Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi, newbi here! Great site and lots of interesting info!

I'm a big caravan user, but I have a sneaky plan for some quiet time away from the family, I want to build a de-mountable camper pod based on a teardrop design that fits on a 2004 Nissan navara 4x4 5 seater pick-up truck!

Most demountables are horrible big boxes that flab out over the sides of the host vehicle and are totally ugly and un streamlined

I want to sacrifice comfort and space for a beautiful looking sleek teardrop design. Demounting will be for storage, when travelling and camping the pod stays on the truck.

I've been fiddling around with autocad 2008 and I can't get the design quite right, the typical teardrop shape almost works with a cut away for the cab back and roof, the rear curve extending beyond the tailgate of the truck and then cutting back. I was thinking of putting a bed over the cab, and trying to get some head room in the rear section, with a section at the rear roof that opens out with steps built in like on an aircraft.

anyone know where you can download autocad "blocks2 showing actual trucks?

Anyone ever seen a project like this on the net?

Comments welcome!

Are we talking about the one with 4 doors and about a 4 foot bed? I could try to do some down and dirty photoshop and give you an idea, if thats the truck you are talking about. If not, post a SIDE view of your truck and I could do it that way.

Thanks! That would be a great start to my project!



I thought of having a bed above the cab roof, and sitting room with kitchen where the bed of the truck is. I'm pretty agile so a door and steps or ladder anywhere would work.

asthetically I wondered if keeping within the bed of the truck would look better than removing or lowering the tailgate.

Hey mcnab,

Welcome to the forum. If you would go up and post in the Newbie section, you will get alot more people saying hello to you.

But however you want to go, hope you enjoy yourself here, ask lots of questions and post lots of pictures.

And I will be seeing you around.

Mcnab:

<img align="left" src="http://www.redtrailers.com/images/BinocularMan.gif">Welcome to the forum.



Take a look here for a post of building a Cabover Camper Shell
that might stimulate some ideas for you?
.
.

Thanks guys! I'm blown away by the community spirit you have going on here! I should have posted in the newbie section before getting straight down to it here!

Those cabover links hit the spot! I have a very well equipped woodworking workshop, and those wood sections are easy for me to construct.

I also have a lot of space age thin multi foil insulation to use in my build.

I have autocad 2008 and what I love is the fact you draw at a 1:1 scale but zoom in or out to make the design fit the screen..... could you make full size drawings by printing off one a4 page at a time and joining them together i wonder?

mcnab:

I am pleased that you can get some use out of the links I shared with you.

You asked wrote:I have autocad 2008 and what I love is the fact you draw at a 1:1 scale but zoom in or out to make the design fit the screen..... could you make full size drawings by printing off one a4 page at a time and joining them together i wonder?

I personaly don't have cad type experiance ... However you have Andrew
(angib) on your side of the pond~ He has more than enough experiance
in all things design and may be of help with your questions.
You might PM "angib" and ask his opinion and for suggestions?

We would hope you would post some pictures and your process of your build in the

Non-traditional Designs section of the forum?

Here's a couple of truck-teardrop designs I had lying around. The first is a bit of a fake as in the centre it's a square, but the 'wings' each side would make it look like a teardrop:



And the eagle-eyed will notice that this is a Scotty 12ft modified to fit on a truck (I presume someone asked me for it, but I don't remember):



Both are medium/large US trucks but would scale to a Navara (a Frontier in the US, right?).

mcnab, where are you in the North? I'm in Newcastle and there's one teardrop builder nearby, plus another in York (I think).

Andrew

Thank You ... Andrew.... for your input here ~

As always you come in shooting with your creative expressions.

Like the cavalry in a Wild Western movie you ride in as
John Wayne; with the same authority.

Your truly an asset for good ideas and an ambassador
for the power of thoughtful visualize design.

Large or small requests from many never seem to be a bother for you.
You are appreciated ~ for your concepts that help many people see others
impressions, formulations and desires, that you share with the best intentions.

This is a screen capture of one shape that appeals to me, what do you guys think?




I'm near Harrogate Andrew thanks for your input, I don't want boxy looks although I'm drawn by aggresive almost military stealth shapes, but I do like teardrops.

Looking good.

The thing you've got to work out with a teardrop on a truck is how you're going to arrange the entrance door. It's easy on a teardrop, 'cos it's on the flat side but in a truck, you've got set it into the curved back.

You can have a hinge-up hatch like the galley hatch on a teardrop, but then you either weaken the structure by making it full-width (remember, a teardrop has a full-width bulkhead in front of the galley that holds it square) or you have to seal a curving hatch into a curving body, which ain't easy.

Your design, with the back curving in and down, is quite a bit easier as you could just set a partial-height vertical flat door into a recess in the back.

Andrew

hello mcnab, I recently read a Haynes manual from Halfords, didn`t buy it i just read it when the kids were picking bikes to send to santa, it has lots of info in that may be relevent to what your considering building, there was loads of suppliers listed for pre finished interior ply etc as well as manufacturers of fibreglass panels, may be able to contact them to help out, the book was Build your own Motor caravan, it has helped me out with suppliers etc.

Thanks Mini Renegade! I'm working just down the road from Halfords to orrow, I'll buy that book!

My ideas for entry, Andrew were either an aircraft type stair case folding out from the rear or the Safari approach, a removeable ladder up the side. See rough sketch.

Re sealing curved panels:I'd consider making quite a boxy rear door and have a second rebate which doesn't follow the curves, so is flat and easily sealed.

But I would actually like to have a storage compartment at the rear, for a rubber dinghy, so the side door is favourable and I should have the usual bylkhead, but possibly with the kichen shelves/area internally.

I'd like a star gazing window on top above the bed too!

I'm itching to cut out a template from some 10 x 5 plywood, but I still haven't fathomed 2 things.

Firstly; how to I get a good egg shape on paper, I have been using 3 arcs, front top and rear, is there a good formula I can use?

Secondly getting the shape laid out full scale will be a challenge, any tips?

I'm guessing I posted this in the wrong part of the forum, should I start a new thread or does the mod move this one?

I'm hoping to get my teardrop demountable pod made by next spring, I want to take it on a road trip to view the ww1 trenches on The Somme.

mcnab wrote:the Safari approach, a removeable ladder up the side. See rough sketch.

Sounds/looks wonderful, if slightly difficult to use. I'd be tempted to go for the full pirate's rope ladder!

Andrew