A light weight tent design

[StandUpGuy]

I conceived of a fold down tent design that was stand up able and very light weight. I started with the Harbor Freight mini 4'x4' trailer and extended the bed and tongue. After going through all the details of the design, I marveled at my unique creation. Later I looked online to check if this had not been done before and found that I had created something that has been done as a production item already. Anyway here is my concept.


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[StandUpGuy]

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[StandUpGuy]

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[StandUpGuy]

My car is a compact so a light weight trailer is the way to go.


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[GuitarPhotog]

This looks exactly like a "Kangaroo" trailer, made in Australia that I saw in BC in the summer of '08. I don't know who sells/distributes them. The owners were from Calgary and had bought the trailer used.

I think it's a good idea, but as you have it designed, there's no storage space in the trailer, all your gear has to travel in the tow vehicle.

<Chas>

[Treeview]

Check these:

http://www.kamparoo.com/

I have one and its a nice design

Tom

[StandUpGuy]

This looks exactly like a "Kangaroo" trailer, made in Australia that I saw in BC in the summer of '08. I don't know who sells/distributes them. The owners were from Calgary and had bought the trailer used.

I think it's a good idea, but as you have it designed, there's no storage space in the trailer, all your gear has to travel in the tow vehicle.

<Chas>

Well yeah that is the idea. Sure I could make the trailer bigger and heavier but I would tow with a compact. Plus my plan would be to have this "box" easily slid off my utility trailer. I was allowing for a slide out area under the sleeping platform for a folding table. That would be the only thing I would bring that was too big for the car trunk.

[StandUpGuy]

Check these:

http://www.kamparoo.com/

I have one and its a nice design

Tom

Yes after I worked this design out I searched for what might have been already produced and this is one of the ones I found. There are a few of this type made.

[working on it]

I conceived of a fold down tent design that was stand up able and very light weight. I started with the Harbor Freight mini 4'x4' trailer and extended the bed and tongue. After going through all the details of the design, I marveled at my unique creation. Later I looked online to check if this had not been done before and found that I had created something that has been done as a production item already. Anyway here is my concept.


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I had a vaguely similar, prior to starting my trailer build 3 years ago, with "tenting off the ground" the prime reasoning behind it.

I had previously drawn up detailed plans for a combo cargo/camping trailer, before I decided on a TTT. After witnessing my wife's soggy condition after getting more water inside her tent than stayed outside it, I was going to build a 4'x8' platform on wheels for her, with extending/overlapping/folding 2'x8' sides to use as an elevated base for her tent. The folded sides would lay out flat with folding support legs (locking) at each corner. The laid out sides would make it an 8'x8' platform, above ground level, high and dry for her tent to rest on. Tie downs at strategic locations already bolted on. A cargo box, in front, would hold the tent and gear during travel. I carried the plans around in my computer bag for a coupla years before finally deciding that building a TTT would be what I really wanted. I threw the pages of scaled drawings away when I started on my TTT (detailed plans not being used here!). I used the little trailer (with major mods)as a basis for the "hardtop" tent I'm building....

Your design looks pretty good, with your fold-down structural members. Mine was just a platform for a store-bought tent. Maybe if you keep at it, you can come up with a unique, thus marketable (and hopefully made in the USA) design. Good work!

[StandUpGuy]

I had previously drawn up detailed plans for a combo cargo/camping trailer, before I decided on a TTT. After witnessing my wife's soggy condition after getting more water inside her tent than stayed outside it, I was going to build a 4'x8' platform on wheels for her, with extending/overlapping/folding 2'x8' sides to use as an elevated base for her tent. The folded sides would lay out flat with folding support legs (locking) at each corner. The laid out sides would make it an 8'x8' platform, above ground level, high and dry for her tent to rest on. Tie downs at strategic locations already bolted on. A cargo box, in front, would hold the tent and gear during travel. I carried the plans around in my computer bag for a coupla years before finally deciding that building a TTT would be what I really wanted. I threw the pages of scaled drawings away when I started on my TTT (detailed plans not being used here!). I used the little trailer (with major mods)as a basis for the "hardtop" tent I'm building....Your design looks pretty good, with your fold-down structural members. Mine was just a platform for a store-bought tent. Maybe if you keep at it, you can come up with a unique, thus marketable (and hopefully made in the USA) design. Good work!

Yeah its funny but that is what I was thinking. I did not want to post it here and was thinking about a patent. LOL. So I search for something produced similar and found that this was indeed not a unique idea. Well I guess it just shows it is a good idea if it is already produced. What is maybe unique of mine is how light and small and simple it is. I have3 already made the trailer extension of the HF 4x4 to extend it to 6' 2" in length with an extended tongue. With the platform bed it weighs just over 150 lbs. Its so light that when I am in a jam backing it up I can get out of the car and pick it up and move it. I am sure the box and tent would only add another 100 lbs. Super light. As it is now when I use my trailer to move a small dirt bike I cannot even feel the trailer behind my little car.

[Treeview]

Have you lofted the cut pattern for the tent? Dealing with fabric is a lot different than dealing with static materials like iron and wood. Getting the tensions right so that you don't have pools built into the tent or saggy sidewalls that pop and snap in the wind isn't easy.

Have fun with the design.

Tom

[StandUpGuy]

Have you lofted the cut pattern for the tent? Dealing with fabric is a lot different than dealing with static materials like iron and wood. Getting the tensions right so that you don't have pools built into the tent or saggy sidewalls that pop and snap in the wind isn't easy.

Have fun with the design.

Tom

I have done a bit of furniture upholstery and some clothing sewing. Its different but I think I can manage it.

[StandUpGuy]

The low design is ideal for adding a boat as well.


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[Plainsgirl]

I don't exactly do the army knife and a packet of matches thang but I HATE getting home with a billion grimy bits and pieces to deal with. I have camped for 35 years with a 3-man almost-stand-up-tent, a thick mat, a doona and pillow (NO sleeping bags for me!) a 6 x 6 plasic tarp, a box of food inc vegetables and a big polyethelene lidded tub with every other bit of cooking, washing and drawing gear in it. I can fit that stuff x 2 in any car boot.
I'm a girl who likes to travel light (doesn't exactly explain why I now own a 6' x 11' caravan chassis to be magically turned into a teardrop come mid January ) and I LOVE your design.

[KennethW]

Everyone like different things when camping. I see some disadvantages compared to a teardrop. With a tent you can't overnight in a parking lot(roadtrip or DUI preventer). A tent almost always is damp in the morning and may have to be dried out when you get home. With a teardrop you have a instant galley for a quick stop hot food picnic. A 1/4 outside skin skeleton wall teardrop would only weight a little more. Just my thoughts!!