how about a 7 wide teardrop for slow?

[nevadatear]

ours is @ 5 x 10. A queen size bed just fits in our cabin, we made the cabin to fit the bed. We have cabinets at the head floor to ceiling, and cabinets over the feet, nice big, deep ones. There is about 18" from the cabinets to the door. Plenty of room. My husband is claustraphobic and is not at all in our tear. It feels very roomy. We can sit on the bed and our heads are about 6" from the ceiling. The tear is @ 5 foot tall from the ground, and we can easily sit in the doorway on the bed. For us this is perfect size. Lots of storage room in both the cabin and galley. In a seven wide you can put the bed crosswise and have space for other storage. I wouldn't like 7 wide, but its not my trailer, its yours, so you get to decide. check our build thread to see pics of the cabin.

[nevadatear]

It is about 5 feet from the ground. And it is as high as a standard sheet of plywood. We used the entire width at the highest point, but did not add any except to the length.

[mezmo]

Hi slow/Mike,

If you aren't hung up on an all curved TD shape, consider this:

Check out forum member Maloney/Shane 's build. [He's from
Australia.] It's a just right sized larger TD I think. Its dimensions
are close to what you are discussing.

"My Mobile Man Cave"

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=47214

Also, two doors are just plain handy. And a porta-potti would
be very useful, especially for the ladies and anyone who's getting
further on in their years [which includes everyone].

A small modification that would allow that, would be to build a
swing-out galley that'd swing out to be inline with the 'passenger
side'. The porta-potti would be housed in a cabinet positioned on
the driver's side under the counter level of the swing-out galley in
its travel position. Privacy curtains could be attached to the lift
up hatch and extend from the end of the driver's side TD body
and the end of the swing-out galley. This area would function as
a porta-potti enclosure and a privacy area for dressing/changing
clothes etc..

Here's a fast Paint drawn floorplan of it:



[Click on it to see an enlarged view of it.]

Run it past Angie and see what she thinks.

Just something to consider.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[DragonFire]

http://www.outbackteardrop.com/grasshopper2.html

Build a Grasshopper. There is plenty of room to breathe...no curves, so easier to build. Check out the Sunhopper build thread and check out Sunspots also. You may end up with a big Sunhopper. But my Grasshopper has more room to breathe inside than any other tear I've seen. The bed folds up to give you a place to sit, with a drop down table.

Of course I'm just partial to Grasshoppers. But if she is feeling a bit crowded in a traditional tear, and you have the space, consider a Grasshopper design, maybe with a little more storage built in or a better galley arrangement.

[The Teardrop Nanny]

Hey Slow,
Your mind is spinning right now with ideas... My TD is 4 1/2 wide and as a couple I wish it was 5 wide. Although she's sleeping in a queen size bed now, remember that with a TD the queen size bed hits the wall and you cannot put you leg or knee over/out the side of the bed. I am a person who sleeps in a King Size bed (and I am just a bit over 5 ft) but most mornings I wake up diagonally in it. Also, are you a snorer or a bed wrecker of a sleeper??? If you are that close together sleeping in a tear it can be hard to sleep if the other person is a loud snorer or a restless sleeper. Consider fixing a cloth/canvas enclosure ( adding a side outside "room" area) around her side so at night she can open it up and it would expand to the outside giving more space. I definitely agree you need more than a roof vent, and a moon roof and side window are suggested.

Joanie

[hugh]

I made mine a bit over 5 feet wide and the inside height is 5'2". by 8' long. My wife has only come camping with me in it a couple of times. I am 5' 9" tall but in the morning I can stand up hunched over and put my clothes on which is nice. If I was to do it over I would stay the same height but make it 10' long and consider a bit more width, maybe 5' 10" on the inside. That would allow us to sleep across the back width and have a huge amount of space up front, also mine is built for rough back roads and runs 31" tires with quite a bit of clearance, that would change the next one would be lower as well as wider and longer. Here is a picture of it behind my Dakota, nice truck but a real pig on gas.

[the other side]

I believe a standard queen size bed mattress has measurements of 58"X72".

[redg8r]

Twin Mattress---------39" wide x 75" long
Twin XL Mattress----39" wide x 80" long
Full Mattress---------54" wide x 75" long
Full XL Mattress------54" wide x 80" long
Queen Mattress-------60" wide x 80" long
Cal-King Mattress----72" wide x 84" long
King Mattress--------76" wide x 80" long
King Split Mattress--76" wide x 80" long

A queen mattress is 5' wide.... I'm set at 5' wide (outside) so a full size mattress for me.

[tearhead]

Someone wanting a queen mattress could buy a queen foam mattress and if necessary, trim it slightly.

[S. Heisley]

A couple things that you can do to help in your planning instead of -or until you are ready for- cardboard:

1) Map out your floor space with painters tape on a clean floor surface and walk through to see how it feels. Add some boxes on the floor so you have something to bump into as your walk.
2) Roughly make the frame of one wall of what you think you want (and I do mean roughly); mark the frame of the other side on an existing house or barn wall. Place a couple braces of whatever (cardboard or wood or?) from the mocked tape frame on the wall to the (braced and steadied) rough wall frame and then tape, tack or staple some old sheets to the top and sides. Then walk through, lay down in it, and look at it from the outside as well as the inside to get a feel for it and see if you will be happy with it.

Mike, only you and Angie will know what you really want and the planning that you will do is a good idea. You may also want to plan a little extra space for future children/babies and where they might sleep.

[NathanL]

If you order a foam or memory foam mattress you can get it made to any size you want and hem up the fitted sheet for the next larger size.

[Angiewy]

8ball and Cajun Lady--
I told Mike there's no chance in hell we're ever going camping during the winter, so I'm fine with a toilet not inside the camp. In fact, I'd prefer one away from the camper if its gonna be that small. Several years ago when my dad built his version of a sheepwagon (only it can be set on and off of our flatbed trailer), he found a great article in the Backwoodsman magazine about using sawdust/wood chips for a toilet. In our camper he built an itty bitty bathroom for mom and I. Basically a barrel sits below the toilet seat. Once you're done, you pour sawdust on the mess. Not sure where they dump it.

Last year, I bought one of those portable toilets that comes with a bag you put under the toilet seat and go into, seal the bag and trash it. Last year I only used it once. This year, being gone, on my own for a week, I used each bag two days then sealed it and threw it into a large trash bag. When I left camp I put all the full trash bags on the tow rack next to my supplies until I could dump them. Biggest issue? Sun got so warm, I had to head for the trees once because it'd warmed the little toilet too much to sit on! Only used the toilet for one thing....the dogs were chewing on all the manure in the camp, last thing they needed was human!

While I don't mind it, I admit, I loved when we hit the KOA Thursday night and there was an actual shower and flush toilet. But I didn't need it everyday. If I did, it would've cost more money and/or I would've been around more people the entire trip.

I like the idea of the foam mattress, but I must ask, don't they get warm? Do they actually hold shape and you aren't sinking?

Yeah, I think I have Slow convinced a side tent for dressing and definitely enough room to sit up would be perfect. I snuggled w/him Friday morning...w/the door wide open and me hanging half way out the trailer. I never did like hiding in cabinets when I was in school.

I've got to ask, I've seen some of the very tiny manufactured teardrops, half the size of Mike's. How do you sleep in one? Do you open the door, pull out a table, lay your head inside the door and have a tent over the rest of your body?

[nevadatear]

Well with seven wide there is room for the port spotty you don't want, plus a floor to ceiling clothes cabinet, and still room for the dogs.

[Verna]

Angie, the first time I looked into a 4x8, I thought "there is no way I can stay in there"!!! But, after figuring out a 6x8 was not economical to pull behind my Escape, I began looking for smaller. I found a great deal on my Little Guy 4x8.

When I brought it home, Sunny Day (11 lb Shih Tzu) and I laid down inside and took about a 30 minute nap. After having been camping in it, it's my cozy little home away from home.

I don't have dark-out curtains in it, just some heavy cotton ones, so it's never totally dark, plus I do have battery operated lights that I can turn on. And, the roof vent has a white cover on it, so there's light that does come in from it.

My 4.5" foam mattress is just enough to not bottom out when I turn over. Is it warm? I've slept in 80* with a battery operated fan pulling air out in the vent, and with the two door window screens open...and I was comfortable. I do have a window AC unit that I can put next to one of the doors, if I need it. Just remember, it normally cools down at night and a fan is plenty under about 85* (at least for me).

I hope this helps.

[Angiewy]

I like the idea of the space for the cabinets and whatnot. In the end what it comes down to with the portapotty: my dogs have a habit of getting into things they shouldn't, eating what they shouldn't, and I really have no interest in sleeping right next to my toilet. Too many tiny hotel rooms like that! But if it was necessary, I'd do it.

I agree about those curtains. I have a pair in my bedroom and love them. REally help filter out light. I use a flashlight in my tent, little lights are a good idea.