Big Boy in design............

[proformance]

Well, I started out with plans to build a CT conversion, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking how much it will look more like a scaled down Race Trailer than a Camping Trailer. As I make a living in motor-sports, I did not want to be vacationing in something similar to what I work in/around.

So, I have been playing with the idea of a large Tear Drop "Big Boy" that conforms to the garage door height and is not to much wider than my Tacoma TV.

My idea is to have full amenity kitchen (stove, microwave and sink) along with a portable refrigerator all in the rear. The bed is elevated to allow room for inboard tires, fresh and gray water tanks and other ancillary items. The bed will also have two forward facing pull out drawers for clothing storage.

The main floor just inside the entry will be drop down to allow a little additional head room for my wife ( 5' 1" tall) to stand fully upright. The drop floor will also be our dogs sleeping hole. I placed a sofa on the front wall to relax, read, watch TV and eat from.

And I have incorporated a fixed RV toilet (that will be enclosed (hidden from view)) on the street-side across from the entry door. The Black Water tank will be located under the trailer, between the frame rails. With the drop floor, I can use a short toilet and still have a conventional seat height.

I plan on Heat and AC. The heater will be located under the sofa and I'll mount a Pet Cool, 100Ha Battery and Battery Charger in the front storage box on the tongue.

I also expect to use side wall mount cabin vents as I do not want a roof vent restricting my interior cabin height.

The main cabin exterior is 12 1/2 ft long by 5 1/2 ft wide. The exterior height with wheels will be approx 78" with an interior height of approx 62 1/2".

Here are a few of my concepts drawings. Let me know what you think. (Oh ya', ignore the dimensions on the drawings, they mysteriously changed as I continued drawing.)

[Jst83]

I like the lay out

[Deryk the Pirate]

The layout is nice. I would conside splitting the cushion on the bed so it could be folded up like the couch across from it and a table that could drop down.... be like a dinette booth!

[proformance]

Thanks for the comments.

You bring up a good point Deryk.

I have been expecting the need for a table, but until last night, had not figured out a proper method of attachment which does not involve a straight leg into a floor mounted receiver. I want to leave the floor clear of obstructions as this will also be the dog's bed. We have a 1-yr old (birthday is today) yellow lab that I confess is my replacement for our only child who I miss greatly, since he moved away to college 3yrs ago.

What I am now considering for a table attachment is to have two detachable table legs ( 1 1/2" square tubing ) that are formed to "Z" shape. The legs will slide into two horizontally mounted receivers located under the toilet platform and to two receivers on the the bottom side of the table. If I add drawers slides and I design/manufacture properly, I should be able to slide the table farther and closer to us while sitting. The sliding table concept will allow easier access on and off the sofa and bed with the table in place. Also, if I place a several 2" to 3" holes and maybe a some sort of pocket slot in the table top, I should be able to slide the table without concern of tipping glasses and/or other items on the table.

I also need to come up with a simple method to store the table and legs when not in use. I will probable make the table fold in half (lengthwise) and store under the sofa seat. The sofa will have a lift-up seat allowing access for storage underneath.

Regarding the split mattress, this is a great idea and will be a necessity due to the fact I will need access to the underside of the bed where I expect to be mounting the water pump, hoses, RV hook-up items, water tank and other ancillary equipment. But, I need to come up with a simple method of firmly supporting the upright cushion which will create the seat back of the bed sofa. Maybe using a concept similar to load beams which extend out and lock into the outer walls. If I place two beams across the trailer (one high and one low) forming a support for the seat-back, and use a cloth mesh material that extends between the two horizontal support beams for their full length, this may create antiquate support for the mattress cushion to push up against. Let me know what you think.......

I am also considering an access door identical to the curb-side door but shorter in height, immediately above the toilet enclosure. This will allow access from either side of the trailer, if and when necessary.

I have not designed the kitchen as of yet but that will be next on my list.

Again, "Thanks for the comments...!!"

They are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Please keep them coming.

[jdarkoregon]

Time to go build it. I like the design, you will enjoy the space, that couch will be used more than you can ever imagine,

I might consider less for the kitchen, don't forget you are camping


John

[proformance]

John,

What does your tandem axle trailer weigh in at ?

[myoung]

Allowing for a split, folding bed and some floor space toward the rear would also give you better, more convenient access to the rear cabinets and drawers.

[Shadow Catcher]

I am assuming that the couch is in part going to be the bed for the 1 YO?
Unless you are married to the shape you might want to consider a grasshopper design, one of my fears is that the curvature of the front will be such that you will have head room problems.
Suggestion, use under bed/couch area for storage, another reason for the split mattress doors to access storage. Use the cut out in the floor well for a table top.

[StandUpGuy]

To each his own of course, so take this with a grain of salt.

It is a pretty big trailer but it seems you are not getting all you can from it. It is tall but not tall enough to stand in, even with the drop down. It is so tall it is not garageable. The bed blocks access to the rear cabinets. If it is meant to break down then I think the couch you have becomes reduntant as the bed could be the couch. It seems that the one benefit to the layout is that the bed does not need to convert and just stays a bed, yet this is its biggest short coming. As I said before : To each his own. The function of the trailer may perfectly suite your camping needs as is however.

[proformance]

Thanks for all the comments, they are greatly appreciated and I take no offense to any posts. All these comments will aid me in creating a better final product.

Per some of the suggestions/comments,

I plan to have storage under both the bed and the couch, but at the same time I have plans for quite a bit of ancillary equipment to be located under them also. So, I'm not sure until I actually get there how much additional space will be available. But I will be sure to have access in the form of split flooring under the bed and couch to gain access the extra room from above, Thanks.

Regarding the height, I have designed the trailer around a 205 70 R15 tire size, 3500lbs Torflex Axle and 3" frame height. The exterior panel of the trailer side-wall will extend to the base of the frame. This is not apparent in my drawing, but the overall exterior height in the drawing includes the 3" frame. Per my calculations, this combination should provide me with a finished exterior height of approx 78 - 79" (unladen) if I recall correctly. And, with my garage door opening at 82", I expect to have 3" of clearance. My original plan was not to build a standy for myself, but to make my wife as comfortable as possible. With her only being 5' 1" tall, I was able to allow enough height her to stand up-right, by adding the drop floor.

I do agree with you Stand-Up, I have redundancy with a sofa and a bed that could as easily be a sofa. My reason for this is my wife and I tend to keep far differing bed-time hours, and I can see where my wife or I may wish to sleep, while to other chooses to remain awake to read and/or play on the computer for several more hours. So, I have chosen to have a sitting area separate from the bed. I realize this makes for a significant longer trailer, but I'm OK with that.

Per another comment, our 21yrs old and 6' tall son (our only child) is way to big to sleep on the sofa, and I pray we do not have grand children for many-many more years. So, the sofa is nothing more than a convenience item at this time.

Shadow, "Great Point", I'm also concerned with the headroom while seated, but with my limited experience with Sketch-up, I was too far along to warrant editing my drawing. I will be sure during the build process the backrest of the sofa is far enough away from the front wall of the trailer to insure there will be adequate headroom. But, I will try to locate the Grasshopper and review its interior design for a better layout/solution. Thanks........

Several of you have brought up a good point regarding difficult access to the rear cabinets. And, with my expectations of needing/wanting to add more interior cabinetry, I'll be more conscious of this in the future. Thanks for those thoughts...........

Thanks for all the comments, they really help.........!!!

[bdosborn]

A couple of thoughts:

You might consider a flexiride axle, it allows you to adjust the height of the trailer. Torsion axles sag over time and its nice to be able to compensate as well as get out the garage if you don't measure right . I've tweaked my ride height 3 times now.

Flexiride Linky

I'm not sure a Petcool will have enough cooling capacity for a camper that big and they're really expensive. A 5000 btuh window shaker would be MUCH cheaper with more cooling capacity to boot. Our older 2000 btuh Petcool couldn't keep up in 95+ weather and our tear was only 4'X8'. The new Petcool has more cooling capacity (2500 btuh) but I like the window shaker better for our 6.5'x11' TTT. Do a forum search on A/C, there's lots of mounting options but during design is the time to decide which way you want to go.

Bruce

[LoneStar26047]

Proformance, very nice design. It is very similar to the design I am working on and has many of the same features. I also played with the idea of a front couch but as Shadow Catcher mentioned I really felt as though the headroom would be an issue. I felt as though, in order to keep from having to constantly bend my head forward I would have to extend the trailer length as much as another foot. At this point, I scrapped the couch and have just designed large storage spaces up front. I'll be watching your build with interest to see how the headroom works out for you and may change my mind yet again.

[proformance]

Bruce,

I seriously considered the Flexiride specifically for the adjust ability you mention. But, I really like the Parking Brake option on the Torflex and have considered it to be more important to me over the adjust ability. If Flexiride had parking brake option, I would undoubtedly go the Flexiride route. I've had to accept the fact that if I'm off on my measurements, I will be forced to buy a different tire size to conform to the garage entrance height.

Thanks for the Pet Cool comment. I was unsure of the success people have had using a pet cool on a trailer of this size. Living in So-Cal where it can get very hot in the desserts and mountains, I'll look in the direction of a window shaker. I have to believe I can mount a window shaker in the tongue box as easily as a pet cool. I will have plenty of room under the sofa to create some sort of ducting that redirects the ingress and egress air to my original placement for the pet-cool vents. Have any forum members discovered a particular unit/brand that is more conducive to significant modifications? Thanks............