Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I currently drive a Sprinter Cargo Van all over the country teaching seminars. But with 300,000+ miles on a 2002 Sprinter, it's time for a new road vehicle. I'm toying with the idea of converting a 7' by 18' to 22' snowmobile V-nose trailer into a front office/LQ with the back 12 ft or so reserved for the 3,000+ lbs of seminar gear. I would probably tow it with a 3/4 ton diesel pickup of some sort.

Of course, most snowmobile trailers have a ramp door on the V-nose, which would serve no purpose if I just put a partition wall between the back cargo and forward LQ areas. However, I've had this brainstorm about using the V-Nose ramp as an extension to the living area. The idea would be to block the ramp so it only goes down to level, and have some sort of folding-wall or canvas topper that would cover this ramp-room. Hey, I could even put the bed on the inside of the ramp so it would ride vertically on the road, but then be positioned properly anytime the ramp door was in horizontal position.

Something like this for a donor trailer. Of course I would add some sort of "stop" so the front ramp only goes down to horizontal, not the ground.



I've asked around with my RV conversion buddies, but nobody has ever seen anything like this. So, does such a conversion exist that I can see for ideas? Are there any tent fabrication companies who could make a canvas "tent" that would automatically open up over the ramp-room as it was lowered to horizontal position? Any other places to look for ideas on this type of conversion?

Thanks for any input you can provide.

The only down side I can see is that they are designed to carry snow mobiles with limited weight. Axles/tires are small aren't they?
I have seen a number of very nice aluminum snowmobile trailers that I thought might work.

Shadow Catcher wrote:The only down side I can see is that they are designed to carry snow mobiles with limited weight. Axles/tires are small aren't they?
I have seen a number of very nice aluminum snowmobile trailers that I thought might work.

I think that a 7 ft wide all-aluminum snowmobile trailer with a pair of 3,500# axles and a 7,000# GVW would easily carry my 3,000# gear load and perhaps 1,000# to 1,500# in extra LQ weight. Many snowmobile trailers are available with 5K axle upgrades, so that's plenty of weight capacity.

I just like the idea of folding out a room, so the LQ area could be very short for traveling and drop down (instead of slide-out) for sleeping. I've played with the idea of an origami hard-wall room that would unfold, but that might be a bit too difficult to fabricate. Is there anybody who builds custom fold-out fabric tents?

http://www.trailershopper.com/
nice looking trailer here
http://www.trailershopper.com/page-42871.html
This is a great web site that has every kind of trailer you could want.
There are trailer factories in south GA and I think most of these companies have connections with these factories and build anything you want and with this site you can compare prices, I went with kingdom trailers and one reason was I needed the trailer taller than a 6ft stock trailer and they charged the same price to add 12 inches or 6inches so I went with the 12 inches and it's nice to have the added head room when your inside.
My guess is the factory gives them a dealer price and all the added things is where they make there money?
Example they wanted like 1200-1500 for the factory installed AC which you can buy one for 600-700 dollars? they will insulate it and charge you to much for something you can do yourself and wireing ect, but that is where these companies make there profit.
but I think it's cheaper to have them do some things like installing a window or RV screen door if you don't want to fool with it.
I have a 7x16 and looking back it wasn't much more to get have a 18 or 20ft for not much more.?
there are little things I am glad I talked to them about that I would not have thought of like the rear stabilizer jacks for 50.00 well worth the money. and the RV screen door.ect[url][/url]

Hi Mike/jmsokol,

These have fold-out side beds.
http://www.livinlite.com/VRV-overview.php

Also check out the “hybrid” travel trailers. They are like
regular travel trailers but but have fold-out beds on the
ends/sides like tent trailers do.

BUT, If you haven't purchased a trailer yet, Check these out.
They have aluminum chassis/frames and are fiberglass bodied.
They have “V' fronts, and radius-ed edges. They say they are
also light weight. At least they look pretty “aero”. 'Sounds
worthwhile to check out to me. You can also have doors and
windows, insulation and such installed by them as well -
check out the 'Custom Design Options' in the top area of the page.
Having them do most of that work may be an approach to take,
then tweak the rest of it yourself.

Look in the 'Camper Trailers' section, the 3rd group down
the page. On the bottom left of the six pics is Exactly what
you are talking about.
http://fibertechservicesinc.com/trailers.php

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

mezmo wrote:Hi Mike/jmsokol,

These have fold-out side beds.
http://www.livinlite.com/VRV-overview.php

Yup.... that's exactly what I'm looking for. I'll contact these guys and check out prices and build time.



Thanks for the intel.....

Good thing you did not tell him VRV costs almost as much as a Prevost

I bet that trailer in the above picture is $30,000

Hey is this the new 4k 80" tv From the 2013 Vegas electronic trade show ??

Damn I want this for my trailer




http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

Hey Mike/jmsokol,

That pic you posted is from Fibertech not Livinlite !

http://fibertechservicesinc.com/trailers.php

'Didn't want you to get crossed up.

Cheers,
Norm/.mezmo

mezmo wrote:Hey Mike/jmsokol,

That pic you posted is from Fibertech not Livinlite !

http://fibertechservicesinc.com/trailers.php

'Didn't want you to get crossed up.

Cheers,
Norm/.mezmo

Yeah, I know the guys at Livin-Lite pretty well. Last year one of their customers had an RV Hot-Skin issue caused by a broken ground lug in a defective twist-lock plug on the side of the trailer. By using a Fluke VoltAlert, I helped their customer troubleshoot the problem and Livin-Lite inspected all their inventory for problems. So I could probably swing a pretty sweet deal on a Livin-Lite if it fit my needs. However, most of the toy-haulers with LQ areas depend on off-loading your quads or motorcycles at night which gives you a place to fold the beds out of the side walls. In my gig the gear will always be in the cargo (toy) area) at night and I still need a place to sleep and do business stuff. That's why the fold-down (drive-off) ramp on a snowmobile trailer is interesting. I do suspect that the FiberTech trailer is too expensive for this gig, and I spent an hour last night looking for any FT trailers for sale anywhere in the country and only found a single used 7-14 cargo version for $7K or so. So there's no real history on if one will survive my 50K miles a year road schedule.

Right now I'm at a crossroads of sorts with a trailer decision. I can continue to use a Sprinter van as the tow vehicle and add a 6' by 14' tandem axle aluminum "motorcycle hauler" for the gear. That would allow me to build a nice LQ area in the Sprinter. However, my current 2002 Sprinter has 300K+ miles on it, and mechanical failures are getting difficult to fix when I'm thousands of miles from home and on a tight driving schedule. So I would need to upgrade to a new(er) Sprinter if I go that route.

My second possibility is what I'm describing in this thread. I could use a 3/4" ton diesel PU to tow a 7' by 18' "snowmobile" trailer with a cargo partition giving me about 11 ft of floor area for gear in the back of the trailer. The front 7' or so would be my LQ area which could include the ramp tent as shown in the picture I posted. I see very nice used aluminum frame snowmobile trailers for sale in the $5K to $7K range, and their 3,500# tandem axles would give me plenty of capacity for my 3,000# of gear and 1,500# of LQ stuff. I could include a generator in the back of the pickup truck for trailer AC which could also carry heavy tools, etc...

If the FiberTech trailer is too expensive (probably) then I still have the idea of building a fold-out ramp tent. Now that I see how it works I could possibly find a shop that makes convertible car tops to stitch one up for me. I'm a Mechanical Engineer by schooling, so I should be able to figure this out and prototype it with bed-sheet material on my wife's sewing machine. Then a real canvas version could be sewn up from the pattern.

I'll revisit the Livin-Lite site to see if they have any new ideas and give the FiberTech guys a call for pricing. Getting interesting....

Hi Mike

This is maybe a stupid question ? Your fold out tent idea only
Works well when exterior temp is 40-80 maybe , so I assume winters your
In Arizona, Texas , FL - not Colorado ?

WOW 50,000 miles per year on a cargo trailer - that will be something to see.

jerry

OverTheTopCargoTrailer wrote:Hi Mike

This is maybe a stupid question ? Your fold out tent idea only
Works well when exterior temp is 40-80 maybe , so I assume winters your
In Arizona, Texas , FL - not Colorado ?

WOW 50,000 miles per year on a cargo trailer - that will be something to see.

jerry

I'm smart enough now to pick mostly winter gigs in the south and summer gigs in the north. For instance, I was teaching seminars in Orlando the first weekend in January where the temp was mostly in the 70's and 80's and I would have been very happy in the fold-out ramp-tent. I also did a Texas tour last October with a lot of 80 degree weather. Of course, there will be some cold gigs so I'll put some sort of heat in the LQ, but an air-conditioner on the roof is probably just as important to me. If I get my head together I think it's possible to do folding solid walls on the ramp-room which could be insulated. The hinging offsets are a bit tricky to get it to fold down flat, but I think it could be built from 1" square aluminum tubing and sandwiched with foam insulation. Put in a single screen/glass window and that would be very cool indeed. But alas, I've never seen anything like this so I would be in new territory.

And yes, I've averaged 50,000 miles per year over the last 5 years in my Sprinter van. If I can come up with a trailer plan that will survive the road use, and figure out how to put a basic LQ/office in the mix, then that would save me the cost of at least 60 nights in hotel rooms per year. If you're curious as to the drive route, here's a list of my seminars since 2004 http://www.howtosound.com/previous.htm which I drive to from Maryland.

However, I don't know if an all-aluminum trailer such as a Featherlite will survive road miles better than a steel-frame trailer that costs half the price of the Featherlite. Plus I've looked at R&R and Aluma trailers with Aluma being nearly as expensive as a Featherlite and the R&R trailers being about halfway between the price of an Featherlite and an entry-level steel-frame trailer. I'm just kicking tires for a few months, then I have to decide by spring as to which way to go. Any input from you cargo and toyhauler trailer guys/gals is valuable to me.

OverTheTopCargoTrailer wrote:I bet that trailer in the above picture is $30,000

I just talked to Ken at FiberTech and the price of the Aero-Hood trailer with the tent-room isn't all that bad:

Our 18' by 7' base price is $7,200.00
Options
Front ramp door $350.00
Front ramp room $400.00
Service door $300.00

So I could probably get a it built with a cargo wall and framed for a roof-top air conditioner and roof fan in the LQ area for less than $9,000. Ken's sending me build pictures of something very similar he's putting together for a customer right now.

This might work....

jmsokol, Howdy;

When you mentioned;
"I see very nice used aluminum frame snowmobile trailers for sale in the $5K to $7K range, and their 3,500# tandem axles would give me plenty of capacity for my 3,000# of gear and 1,500# of LQ stuff. I could include a generator in the back of the pickup truck for trailer AC which could also carry heavy tools, etc... "
I'm thinking that you will still have to remember the 60% / 40% rule when loading Cargo Trailers. That being 60% of the weight in front of the axles
and 40% behind the axel for stability and safety. Helps to keep the tail from wagging the dog...
Just my 2 pennies worth...

hank

hankaye wrote:jmsokol, Howdy;

When you mentioned;
"I see very nice used aluminum frame snowmobile trailers for sale in the $5K to $7K range, and their 3,500# tandem axles would give me plenty of capacity for my 3,000# of gear and 1,500# of LQ stuff. I could include a generator in the back of the pickup truck for trailer AC which could also carry heavy tools, etc... "
I'm thinking that you will still have to remember the 60% / 40% rule when loading Cargo Trailers. That being 60% of the weight in front of the axles
and 40% behind the axle for stability and safety. Helps to keep the tail from wagging the dog...
Just my 2 pennies worth...

hank

Hank,

Yes, that's a good reminder which I'm very careful to follow. I have some very heavy gear in road cases which I'll strap forward to the partition over the axles, plus a lot of lighter gear which I'll place on the tail end. I'm also careful to load the heavy gear closer to the floor and lighter gear up on top. The house batteries and any water tanks for the LQ will be placed as far to the rear of the front LQ area as possible, putting that weight over the front axle.

Since I'm a pro-sound engineer, a lot of my time is spent loading and unloading trailers and trucks with very heavy gear, so weights and cubes are always on my mind. In fact, I taught a few classes at my university about safely loading trailers for sound gigs and make my students do the load calculations and weigh the hitch after I come back from the CAT scales. We also try for around 10% to 15% of the trailer weight on the hitch. So we can generally keep a class-4 hitch weight under 750 to 850 lbs even with a fully loaded 7K# GVWR trailer on tandem 3.5K axles. That's also why I don't want a long-bed pickup with all that bounce-leverage behind the rear wheels. A short-bed pickup will have the hitch closer to the rear axle, and closer means less front-end lift on the truck without a load-equalizing hitch. Of course, I prefer a GN or FW trailer for really heavy stuff, but that's getting a bit over the top for this type of gig. I think a nice 3/4 ton short-bed pickup with a diesel engine and 6-sp auto transmission is the correct towing machine for this trailer.

So not to fear.... I'll be very safe with this thing.

jmsokol, Howdy;

Just put it out there as some are not knowledgeable of the need
to be aware of the weight and balance that will make towing
a more enjoyable experience.

hank