Howdy from across the pond

[mallymal]

New to this forum - what an amazing collection of advice, stunning design & excellent craftsmanship.

Currently have a folding camper, which is well past its sell by date - sagging bed boards, creaky poles, faded canvas... but underneath lies a beautiful galvanised chassis, with inertia brakes, corner jacks, jockey wheel etc, which i think would be the perfect start for a teardrop.

Couple of questions.... in the UK we tend to tow narrower units than you guys, but I still want a queen size bed. Anyone ever done a design with a double floor - so the body could be as wide as the wheelbase, and the "floor" for the bed to sit on would sit on top of the wheel arches? This would give a fantastic load area between the 2 floors for windbreaks, folding chairs, gazebo, etc.

Also, I fancy an aluminium skin. Has anyone had problems with this fading or ageing - do you lacquer it, or leave it natural?

thanks

Big Mal

Also

[BillandMarijo]

Big Mal,
Dont clear coat the aluminum. Leave it natural. Cause you have to clean it again in a year or so. Almost made that mistake but was warned before I did it by the good people on this forum. Save me alot of work. Make your Tear at least 5 foot wide for a queen mattress. You can build over and around your wheel base. Ive seen photos of this on this forum.
Good luck on your build,
Bill

[Lgboro]

Welcome to the forum!!

Many builders on the forum have storage built into the floors of their teardrops. You might want to cruise the Hall of Fame in the link above for ideas. Also, you will find many good build pictures in the Personal Album section of forum members. Don't rush the planning process and you will build a tear that more closely suits your needs. Hope your build goes well and your are able to get started soon.

[zelix]

Welcome to the forum. The people here are really friendly and helpful....

Good luck with your build!

[Miriam C.]

to the playground Mal. You can raise the bed over the wheels. You can do this with thick foam---your feet won't know it is thinner there---or you can build a raised bed. I have a raised bed and love the storage.

For comfort you might build the TD taller than 4 feet, depending on your height and how close you like the ceiling.

[Mini Renegade]

Hey big mal, welcome to the forum, I see your on the wrong side of the hills Take your time and search through the font of knowledge that is this site, the people are friendly an will help you out when they can.

There is an increasing number of us in the UK now, look up on tearjerkers for a UK chapter, possible get together next year link below.

[angib]

Anyone ever done a design with a double floor - so the body could be as wide as the wheelbase, and the "floor" for the bed to sit on would sit on top of the wheel arches? This would give a fantastic load area between the 2 floors for windbreaks, folding chairs, gazebo, etc.

Welcome, mal - also from t'other side of the Pennines.

It's quite hard to look back over the forum ('cos there's so much to read), unless it's a very specific subject you can use the search function for. My memory of what I've read here on double floor trailers is that those who have them often say they don't use them for regularly-used stuff because the access is poor - having to fit up the mattress/bedding, and so on.

Hopefully some of those with double floors will chip in with their experiences.

Andrew