Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am looking for some ideas on hoisting a full size mattress and frame to the ceiling of my 8.5x18 cargo trailer. My thought is to build a metal frame with rollers on the side (think sliding closet doors) and the tracks on the wall. I need a way to hoist it by myself to a locked position flush with my trailer ceiling.

I know they make an electric system but the price is a little out of my budget.

One thought I had was to build a cable with lead weights inside the walls at all 4 corners. My guess is that I am looking at about 80 or 100 pounds with frame and mattress. I dont need to lift all of it but I dont want to be struggling with trying to lift it up either.

Another thought was some type of spring system at the top. I could pull it down and lock it in place.

Last thought was some type of pulley system with a winch.

Any other thoughts, things you have seen, ideas?

Thanks

In the mid 60's a neighbor designed a boat lift for our cottage. The part I remember is a pipe in bearings running across the ceiling with 4 cables wrapped around the pipe. Each cable went to a pulley then down to the far corners of the boat. The pipe would turn, wind up the cables and the boat would raise.

Are you sure you need the bed to be on the ceiling? It sure would be easier to split the bed down the center and hinge each side against the wall. Just lift each side and latch it up.

New Tom

Do a search on here. There have been a few lift beds. Most use track sourced from the box stores. There is a nice one somewhere on here that used garage door springs for lift. And one that used gas arm assist.

Rainier70 wrote:And one that used gas arm assist.

You would want to make sure there were some latches in the 'down' position, wouldn't you - otherwise there's a Laurel & Hardy moment coming on......

Harken makes a kayak lift kit. You can sure copy the pulley, tackle and cordage configuration to suit your needs.

http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=33555

Tom

I think whatever I do, it needs to be mounted on the walls. I am not sure the ceiling framing in the trailer would be able to support some kind of lift. I have been watching some videos on garage attic lifts and have seen some elaborate pulley systems.

I need the bed to rise to the top so that I can drive the race car on. I plan to have too much other stuff on the walls. Although one of my plans calls for two fold up 'couches'. My thought was to use those as 'sleepers' for my daughter and maybe a friend of hers if they tag along. Plus the roof of the trailer seems like wasted space.

Maybe one thought is to run a rafter system from side to side with those rafters supported by 2x screwed to the trailer walls and resting on the floor. Then I could utilize something like the kayak lift.

One video I saw used unistrut and unistrut trolleys.

I tried my kayak lifts didn't work. I had lots of ideas but someone said they'd design me one that used garage door rails and springs.
I ended up with unistrut and trollies( which may or may not be needed), and garage door springs.
If it's the video in thinking of trolleys were not used, which could allow the 7/8 unistrut to be used.
If you do go with garage door springs I can give you some pro's and con's.

Why didnt the Kayak lift work? I didnt look at it very closely. I really would like to avoid lifting from the ceiling.

I am hesitant on using a garage spring --i imagine on both sides. Do you have pics of your setup?

I cant imagine it would be THAT heavy. I would have pins at the top and bottom to pin it in place when moving.

Look at this lift with its elaborate system of pulleys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKZPJ8HxT24

Look at the way pop up tent trailers lift their lids. Semi-sort of like that pole barn elevator only all the hardware is at the bottom beneath the trailer.

My bed design was suppose to be cheap. And if my designer had understood that my aluminum trailer had 16 on center "studs" it may have worked for 30$ in parts. But that and the rails sticking out to far blew up that design. If I'd some how added vertical support it my have worked. When I originally planed my CTC I wasn't having much in the way of built ins. This also changed. My current working version isn't perfect but it works. And cost almost 200$.
My thread is Its sort of mine. The slow broke build
If I could have I'd have found an old Winnebago (or similar) and used its bed lift.

Here is the other bedlift post:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58551&start=30

That first video is the one I believe OP revered to. It's similar to what I used.

Have you considered just using a good inflatable mattress? I have an Instabed Never-Flat queen sized we keep as a spare bed in the house, but would also use it with our big tent. The pump is internal and is 120v, but it runs easily off of a small inverter, a 1,000 watt is more than enough. It uses 2 pumps, one for inflation/deflation and the other to maintain itself. I absolutely love it and find it is way more comfortable than the real Serta or Sealy we have in the house. My only regret on the one I have is that it is the 19" tall model, so it would not work in the camper. They make a 9" tall. I think I paid about $110 for it. Just saying that instead of building all of that lifting hardware and moving weight to the top, why not keep it lightweight, easy to store and less expensive than probably the lifting hardware will cost you.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006OU ... 1_1&sr=8-1


dave

The video and pics of the bed that Rainier posted is pretty similar to what I was thinking but using a winch instead of a spring. I assume the spring keeps it at the top or at least makes it easy to raise to the top and pin? Seems like you would have to do a lot of research into spring rates etc or a lot of trial and error to get it right.

I would like to take that idea one step forward and run the cables to a forward winch. The winch would be in place for the race car anyway. I could attach another pulley at the floor on each side and then run a V-shaped cable to my winch at the front of the trailer. The V shaped cable would be removable.

I saw some instructional videos online regarding Pop ups but nothing showing the inner workings of the pulleys.

I have an air mattress now and while I have never slept on a 'good' one, I tend to think that is an oxymoron. But you are absolutely right. My pump, rolled up queen size and inverter take up far less room. Some guys at the track just bungee a mattress to the wall....