Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi I'm new to this forum and Im impressed
I am thinking of building my own teardrop.... but with a differance. As I drag race scooters I am thinking about building a trailer that would also carry my bikes (2)as well as provide camping and cooking for the weekend
has anyone built such a trailer or seen one similar

That was my original intent. Build it high enough to get my honda silver wing in minus mirrors and windshield.... it became problematical regarding anything but a shell. The hatch would have to go all the way to the floor and up to the highest point in the ceiling, in my case, 54". That would make the hatch about 6 feet long.

When I stopped for the night, the scoot would have to come out, regardless of weather or how tired I was. There would be no galley. The bed would have to be fold up bunks......

I won't be doing it, but putting the scooter on a triangualted tongue makes some sense, on a longer wheelbase trailer... this would be tough in my case as the scooter is quite long, almost 8 feet, and the trailer is only 62" wide.

So, I gave it up. It would be nice, but it way complicated what I wanted to be a simple solution to camping and traveling..... there were nights I just wanted to fall into bed, period, and not be messing around with other stuff....

Thanks for your reply
Scooters over here mean small bikes , mine are 125cc 2 strokers. ( gileara runners)as they are light and small (I now carry two in a hired van) i was thinking of putting the galley area up the front of the trailer with the bikes behind. the bikes need an area of 5' wide by 6' long, so a trailer of 8' by 5' should do the job.I may need to make the rear of the trailer flat so that a simple door or ramp could be fitted
I have seen a ad for a teardrop with bike( harley) in the states but lost the link. the trailer was just like a trad teardrop but the kitchen bulkhead opened to the sides to allow the bike in

I have seen a tear with a flat bed in front of the cabin, they had a 4 wheeler on it so I would say you could put 2 scooters on it, It was as wide as the cabin and was like 6 feet wide. this makes a bigger trailer but it would do what you want without taking the scooters out all the time. I would say you would need a 6x14 trailer at least. This will add hitch weight though so watch what you pull it with. bye

tdthinker wrote:I have seen a tear with a flat bed in front of the cabin, they had a 4 wheeler on it so I would say you could put 2 scooters on it,

There was a "Little Guy" configured like that. Here's the pic:

sorry asianflava but there is no link to the pick. bye

asianflava wrote:

About half the weight of that quad is carried on the hitch of the tow vehicle, so that'd better be some truck that's just out of the photo....

Petman, I can feel a scooter-carrier design coming on.... I think your idea is perfectly feasible, though it would probably be necessary to use a metal framed (or metal-reinforced) body due to the big openings you require.
Andrew

I like the idea of a platfrom in front of the tear cabin.

As Andrew said, you better not have a pint sized truck on the other end of all that. The trailer frame had better be pretty beefy as well. One other thought: if the trailer is long enough, and the bike/ATV etc are heavy enough, you might be able to move the axle forward of the cabin for better weight distribution. You would have to be careful when unloading the toys that the back end is supported, or the trailer will pop a wheelie.

Maybe it's better to leave the axle where it is.

Check out www.teardroptrailersexpress.com/_index for teardrops with front platform for ATV's and check out sport model

angib wrote:About half the weight of that quad is carried on the hitch of the tow vehicle, so that'd better be some truck that's just out of the photo....Andrew

Yes I was thinking the same thing. They will have a lot of tongue weight with the quad and the length, then they add a box.

Maybe the quad is counterbalancing the weight of all the cast iron cookware in the galley

I'd be curious to see what Andrew came up with for the tounge weight with his calculation sheet on that stretch-limo-tear.

OK guys, I'm claiming some sort of record here - this design is posted 23hrs after Petman (got a name?) first posted!

It's a sorta square, with a Jim Dandy front end, a drop-down ramp at the back and a lift-up top. This works as shown but it could do with at least one more loop around the design spiral. Body is 8ft long, 5ft wide, 4ft high. Wheels are 8" (scooter wheels for a scooter trailer, eh?) to keep the trailer near the ground - that gives 540kg (1200lb) on 4-ply tyres and 680kg (1500lb) on 6-ply.



The interior is a tight fit on a standard Gilera Runner, so if your bikes are any longer than standard (they won't be taller, eh?), the galley needs to get smaller. The roof is shown lifted a bit, but rather than hinge it, I would make it a lift-off panel.



The frame consists of a triangle (axle + A-frame) in 50mm SHS and the rest in 50mm angle. Sorry, Merkans, this is another a' them gosh-darn metric designs. Posts up the sides at the back will stop the roof-less box from wobbling too much - an idea stolen from British horse-boxes!



All three drawings in a pdf file. The grid squares are 250mm.

Whaddya all think?

Andrew

Andrew,
I'm gonna have to have a talk with the Queen and see about getting you Knighted. That's got to be just what the he wanted and in record time!

Dean wrote:I'd be curious to see what Andrew came up with for the tounge weight with his calculation sheet on that stretch-limo-tear.

With a 1400lb trailer, 400lb of ATV and 50lb in the tongue box, it would have around 20-21% of its weight on the hitch - about 400lb!
A weight-distributing hitch? For a teardrop?

Andrew

Thanks guys great posts, very good design, now you have got me thinking...... may have some problems.... the weight .
Over here we have a max gross trailer weight of 750kg if the trailer is un braked, I will have to weigh the bikes in the morning. What sort of weight would I expect from a 5 x 8 trailer with composite sides

PS the names Martin