Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have been batting around ideas to sleep my wife, my 2 boys, and myself.

My concept is to build a woody on a 5x8 trailer, with foamy pull-outs which will create a 6.5 sleeping area for my wife and I, and a 5.5 long sleeping area for the kids. There will be a little room for shelves, pockets along the sides for clothes and whatnot.

A gull wing door on the passenger side would serve as a built-in vestibule

Pretty bare bones sleeping trailer in concept. I also have the idea that the rear sleeping module could be slid all the way out and swapped for a galley module when it isn't all 4 of us.

I have a Coleman Colorado to scavenge from, but I would probably only take the sliders as supports for the front module.

Appologize for the remedial sketches. The colors just highlight the sleeping areas. The actual foamy walls would only be long enough to keep out the weather.

Thoughts on this brainstorm? It's going to be a while before I can get started on it because I don't have an adequate work space but soon I hope.

Open



Buttoned up

Hi Ystava, welcome to the forum.

Interesting approach you have there !

It seems to me it's do-able as long as you keep aware
of some considerations.

- I'm guessing you're planning on using a double bed size
mattress as the wall thicknesses of the main body and the
two pull outs will need to be contained within the 60 inch
overall width.
- You'll need to work out some very good seals for the front
and back while in travel mode. And good ones for setup mode.
I'd suggest overlapping the hatches a couple-three inches
around on the sides while doing a double or triple seal on them
as well. Think of using an "automotive style" approach for this.
- You'll need to do something for the main body's side-to-side
rigidity since it appears you will not have any traditional bulkhead
providing that bracing. One approach would be using 1x4s or
2x4s as roof spars and corresponding floor depth members so that
they can be rigidly attached to the sidewall framing uprights
[at their sides], each at two points with fasteners [screws, or
even bolts], as well as gluing them, to create rigid "mini-bents"
of sorts. Another approach would be to use several heavy duty
large dimension [in their size and in their leg thickness] "L" brackets
to join the walls and the floor and the roof sections together. The
slide outs will need some kind of similar bracing as well.
- I know you are still early in the design stage, but maybe you can
eliminate some of the internal length of the slide out sections
so that they have a 6 inch to 1 foot overlap with the main body
when in the open position - or is there a reason that they are so
long now ?

That's enough 'advice' for the moment. At least half the fun is in
the planning, so enjoy this phase and still scan all the other builds
too, as there is a great wealth of good ideas on here, whether they
can be of use to you or not just depends on your needs and desires.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

Y,
After I figured out what you were brainstorming about, I thought to myself, this guy has a good idea going.

A couple thoughts for you,

The way it you have it in travel mode, you won't be able to get in when closed.
How do you anticipate "sliding" it open??? rails, wheels, ?

Keep up the plans, you have something there

John

Hi guys,

Don't get distracted by the colored boxes, they merely define the sleeping zones, rather than a physical slide out. The walled in section of the slide out would only be about 4 inches longer than the part that actually extends. So when it's buttoned up there will be about 4-6 inches of interference with the door opening. That faint vertical line would be the approximate boundary for the physical part.

I have ideas for interlocking joints and seals to maintain rigidity when open...

I plan to make the structure rigid using plywood bulkheads at least 6 inches deep, and a couple of 12" wide 6" deep shelving units to serve as frame stiffeners. So the sleeping pullouts might be only 48" wide or so. I don't mind going a hair wider on the body to get the sleeping widths.

I'll probable design the mechanism for the expanding floor first, then design a body yo go around it. Going for lots of small to gain my rigidity (or even some well placed steel here and there).

It's just a concept right now anyway, but I think workable. Want to preserve the sleeping zones so we don't feel like sardines. Will brainstorm about front profile now.

well, look what I found... not a new concept then...

Although I think having modules I can swap out for different camping situations is a unique idea. I also prefer my idea of having the front piece become the roof, but theirs has a sunroof... which is kind-of cool if it opens.



It's called a gidget retro.