Five person, XL teardrop planning stage

[Wyo George]

Greetings,

I'm working on the planning stage of a teardrop style trailer to build when I finish a few other projects, hopefully I'll get to finally start on it this coming winter. The design goal is minimalist while still being comfortable enough for my family of five. We currently camp in tents and love it, but something a little more substantial would be nice to minimize setup and takedown time for weekend or overnight trips. Since it's still a work in progress I'll go ahead and post some pics of my rough drafts up to this point along with descriptions of ideas to come.





You can see three bunks in front with a queen behind the door. The middle bunk will easily fold down and the bottom bunk raise to make a bench seat. That, along with a folding table that will store under the bottom bunk, will allow us a booth for eating indoors when the weather refuses to cooperate. There will also be a curtain rail on the ceiling that will allow a shower curtain for the porta potty across from the access door. This will be for those middle of the night pee trips that cannot seem to be avoided for my wife and daughters.

The rear will have a small built in sink and plenty of storage along with either a small fridge or just room for ice chests. I'm still working on the rear details along with many others. The bunks are a tad tight, but my children are small (twin girls age 7 and a boy that's 4) and these bunks are larger than the cots they currently use, by a lot! The queen bed will have storage underneath and probably a slide out tray that goes out the side of the camper much like many pop-ups have.

Well, that's all I have for now. Thanks for any comments, concerns, criticisms, ideas, etc on this ongoing project.

G

[pjo129]

Looks great. I'm in about the same stage on one very similarly designed. Except for just one bunk for my 5yo daughter. My 3-4 sons (depending on how many go with us) tent camp next to us. Two of them are Eagle Scouts and think dad's wimpy for using a camper.
Good luck. I'll be watching your progress.

[KCStudly]

Looks like your plan is off to a great start.

Is the lower bunk shown in the raised or lowered position? You could get more headroom in each bunk if the lowest one was at floor level in sleeping mode (young knees won't care).

Kind of obvious, but just saying, figure out your weight balance and where your fender will be before finalizing the side storage drawer location.

[Wyo George]

Looks like your plan is off to a great start.

Is the lower bunk shown in the raised or lowered position? You could get more headroom in each bunk if the lowest one was at floor level in sleeping mode (young knees won't care).

Kind of obvious, but just saying, figure out your weight balance and where your fender will be before finalizing the side storage drawer location.

The bottom bunk in the pic is in the lowered position. I could change it and drop it down for sleeping and up for travel (table will store under it, but the table can sit outside at night if needed. Still, things will probably change a few times between now and completion. Thanks for the suggestion.

On the slide out drawer, good point! My plan is to do it last since I'm not 100% set on doing it at all.

[S. Heisley]

Idea: Put folding legs on the lower bunk. That way, you can have it at floor level for sleeping and raise it up for a bench. This will give you the extra bunk space that KC mentioned while still giving you the bench that you wanted. Also, because the top bunk is farther out than the middle bunk (due to the cabin's curve), the child in the top bunk will need either a cloth/rope ladder or a small step-up/down built on the wall by the door. Knowing this ahead of time will allow you to build in the inner wall strength support that you may need to attach that little step. Hand hold holes in the bunk frame and/or a hand strap near the top may also help.

[KCStudly]

... or a 2 or 3 rung ladder (of sorts) that is hinged to the wall that can be swung to the bunks for egress, or swung to the wall for room for the table setup. A barrel latch on the swinging leg of the ladder could be used to latch it securely in either position. Another thing to consider is some sort of safety rail or netting to keep the kid in the upper bunk from rolling out. In commercial RV's they seem to do this by closing most of the bunk in, more like a cell that is only open from about chest height to pillow, but in a smaller camper that is too enclosed for my taste.

[Wyo George]

Thanks for the input everyone, I'll add to the list of ideas I have rolling around in my hat rack

I'm not too worried about the younguns falling out of the bunks, they sleep in bunk beds every night and there will be a small railing to prevent rolling off, just as on the bunk beds. There are many details that aren't on the drawing simply out of laziness on my part, but please know that I appreciate the input and look forward to hearing any and all ideas given

[rogersmomma3]

I have been dreaming of this exact thing, but couldn't really figure out the configuration. I can't wait to see what you end up with! It looks amazing so far.

[fm-usa]

Thanks for the input everyone, I'll add to the list of ideas I have rolling around in my hat rack
I'm not too worried about the younguns falling out of the bunks, they sleep in bunk beds every night and there will be a small railing to prevent rolling off, just as on the bunk beds. There are many details that aren't on the drawing simply out of laziness on my part, but please know that I appreciate the input and look forward to hearing any and all ideas given

Railings = weight and storage problems.
Thought about netting?

.

[fm-usa]

.
Wyo George:
Maybe put one bunk under the shelf (over the big bed) as a pull out.
And as kids will be kids, possible one can sleep in a cubby under the main bed.

Minus the top bunk lowers headroom, several advantages pulling it.
.

teardrop.png (220.53 KiB) Viewed 10712 times

[Jim53066]

Wyo,
That is very similar to what I have been thinking of putting together. The one I envision would be virtually identical with the exception of the bunks. Mine would be for just my wife and I so I was thinking of a couple sitting chairs and a small table, or possibly a jackknife couch where your bunks are located just to get in out of bad weather.

Please post your progress, I am interested in weight more than anything else, I would be pulling it with a 52 Chevy wagon with a 6 cylinder motor so I have to keep the weight down. It is extremely hard to get a projected weight on an idea.

Jim

[es009d7705]

why not it looks fine but I would think about making the queen into 2 benches with a table top to convert it into a bed again if you know what I mean. Good luck with the build , Evan.

[rowerwet]

Build a foamie, weight becomes irrelevant.

[OP827]

If you move your back galley inside in between the beds across the door, then you will have more space inside and no large hatch to build in the back, it will be lighter and simplier to build, I think. Just a thought..