depatty wrote:After trying to live with the standup camper I built last year and not liking the weight, way it towed, and needing to replace the skin, I decided to tear it down and start over.
One of the design perimeters is that it tow behind the Ranger pickup without me having to extend the mirrors. I got to looking at the size of the frame (76" wide and 118" long) and if I go to the edges of the sides it will be too wide. Got to looking at the way it was built and to make it narrower will mean rebuilding the entire thing and I don't really want to do that. Between the existing wheel wells (haven't got the floor removed yet) I've got 52" which just happens to be the width of the futon I am planning on using for our bed. So I got to thinking why not use the entire frame but make the camper body 52" inside with a 12" (or slightly less) running board/seating area on each side below the door and add a raised wheel well and behind that to the rear of the frame a storage box on each side. Back of the box will be a good tail light mount.
Am going to try to add pictures below of the plans I have worked out so far. Hope this works...
This first one is a base/floor layout:
And a side view. Other side will be a mirror image of this one. The running boards will be thin plywood or aluminum plate on top of the frame. Still working on how I'm gonna build the floor.
View from the front. Will most likely have a tongue box with spare tire mounted on front wall, just below the point it starts curving.
And last a view from the back showing the lights.
Still got a lot to work out before I start on this but it seems to be fitting together pretty well.
So, what do y'all think? Should I try this or cut the frame and rebuild it to fit the camper width?
Alan Wood wrote:Looks pretty good to me. I do wonder if the wheels are a bit far forward for this plan. If you put heavy stuff in the rear outside storage area this will be even worse than a traditional teardrop about need the wheels moved back from center.
depatty wrote:Alan Wood wrote:Looks pretty good to me. I do wonder if the wheels are a bit far forward for this plan. If you put heavy stuff in the rear outside storage area this will be even worse than a traditional teardrop about need the wheels moved back from center.
True. Problem is, if I have to move the axle back it will mean having to rebuild the frame anyway. I have tentatively planned on storing stuff like camp shovel, chairs, and charcoal in the rear boxes. Was planning on putting the battery and charger in the tongue box to help a little with the balance. I can move the shelves for clothing and such that are at the back of the sleeping compartment to the front wall which will move a bit more weight forward. Will run the Trailer Balance Spreadsheet before I go any farther and see what tongue weight looks like.
Thanks for the input!
Steve_Cox wrote:Dave,
You're making me want to tear my new build apart and start over too. (maybe not) Now I'm worrying about how will it tow?, is it too wide?, and all that stuff. Looking forward to see what you do, sure enjoyed the last one.
depatty wrote:Alan,
I ran the rough numbers on Trailer Balance Spreadsheet and am coming up with a tongue weight/percentage around 100 to 120 pounds and 9 to 10%. That's with the tongue box with battery and charger and moving the compartment storage to the front. Which may allow me to build a drop floor, add a removable table and use the futon for seating against the galley wall. Which will add more weight in front of the axle and be a good thing other than for the tow vehicle. Gonna have to finish the teardown and make a bunch more measurements to be sure.
Am gonna make sure and keep the outside storage light. May trim the height of the boxes and wheel wells down 2 to 4 inches too, just to reduce the amount of stuff that can be crammed in there.
depatty wrote:Alan,
I'm doing a lot of guessing in coming up with those numbers and the shape of this critter doesn't exactly match the shape that the calculator was designed for. After I get the rest of the stuff off the frame I'll get the big feed store scales out and see if I can get an actual weight for the frame and axle as well as hitch weight and see what changes need to be made and go from there.
Alan Wood wrote:Hm I was taking another look at it and realized that as drawn the trailer end of the galley hatch is at 5'3" . You may want to extend the hatch forward several inches to get better clearance in the galley. Like has been done in some of the grashopper's.
coal_burner wrote:Good balance front to back is important, but to ensure good road manners, having the mass centered near the axle is also important. With large amounts of mass at either end, when the tow vehicle hits a bump in the road,the trailer tongue will begin to oscillate up and down. The rear suspension of large tow vehicles damps this down rather quickly, but a mid sized tow vehicle like yours may get uncomfortable.
I learned this towing about 1000LB of misc junk while helping a friend move. I strapped everything to the front and rear walls of my utility trailer to get an almost perfect 100 lbs of tongue weight. after every bump on the freeway, the nose of my 3000LB tow vehicle would bob up and down for about 30 seconds. I eventually pulled off of the freeway, dragged everything near the center of the trailer and strapped everything down as best i could. Still had 100 LBS tongue weight (a bathroom scale was one of the things in the trailer). It towed beautifully with no bouncing for the rest of the 50 mile trip.
I can't wait to see if this build moves along as quickly as your last one.
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