retractable table footwell

[KA]

Hi
I'm still planning here and was wondering if anyone had made a retractable footwell that could be raised when trailering and lowered when at your campsite in order to have a dining table and bumpy road clearance.
My chassis research keeps evolving and now I'm leaning towards the 5 X 8 Red Trailer (in black) unless I can scrounge some steel.
Kris

[rainjer]

KA, Check you local Fred Meyer. They sell the same trailer as the Red folding trailers.

[jdarkoregon]

let me see if I read this correctly, Retractable Footwell, meaning the footwell, goes down when you are using it, but during travel, it goes UP thus becoming flush with the bottom of the floor, Thereby eliminating damage to the footwell when you drive over things like Large Rocks or road hazards.

IF I'm reading it right, You have hit on an interesting idea, especially for those backcountry tears.

Hummmm

[fornesto]

Heavy duty canvas sides? It could drop all the way to the ground if you wanted.

[angib]

I've sen photos of trailers built with floor sections that drop to the ground to give standing headroom, but I didn't save them. Sorry.

One step further is this astonishing hard-sided drop-floor trailer:



This is from a Homemade trailer for sale on the Iowa Boys website.

Andrew

[KA]

Hi Rainjer, jdarkoregon, fornesto, and Andrew,
Thanks for the responses. I was indeed thinking that it would be neat to have that extra clearance underneath when bouncing along on bumpy roads. I love the picture of the Iowa Boys trailer (ingenious), and I think the canvas idea has great potential...maybe with some stitched pockets for wood slats..like a modified roll top desk The corners could be zippered or snapped or maybe be closed with Velco. Then, at night you could just pull them up flat underneath the mattress. A drop down center well has all kinds of interesting potential...heater, cooler, dog bed, or ??


The Fred Meyer idea is great, too. I'll check it out. Also, I just heard about a place in Seattle called Alaska Steel and Copper (or something like that). I'm going to check it out as well for parts.
This planning stuff is great fun.
Thanks again.
Kris

[rainjer]

It's Alaskan Copper & Brass. There is also Metal Shorts.

[KA]

Thanks Rainjer!

[halfdome, Danny]

How about a trap door and put your feet on the ground, when your stopped..

We made sliding adjustable door jambs for a Gucci store once. You may come up with a design that would lock in place while traveling and drop down when sitting. I wish I had thought of it while doing mine as it sits pretty low. What I'm thinking is like holding your hands straight and sliding the right fingers under the left fingers & over the left thumb. The fingers would lock together and so would the thumbs if this makes any sense.
Who knows I may re build mine now with your idea. Danny

[madjack]

...It seems to me(if memory serves) that Camp-Inn had a drop down floor option of some kind...don't know if they still do or not...
madjack

[KA]

Hi Danny,
I had a vision of my future teardrop moving around the campsite at night under the power of feet where the footwell should be. Thanks for making me laugh.
Maybe another idea would be to have a couple of hinges amd seams on the floor on each side where you want the vertical walls of the footwell to be. Halfway between each of these hinged seams also would be a seam in the floor plywood that would eventually be lowered downwards to a vertical position towards the ground. You could have a small lip screwed on each of those edges that are now down near the ground. Then you could have another piece of plywood cut to the footwell floor dimensions. You could drop the footwell floor in place and secure it with something that is easy to disconnect when you want to start driving again. I'm not sure if this description makes sense..just brain-storming again.
Kris

[Miriam C.]

Be a darn good idea for an ultralite where it might get crampy, That way you could sit on the floor and hang your feet over. Andrew's picture made of wood shouldn't be too heavy. You could have it raise and the sides drop away to be covered with a pull out for sleeping.

Need sleep.
night all
Miriam

[KA]

Thanks Madjack. Those Camp-Inn people are amazing...just beautiful trailers. If I had the money I'd buy one of theirs in a heartbeat. I bet you are right. They have probably thought of how to do this already.
Kris

[KA]

Thanks Miriam. The mechanical mechanism on Andrew's picture looks really interesting, too. I think I'll play with some cardboard and see if can figure out a plan.
Kris

[Miriam C.]

Thanks Miriam. The mechanical mechanism on Andrew's picture looks really interesting, too. I think I'll play with some cardboard and see if can figure out a plan.
Kris

Something as simple as the swing down things the old trailers used would work. Some of the old ones had bunks that swung from the top cabinets. Think roman shade. Maybe have sides and ends on outside and floor come up leaving the sides and ends out. (if that is too out there ignore it cause I am asleep.)

Please remember the Pictures. Even the cardboard!! Could be a fun project.

Miriam