Davkrat's Huntin' Shack (planninng stage)

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Davkrat's Huntin' Shack (planninng stage)

Postby davkrat » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:59 pm

I have made several posts in various forums here and figured I may as well consolidate and start a build journal. I have not yet started my build but am well into the planning stages. I finally figured out Google SketchUp and have been doing tons of drawing/mock building. I want to build an offroad worthy trailer to tow behind my Jeep CJ7 or the wife’s Nissan Xterra. I plan to use the same tire&wheel combo as my Jeep. My brother and I are both 6'2" and over 250 lbs. We would be REAL friendly in anything smaller than a 5’X10’. For hunting and winter steelhead trips a teardrop will be a lifesaver for us. The frame will be made of 2”X2”X1/8” square tubing with a 2”X3” tongue and angle iron braces. Leaf springs and a 3500 lbs. axle:

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The profile I guess would be considered a Benroy? I plan to do a 24” radius up front and a 30”X48” ellipse on the back. I plan on a fairly simple galley able to carry a cooler and 7 gal. water jug with cabinet storage for canned/dry food and cooking utensils. I am thinking of making the lower partition between the galley/cabin removable so I can use the trailer as a utility trailer to pick up lumber and plywood in the future. I also drew in a second partition thinking I could possibly make a secret hiding place:

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For the walls I am now planning on using ¾” framing and ¼” skins on the exterior and interior. The floor will be a identical sandwich of ¼”ply and ¾” framing. The exterior wall ply will overhang the floor forming a rabbet and sit on top of the steel chassis. This picture shows a much heavier frame I originally planned on but it seems that won't be necessary, especially with a heavy steel chassis underneath:

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The door is going to be 30” wide by 36” tall with a 12” radius in the upper aft corner. I will include some horizontal bracing to mount the cabinets to. I positioned the vertical "studs" so that they frame in the door and sit on top of the chassis/floor crossmembers. I'm hoping to oversize the framing pieces along the roofline of the tear and then use a flush trim bit to match it up with the profile. I don't know how to do that in Sketchup so I omitted those pieces:

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First thing is to pick up some steel and start welding up the frame. I can’t wait to start building. I work for the State of California so I now get 3 3day weekends a month which should give me time to build, unfortunately I also lose $650 a month which severely impacts the bank account. It’s like I’m in college all over again, I have the time but not the funds! Hopefully I’ll soon be filling these pages with progress photos. This forum has been a tremendous help, I already feel way ahead of the game.
davkrat
Teardrop Inspector
 
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Re: Davkrat's Huntin' Shack (planninng stage)

Postby wlivesey » Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:44 am

It looks like you're got a good plan there. Keep those pictures coming! The frame and axle setup you mentioned will be super strong for a tear. :thumbsup:

Do you have any plans for an AC or any other creature comforts?
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wlivesey
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