by TinKicker » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:00 pm
Ah, here I go overthinking again. Or am I just looking at things from an unexposed angle? We'll see...
I'm in Wimperdink's predicament: I'm torn between two dimensions-4' or 5'? Yes, the polls are leaning me toward a 5', but now for that unexposed angle...
We're all suffering from the fuel prices, so that's one of the many criteria foremost in my mind as I sit in front of my Sketchup-equipped computer designing my "Path to Freedom" (say that in a booming announcer-type voice) teardrop trailer. Revolving around that angle, think on this...
If you look at floorplan square footage, with a 4'x8' you have 32' square, right? If you have a 5'x8', then you bump up to 40'. So simple, so mouth-watering. All the possibilities of eight more squares of storage, luxury, whatever!
Frontal area affects fuel mileage, and if you live in the real world of an American blue-collar worker like I do, then you gotta' think about that. Obviously, 4' wide is better than 5' because of that fact, yet it just isn't that simple, is it? We want the SPACE for sleeping!
So we have to face yet another tradeoff in our search for wilderness nirvana...tears at the pump (no pun intended) or muscle aches in the morning. Flip that coin, buddy.
I'm prior military, so compared to the foxhole I once warmed in the forests of Fort Ben Harrison, Indiana back during a 17 degree December night in 1988, cuddled up to my best friend of 18 years in a 4 footer is pure heaven. Easy choice for me.
But then there's her. My sweetie, my love. Prior military? Heh-heh. The closest she ever got was watching John Wayne war movies with her dad (God rest his soul). Heck, she found a sweet 31' gooseneck job the other night I thought she'd fall to pieces over. That parked in a Wal-Mart parking lot is roughing it for her. HA!
I'm thinking we'll mock up the cardboard rig so she can look at it herself, because I haven't burdened her with all these choices yet, and I don't want to open the door to my perfect vision of a tear to let her in, only to hear her say, "Okay, here's the suitcase, where's the camper?"
Long story short (is that even possible now?), comfort will probably trump mileage for me. We'll just compromise elsewhere. But there are folks out there for whom mileage will be more important...so you have to think about all I've just said.
One alternative for folks wanting a narrow trailer is to simply extend it. Go 10' or 12'. Put those barn door ends at the rear with drawers in them. Live large. Where I'm hung on that is my driveway, because I want a really LOW trailer (again, because of air resistance). I've got to do some major modelling/calculating to figure out if downhill/uphill drive is too acute at the bottom. In other words, will a long trailer drag?
Thanks for hearing me out guys. I hope I haven't burned you out. Just trying to cover it ALL.
Kelsey
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Go ahead and get your project started because it's just like having kids...if you wait to start until you're skilled enough or rich enough, you'll never do it. And just look at what you'd miss!
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In planning any project you've never attempted before, always allow for the three three's: It will take you three times longer, three times more material, and three times more money than you thought.