Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hey all, I'm new here. Name's Greg and I'm from the province of Newfoundland, Canada.

I've been thinking of building an ultralight trailer for a while. I figure, if they can build 'em light enough for a motorcycle to haul, I should be able to make one light enough for my tiny little car to haul. Trouble is, my little car is too small to haul much. I figure 400lbs is the max for an Aveo with one or two passengers.

Getting on to the point:

Cutting down on weight is the key to my little idea here. so I've come up with a sort of a ridged pup tent. Yeah I know, not so much room in a triangle but I'm working on improving it a little bit... Perhaps widening it at the top with an extra piece. (barn style roof?)

Excuse the terrible artwork but I was hoping you'd all be able to see what I was getting at, and maybe offer some pointers.

Now that I think of it im not even sure I posted to the right forum. If I didnt, forgive me.

Looking at the "design," I realize I failed to mention a few details. Look em over to get a better idea of what Im going for and tell me what you think.


1. Kitchen facilities: I plan to hang a flip-up or flip-down table on the front (tapered end). I should also be able to stow a sufficiently sized water container inside that end of the structure, perhaps even with a hand pump revealed by a flip-down table.

2. Washroom facilities: The great outdoors, and thats the way it should be. Hahaha.

3. I failed to mention that the trapezoid on the lower left of the image is a door of sorts. Would it be better to hang a dropping door like shown, or would it be better to hang it on one of the sides or would it be better to swing up?

4. The cut off "attic" at the top is intended for an electrical area, because I want the unit to be self-sufficient. Im thinking two lights (inside, outside), a battery, DC outlets, a small power inverter for an AC outlet, and maybe I can get a solar panel to keep it charged.

5. Inside obviously would be a bed. Also inside Im hoping to find space for a small cupboard/locker. I figure if I size things right, I can raise the matress a few inches to provide storage underneath for blankets/clothing etc.

6. Ventilation, I work at a building supplies store and I know how to ventilate a HOME but I look at this and well... Im baffled. I am thinking, whatever free space I have left in the "attic" area should be dedicated to providing a way to vent warm stale air out, but where do I bring fresh air IN?

Just dreaming here ... but maybe you can adapt something like this




In the article it was for a car top application.... Seems awkward to me...
It was also supposed to be a boat?!? I don't know about that.

But it might work as a start for you to adapt it for yout "tent" ideas...

Hope it helps.

Dee Bee

Dee Bee wrote:Just dreaming here ... but maybe you can adapt something like this

Hahaha, that's SOOO retro but very appealing. Unlke mr. popular mechanics there, I dont trust my own construction skills ride a watercraft I've built without a lifejacket.

Thanks for the ideas pal

well, for starters, I foresee some difficulty putting the weight up toward the top of the triangle.

but I'm not an engineer.

Have you thought of something like this:


Empty weight about 350 lbs, can be built on the el-cheapo HF trailer. Can run your wire chase along the frame below the floor.

Laredo wrote:Have you thought of something like this:

Here is a link for the plans:

http://www.butlerprojects.com/other/camp_pod/index.htm

fox,

I drew out your idea to look at it and I have to say that I'm not convinced it's your best approach.



Undoubtedly, you have saved the weight of about half the roof covering of a regular teardrop - about 20-30 pounds.

In exchange you've given away a lot of space - that mattress is 42" wide and the interior width at shoulder level is under 38", so this is a one person trailer, however romantic you are are.

And really, keeping weight down is much more about building lightly than building small. I've shown a HF-type trailer but that is one big weight that you don't really need - even the 8" wheel 990 pound capacity model weighs 220 pounds and the 12" wheel ones are nearer 300.

I think you also need to look at the problems of building this shape - are you happy calculating the compound angles where the sloping sides meet the sloping front/back? It gives me a headache working out how I would work it out! Making the front and back vertical would simplify things a lot.

That electrical space in the roof not only puts your heavy battery up high, but also is darn near inaccessible - I think you would have to mount everything on the base board and then screw that up into the roof.

If you are down to one person capacity, you could narrow the mattress down to 30" and get storage space either side of you, instead of in the roof.

The red outline on the drawing shows your Aveo in approximate cross section. As you can see, your tent-shaped trailer fits neatly into the hole in the air made by your car, but there's a lot of other space there that you're not using. To some extent, this is overlapping with another thread about a trailer to tow behind a Miata.

Incidentally, your Aveo is called a Kalos in Britain and with either a 1.2L/72hp or 1.4L/94hp engine is rated here to tow 1100 pounds unbraked or 2400 pounds braked! However I should point out that European models will always have stiffer springs, often have bigger brakes, and always get much higher tow ratings than in North America. But it does show that your 'not recomended for towing' car is a bit more capable than Chevy make out!

Andrew

Yep,
I figured the apex was no place for the utilities.

<hijack> Anybody here old enough to remember the article in one of the hunters' magazines a few years ago with plans for a plywood camper very similar to the one above? I'd love to see a copy in our plans library here! </hijack>

Towing with an Aveo -- I'd want a tranny cooler as a minimum.

WOW! thanks for all the info guys... and angib I am amazed at the effort you put into it. The drawing is fantastic and it does allow me to look at everything better than that single perspective drawing I did.

Actually, a sleeps one trailer is my goal. Im single and plan to stay that way so I'm ok with a small space.

After doing some thinking and looking at everyone's advice, I'm sort of leaning towards a trapezoidal frame... Yeah, I know the angles will be a pain, but hey thats what caulking is for no? Hahaha, seriously though, I have a little ace up my sleeve, my grandfather hs been building small boats with plywood for a lifetime and he's living practically across the street from me.

I'm trying to figure out how exactly to draw a model of it for viewing on here. Essentially I looked at it and figured I'd get a bit more shoulder space on either side if I were to add some width at top... and it will. My latest idea is sort of an upside down boat, and would require four and a half sheets of plywood but waste a lot of it. I did math based on square footage of material and I figure dry weight for the shell alone would be only 150lbs.

I can draw the pieces needed to build it, but I have no idea how to draw the 3d shape in perspective so it could be seen what I'm talking about. Just imagine this assembled:

As for direction to mount it on the trailer and things like windows and doors and ventilation well Im working on that.

This is what those dimensions looks like:



And how did you get 150lb? I can only get that by using 5/8" ply - are you building a lightweight trailer or a bomb shelter??

Andrew

angib wrote:...And how did you get 150lb? I can only get that by using 5/8" ply - are you building a lightweight trailer or a bomb shelter??...

Well I'll admit I did my math half asleep, but I was counting on 3/4" for the floor and 1/2" for the rest. That said, I'm looking at alternative materials and other ways to lighten it as well.


Again man, you're amazing.