Jeremy from Janesville, WI Build Journal

[bobhenry]

DO WHAT !

Man you guys make it so difficult. Reinforce the tongue with a 2 foot extension and shove the 10 foot body two feet forward.



Wheels are now essentially moved rearward. If I had to guess you will find 60% of the body forward of the axle and 40% to the rear.
That is the body only not the entire trailer.

[bobhenry]

Here is my extension on the harbor freight style tongue, it is very similar to yours !

[5speedsoffury]

DO WHAT !

Man you guys make it so difficult. Reinforce the tongue with a 2 foot extension and shove the 10 foot body two feet forward.



Wheels are now essentially moved rearward. If I had to guess you will find 60% of the body forward of the axle and 40% to the rear.
That is the body only not the entire trailer.

Bob,

I appreciate your suggestion. Here is my issue with that... I want to put a bike rack or storage area up front and that will be the 2 or so feet that is usable now. I do have to admit I had not stated this on this build page so far but it is very necessary since I have more money wrapped up in bikes than a guy should really admit and I want a place to store them along with a few other items. The bikes are fairly light 40lbs or so plus whatever I use for holding them in place. I wish I could keep this frame build as straight forward as yours and others but the bike storage area is a must and one of many reasons I am building a custom teardrop camper.

Jeremy

[bobhenry]

So just extend the 2x2 all the way to the rear and jab in a bike rack or cargo platform.





I have a rear receiver on the teardrop also ! ( but alas no picture I can find )

[5speedsoffury]

So just extend the 2x2 all the way to the rear and jab in a bike rack or cargo platform.

I have a rear receiver on the teardrop also ! ( but alas no picture I can find )

Bob,

After much debate I will do the tongue extension idea rather than hacking at the frame.

More plans and discussion later

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

I have redrawn the the Sketchup I have of my design quite a bit. I am leaning towards a stick built sandwich wall style build with a canvas exterior. I am curious about fiberglass but am not sure about that and canvas seems to be the more economical coating for the exterior.

I of course need to sketch the framing for the rear hatch and add in some cross supports for the rear hatch gate. That will come after I post this... oh joy cabinets

The wife keeps saying leave room for a kid bunk. OH Boy


Some dimensions
outside floor length 9' 3 3/8"
outside floor width (no siding) 5' 8.5"
Top of Trailer Frame to top of Fantastic Fan lid 5' 3"

Please chime in with your thoughts and encouragement! I appreciate it all!

Jeremy

teardrop side view of frame.png (149.14 KiB) Viewed 3159 times

[KCStudly]

Is the side door header high enough? It looks low.

I am assuming that you plan the outer skin to extend down and attach to the outside edge of the floor frame, and by the fact that you have no sill in the galley, that you don't plan on having an inner skin there, otherwise you should extend the sill back so that the inner galley skin and any sliders have something at the base of the wall to attach to.

Good thing to plan out the details before you start building.

[5speedsoffury]

Is the side door header high enough? It looks low.

It measures out to be 27.5 inches from the top of the mattress to the the bottom of the header. The door I plan is a 36" tall door.

I am running into a debate here on the idea of building a wider tear. If I have that extra little bit on the side of the mattress it almost makes it awkward to put a door in and know how high to install it in the door. I would like some input. Should I design the cabin only to have say a 60-61" inside width? does this make exit and entry of the teardrop easier? How high would you mount the door off of the interior floor? or mount it very close to flush only enough to leave room for the trim ring.

I am assuming that you plan the outer skin to extend down and attach to the outside edge of the floor frame, and by the fact that you have no sill in the galley, that you don't plan on having an inner skin there, otherwise you should extend the sill back so that the inner galley skin and any sliders have something at the base of the wall to attach to.

Yes the outer skin will attach to the edge of the floor frame. I just got finished up adding a sill in the galley and roughing in some cabinet and galley framing.

Good thing to plan out the details before you start building.

Indeed!

Jeremy

teardrop side view of frame edit1.png (52.62 KiB) Viewed 3143 times

[KCStudly]

I've read that the rule of thumb is to have the door sill be no higher than half the mattress thickness, otherwise it is uncomfortable to sit in the doorway due to the sill digging into the backs of your legs.

I plan to start out with a 4 inch mattress and add 1 inch exercise foam tiles underneath if that is not enough. From there I just have a 2x2 sill and the seal flange (about 5/8 inch more plus the trim seal itself).

My doorway is 40-3/4 inches tall minus the seal flange and I have clobbered my head on the header a few times already when reaching in for something, forgetting, and standing back up w/o backing out of the door. Granted the cabin is sitting a few inches lower than it will be when it is eventually joined to the trailer, but 27.5 seems really restrictive to me. Just saying.

[noseoil]

My wife & I are both about 5' 7" tall. My lower door edge is about 4" above the deck, mattress will be at 8" above the deck. Our door is a factory made 26" x 32" and will work since we are both fairly short. If we were taller, a 36" tall door would be a better choice. The last thing you want is to sit & the doorway with the back of your legs being creased by the trim ring & door frame edge. The second to the last thing is to hit your head each & every time you sit down to go to bed.

Just sayin' to take a look at this now while you're in the planning stages. Once it's built, you have to live with it. Do as much design planning as you can, then do a cardboard mock-up of a wall panel for a side view to see how it all works, then do the build. The time you spend planning is more important than the time you spend building....

[5speedsoffury]

I get what you have to say their with the door height. I took that into consideration. I moved the bottom of the door up to 6.5" above the door. I though oh boy how could I make that sort of comfortable to get out of and KC popped into my head about the foam. I sketched up a foam spacer shim block of sorts and that could be used as a buffer to get in and out. And could be used as a midnight move over prodding tool as well Plus I can just move them out of the way when making the bed.

Ps the box in the back is the profile of and Indel B 50 qt one of the pricey items on my dream build list! Along with a Casper mattress and a Fantastic fan. oh boy I may just live in this when i get done!

Jeremy

teardrop side view of frame edit2.png (58.89 KiB) Viewed 3076 times

[KCStudly]

Look into the specific draw glides that you will use for your cooler/fridge. I found that the ones I picked needed to have blocking a little higher up than the sill in order to be sure that the mounting screws will have something to screw into; so I ended up with a 1x2 cap over the 2x2 sill in the galley area.

[5speedsoffury]

Look into the specific draw glides that you will use for your cooler/fridge. I found that the ones I picked needed to have blocking a little higher up than the sill in order to be sure that the mounting screws will have something to screw into; so I ended up with a 1x2 cap over the 2x2 sill in the galley area.

Thanks KC I'll keep that in mind. Of course the final details can wait as I am sure all kinds of details will be worked in.

What do you think of the door entry? Sitting school boy poper I am 37" tall. I gave not seen prediction doors taller than 36" abd I am not to find if building my own even though I probably could.

[KCStudly]

My personal preference is for a big roomy door with the sill as low as practical, so they still look short to me. Plus it really hurts when you whack your head hard.

Other experiences may vary.

[5speedsoffury]

My personal preference is for a big roomy door with the sill as low as practical, so they still look short to me. Plus it really hurts when you whack your head hard.

Other experiences may vary.

Point taken. Maybe I could get the door build going simultaneously with the rest of the build That way I can take a break and switch back and forth. I admit I am not a fan of a short for either. Hmm ply or poplar for for frame. Any suggestions? Composite? Fiberglass?

Jeremy