Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Well I'm on about my 20th revision and have come to this profile. (A familiar shape.)



This is some of the cutaway details.



A close up of the front radius.



The gray is the frame. Should I worry about cutting it down to 72"?
Red is the 2" floor frame. 86" long.
Black is the floor. 90" long.
White is the mattress. 75"long.
Blue is a piece I'll cut out of plywood to tie everything together
(I plan on making 3 of the plywood pieces. 1 for each side and one to run down the middle. I'll tie all 3 together with spars)
Green is the roof insulation.

That's the solution I came up with for the bottom radius' but if anyone has a better or easier way I'd love to hear about it. All input is welcomed.

Thanks,

HF ALERT! The 20% off coupon is back.
http://ww2.harborfreightusa.com/showpage_retail.taf?pageid=214&email=

That profile is similar to mine.
I eliminated the 2x2 framework and put the floor directly on the frame, put a 2x2 on the front and rear ends under the plywood with a taper to attach everything to. It just gives you another 1 1/2" inside height and you don't have the extra weight of a frame on top of a frame.
My stick walls were made from one 'stick' of 3/4" ply cut out to look like framing, nice and sturdy and eliminates the connecting things together problem.
Just the way I did it.

I stink at math when there are diagrams involved:

How deep/long is the floor/bottom shelf of your galley going to be? I tried to do it in my head, and I'm coming up with around 12". I guess I want to see your galley plan too!

The mattress seems a little short at 75". Are you sure that's all you want?

Also, if you make your door a little tall, you're less likely to bump your head every time you look in, or climb in.

Otherwise there's really not much more you can do with an 8' long profile.

Mike...

Thanks everyone. I've had a hard time deciding on functionality or appearance. When I go for function, with straight front and rear walls, I have a lot of storage space but I really like the curved corners.

The hatch area floor is just over 13" and where the radius ends it measures 15". I just have some rough drawings for the galley at this time, really trying to figure out what I want/need.

Mike - I had decided to go with a 75" mattress so I can use full size mattress fitted sheets. It won't be as wide as a full so I plan to tuck the extra material on the sides.

Here's what I added last night, still rough.

mikeschn wrote:The mattress seems a little short at 75". Are you sure that's all you want?
Mike...

A queensize mattress is 54"x75". No problem for 20 years.LOL.....

Micro469 wrote:

mikeschn wrote:The mattress seems a little short at 75". Are you sure that's all you want?
Mike...

A queensize mattress is 54"x75". No problem for 20 years.LOL.....

I'm pretty sure the Full measures 54" x 75". Queen should be 60" x 80". I've been researching.

Yo're right....disregard my last post......

VictorStar, go off the bed that you sleep in at home for the width of your trailer. I have a full (54" X 72") at home so that is what I used to determine the width of mine. At first, I wanted a 4' X 8' until I measured out 4 feet on my mattress and then laid down in the space. That's when I decided to make mine 5' wide!! I don't need a queen-sized mattress (I'm 5'2", 130#) to roll around in. I wanted something close to what I had at home so I had room to flop around on. I'm glad I have a full mattress now because my GF's fata$$ dog likes to lay wherever is comfortable!!
Build it bigger than you need because you'll kick yourself later if you NEED it to be bigger.

Yea to what WarPony says...

5' is better than 4'... I think we almost have a consensus on that...

And after building the Baja Benroy, there are certain benefits to 6' wide too, if you have the right tow vehicle, and if you can build light enough... But that's material for another thread...

Mike...

WarPony wrote:VictorStar, go off the bed that you sleep in at home for the width of your trailer. I have a full (54" X 72") at home so that is what I used to determine the width of mine. At first, I wanted a 4' X 8' until I measured out 4 feet on my mattress and then laid down in the space. That's when I decided to make mine 5' wide!! I don't need a queen-sized mattress (I'm 5'2", 130#) to roll around in. I wanted something close to what I had at home so I had room to flop around on. I'm glad I have a full mattress now because my GF's fata$$ dog likes to lay wherever is comfortable!!
Build it bigger than you need because you'll kick yourself later if you NEED it to be bigger.

I have a feeling this won't be my last build. I think for myself the 4' will be plenty of space, I have no problems with tight places. If I planned on taking a camping buddy I would for sure go 5' wide.

On the idea of keeping the weight down. I was thinking about making the side walls with a 3/4" frame, insulated, with 1/4" or 1/8" luan for the interior and exterior walls. Would that be strong enough or should I keep with the plywood?

Thanks again for the help.

If you want to build light, definitely go with a stick frame construction, with 1/4" luan on the outside, and 1/8" luan or baltic birch on the inside...

Mike...

Thanks Mike. I'm starting revision 21.

looking good Victor. Very Camp-Inn like.
I know Camp-Inn attaches the tongue box fairly early in the build but I would wait until you get that bottom front radius done before you add the box. I did my front radius after I attached the box and the front of my tear is really square except the two 6" peices on each side that curve to match my side walls. the mattress covers it all so no one knows.

Thanks for the info Steve. I just got back from picking up my HF trailer. Hope to get started next weekend.