Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi,
My name is Hunter and this is my first post here. I have a 1971 VW Beetle and I am wanting to build a teardrop trailer to pull behind it. I am liking the looks of the Lightweight New Cub in the design library. I am wondering if anyone has ever built this design and am looking for pictures and the total weight of the trailer. Also I am looking for a drawing of the walls of the trailer that shows points to help draw the side out on plywood before you cut. Not sure what its called. If you have any tips for this trailer or any resources I should look into let me know!
Also sorry if this is in the wrong forum.
Thanks, Hunter

For anyone curious I found the profile for the Cub design. Not sure how accurately it matches up with the Lightweight New Cub but I have it.
http://web.archive.org/web/201310210726 ... le-Cub.pdf
Thats the link to it. If anyone has built this send some pics and weight.
Thanks Hunter

Hi, using a bug to tow? Had a 66 & 67 bug many years ago! Both had the same 1600cc motor with the big carb from something newer! It was quick, but that's another story. It towed a 800lb boat to and from the lake 12 miles away! Getting up the boat ramp, usually took 2 or 3 more people pushing! Anyhow, the plans I used were from the old design library that was lost. I thought it had the points for using the string trick layed out for you, so it was easy. There's a lot of info here on the forum. So just start reading. There is more than likely the answer to most any question you may have, just have to find it sometimes! Here's a short cut to a method of drawing out ellipses using a string. http://tnttt.com/Design_Library/Drawing ... rdrops.htm I used this trick, and it worked great! Remember, think light weight, airplane, not heavy like a tank. Using 1" x 2" is fine as long as it's good lumber. I used poplar lumber from Menards. It's not bad lumber as long as it stays dry. So anywhere that it's exposed to the elements like the underside, I gave it 2 or 3 coats of epoxy. The rest of the underside got 3 coats of exterior latex primer, and 3 coats of exterior latex paint. Figure it won't be out in the elements except during use. My 5 x 10 tear weighed in at 1060lbs. Next build will be lighter. I learned a lot! Good luck on your build.

You found the layout! Thats the one I used. Like I said mine weighed in at 1060lbs. But after the fact, I over built. Like 3/8" plywood on the outsides, 1/2" floor, with 3/8 underside of the floor. The rest was 5mm luan from Homedepot. I tested samples in water for like 2 weeks before I used it. It seemed legit! Check out my build. My build; viewtopic.php?f=50&t=53430 I tried to keep it simple. The desk top computer power supply was the trick, "all" LED lights on, and, Fantstick fan draws around 7.5 amps.(U Tube it for instructions.) That's 1/2 what the power supply is rated for. I don't plan on being with out power, but if it happens, the LED lantern and a camp fire is fine for us!

My bug has a new 1641cc engine that I built 600 miles ago. Estimated to be around 70hp and 100ft/lbs of torque. Considering that a stock 71 bug is 60hp and 80ft/lbs of torque and is rated to tow an 882 pound trailer without trailer brakes and 1400 pounds with trailer brakes, I should be good to go. But, as many wise men in the VW community say. "its not about pulling the trailer, its about stopping the trailer." So I think ill use small trailer brakes regardless of the weight just to be safe. Im gonna start work on the frame of the Lightweight New Cub soon and am going to try and shave weight everywhere I can. The frame is 79lbs according to the drawings. I saw in a post by Mike that he made a wall for a ultralight cub that he was playing with the he made as hollow as he could and it only weighed 11lbs and that was 1/2" ply, given it was only 96" long and the Cub is 120" viewtopic.php?t=57707 I think im going to try and do that and skin the outside with aluminum or a flexible fiberglass material and in the open spaces use foam insulation. Not sure if the skeleton design with just foam insulation and 1/8" ply for the interior wall would be strong enugh though. I would like to make adapters so I can use stock VW wheels on the trailer since I cant find a hub with a 4X130 bolt pattern. I also want to use bug rear fenders. I think it will look really nice and then the fenders already have tail and turn signals built in! Let me know what you guys think.

I like the idea of bug fenders, but you may find that they aren't flat on the attaching side, making them harder than you think to mount (dunno).

Another thing that may or may not be an issue, depending on your region and what you will have to do to get registered, is that the regs require the tail lights to be mounted at the rear most location. This is so that both tail lights are visible from a wider angle, allowing other drivers to better judge your distance and direction of travel. I know there are a lot of vintage guys out there using fender mount tail lights, and some jurisdictions won't be that picky, but it is something to be aware of for a scratch build that may need to be inspected to pass.

KCStudly wrote:I like the idea of bug fenders, but you may find that they aren't flat on the attaching side, making them harder than you think to mount (dunno).

Another thing that may or may not be an issue, depending on your region and what you will have to do to get registered, is that the regs require the tail lights to be mounted at the rear most location. This is so that both tail lights are visible from a wider angle, allowing other drivers to better judge your distance and direction of travel. I know there are a lot of vintage guys out there using fender mount tail lights, and some jurisdictions won't be that picky, but it is something to be aware of for a scratch build that may need to be inspected to pass.

Bug fenders are actually pretty wide so I think Ill end up cutting some off to make the fit look nicer. They are flat there they bolt up however.
Im located in Southwest Washington State. Ive seen utility trailers with fender mounted lights around but Im not 100% sure so Ill look into that today. Thanks for bringing that up or I would have never thought of it!
Thanks Hunter
UPDATE: I looked at the WSP trailer requirements. For any Washington State builders that are curious here are the laws from the WSP page:
Tail Lights License Plate Light RCW 46.37.050: After January 1, 1964, every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer, and any other vehicle which is being drawn at the end of a combination of vehicles, shall be equipped with at least two tail lamps mounted on the rear.
Stop Lamps/Electric Turn Signals RCW 46.37.070 : After January 1, 1964, every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer shall be equipped with two or more stop lamps meeting the requirements of RCW 46.37.200. On a combination of vehicles, only the stop lamps on the rearmost vehicle need actually be seen from the distance specified in RCW 46.37.200(1).
After January 1, 1960, every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer shall be equipped with electric turn signal lamps meeting the requirements of RCW 46.37.200(2).
Here is the link to all of this info and more: http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/docs/cvd/170_129.pdf

Ok, so for convenience sake I took the side profile grid pieces and put them together into one image. Now, because photo editing isnt my strong suit I decided to make 2 images, one that shows the measurements for the curve at the front in the bottom and one what does not because they overlapped and you couldnt see some of the measurements.
Here is the one without.

Here is the one with it.

I thought it might be helpful to others so I wanted to post it here as there is not one of these in the design library with any of the Cub plans. If anyone wants the full size images send me a message and I can email them to you.

In other news, I got the steel ordered to build the frame. It will be there either tomorrow or beginning of next week, whenever the steel yard gets the truck down this way.
So I will be starting a build log very soon!
Thanks Hunter