Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Kinda looks like an Aliner. Ebay up to 60.00 for the plans. I had never thought of homebuilding one of those. http://tinyurl.com/2p5kce

Looks cool... hey, there's no limit to what home based trailer builders can do. I especially like the way he replaced the coil springs with the gas springs.

Mike...

mikeschn wrote:Looks cool... hey, there's no limit to what home based trailer builders can do. I especially like the way he replaced the coil springs with the gas springs.

Mike...

True. I got a 69 Cox Cadet 210 Popup that I've been playing with this summer. It's quite a bit different from the TD world but still vintage. It's all about having a good time.

Who got the winning bid?
Interesting looking.


Pat

I have a feeling our leader won the bidding....

I've not received anything yet...

I'll be interested to hear about sources for the various aluminum extrusions that seem pretty unique on our Chalet. The basic trailer while very ingenius is pretty simple- sort of like a take-out food box. The devil will be in the details.

If you reverse-engineer the Chalet and Aliner price I think they charge about $6,000 for the rolling chassis and shell including standard windows and door. I have a feeling that DIY on a custom bought chassis might only save $2,000.

Personally I'm on a 5 year quest for something with fewer seams and more storage. Every time I go camping I start designing again.

Okay, I got the plans. I can't post them because they are copyright, but I can can answer questions.

I will say this about the plans... the guy is a halfway decent 2D cad user. He gave me 17 sheets of drawings.

He's not much of an author, only writing a few paragraphs about what he used to build it with. No detailed construction information.

He's not much of a photographer either. He promised a CD full of photos. I'm lucky if there is 24 photos. And all of them from so far away you can't make out any details.

Disappointing? Yes. A total loss? No. If there was an interest I suppose Andrew and I could come up with our own version of the aliner. I don't know who would build it though, Andrew's yard isn't big enough, and I'm occupied with the ET.

The author mentioned that you'd have to borrow a 10' brake. I guess that would be how he made all those unique pieces. I sure wish there had been more details.

JimQ... fewer seams and more storage. Sounds like a T@B XL to me!!! Of course you'd have to build it yourself.

Mike...

Looks like he's ready to sell another set of plans.

Item No. 260158272167

Since I have owned an Aliner and KNOW how comfortable/convenient/towable they are a homebuilt would be nice.

However, as intuited and mentioned, there are some significant hurdles to jump. I sat in mine on several occasions and "calculated" a home built. Lot's of movable "joints" and numerous places to "weather seal." It has to "seal" for travel and then "seal" when set up. The roof raising and lowering though light is bulky and somewhat awkward ('specially if not properly aligned and balanced) and Watch Out FOR the WIND - they can be snatched out of your hand easily. Some provision for that (the wind) would be essential. A challenge but certainly not insurmountable for the gurus of this forum. Yet it still seems to be a step beyond teardom.

I decided on the tear option . Absolutely no set up and take down.
I'm stilling voting on the ET concept for my third build but it's gotta have a toilet/shower.

And I like the 1/2 inch walls ( another thread)

JMO
G

mikeschn wrote:...
JimQ... fewer seams and more storage. Sounds like a T@B XL to me!!! Of course you'd have to build it yourself.

Mike...

Mike;

I -think- that my entire list of required features and most of my desired features would fit in a package no longer, no wider, no heavier, and only 2' taller than the Chalet's tow size, but still able to fit through a 7'x7' garage doorway. It would add much better insulation, a standup shower and sit down toilet, much more accessible storage. It would look different but be just as cute as the Chalet, with definite nods (okay ripoff) to a couple '60's trailers.

But that's another thread- I want to sketch it up first. For now the 2002 Chalet is fine, my Scotch heritage requires me to get at least ten seasons out of it. Of course that means I better start building soon.

JimQ,

I'd love to see a quick and dirty sketch of what you are thinking about. The lower part of the body 2' higher than the stock aliner, right? And everything else still works like an aliner?

Mike...

this, btw, is what a basic aliner looks like. It's 10' long by 82" wide. The lower body(sans roof) is roughly 33" high. That must be what JimQ wants to make higher.



Mike...

Oh if I had mine farther along Mike.
The pictures would look like what you have in that picture except square backed and 48" high and 69" wide.
The back 2/3's+ pops up and is a standy.



Pat

Geron wrote:I sat in mine on several occasions and "calculated" a home built. Lot's of movable "joints" and numerous places to "weather seal." It has to "seal" for travel and then "seal" when set up.

Yes - I've done a couple of this sort of design but decided not to publish them as not only have you got all the sealing details to get right, but you have to make and assemble the parts to very tight tolerances.

As there's so much angled stuff, it would be essential to build from CAD plans and preferably as a CAD user, so that you could print off special drawings or full size templates to get the details right.

The alternative is that you build a prototype or two to iron out the bugs and get things to fit right (which I'm sure A-liner did), but I'm guessing there wouldn't be many home-build takers for that approach?

Andrew

angib wrote:

Geron wrote:I sat in mine on several occasions and "calculated" a home built. Lot's of movable "joints" and numerous places to "weather seal." It has to "seal" for travel and then "seal" when set up.

Yes - I've done a couple of this sort of design but decided not to publish them as not only have you got all the sealing details to get right, but you have to make and assemble the parts to very tight tolerances.

As there's so much angled stuff, it would be essential to build from CAD plans and preferably as a CAD user, so that you could print off special drawings or full size templates to get the details right.

The alternative is that you build a prototype or two to iron out the bugs and get things to fit right (which I'm sure A-liner did), but I'm guessing there wouldn't be many home-build takers for that approach?

Andrew

Yes, precisely what the founder of Aliner did. Reading their history reveals many many prototypes. (IIRC it started as a homebuilt)

Actually, they were still not getting it right until the Aliner Forum sprang up and some of the Guru's on that forum (like the guru's on this forum) Began to make upgrades and suggesting design alterations (Two heads, etc). Aliner (Chateau SP?) listened and the one I bought in 03-04 served me quite well and the present owners are quite happy with it.

HOWEVER, the construction was sloppy. I think my builder was either new or drunk.
-Left off a critical piece of weather stipping causing a major leak (easy fix)
-Did not caulk under the airconditioner and it drained into the aliner instead of OUT of the aliner. (easy fix)
-left a water connection untightened. First time I connected to shore water , well you get the pic.
- did not use SS screws on the outside AL trim and the trim caulking was very haphazardly done. (I couldn't believe no SS screws!!!) Fixed that before I sold it.


All of this was fixable by a handyman. A Klutz would have made several trips back to the dealer/factory. And many owners did.

I bought mine the year they went to Advantech for the floor instead of Press board. (An Aliner forum suggestion BTW) Prior to that year many many had rotted floors.
Oh well, rant over.

g