I've been dreaming of a tear ever since I first stumbled upon a build log several years ago. Being a DIYer at heart I wasn't about to buy a prebuilt, though the living situation at the time made such a project a difficult prospect. So instead I changed focus to motorcycles and the past few years I've been taking trips around the US camping off the bike. I've grown to depend on KOAs (western states, eastern ones I've had issues) as they have the bar set decently high for facilities, though each has their own charm. My living situation has changed so I have space to stretch, but my single status has an expiration date. So now doing a build seems more feasible, but a basic 4x8 won't cut it for two. Even 5ft wide may be a little cramped, as we aren't small people and she needs her space to move as needed (neck/shoulder/back issues). My tow vehicle is a manual trans scion xB (1.5l). I've used it to pull 2 motorcycles on a HF 4x8 folder to Denver and back. I've got the car setup to handle some weight safely (helper air springs, higher load rated tires), but the engine was in max load most of the time just with the slow rolling hills of the plains. So I need to go ultra light and low wind resistance if I hope to cross mountains. After weighing my options I decided to go the "explorer box" route instead. A few companies make 6ft wide rooftop tents which gives you a California king size mattress, but packs down for a trailer that can easily be much smaller and lighter than your average tear. Time is becoming more limited for me so a full on tear build would probably double the time to completion, or more... building a storage box that doesn't need to be "livable" inside would be more simple and quick. That storage, separate from the sleeping area, would be very nice for all the extras like chairs, table/s, awnings, ect. Also it seems more unique in this area, as I see tears every once in a while (mostly T@B) and standard popups, but nothing like this.
I picked up the 40.5"x48" w/12" tires HF frame. I plan on extending out 1ft front and back with small wood frames for a 6ft long frame, Box it out 2ft tall with 1/2" marine or ACX (Menards ACX looks higher quality than their marine), then replace the tongue with 2"x2"x1/8" square tube, extending the tongue connection to the rear with 1.5"x1/8" angle to have a 2" receiver tube at the back for bike rack or step rail. The large rooftop tents are 170-210lb so I'm shooting for a final unloaded weight under 600lb. My current dilemma is how long to make the tongue.. A short ~32" tongue would be stronger, lighter and have better aero while still accommodating a full 90deg jackknife. But a longer ~52"-60" tongue would give better stability, allow me to add a large tongue basket for firewood and other throw-ons, and give enough length to center my 15.5ft canoe on top if I add some crossbars. Judging by the tongue strength chart I've seen posted I should be safe if I tie the tongue basket to the frame, but I don't know if the wood frame extension might be more of a wildcard? I'd appreciate any input folks would have on that.
Heres a simple MSpaint of the long tongue design w/ basket. Proportions are eyeballed.
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