impractical designs

[Bogo]

Ever sit down and come up with a design that just won't work? What are your design doozies?

This is one that I came up with trying to do a small minimalist TD. A sleeping only setup. I designed the outside, then went to do the inside. The problem is the bottom is curved and the bed doesn't sit as low as possible in the body. Figuring on a 78" long bed with a 4" foam mattress. The bed platform ends up lifted enough that the maximum head room is only 2' 10" above the mattress top at best. Looks nice, but it'd be too cramped inside. I couldn't sit up in it.

BTW: The side of the body is 8' long and 4' high, and the overall width of the main part is 5', fenders extra. The doors are 40" in diameter, and the three bars are the hinges. Because the floor needs to be so high, the doors open up and allow access to the basement area under the bed platform. That would allow stowing stuff like chairs, etc.. For storage I was only planning on a small shelf at the head end, and some interior access cabinets at the foot end. I wasn't planning on the basement storage. Tires are 31x10R15 off road tires, and a spare would have to be stowed in the TV or on the tongue. There is enough room under the bed for one if a suitable hatch in the bed floor was made. The tongue frame is a simple V of 2"x3"x1/4" steel tube like the minimalist frame. I also was going to cover the bottom with diamond plate for stones thrown up by tires. I think stretching the body two feet would lower the bed enough.

[Roly Nelson]

I'm in the process of designing and bulding a 7 foot, 3 ft 6 inch high, blimp-shaped teardrop that will be big enough to sit up in and have plenty of room for my 5 ft 9 inch body. I plan to have a shelf above my knees for night-time stuff and a small shelf above my head for a small heater, a pee bottle and a light for reading. Keep it simple, and it will work for you too. Good luck with your build. I suggest you build a model out of cardboard and see if it will work as you plan. Sitting up while changing clothes is a big plus.
Roly, the li'l ol' So Cal woody guy ~~

[Junkboy999]

I think it has potential as a nice little “Steam Punk” design.

[mezmo]

Hi bogo,

That's a great design ! I love the profile, the round door and the hinging
scheme.

Very direct, simple and graphic.

You could "grow" the design upwards 6in - 12in to get you the headroom
you need. If you are trying to keep within 4ft [from a 4x8 sheet] for
the sidewall, just make the difference clerestory windows and infill panels
on each sidewall above your designed profile - thus providing light and cross
ventilation and eliminating the need for a roof mounted fan in the bargain.

Here's a very very fast basic Paint sketch I did to illustrate my description.
It's a very very crude and fast approximation of your design. The clear areas
above the green oval [the profile as designed] would be 'clerestory' windows,
and the brown areas are infill panels/walls. The number and shape and position
of the clerestory windows would vary at your desire. Doing something like that
would let you keep that great profile shape and give you the additional headroom
needed. If the infill sidewall spots were a different receeding color from the
original profile's color [say maybe sky-blue ? or black ?] on the main original
shape, they'd fade away and the original profile would define the TD's apparent
shape.

[Click to enlarge]


Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

P.S. - That new area above the sidewall could also be done as a 'Lantern Roof'/
'Mollycroft', like was used on old-time rail cars and trolleys and some early
travel trailers.

[Bogo]

If I grew the design, I'd likely stretch it 2 feet. That has the effect of lowering the floor a few inches without raising the overall height. Also after looking at it some more I figured the window needed to be rotated around 45 degrees forward on the doors. If I did grow it up, then I'd look at using two 5x5 sheets of plywood for the side size. Just 6 inches increase in body height with the two additional feet would make it roomy inside.

With the original design I was trying to make a smooth rounded design with little wastage of materials.

[Bogo]

While I can almost sit up in my 4Runner, which has a 35" ceiling in the middle, I don't feel comfortable. I've slept in the back often enough to know that it is to low for me. Personally I need at least a few more inches of height than it provides. I could see where a rainy day stuck in it would drive me crazy. That is part of the reason I've also been looking at hard sided pop-ups to make a standie.

[droid_ca]

If you have a look at Steve Fredricks design of his rondack lodge it has curves on the bottom of it as well the bed is in it sideways and there is even a siting table area a hidden porta potty what I would do instead of doing the traditional hatch back style of an opening to get into your cooking are...What if you did it on a slide out tray that slides out from under neath the bed are and have an awning that folds up on the side...I like your design though I do agree that it looks very steampunkish

[Bogo]

I was thinking a bit streamlined art deco, a bit modernism, and mostly eggism when designing it. I hadn't decided if the hinges were to be smooth bars, or ribbed bars yet. Smooth has the upper hand right now.

[Vedette]

We have 38" above the mattress in Miss Piggy.....seems to be fine! Although we have only slept in it once so far???
Why no kitchen?
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[Bogo]

I usually cook out of the back of my 4Runner or 4x4 pickup. I have a couple totes and a table that makeup my portable kitchen. I'm figuring on continuing cooking out of the trucks, and a TD would be for sleeping only. If I did a TTT, I've been playing with designs for hard sided pop-ups, I'd make some provisions for cooking inside it, but might not use them.

[KCStudly]

On another thread there was some talk of faking the profile radii by using a contrasting color paint. You could cheat the lower front curve by incorporating a tongue box that has a faux profile line and make the lower front of cabin square, but appear curved. That would allow you to lower the bed platform, keep the nifty profile look, still use 4x8, and give the added benefit of some tongue box storage; albeit less actual tongue box space than it would appear.

[Bogo]

most of the important feature of the teardrop really is a hard sided ready made bed that beats a cot and tent

That has been one of my principal reasons for looking into TDs and TTTs. The back of my 4Runner is just to short in height, and I have to evict all my stuff to sleep there. Plus my food is there too.

Having had to deal with a persistent bear in camp I'll take some reasonable precautions to get them as far from where I'm sleeping as reasonable. Plus I already have a pretty good setup for cooking out of the back of my truck, and I use it during the day while I'm out and about exploring and doing my photography. You should see their eyes and reactions when you whip out a grill and grill up a steak at a pullout in Yellowstone. Cooking anything in a wok generates even more reaction. You'd think they were starving for good food.

I've been toying with other similar designs. Who knows what I'll end up with in the end.

I need to stop getting distracted in the middle of posting...

[alaska teardrop]

Bogo, Just a rough idea on how you might obtain the bed length & headroom while maintaining your neat profile design.

Also, I guess it depends on your plans, but 2" x 3" x 1/4" tube seems more than you need for the tongue rails.

Fred

[Rainier70]

How would you hinge a completely round door? It sure looks cool though.

[Bogo]

How would you hinge a completely round door? It sure looks cool though.

Those three bars are the hinges. The pivot line just needs to be tangent to the edge of the circle or a bit further out. So the pivots are in the area where the bars are to the front of the circle.