Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

This is the tentative design I'm working on. Without going to "suicide doors" I'll only have 15 inches of hinge space and 7 inches from the edge of the door to the front/top.

My question is, will these dimensions be enough?

Gregg

Suicide doors would be a very bad idea on this trailer - as they swung open, their bottom edge would hit the front of the fender and stop them opening as much as even 90 degrees.

Andrew

should work just fine - what type of hinge are you going to use?? that could also make a difference

I think you are just fine...

Depending upon how heavy your doors are...you may want a beefy hinge. I'm finishing my doors now. They weigh a lot more than I imagined, but I think I will be ok even with the snap hinges I'm using...I'm certain you can find a hinge that will work,,,Juneaudave

At one time I was thinking piano hinge. I'm very open to suggestions!

Pardon my ignorance, but just what is a snap hinge?

A snap hinge is sorta like a lift off hinge. They are made so you can easily take the door off. Builders on the board often refer to "lift off" hinges as "torpedo" hinges, and you install them with the hinge pin facing up. A snap hinge is spring loaded. To install it...on the top hinge, the hinge pin is facing down...on the bottom hinge, the pin is facing up...so you can't just lift off the door like a torpedo hinge. On a snap hinge, to remove the door, you yank on the hinge pin to retract it.



Juneaudave...snap hinge owner, what was I thinking!!!

Thanks. That a great idea. Much like my Jeep CJ.

I'll feel really bad for you if you build as drawn, Andrew is right (of course) the bottom radius on the hinged side of the door will hit the fender and will open less than 90 degrees, not only that it will be very difficult to exit due to no place to swing the legs to get out, the door will be in the way. If I may ask, why can't you move the axle to the rear and give yourself more room for the door? I like coach doors, that's what they call them on a Rolls, and would like to see it built.

My question must have been misleading.
I don't plan on suicide doors. I'm just wondering if the 15" space on the front of the door will be sufficient for hinges to support the door.

Steve_Cox wrote: Andrew is right (of course) the bottom radius on the hinged side of the door will hit the fender and will open less than 90 degrees,

The hinges are in the front not by the fender.

15" space is pushing it. if at all possible widen the area, the door will be end heavy if not.

Joe

After giving it some additional thought and reviewing these comments, my plan now is to reduce the radius of the doors top front corner from 17 inches, to 10 inches. This won’t exactly mimic the side profile (that’s the look I was going for) but it will give me about 20 inches for the hinge area.

As for wheel location, I discussed the location of the wheel with the guy that manufactured the frame. He has made many,many, trailers, and he was concerned that with a tongue box and battery in the front I’d have problems with tongue weight, and a tendency for the trailer to “whip” when it was towed at higher speeds, if I moved the wheels back to far.

I’ve also decided not to let my available sleeping area be dictated by the space I’d need for a cooler on the floor in the galley.

At least that’s the plan for right now.....

Thanks for the comments.

can you place your battery box in the rear under a cabinet in the galley this will reduce the tongue weight, plus you may use less wiring overall, if it is in the rear then it is a possibility to use two batteries parallel and doubly your amperage.

Joe

Hi,
Like the guy who is building your trailer frame I too was a bit doubtful to the position of the axle.
Recently I built a small trailer with the axle further back than I would have normally using Andrew s suggestions.
I built this trailer to carry my hit and miss engines,it was built to carry a 600lb engine on 5ookg suspension units.
At a engine rally in June of this year I bought another engine roughly the same weight and pulled the both of them home on the trailer.
The trailer sat well on the road with no wandering or jerking,most of the 5hour journey was done at around 70mph (in Britin there is a 60mph speed limit on trailers)
I would say move your axle back,true the tow vehicle will take more weight but it will be stable
Regards Bill.

I don't think either door design or hinge placement would create any problem. The doors on these trailers aren't that heavy (unless you build like I did!) The main consideration on the hinges, in my opinion, is how they are attached. Little screws in wood don't hold much weight. If you use a piano hinge, there shouldn't be any problem. If you use snap or torpedo or box hinges, use the largest screw possible and screw into solid wood, or better, attach with machine screws with washers and nuts.

There are lots more qualified folk on this board to sign off on your axle placement, but I think it would look and perform better is the axle were placed farther toward the rear. It does add a little tongue weight, but is safer for towing. The whipping is usually caused by too little tongue weight especially when the axle is too far forward.

after looking closer to the design, If you use leaf springs (you may be using a torsion axil not sure) your wheel center is to high, and yes use the calc. for the proper distance for the wheel placement from the rear of the trailer.

The reason for expanding the distance for the hinges, is not for weight issues but to get them as close to the top and bottom as possible to prevent the oposite corners from warping outward and not having a good seal. I picture in my mind a right triangle from the hinge horizontal to the other edge and then vertical to the extream corner, the vertical distance should be kept to a min. IMO.

Joe