Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

OK I may never actually built it but I was wondering with my tow vehicles rating of 1500lb, is it possible to build a trailer with under 1000lb weight, so i could have 500lb for the gear?
To make it even harder it has to sleep 4 adults, prefer a double bed and bunk beds, have a 'toilet&shower area' toilet can be pot a potti and a bucket sort of shower, kitchen could be outdoors accessed by a hatch/doors, and be a standy at least in the middle so afoot well is ok.
And be built for under $2,000.00?

I know I do not ask for much!

I am thinking some type of flip out tent on a trailer or?????

Anything is possible ...

Okay I'm surprised anyone even replied. I suppose if you reach for the stars and get to the moon, you're doing pretty good.

When I started reading the OP my mind drifted to a modified version of the 5' high 2+2. When you added a porta potty and a shower, my mind shut down.

I suggest you investigate the bath house at the KOA where you want to stay. Ditch the porta potty and shower, and focus on getting a good night's sleep.

Mike...

I agree mike I am asking way to much.

No KOA here, bush campgrounds no water hookups, no showers and the odd outhouse.
I thought maybe and tent outhouse/shower but that was a no go with the boss.

I feel your pain. You might be able to do it if you make it just a basic bunk house, but everything else makes it highly unlikely.

Probably to heavy but here is my though. A 14' long and 82inches wide. It would be a clamshell design. 4' high near the front and 2' high at the back when closed. when open the back would be about 7' high. It would have material sides when open.

If I did an Aluminum trailer, 2" styrofoam with canvass walls and roof. A bed, a 'couch', 4' of cabinets, any reasonable guess as to if it could be built under 1000lb?

Load, the FoamStream is 13.5’ long and 79” wide , and only 850# ... on a handmade steel trailer that wasn’t That light ...

Remember , most foam is 2# /cu.ft. , plywood is 57#/cu.ft. You can calculate from there...

My little Aliner has a 12 foot box, it has two beds & small kitchen area that we never use as a kitchen. One bed becomes a sofa during the day & the other a dinette. For us, those just stay made up as beds. The porta-potty stores in a cubby under a dinette bench. I hung up closet rods so we can use shower curtains across each bed area "to preserve modesty" when we had 3 adults traveling cross country. There is no indoor shower. In such a tiny space, the humidity from a shower can be a problem & the smells from multiple people using one porta potty can be an issue. An outdoor privacy tent is great for daytime use. For midnight needs, an indoor porta potty is good to have. All you need is 4 sq/ft of floor space & a curtain you can pull around that area. Once you slide the porta potty back in its cubby & open the curtain, you've got your floor space back. My little 12' x 6.5' camper only has about 10 sq/ft of floor space to begin with. Reclaiming 4 sq/ft is precious.

Ask the boss to reconsider the idea of 4 adults in such a tiny space trying to all queue up for an undersized broom closet in a trailer so small. I got a roomy privacy tent because this girl would much prefer it. Even my camping wimp of a sister was willing to use the outdoor privy. We're all different though, with different needs so I'm not saying what works for us will work for all.

My Camp Capsule weighs less than 1,000 lbs and the floor plan could be changed to accommodate folding bunks, in place of the queen bed, and still retain the dinette (see the build thread in Foamies.) If you don't need a bathroom, bunks would be no problem longitudinally, and you would still retain space for your kitchen. The nice thing about building with foam is that you can design the floor plan that meets your needs and build a shell around it. Go for it!

Two thoughts to add: 1) don't forget that GPW's FoamStream is essentially an empty hall, no cabinets, no privy, no bed risers, only cargo netting, a small shelve for a galley and may or may not have included the slide out AC over the scale (GPW, any comments?)...

...and 2)

kudzu wrote:...my camping wimp of a sister was willing to use the outdoor privy.

What were her options?

Loaderman, what you got that weighs 500 pounds .... You bringing Cast Iron ???

KC, Right , basically empty Hall ( blimp Hanger/Submarine ) and weight is from calculations (NOT EXACT WEIGHT) .... The essential thing is, it tows like nothing is there... as big as it is , my 6 cyl Silverado (2001) feels Nothing .... even with the AC on ... On pavement I can move it by myself w/HF trailer dolly ) ... Since I can travel Light and don’t need a full blown kitchen with all the amenities , we WILL NOT be adding much weight to the trailer ... With many places to hang things from , we don’t need heavy cabinets ... Our supplies are already in plastic stackable crates that are stored inside the house and we can load up quickly ... A couple gym bags for my clothes and extras... Same for H.R H. That’s it ...
But of course we’ll likely only travel a couple hundred miles , stop somewhere in civilization ( with electricity) and probably won’t be staying long ( Average 3 days ) so don’t need to bring everything we own .

Ps. we do have a small porta potty ( still unused) and a Bucket for bathing ( no shower in the trailer ) ... a nice new bucket ... (doubt we’ll ever have to use that , but who knows ...it’s always an extra place for storage ... )

We’re Not Camping , we’re Escaping !!! BIG difference ... One FUN , one , not so much !!!


I must be the Only One here who has built for BUGOUT rather than Fun stuff ... and like Big Martha says, that’s a “Good Thing ! “ Better me than you , I know just what to do !!! Besides I don’t want to be trapped out on the highway going out of town with all of you at the same time ...... We’ve done that in the past , and it’s really NO FUN AT ALL !!!!!!!

BTW, The Mini Galley has TWO (2) shelves , a slide out wire basket of good size and room for a large cooler or two small coolers ... Ample for preparation of Coffee and toast , perhaps warm a sandwich in my small toaster oven ... It ain’t the Ritz !!!

Exactly, that was my point. When aiming for super light people have to realize that it needs to be basic and simple (thrifty is also a by product of that!). Don't expect the same (estimated) weight (... don't most people under estimate?) with a lot of bells and whistles (or cabinets and comfort features). That's all I'm trying to get at.

Ggggg (gee's, get it?) if I didn't think it would take me away from doing something useful on my build, I'd spend the time to get some corner weights with the bathroom scale and see where I'm at; but it wouldn't change how I am going about things at this point so it's not really something that is coming up as a priority at the moment.

KC, Our supposed Ultralight commercial trailer had so many comfort features we were afraid to use it ... Like a water heater (gas) right under the bed , a refrigerator known to start fires recently since Chinese have taken over manufacture ( The cure for which is a $1,000.00 Plus automatic fire extinguisher happily available from your RV dealer who will install it for another thousand ... (comforting yet? ) Then there was a noisy air conditioner that wouldn’t shut off , (manual shut off) Top that off with the most uncomfortable cushions , covered with a material that would stain and colors go runny with water spillage ... Add dry-fit windows ( sure to leak) and a “membrane roof" made of a thin vinyl tablecloth material over a piece of thin 3/32” ultra cheap plywood ... Front panels that weren’t attached to anything and quickly de-laminated ...
And the most comforting thing of all , The Trailer manufacturer when confronted about the damage , refused to do anything about and referred me to the dealer , who would be glad to fix everything for the price of a new trailer ... All that in a 4000lb package with a cargo capacity of 400 lbs ...which that was then at max GVW ... Me , the wife and the dog , naked , and we’d be overweight ... Towed like a parachute attached to a ton of bricks , and braking had to be planned well ahead of time (even adjusted) ...

Simple really is better eh !!!

Here is a commercial tent trailer that sleeps four but does not have a shower, porta potty or galley:

http://www.livinlite.com/6.0-overview.php

It is about as light as you could get for a "non-foamy" design and is more minimal than a pop-up with a hardtop. It has an aluminum trailer frame, aluminum floor, aluminum tubing and aluminum and composite short walls. The rest of the top and sides is a tent. And...it still weighs in at around 650# empty.