Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

http://tnttt.com/VintagePlans/18'trailerscimech.pdf

we are going to use a boat trailer that i have laying around for our trailer
and that is the style that both the girlfriend and i like

i think for our first build that a foamie might be an easier build from what i am reading
also it should keep it light enough to pull with her outback if we decide to go that route

it will be a bit before there are any pics or much of a start as of right now the donor trailer is buried in the fresh snow we got today

so some basics of what i have to start its a shore lander bunk boat trailer
the oal is 18 feet long
the axle is 4.5 feet from the rear or 13.5 from the hitch ball
the axle is 7 feet from outside to outside
we are looking at building 14 foot long and 6 to 7 foot wide

what are the thoughts of a cook top inside a foamie

You might consider weighing your trailer and calculating the weight of all the materials and things that will be going into your build. You may be pushing the envelope for what your Outback can safely tow.

Cheers,

Gus

Looks very nice. I like the cabin layout.

From first hand experience, unless you have an H6 you will be pushing it unless you are ultra light weight in your build. We have the 3L 212HP and our tear is about 1600# I almost did not make it into one campground at altitude. I also had a problem with coming VERY close to over heating and had to turn off the AC many times last summer when climbing. I have the largest transmission cooler that would fit and run a 60 40 antifreeze mix (better for heat). I also run an Ultragage which tells me what the actual coolant temp is. We also smoked the car brakes, even with the trailer brakes coming down Tioga pass.
With brakes the tow capacity is 3000# and I feel that is really pushing it or you are on flat land.

weight is why we are going with a foam build
what is going to weight the most is the frame and the floor
2 inch foam panels weight next to nothing

most sites list the weight of the xps around .25lbs per cubic foot



as for pulling it her outback is just a back up i have an explorer that i have pulled over 5000 lbs with to many spots in wi

just to give you an approx weight: my 5x8 foamie shell weights 235ish. that includes foam, glues, paints/primers, queen memory foam mattress, and the wood floor, spars, galley.

Consider this .... Foam weighs ~ 2 lb./ cu. ft. Pine weighs ~ 30 lb./ cu. ft. Plywood weighs ~ 57 lb. /cu. ft. ... Foam is the LIGHTEST part of the trailer , so you can use a LOT of it without any weight penalty ... (Twice as thick is 8 times as Strong ! ) No reason you couldn’t build a Larger trailer by just using proportionally thicker foam ... If you did that with wood , it would be a Heavy beast ... By using as much foam as possible instead of wood or ply , it will be a Feather ... naturally all foam structures, inside and out, should be skinned for maximum strength .... preferably with a good fabric covering for less weight ...

Ex. My 13’+ FoamStream will use 3.5” thick foam ... will be Plenty strong (once skinned) and well insulated ...

JM , further studying the plans for the 18” Roamabout trailer , I’m guesstimating a cabin weight of ~ 500-600lb. That’s if it’s built Light with mostly foam and considering Appliance/furniture weights which should also be proportionally “light weight” .. Add that to the trailer weight , and your movable gear and you’ll know what you have to pull ....
One other consideration is the physical size of the trailer ... it will , being LARGE, present more “frontal area” to the wind , so mileage may drop a bit from Drag .... best keep the outside clean (aerodynamically) to help that situation a bit ...
Really Great thing is , if you follow the plans exactly (substituting foam for wood ) , It should come out “Looking" like the original vintage trailer , and they even describe a pretty cool retro paint job .... all that’s pretty Cool to we Old Timers !!!

aero wise we might not make it a full standie we might just do a drop floor in part by the galley area just depends upon how it matches up with the trailer

and we might round it up a little more and try and keep the inside of the cabin right around 6 foot wide this should keep the cabin between the wheels if not then i will go just wide enough to have the wheels even with the outside wall

our donor trailer



today the girlfriend and i will probably sit down with some graph paper tweak the layout of the inside to our liking
keeping in light we were going to ditch the upper cabinets
the more we thought about it for the galley we are thinking about just doing a spot in the counter that is recessed just a bit to hold a 2 burner camp stove

now the snow just needs to go away then i need a bit of steel to do a little rework on the trailer and a bunch of foam
we are saving up big cardboard boxes that we can tape together and make templates so we can make sure we get the lines we want on the camper

we have decided for the walls we will double up 1 in foam so there is no real seams in the foam

Actually seams are no problem , you can have as many as you want .... the foam is only the filler between the skins ... seams don’t show ...