New design to begin build in January.

[Lance]

This is my deisgn that I have come up with that has everything that my wife and I need. I'm new to teardrops but not new to designing and cad. been through about 10 or more profiles and this one is the one I'm going with. Its 6' wide 10' long with an interior height of 5'. Personaly I would have went with the standard 4' but my wife wanted more height due to the fact she doesn't like to be too confined. Also i have incorporated a flat galley hatch to make construction a little easier and and still get the teardrop style. Hopefully will have some renderings up by end of the week.


Lance Benoit
South East Louisiana

[mikeschn]

Lance,

We are waiting for additional detail... When you do your renderings, will you do some interior shots and some galley shots too!

Thanks,

Mike...

[Lance]

Yeah I was planning on doing interior and galley renderings also some exterior . And later more detailed as the plans evolve. Still working out plan for galley

[aggie79]

The profile looks great. You may want to look at the height of the hinge point on the hatch. Looks like you need some headroom clearance to get up to the galley.

[Lance]

Actually currently at the back where the bumper would be it measures 6'. Lifting hatch door a little will eliminate the problem. I may look at moving hinge point up a little. I am also tossing around the idea of putting the AC above the hinge in a trolley car style scoop. like i have drawn below. Also my axle location will move once all my calculations are complete.

[Sam I am]

Very nice, Lance! I do have just one nit-picking suggestion: Where the curve meets the straight hatch, I think I would adjust the curve a little to make the hatch line tangent to it. This would eliminate the little "bump" at that point. Just my preference.
Sam

[Lance]

Thatsa good idea. Just never thought of that. Thats why I posted my idea so I can get help from the veterans.

[Lance]

Revised profile a little. Think I like the new profile more. took into account making the rear curve tangent to hatch:D

[Lance]

I think I may scrap this idea. The more I look at it the more it looks like a bubble. I think I may just go with a Benroy shape and just stretch it and change radius to fit my likeing. The more I look at the Benroys the more I like them. I'll just have to take my time doing the hatch to prvent springback. I may also get the hatch frame made from alluminum to avoid the chance of spring back.

[mikeschn]

Springback is not really the problem that some of the plans say... The trick is to have enough ribs, and to double up on the outside rib...



Mike...

[Juneaudave]

Lance...for what it is worth, I like the profile and really believe that personalization is part of the coolness of Tears. No two are alike. I would keep your drawings around...I'm thinking you just might come to it on number two if you don't build it right off the bat.

Another thought...That profile never struck me as looking like a bubble...I was thinking that it would look great behind somthing like a VW beetle if the scale was adjusted. At 5'5 and 10' long, it's pretty good size.

Just thinking out loud...Juneaudave

[TD Beej]

Lance,

I'll second Juneaudave's suggestion about adjusting the scale. Make it just big enough to do the job. The smaller it is, the lighter, more aerodynamic it, less material used and cheaper it can be. Looking at the drawing it looks like you have space between the bed and the common wall with the galley, and shaving some of the height doesn't seem like it would have a substantial impact. Besides making drawings is cheep.

I've been working on my own designs and just as an exercise reduced the size, giving up some of the features I had thought would be good and found that I could actually get them back in the smaller version and was freed to do things in different ways because the size had been reduced. I don't know if I will try to push the size down again, I doubt it I think I'm close to optimal on size for my families needs (real test happens when it is build, I suppose that explains some of the serial builder on this board).

Anyway, go wild, draw lots, experiment, adding details to the design will push your design forward and solve problems before you build.

Beej

[bobhenry]

It is truely amazing what 6" + / - does when using radii to form the profile.

Here was my very 1st thoughts 2 1/2 years ago with a little guidance from Andrew.

http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=180832&highlight=#180832

This very clean little trailer morphed into Chubby who I truely do love but I am still gonna build "little one" as a sleeper only and pull my mobile kitchen in tandum only when needed.

[Lance]

I'm sticking with my last profile. All except for the trolley car scoop for A/C. going to put ac either in bulkhead or through side wall with a small door with a sliding tray. Working out my galley layout and started doing some 3D this past weekend. As soon as I get something I'll put it up.

The size is the same except for the width is down to 5' wide. I'm sticking with the 10' length and 5' interior height. I'm thinking of doing my galley similar to bobhenry's.

[Lance]

Here's a quick rendering of the body of the tear without the trailer attached. Just threw a quick model together to show what I had in mind for the layout. at the foot of the bed I will put baskets to store clothes and things in.There will be slides on A/C so when not at camp it can slide in. Shown is the drivers side wall but the passenger sidew wall bill be the same.