years maybe you can find one to talk too and find out how they are made.

How about this? Have a bottom-hinged door on the side of the trailer to cover the hole for the slide out kitchen. The door drops down and there are aluminum U channels mounted at the edges. The channels serve to guide the fixed casters that are mounted to the bottom of the kitchen module.

The drop-down door would have adjustable support legs. It only needs to support two-thirds of the length of the the module to work.

The kitchen could be set up to work from the back as usual or work from the area under the awning (or both if your cabinets and drawers open from both sides--more work).

If your kitchen slides out then you wouldn't need a bulkhead wall--the rear of the trailer would serve for strength. If the kitchen is set up for access from the forward side, you could also access it from the trailer interior.

Dan Jones