Newbie from England, Hi Guys

[chamal]

Hi Guys,
My name is Alan, I'm 59, married to the most beautiful woman I've ever met, have 4 great kids and 2 grandchildren, I live in NW England and we have been camping for over 20 years.
We are members of 2CVGB, the worldwide club for owners of Citroen 2CVs and we have attended several world meetings, the furthest for us was Greece, 4,500 miles and 6 countries, fully loaded 2cv and trailer tent, us and 2 teenage lads, it was slow but we got there and back without problems, 1st gear 15mph for 5 miles over the Alps, you get to enjoy the scenery with a 2cv, we went over the Greek Pinos mountains and the engine cut out through lack of oxygen, what fun.
The best world meeting was Holland 8,000 cars and 12,000 people, it was so well organised and great fun even the kids loved it.

We graduated from a tent to a trailer tent and now it's time to move up to a caravan type tiny trailer,canvas is just too cold now.
The problem is the 2cv "Gigi" weighs 596Kg and most caravans are just too heavy for her.
We had a Camplet Concorde t/tent, 2 double beds, kitchen and lounge and it weighed 250Kg, Gigi pulled it easily, some 2cvers tow Dandy t/tents and many say it is at the limit for a 2cvs 602CC engine.
I have heard of some towing Eriba Pucks but IMO it is just too heavy, 1960s models were lighter but they are few and far between nowadays.

So I have decided to design my own, I started by thinking I will build a lightweight "BOX" and tow it, then I started reading up on how it's done and I've got a lot to learn, not least about centre of gravity and percentage nose/hitch weights and where to put the wheels, inside,outside or half way and how far back?

In order for the Gigi to tow comfortably I want to acheive a weight as close to 350Kg as I can, STOP LAUGHING!!, get up off the floor!

I'm a joiner by trade and so it's up to my woodworking skills and some imagination, but it's great to be able to read about various experiences with different construction methods and materials tried, so I'm doing a lot of reading, thinking and drawing at the moment, it's obvious from the pictures there are some talented people building Ts n TTTs so I look forward to following some of you and your projects.

kind regards Alan

[aggie79]

Welcome Alan,

It's good to have another member from across the pond. With your need for a lightweight teardrop, I'd take a look at the Pico Light design in Design Library (under the Design Resources tab at the top.) With your skills and design parameters, I think the two are a great match.

I would suggest that you take a look at Larry C's Ultralight Stripper build journal: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=35852. Larry is a grat craftsman and is shooting for a low weight similar to your objective.

Take care,
Tom

[angib]

Actually for a lightweight teardrop, 350kg (770lb) isn't low - half that is really lightweight and even then that's more than the empty Pico-Light which is 130kg (280lb).

If you're a joiner then having good enough skills to make a good, self-supporting, light teardrop body should be easy - as long as you remember that this is more like furniture than a house.

And the Pico-Light would be particularly appropriate as it's based on the German Eis Piccolo, which became the French Ailette trailer which was very much intended for 2CVs. Here's one behind a 2CV:

[chamal]

Thank you for the warm welcome fellas,
Unfortunately that is where my problem lies, as cute as Teardrops are I want a caravan with a double bed, galley, toilet and storage, a sink, a cooker and a fridge if I can get away with it, I accept It will have a pop-up roof in order to keep the body size down, however I will have a look at the links you have sent me for inspiration. Thanks again.
regards Alan

[mezmo]

Hi Alan/chamal,

Welcome to this great friendly forum!

Your 2CV adventures sound like pure fun!

It sounds like you've got a good skill base for your build.

Here are a couple links to a build that utilizes foam and epoxy and
fiberglass to achieve a 319lb [!] telescoping TTT. It's by a
Swedish builder. A fabulous design and execution. It was built to
be towed with a motorcycle, but it's potential goes far beyond that.

http://www.goldbrand.info/
http://www.goldbrand.info/motorcykelhusvagn2.html

It sounds like it's close to what you are looking for. Prototype 2
is very illustrative. His proposed prototype 3 sounds like it'll be
even more interesting.

Also, our Foamie section:
viewforum.php?f=55
is very interesting in exploring economical and light builds,
perhaps it can give you ideas as well.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[chamal]

Thank you Norm,
That is a very interesting site by the Swedish guys, boy do they have some skills and what a superb idea.
I have not seen that kind of foam close up, it obviously different to polystyrene and I guess a sub structure for glass fibre matting and resin.
Unfortunately I hate the smell of glass fibre resin, knocks me sick, but it's yet another opportunity to view the construction methods of other like minded people.Thanks again

regards Alan

[Shadow Catcher]

If you have browsed the site you know we are going to ask for pictures.
It has been decades since I have seen a Citron of any stripe.

As I have often said you are building an airplane. Our 6X10 is about twice your target weight but it is also not built as lightly as it could have been but it has most everything you want and then some (check album). One note of caution will you be bumping up against EU trailer standards?

[Vedette]

Hi Alan
Welcome to the Forum.
I know this might sound a little bit further outside of the box than you were thinking. BUT, have you ever considered building your teardrop out of a "car"........a 2cv would be my chioce if I was pulling it with one??
I am currently building my teardrop out of a 1959 Simca Vedette. To pull behind a 1961 Studebaker Hawk.
Where are you?
As have a friend in England that has a bunch of small english cars that he is disposing of ASAP, that might just fit the bill.
Be creative!!
E-mail me if you would like to know more.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi
[email protected]

[chamal]

Thank you Brian and Sandi,

For your warm welcome to the forum.
At the 2CV world meeting in Holland 1997 I saw a black 2cv towing a black 2cv, the trailer car had blacked out windows and was actually a bed inside with a cooker in the boot, it looked pretty good, also some one had taken a Suziki Vitara chassis and running gear and fitted a 2cv body on to it, they widened the body by 8" and lengthened it by 4" and you couldn't see the joins it had big wheels and tyres and it looked like a big Tonka toy.
I also saw a 2cv that had been sliced in half length ways and narrowed so there was one seat at the front and one passenger seat behind the driver, the car was half the original width,
It must have taken months of re-welding to change all that steel.
However the weirdest one I saw was a motor cycle and side car combination, the side car was in the shape of a small 2cv and the windows were darkened,
the controls for the bike were inside the sidecar but you couldn't see anyone and to see a bike and side car driving down the road with no one on the bike was weird.
One time it turned up at a meeting with a skeleton dressed in Hells Angel denim with a German helmet and sunglasses RIDING THE BIKE!! WOW!!
We've had 2CVs for 25 years now and I wouldn't be without one, my dream Citroen is the DS 23 Pallas, but they rot for France and a good one will set you back many thousands of pounds.
So camping with a caravan/trailer that I have built hooked up to our 2CV "Gigi" is our plan, I'm looking at a lot of details at the moment, but trying to determine just where the wheels go is difficult to work out when I am still planning the design.
Figuring out where the Centre of Gravity is likely to be to calculate the nose/hitch weight ratio, is proving difficult, as I don't know the weight of the finished product, most designs seem to have the wheel centres just behind centre of the "van" body.
Still, it's interesting going to other members threads to see how they tackle different problems.

regards Alan

[Vedette]

Hi Alan
We put "Miss Piggy" on the rotisserie yesterday to finish up the welding on the underside.
Still tough for me to post pictures here. But with 2 weeks to go we are getting there, and things are progressing rapidly.
Maybe not as rapidly as will be required to meet the first deadline?????
Thanks for the reply.
If you would like pictures other than those in my album. Then please send e-mail labled Vedette.
Good Luck with your planning.
Brian & Sandi

[newlifestyle]

A company in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee is building the Piccolo again.

Knox Retro Campers
Mount Pleasant, TN 38474
www.KnoxRetroCampers.com
[email protected]

The KRC Ailettear is their name for the reproduction trailer. It weighs only 400 lbs. fully optioned out. The basic Ailettear weight is about 200 lbs.

[pappaw]

welcome to the forum

Cheers

[angib]

I want a caravan with a double bed, galley, toilet and storage, a sink, a cooker and a fridge if I can get away with it, I accept It will have a pop-up roof in order to keep the body size down

What you've described is a caravan and it's going to weight as much as a caravan - a pop-up roof may reduce frontal area a bit (though not much) but it will probably increase the weight if anything. A 2CV engine is always going to be very limited about the weight it can tow.

[chamal]

Thank you to all for the warm welcome,

I have been reading a lot of posts regarding ultra lightweight construction techniques and it is amazing the
superbly inventive way some of you tackle various problems.

This is a wonderful forum, with lots of like minded people sharing ideas.

I have more or less finished my design(though this may alter as new ideas appear), now it is down to materials.

I have come across a product some of you may know called VARIOLINE, which is a composite, it doesn't de-laminate or rot, is impervious to UV and it has
a plastic type outer skin so it doesn't need painting inside or out, also it appears to be half the weight of plywood, it is very stiff and strong and can be glued, screwed, nailed or even welded together

I'm still looking into it as I'm not sure of it's insulation properties.

The same company have connections to a Belgian company supplying a product called ELYTRA, this seems to be a honeycomb or foam sandwich
material that appears to have all the qualities of varioline, but may be even lighter, I have e-mailed the company for details, but so far no reply.

kind regards Alan