Super Cub Car

[vairman]

Here are some unfinnished drawings of my next tear, the Super Cub Car! It measures 7 feet wide, 6'4" inside height, and 13' 10" long and has a full bath and queen size bed that will make into a dinner table..






Greg

[angib]

Greg,

One thought: I guess this trailer may weigh as much as 3000lb, but if that is one continuous grey/black water tank, it's going to weigh quite a bit when full. What concerns me is when it's half-full, as the contents will slosh from one end to the other under braking and acceleration. I'm not sure if this will be a real problem, though I wonder if the hitch weight variation will be a nuisance, or even a danger.

But maybe it's a grey water tank at the front, followed by a separate black water tank at the back, in which case the sloshing effect is greatly reduced.

Wouldn't the side profile look 'lighter' if the front curve were continued down to the bottom rather than turning vertical at the floor - the Little Guy does this (I guess for production reasons) and it really spoils the shape to my eyes.

Andrew

[jimqpublic]

Nice CAD work.

That's close to one of the basic designs rattling around in my head. For my family I would put two bunks across the front and shoehorn the bathroom right opposite the door where headroom is greatest.

Depending on your height I think 75 or 76" of interior width should be enough- to me once you hit 5.5' wide it's important to try to keep the width to only what you need. Ideally you want nice rear vision using stock mirrors on the tow vehicle. Note that you can get good quality off-the-shelf innerspring mattresses in "RV" or "Short" sizes where it's 75" long.

The shower is under the roof curve and will not allow standing height. EDIT: If you have enough standing height over the shower then you have way more than you need at the high point. Since it doesn't have a seat you'll have to kneel. I suggest switching the design around a bit and putting the shower where the sink is. This puts the shower at the high point of the roof.

Toilet tank needs to be right under the toilet. The drain outlet needs to be right there too. I think an excellent alternative to a conventional black water tank is to use a Thetford Cassette toilet. By using the grey water tank as drawn it will cause all the problems Andrew pointed out and probably more. One consideration though is if the campground has full hookups, a dump station, or neither. With full hookups (sewer drain at each site) you only need a small tank. With a dump station you want a big tank but balance isn't that critical because you're only going a short distance at low speed. If you have to drive miles and miles through mountain passes the tank should be better located.

To acheive a low profile for reduced wind resistance I suggest having the shower pan in a dropped portion of the floor and using a sump pump to drain the water to your grey water tank. That way you don't have to depend on gravity flow and therefore mount the tank below the shower level. 12v marine sump pumps are quite reasonably priced and are designed to not clog up from bits of sand and the stray hair.

I believe that four of the main factors causing RV's in the USA to become big ugly boxes are: High labor costs (square takes less work than curved), bonded wall construction (much easier to build a planar rectangle than anything else), modern RV awnings (need a long, high wall to mount onto), and gravity flow holding tanks (Requires the shower and toilet to be above the tanks). What we end up with is a big rectangular box with the floor 2'+ off the ground. The only "style" is a bunch of ugly decals glued to the sidewall. Actually probably the biggest reason is people think price per cubic foot and not quality. Sort of like fast food.

[Ron Dickey]

once you get that heavy wouldn't one want a double axel?

Ron d.

[mikeschn]

Ron (and all)

Notice the T160 in this link... it's a single axle, and have a GVWR of 3690#. the next bigger size of course has double wheels.

http://www.shadowcruiser.com/funfinder/specs.html

Mike...

[jay]

it's a "stander-upper"!!!

[vairman]

Greg,

One thought: I guess this trailer may weigh as much as 3000lb, but if that is one continuous grey/black water tank, it's going to weigh quite a bit when full. What concerns me is when it's half-full, as the contents will slosh from one end to the other under braking and acceleration. I'm not sure if this will be a real problem, though I wonder if the hitch weight variation will be a nuisance, or even a danger.

But maybe it's a grey water tank at the front, followed by a separate black water tank at the back, in which case the sloshing effect is greatly reduced.

Wouldn't the side profile look 'lighter' if the front curve were continued down to the bottom rather than turning vertical at the floor - the Little Guy does this (I guess for production reasons) and it really spoils the shape to my eyes.

Andrew

I'm shooting for a dry weight of 1500lbs. I'll need to redo the frame and the black/grey tank is only 11"w x 5-8" deep x 4' long, Approx 23gal. about 185lbs full. there will also be a fresh water tank about 25gal. behind the wheels..

As far as the front curve goes, the dropped portion was an afterthough to hide the frame and pluming, I planning on redoing the profile once I get the layout set...

Greg

New Side profile

[Elumia]

Other design considerations:

Looks like you kitchen counter is very high and deep into the back. Possibly if you straightened the back up a bit you could save yourself some material and make it a bit more comfortable to cook back there. counter should be about 36" off the ground. As it looks now, the floor looks like a shin (knee?) banger and a back ache bending over to reach the counter.

Since you have water needs front and back, why not put the water tanks centered on the axle under the floor.

Edit: another way to keep weight down - I am working on restoring an old standy about the same size. it had 2x2 framing, no exterior sheeting just alum skin and 1/8 panel inside, fiberglass batt insulation. I am rebuilding similar except putting 1/4" on the inside vertical walls with foam insulation.

Mark