Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi Cary,

Here's where you can tell us all about your Camp-Inn product line.

How's the dropped floor design coming along? I measured my teardrop this morning. I have the equivalent of a 13" dropped floor. Sounds like you would need the off road Camp-Inn to make that work! Hmmmm still need to compromise a little bit somewhere...

Mike...

P.S. Are you ready to start building 9' Camp-Inns yet?

Mike,

You are gentleman and a scholar. Very nice addition to the forum. I will start posting here with items I think everyone would like.

On to the drop floor. The top of our floor on our standard ride height street models is 14 1/2" from the ground. We use a 3" thick mattress. Our idea is to fold the led area section of mattress up on top of the remaining forward section of mattress. This would give you 6" on top of the 14 1/2" for a seating height of 20 1/2". Now we need to subract for the drop floor. Figure 1/2" plywood with some feet on it so we would take back 1 1/2" for a 19" seating height. If this is not enough our ride height is adjustable and we could bump it up for those long legged types.

Rather than fold the mattress up for back rests like most propose we anticipate using the existing pillows for the beddding as back rests.

One more tihing I did not mention. The floor panel would unsnap and the fabric sleeve would have a weight (chiain?) sewn in it. Can anyone one say portable ice shanty? Remember we too are northerners Mike.

How does this sound so far?

Cary

Mike,

Oh by the way, Deluxe, Classic and Ultra models are technically 9 footers. Since the front storage box is built in and provides cabin storage. But it is only 4' wide so you don't end up with a 5' x 9'. Just a 5' x 8' with a 4' x 1' addition. Confusing?

Cary

Hi Cary,

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure a lot of folks would like to hear from you!

Regarding the dropped floor, is there any way to do a rigid floor?

Lets see, if there is 14" clearance, and we snatch 8" of that for a dropped floor, the would be approx. 6" of road clearance.

We need to find another 4 to 5" of height. The floor thickness is about 2 1/4"... what if we put a 3" deep storage area under the seat? That would give us approx 13" to the cushion, and then a 4" cushion.

Okay so 3" is not worth building a storage area for. I'm still thinking...

thinking...




thinking...









thinking....


Oh shucks, I'll try again tomorrow!!!

Mike...

Cary Winch wrote:Mike,
Just a 5' x 8' with a 4' x 1' addition. Confusing?

Cary

Perfectly clear. So how about a 5x9 with a 4x1 tongue addition?

Mike...

Mike,

I really don't think a solid footwell would work, just too many comprimises. The sleeve idea would have a plywood floor. When it pulls up it would seal to a flange under the floor trapping the fabric in the up position to keep it from being exposed to the elements when travelling. I am hoping to do the whole thing so it stores in a 2 1/4" area as to keep it from hanging below the lower edge of the body. Our plastic in floor storage tub hangs down 5 1/2" from the floor and is a source of concern fo some people. This doesn't cause a problem though because it is so close to the axle. The footwell would be forward of that and would be way more likely to high center on people. This is partly why I think it needs to fully retract.

Cary

Interesting discusssion. I like the portable ice shanty idea!

The Pod Caravan from England http://www.podcaravans.com/ also has a dropped fabric footwell (see photo at upper left of site).

Mike: how much road clearance is needed? Seems like you are saying 6" is not enough and that 10-11 inches is desirable. For my trailer I have designed for 6.25" of clearance from the bottom of the footwell*. This was done is close consultation with Grant Whipp who insists that this is more than enough and that he has trailers with 5" or less of clearance that he has taken down rutted dirt Forest roads with no problems. So unless we are taking about real off-road capability (i.e, not gravel or dirt roads but real off-roading), this should be plenty. Most passenger cars have a ground clearance of 5-6 inches after all.

On my trailer the top-of-floor height is designed at 13.25"*. The footwell drops 7" below that (it hangs down probably about 2" or so below the bottom of the axle.) The footwell has a floor that is just over an inch thick, so you about 6" of usable footwell below the floor level. I'm going to have 5" cushions, So that's about 11" of seating height (unless I double up the cushions) before taking into account the cushion compression. While that's 5" less than a 16" standard seat height, it feels pretty good for lounging. I have a convertible sofa bed that sits at about that height and it's very comfortable.

So maybe that rigid floor would work after all for the Camp-Inn. Anybody have any further thoughts on ride height/ground clearance issues?

*I say design height based on the listed compression of the Dexter torsion axle when fully loaded. So far with the trailer almost complete, the height is about 1.5" higher than anticipated. Maybe the axle will settle down further after some use?

Rik

Cary Winch wrote:Mike,

Oh by the way, Deluxe, Classic and Ultra models are technically 9 footers. Since the front storage box is built in and provides cabin storage. But it is only 4' wide so you don't end up with a 5' x 9'. Just a 5' x 8' with a 4' x 1' addition. Confusing?

Cary

Welcome Cary! Glad to have you guys aboard!

Yes about those sizes... took me a while to figure out how you a 5x8 could include a deep galley and not be cramped in the cabin... till I realized the front storage being external freed up some space. Would like to know though the length between back cupboards in the cabin and the front cabin wall is.

Dave,

We really like the idea of being here. I don't get to talk to too many other teardroppers otherwise.

That is a common thing that people miss on our units. Being the front storage compartment is outside the unit yet there are these cabinet doors inside. The dimension from the front bulkhead to the galley bullkhead is 61 3/4". The dimensions from the front bulkhead to the cabinetry you asked about it about 50 1/4". The duffle shelf above that sticks out a tad bit farther, about another 1 1/2".

Cary

I am thinking about this to. sounds like a good idea to me if you have the room.

Cary, I'm not surprised. You guys seem to be always improving the product !

With my newest design it dosnt look as if I have much room to use, o well I guess that is what the bed of the trucks for!

Okay, dumb question .. where's a website to take a peek?

Duhhhh, nevermind - found it myself

Cary,

You need to expand to a 4x10 profile.

All it takes is a new cnc machine, right? Or do you just use patterns? I can get you a 4x10 pattern...

Anyways, the market is there, just waiting for you to expand... "pun intended!!!"

Mike...