Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi folks, I'm new to this game and have definately got the bug. I came up with this design and just want to see what you guys think about it. I took some design queues from the Lil Diner and came up with something that I think is fairly original.

Thats a popup section in the roof to allow headroom for standing inside.


<img src="http://docs.google.com/FilePage?id=dfs967x9_9r5jd58fz">

I like it...it's an innovative design, whatever you conceive, you can achieve...thinking about hard or soft side on the raised portion? Doug

welcome aboard....

Don't know how long you have been watching this forum there are several who have done the lifting roof thing.
Andrew offers a couple on his site.
http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear48.htm
also check in the Hall of Fame upper left of this forum.
http://home.earthlink.net/~g.teague/
George offers several interesting ideas.
we would love to see any new ways that pop ups can be designed.

Ron D.

doug hodder wrote:I like it...it's an innovative design, whatever you conceive, you can achieve...thinking about hard or soft side on the raised portion? Doug

Thanks, Doug. I like the idea of hard sides for the raised roof portion but I haven't figured out how to ensure a weather tight seal. I've seen how other designs use hinges to fold up the sides - but with all four sides raised, I don't think that would work.

Ron Dickey wrote:welcome aboard....

Don't know how long you have been watching this forum there are several who have done the lifting roof thing.
Andrew offers a couple on his site.
http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear48.htm
also check in the Hall of Fame upper left of this forum.
http://home.earthlink.net/~g.teague/
George offers several interesting ideas.
we would love to see any new ways that pop ups can be designed.

Ron D.

Thanks, Ron, That's good info. I've been lurking on the site for a while now and have seen quite a few popup designs. I've noticed that there seems to be a commmon theme with popups. When down, they all seem to stick up 6 inches or so. I'm sure this is for weather proofness and simplicity. It works , no doubt about it. In an effort to stay true to the smooth and sleek teardrop shape, I'd like my design to the popup section flush with the rest of the roof when it's down. Basically, I don't want it to look like a popup when I'm dragging it down the road.

Leave it to me to make things difficult!

Bill

Looks like a great design. As for hard sides and sealing I would think a slightly raised edge on the body and an over lapping edge on the pop-up would be the simplest. Pair that with a good door or hatch seal and it should keep out the water. If you want a smooth rounded look perhaps you can reverse this or smooth the hard corners.

I like the idea of smoothing the hard edges - that just might work. Depening upon how high the (lowered) popup stands from the rest of the roof, It might not be very noticable. It might event look good!

I don't do water dynamics but I doubt if you need a real high lip to keep water out under normal conditions. I think the wider the cap edge is the smoother it will look.

I've been considering the different materials that are available for this project. Birch, Oak, Poplar etc... I somehow stumbled across Plyboo. (Bamboo Plywood) Has anyone used this material for their td? It looks like a good material. I like that it's environmentally friendly/renewable. It looks pretty good too - it could definately bring a sleek modern look to an interior. I don't usually care much for "modern" interiors but what the hay - it could be slick.

I just spent a small fortune putting floresent light bulbs throughout my house - why stop there?


Here are some of bamboo ply photos...
http://www.plyboo.com/plywood_productshots.pdf

Miriam C. wrote:I don't do water dynamics but I doubt if you need a real high lip to keep water out under normal conditions. I think the wider the cap edge is the smoother it will look.

I agree. Proably just an inch or so would be enough. Not to mention the wider cap edge would act like an eve to help keep water away from the seals.

Now, to work it into my design.

Wow, how pretty is that. This btw is Tambour Green

Tambour is a flexible material and can be applied to concave or convex surfaces as well as flat walls and ceilings, round or square columns. It installs easily and lends an exciting look to living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens or commercial environments.

http://www.plyboo.com/paneling.html#

Now, Bill we are always looking for new, different and exciting stuff.

I've added the overhang to the popup. I think it looks pretty good. Here are a couple of samples with it in the up and down positions.

<img src="http://docs.google.com/FilePage?id=dfs967x9_17g6vpm5fx">

<img src="http://docs.google.com/FilePage?id=dfs967x9_15gxt2rcc3">

Might want to take you location into consideration before using plyboo.

From website:

Not appropriate for dry climates or environments that are not able to maintain year round relative
humidity (RH) of 40 to 60%

That's good information! I'll have to keep that in mind. This info makes my decision much easier - I can get the usual materials at local stores and it costs a lot less.

Thanks for the info!

-Bill

wlivesey wrote:I've added the overhang to the popup. I think it looks pretty good. Here are a couple of samples with it in the up and down positions.

Ah..... sealing a pop-up roof in the down position is easy.... sealing it in the up position is at least very hard and possibly impossible.

Whatever you do, you'll end up with water sitting in a trough above a seal, which is bad in two ways:
- The water will be trying to get past the seal.
- When the pop-up is lowered, the small amount of water above the seal will flow inside the trailer.

If you think this won't happen, you haven't done the detail design yet!

I think the only practical option would be to build in gutters that catch the water that gets past the seal and then pipe that water away using flexible tubes (which is how most car sliding roofs work) - it's not a great idea in my opinion as it's just dying to go wrong or get blocked and soak the interior.

The simple, flush-when-down, one-piece pop-up is a lovely idea but I think you should assume it's impossible - it certainly is at least as hard as all the rest of the teardrop put together.

Andrew