Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Dear All or Cary if you are around,

Dean has been telling me that the Chassis on the Campinn is very sparse albeit strong enough. Does anyone have a phot of a Camp Inn frame...or Cary please chime in if I am asking for information you prefer to keep Proprietary?

The pop up camper that I tore apart this summer had a frame made up of steel that was less than 1/16" at its thickest and generally only 1/32". Therefore I am wondering if most of our homebuilt frames are way overbuilt and therefore extra cost and weight. without much benefit?

Sorrrrrry, Cary for previously misspelling your name.

The Guy from CampInn spells his name "Cary" and not "Kerry" (that would be me). Just thought you would want to know!

Guy,

I don't have a picture of the CampInn frame, but I've seen one. It is built from 2" angle, but I don't know the thickness, but it is less than 1/4". It has a cross member in the rear, another in the front, and the tongue is made from the same 2" angle which is welded to the front of the front cross member. It has attachment points installed where the Flexiride axle is installed, and that is all.

Guy, It looks very much like this.




Steve, Camp-Inn uses a 1/8" thick angle.

Well there ya go Kerry,

I don't think it's going to get much lighter than this!

Mike...

Guy,

Looks like Steve beat me to it. His frame is nearly identical to ours. Ours do not have the corner braces but have one more cross member near the front.

2" x 2" angle that is 1/8" thk.

We have built them out of 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 3/16" thk. Totally overkill and was intended for some heavy off road use.

The Raindrop frame uses some interesting support braces made out of round stock that really really stiffens the frame. We did this because of the extra length. If you ever get a chance to see a Raindrop peek underneath it.

Cary

Thank you, All, especially Cary. Again, Cary, I am sorry for the misspelling.

I look forward to seeing a Raindrop in the flesh.

Guy,

Don't sweat the name. Having a name like this, it pretty much is a daily thing. NOBODY gets it right.

Something to consider on the frame is the construction of the tear itself. Ours or Steve J's are basically a plywood unibody construction. This doesn't rely on the frame to keep it all straight. Alot of the stick built type of teardrops need a strong frame ot keep it all square. Not all of them, the ones with a properly stressed skin are OK.

We build our teardrop bodies off the frame so we can urethane them inside and out. Perhaps the right approach is to build your homebuilt that way too, Build it on saw horses and don't drop it on the frame until you are ready to do some skinning. That way you can pick it up at the corners to see how stiff it is before comitting to the frame. If the body is super stiff build a frame like in Steve's picture (or lighter maybe). Maybe the traditional approach of building the frame first isn't the right way. Hmm. Perhaps we will start something here with this thread.

Cary

I'll vouch for that. I built my body first mainly because I didn't have the room. I'm essentially building mine in the space of a 1 car garage. I just have too much junk.

while our body was built on top of the frame...the frame was used as saw horses...the entire body is independent of the frame and could be removed spun around, tossed about and then set back on the frame...any future builds will be done the same way...in fact we are thinking about building a "build table" on casters that can be rolled around as needed...similar to Camp-Inns rolling arbors
madjack

Two furniture dollies (or is that dollys) is how I moved mine around. I just wedged a 2X4 underneath and picked it up, then I slid the dolly underneath. I have to comment that these Harbor Freight dollies have the crappiest casters on the earth. I have to turn them by hand to get the body to move in the direction I want.

TRAIL-OF-TEARS wrote:Guy, It looks very much like this.




Steve, Camp-Inn uses a 1/8" thick angle.

1/8th inch angle would hold up to what, 6, 700 pounds with decent bracing?

asianflava wrote: I have to comment that these Harbor Freight dollies have the crappiest casters on the earth. I have to turn them by hand to get the body to move in the direction I want.

Same experience here with the HF Dollies (Dollys). Crappy. But, Hey, They were only 19.95 each.

g

Oh, BTW, I built mine on the frame after I bolted the deck to the frame.

Guy,
The first time I peeked under a Camp-Inn to get a look at the frame... I said, "What frame?"
BTW- The term Overbuilt does not exist in the Norwegian language or culture...
It's just the way we do things.

Cary Winch wrote:....... Don't sweat the name. Having a name like this, it pretty much is a daily thing. NOBODY gets it right.

Cary

Cary,

Double or Triple that when your name is spelled like mine. Or I get alot of mail addressed to "MS" or "Miss" or "Mrs" with the spelling that I have.