Suggestions on my woody teardrop design?

[_Ryan_]

So my TT is about complete (on my computer at least), and I would love some input from everyone in this excellent forum. The overall idea is to make a woody with 1/8" skins covered in epoxy and varnish. I am building on a Northern Tool 5 x 8 trailer which happened to arrive today! This is a winter project and I am looking forward to next year's camping season and some road trips!

Update: I have started the build! Build Journal here:
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=53842

Update: More pics added!

I hear you guys like pictures!

Overview:







I'm hoping 6' 4" of cabin length will be enough. I'm 5' 10" so I think that should be fine. I plan on using prefab doors from teardroptrailerparts.com. I have made designs based around a 4" mattress and the door installed with a 2" threshhold.

As far as wiring goes I will just have a 12v system powering a Fan-tastic fan, porch, galley, cabin lights, and a couple 12 volt sockets. The battery will be in a battery box on the trailer tongue and the fuse box will be behind the galley in a small compartment near the roof.

Sidewalls:


For my sidewalls I am using "skeletonized" 3/4" ACX ply sandwiched between 1/8" skins and insulation in the voids. The inside will be birch but not sold on the outside yet. I may also leave myself some room to use 1/4" ply on the outside as I am finding it easier to locate more varieties of wood in that thickness. The walls will overhang the frame.

Since the trailer is ~9' I am not decided on how to make the sidewalls. 4 x10 is not available in my area so I will be constructing them from 4 x 8 ACX. I will probably use a lap joint or laminate 1/4" and 1/2" sheets, staggering the sections for strength. This might work better than a lap joint as I can skip cutting the 1 5/8" wide and 1/4" deep mortise in the sidewall and instead cut each ply sheet to include that offset before laminating.

Hatch:


Sidewall Hatch Notch:


Here is the notch for the hinge on the sidewall. I plan on using a hurricane hinge with no offset. I have left 3/8" for a seal and a U channel.

Roof:


I am using Steve's method of inside-out building. I plan on using 1 x 2 poplar spars, sandwiched between 1/8" birch and insulation in the voids. The headliner will rest on the 1/4" shoulder of the sidewalls and the spars placed over.

Floor:



The floor is a sandwich of 1/4" ACX and framed with 1 x 4 poplar. It overhangs the frame lengthwise a few inches. Since I'm using 4 x 8 ply for the floor I guess I will have to use 3 pieces for each layer.

Cabinets Galley:


I am using 3/4" birch for the counter, bottom of the cabin cabinets, and the bottom of the front cabinets and 1/2" for everything else. I was thinking it might be good since they will be holding more weight. I might reconsider and do everything using 1/2".

Cabinets Back:


Cabinets Front:


Here are the front cabinets. It is hard to see but I will have a hamper or large storage compartment in the bottom which is accessible from two separate door which open upwards located in the middle.

Side Overlay:


Here I have overlayed the sidewalls, cabinets, roof, and hatch. You can see there are supports in the walls where the cabinets meet he sidewalls and floor supports. I left 3 inches of sidewall material on either side of the cabinets for blocking and support.

Good or bad I would appreciate any advice, questions, or concerns. I have borrowed/stolen so many great ideas from everyone else's builds that I have hopefully saved myself some headaches.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Ryan

P.S. I used SketchUp for 3D modeling if anyone was interested. It's a really great program.

[Vedette]

Wow! Your drafting looks great!
I smiled as I looked over your measurments, as the were all within a 1/4" in most cases to the #'s I used in Miss Piggy"
With exception of my matress lenght.....78".
I admire your obvious wood working knowledge. I don't have any so built mine from steel.
On the suggestion front: I think you should reconsider your wiring and add AC to your TD with a nice little "Converter".
A shore line coming int the front corner with a breaker box in your front bulkhead.
This would allow you some AC plugs in your cabin & Kitchen.
Ac is a nice option to have for those things that you own that are not Dc powered (blow dryer, curling iron, etc.)
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[nevadatear]

Wow. It does look great, but then again we are very partial to woody! We managed to get some small drop down cabinets in the front bulkhead as well as cabinets above that have been very handy. Ours is 5 x 9 .5 ish.

[Junkboy999]

Looking good so far.

Here somthing I found out while redoing the doors on my used little Woody. I have 13 inches from the leading
edge of the door ( hinge facing forward ) to my Headboard ( front of camper wall ) It is easy enough to get out
of the doors. A handle above the door comes in handy.

In your camper it looks like you have about 8 inches. If you door is too far forward you will really have to swing
your feet and legs up to your chest area to start them out the door. If you door is too far down in between your
hips and knees, you’ll have to scoot down to the door.

Another thing is getting stuff out of the inside cabinets if you just leaning in. If the door is far away from them
and the cabinets are deep you will have to place a leg in and maybe a muddy foot to get out your shaving kit.


Try this make a simple wooden or cardboard frame the estimated size of your door opening. Have your other half
hold it next to your mattress in your house. Try getting through it. you’ll be surprised what a few inches back might
make. Just my two cents worth.

My profile. Door closer to middle of my body ( bed area is onlt 5' 10" , I'm 5' 6")

[prohandyman]

Ryan
Great looking design. Do your self a favor...use a quality cabinet grade 3/4 ply like 13 ply. With the skelotonizing like you have drawn the acx has too many voids IMHO in the few panels. Splinters and fractures easily as you cut it. And the better grade with more plys holds edge screwed hardware better, and splices better.

[Slaskman]

Really nice drawings , but for me living in europe its almost impossible to convert the measures into meteric . Whole inch is ok and also feets but when you mix it . How do i convert 9´1 7/8 ´´ to cm or mm ? 30,48*9+2,54+(7/8 )*2,54 ist it 2799,6 mm ?

[droid_ca]

I like your design it is very well laid out , you can tell that a lot of thought went into it

Really nice drawings , but for me living in europe its almost impossible to convert the measures into meteric . Whole inch is ok and also feets but when you mix it . How do i convert 9´1 7/8 ´´ to cm or mm ? 30,48*9+2,54+(7/8 )*2,54 ist it 2799,6 mm ?

A simple solution would be to get a different tape measure...probably get one cheap on ebay or something...hope that helps

[Thawley]

Ryan - your drawings look great. If you've got the links handy, I'd love to read more about "Steve's inside-out method" and others using the sidewall hatch notch.

A few thoughts:
- 6' 4" for your bed/cabin length will be fine IMO unless you sleep with arms stretched over your head… I'm 6' 4" and was very comfortable on our 75" bed.
- re: adding AC power… Mixed feelings. I'll add it to my next build for charging convenience . But our first TD was 12v only and I don't ever remember missing it.
- I am of the opinion that most hatches are heavier than necessary. Two plywood skins properly glued to spars and foam will have a LOT of torsional rigidity. I think you could get away with less ribbing if you're interested in saving some weight.
- Another design consideration is if/how you'll be using the space behind the front bulkhead. I've got an eye toward building that "cabinet" only half-height and using the top as a headboard shelf for a tissue box, glasses, flashlights and whatever book I'm reading. The interior space could be used for bulky or infrequently use stuff. Or as a hamper.

If you door is too far forward you will really have to swing your feet and legs up to your chest area to start them out the door. If you door is too far down in between your hips and knees, you’ll have to scoot down to the door. [...] ...make a simple wooden or cardboard frame the estimated size of your door opening. [...] Try getting through it. you’ll be surprised what a few inches back might make.

Brilliant idea. My first build was a standard Benroy so the design work was done for me. Moving to 10' for my next is causing me to really think about ergonomics. Never thought about bringing a template into the bedroom...

[angib]

One possible issue is that your galley cabinets go right up to the underside of the hatch:



That doesn't leave you any space to install gas (or rigid) struts to hold the hatch open - you could just stop the upper cabinets 3" away from the sidewalls to give you space into which the struts can fold when the hatch is down.

[_Ryan_]

Guys thanks for all the advice it is very much appreciated! I have updated the op post with a couple more pictures including the front cabinets which I have decided upon.

As far as AC goes I will probably leave that out and only have a 12v system. The reasoning behind this is the same for a refrigerator, tv, AC, sink, and that is I don't ever seeing myself using it while camping. I do however have a beer tap planned using a cold plate which I will post soon. I guess I can have one luxury item.

Here somthing I found out while redoing the doors on my used little Woody. I have 13 inches from the leading
edge of the door ( hinge facing forward ) to my Headboard ( front of camper wall ) It is easy enough to get out
of the doors. A handle above the door comes in handy.

In your camper it looks like you have about 8 inches. If you door is too far forward you will really have to swing
your feet and legs up to your chest area to start them out the door. If you door is too far down in between your
hips and knees, you’ll have to scoot down to the door.

Yes, the door positioning was rather general until I got my trailer frame put together and had a good look at the space I have. Moving it a bit forward might be a good idea if I have the room without getting too close to the fender.

One possible issue is that your galley cabinets go right up to the underside of the hatch:



That doesn't leave you any space to install gas (or rigid) struts to hold the hatch open - you could just stop the upper cabinets 3" away from the sidewalls to give you space into which the struts can fold when the hatch is down.

I never thought of that, great catch! I was thinking I could lower the top of the upper cabinets a couple inches to give me some clearance instead of stopping them short horizontially. How much space will I need for the struts?

Thanks everyone! Keep them coming!

[droid_ca]

What's a cold plate?

[Thawley]

One possible issue is that your galley cabinets go right up to the underside of the hatch... That doesn't leave you any space to install gas (or rigid) struts to hold the hatch open - you could just stop the upper cabinets 3" away from the sidewalls to give you space into which the struts can fold when the hatch is down.

I never thought of that, great catch! I was thinking I could lower the top of the upper cabinets a couple inches to give me some clearance instead of stopping them short horizontially. How much space will I need for the struts?

Yeah - that got me thinking too. One solution is to just notch the upper corners of the cabs for strut clearance. Another is to attach the struts TO the cabs or just start them further rearward, past the cabinet front... Seems to me the closer the struts are mounted to the hinge, the more weight/leverage they have to hold.

[Thawley]

Cabinets Front:

Nice.

[_Ryan_]

What's a cold plate?

Like this:
http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/jockey-boxes-cid-671.html

Drop this in a cooler between your keg and tap and it will chill the beer with nothing but ice.

[Thawley]

Cabinets Back:

Just had another thought... If you leave the lid off upper galley cabinet and just use the roofline as the top, you'd gain almost 6" of interior height at the back. Might be handy for wine bottles, costco olive oil, cereal boxes, etc. Have to tilt'em going in, but it might beat not being able to fit taller items at all.

[EDIT] Oops – I just noticed your hinge location would leave that area exposed. Never mind...