Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

RV's, campers, toy haulers...oh man, wipe the drool away. I love going to RV shows. There are so many ideas and new ways to utilize limited space. However, the cost-to-quality ratio tilts away from the consumer if you ask me. Do I really need 2 flush toilets in my toy hauler? A full oven? A sectional couch bigger than the one in my suburban living room? No, no, and no. Even the small toy haulers run 15K+ and there are so many things to break!

What I'm looking for is a well constructed, simple, and mobile trailer to haul 2 dirt bikes, a RZR, and comfortably sleep 2 adults and associated gear.

In addition to RV shows I also like projects....so let's get started. I purchased a new H&H 8x18 v-nose from Reed Trailer sales in Denver. I ordered it with a screen side RV door, overhead vent/fan, 2 20"x30" side windows, a rear ramp gate, a front hot lead drop for the lights, rear drop jacks, 6'6" wall height, and 9 floor mounted d-rings. The trailer shipped from Iowa and I happily picked it up after a few minor adjustments. Quality control isn't what it used to be.

Here it as after arriving home.

Inside



Outside

Nice!!

Great start.

Where are we coming from? For ~4 years we tent camped and hauled our bikes and gear in a 5x10 Continental Cargo trailer. We pulled that thing from Arkansas to Kansas to Colorado to Big Bend in Texas and back again. It was a great trailer, but at 6' and with little hair I regularly returned from a trip with a few new divets out of my scalp.



Inside I had etrack to hold down a few toys, hooks to hold smelly gear, and a paper towel holder to accent my outdoor cook station.





I really wanted to move from a tent to a trailer. While you can convert a 5x10, my wife is a little claustrophobic, so that put an end to any chance of the this trailer fitting our needs.

The walls and floor needed some help, so the first step was paint.

Before...




After....






I used Kilz white primer on the walls and Home Depot's Behr garage and floor paint on the floor. I added a bit of sand to the floor paint and it is looking good so far.

The trim still needs a bit of work, but the roller made for quick work of the big areas.

Welcome aboard

Just rember soon that $15,000 toy hauler will be in your rear mirror


Cheers OTTCT

My wish list looks something like:

1. Murphy bed
2. Front and side cabinets for storage
3. Deep cycle battery power to support lights, electric blanket, cell phone charger and other small gadgets
4. other small storage solutions
5. interior rug and other small comfort items
6. awning

Nice to have, but not immediate are
A. on board water tank - currently use five of the 7 gallon blue cube jugs
B. on board propane
C. fixed shower setup (likely outdoor), but requires A & B
D. plug in charger for battery for extended stay at shore-power locations

I spent A LOT of time thinking about the Murphy bed setup. I wanted something that was sturdy and comfortable, but does not have a large footprint or is overly complicated.

I found google images to be extremely helpful in searching various murphy bed configurations. There are all sorts of designs with struts, springs, various kinds of hinges and a multitude of outer supports (shelf, fold out foot, etc., etc.)

I started by recognizing that a sturdy, but lightweight bedframe would be a good first step.

I used 14Ga 1"x1" steel to make a bedframe. Measuring 14 times and cutting once....okay, sometimes I junked a few pieces, I started like this.



It is a queen frame that is 82" long and 62" wide. A queen mattress is ~80" by 60", so I wanted to have a few extra inches for the sheets and bedding.

I used a Mig welder. My other welding projects prior to this include a welding cart (looks terrible) and a bed-side table for my wife that is basically a cube. Patience is key.

Eventually my welds got better.



I welded all around each connection and only ground down the ones where I would later mount 1/2" plywood as a base for the mattress.



After staring at it for several days I came to the realization that a little more reinforcement might be necessary. I don't want to hear a crack in the middle of the night and find myself in a heap of wood and metal.

Here is the in bed-frame before I rattle canned it with black spray-paint.




Other items to sort out along the way on the Murphy bed were...

What type of mattress?
Hinge / mount design?
How to fold it up into the side of the trailer?
Will this thing support 400 lbs? (2 adults)
Does it fit parallel or perpendicular to the trailer?

To be continued...

Nice welds, an elephant could sleep on that bed frame with all that reinforcement!

I would guess that there isn't enough height for the bed to tilt up, if it was across the width of the trailer.

We have a foam futon mattress from Ikea that was cheap and is pretty comfy. It's thinner than a household mattress so you save a lot of space and weight.

That is going to be one nice toy hauler!

I plan to follow this one with interest. Lately been thinking about building a bigger toyhauler myself. I love my 7 X 14 and it has been completely trouble free for going on 6 years now, but I would like a little more room for those days when the weather turns bad and I need to stay indoors until it passes. I would love to have enough room for a recliner to watch TV or whatever during those times.

We have a foam futon mattress from Ikea that was cheap and is pretty comfy. It's thinner than a household mattress so you save a lot of space and weight.

You're spot on with that suggestion!

We went by the local mattress store and scoped out a few options. We came away realizing that household mattresses are (1) expensive for our intended use of 20-30 nights per year, (2) heavy, and (3) and bulky.

We ended up going with an InnerSpace RV mattress. I bought it off Amazon.com. I think with delivery it came to about $220. It is a legitimate queen size, but is only about 5.5" thick. We plan to use a nice queen mattress topper that we already had in addition to the InnerSpace mattress.

Link for mattress here: http://www.amazon.com/InnerSpace%C2%AE- ... 7VAESP3T9Y

This bed frame is looking bare!





The next phase of the bed construction began with a series of wood purchases from Lowe's. No problem picking up plywood in the rain when you've got an enclosed trailer!

I planned to use 1/2" plywood for the bed-base, 1x10" (which is actually ~8.5") for the sides of the bed frame, and a 2x10" for the basal support where I would attach the hinges.

I started by using self-taping sheet metal screws to attach the plywood to the bed-frame. Even though they're self tapping I pre-drilled a small hole to make sure everything went smoothly. It takes forever, but it goes together easier.

Here is the plywood attached to the bedframe.




I also used a large drill-bit to drill out a bit of the plywood, so the screws would sit flush. Here are all the tools I used for this portion of the project.





I attached the bed edging (1x10") with a combination of the same self threading sheet metal screws and L-brackets. I started with the ends first to make sure everything lined up. My Lowe's has a little Stanley bracket section that has all kinds of L, T, and other shaped metal brackets for cheap. I used a bunch of 'em.




Here is another shot of the end:




I added the sides and more brackets to support the structure, so it wouldn't flex while being folded up and down.




Here is the completed mattress frame with markings for hinges. The bottom is what will face out into the trailer cavity. The bed will fold down, so we can sleep parallel to the long axis of the trailer. With this setup there is ~18" on one side of the bed to move around. I also planned to place it at the tail of the trailer to allow for more room in the front for seating and other storage.

Here's a shot of the bottom as it sat in the photo above.

With the bed-frame finished I now needed to figure out how to attach it all to the trailer, so it will stay put, move up and down easily and not take up too much space.

I went with standard door hinges that can be purchased at any hardware store. I started by routing out the hinge mounting points on the side of the bed-frame.




Here is a shot with the hinges attached.



I attached the hinges to the bed-frame with several pass-through bolts rather than just using screws.

In the trailer I used scrap 2x10 and 2x4 blocks to build a base and mount my 2x10' base mounting board. Here is an underside shot showing the bedframe (left) mounted to the board (right) which is affixed to the trailer. I mounted it above and behind the wheel-well on the drivers side.

Here is another shot of the base platform and the frame mounted to it.

After attaching the bed solidly to the trailer I built a cabinet out of 1x10's for the bed to fold into. I used sheet metal screws to get into the steel studs of the trailer wall. The finished and mounted product looks like this.



Another shot along the driver's side wall shows how little space it takes up...only about 10".