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Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 2:08 pm
by Evan_Gatehouse
Hey,

Got inspired the other night and pushed the design forward. The issue I have with most teardrop trailers is that no standing headroom. And an outside kitchen; which isn't as much fun in the rain.

This design is clever. The upper portion is like a shoebox lid with tall sides. When lowered, it is behind the slipstream of a small car. It has a queen size bed, with storage under the bed big enough for several typical Rubbermaid 25 gallon totes. Keep your clothes, food, and camp chairs under the bed. When raised you can stand in the back part of the trailer in the small kitchen area. You can sit on the bed and cook if it's raining. If it is nice outside find a site with a picnic table and use that.

To lift the upper portion you can get 2 strong people and just lift and pin it in place - but at about 160 lbs there will be an option to fit a simple central lifting jack mechanism. It uses an acme (square thread) screw, a cordless drill and will do the job with a lot less effort. I'm sure 90% of people will choose this option.

The car pictured is a Mazda 3 hatchback; a pretty small car - but you can see how the lowered trailer is tucked well behind the car.
trailer 2.jpg
Raised. That's a 6' person. Who is green, like most of us.
trailer 1.jpg
3D view - see how the top part of the trailer slopes inward and the front slopes back? All in the name of good aero.
trailer 3.jpg
Trailer lowered for trailering. Very slippery shape

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 4:05 pm
by jacquesmm
Looks good.

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 5:36 pm
by Southern Gent
Evan, nice design, consider using gas charged lifts to overcome the roof weight factor. Best wishes

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 8:43 pm
by Grit19
That does look good. Very creative. Will this be a stitch and glue construction too :lol:

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:33 am
by gonandkarl
Hi,
I like this design and when living in South Africa I always wanted to have such a caravan. You could buy them from a trailer shop which made them fold away as they called them. This might be an idea for your design to make the 4 walls that lift up out of canvas and have just 4 corner struts which hold the roof up.

Something like this :
Image

But please carry on with designing it with lots of pictures it interests me as much as all the boat building pictures.
Greetings from Karl

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:52 am
by Jeff
Evan, I very much like the design!!! Much more useable than the teardrop, especially for us bigger guys!! Jeff

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:40 am
by Eric1
Very nice Evan!

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:12 pm
by Evan_Gatehouse
Thanks for the idea for gas struts. I'll consider it.

I wanted to avoid canvas sides like a pop up tent trailer - because not everybody who can sew.

Yes, it will be stitch and glue style construction.

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:00 pm
by Evan_Gatehouse
Now if anybody can point me to a supplier of gas springs with the following specifications:

- 24" stroke (this seems to be the hardest thing to find)
- lift force about 100 lbs
- off the shelf - not a custom gas spring. I want one that anybody can easily order
- reasonable price, say $25 - 50 each.

(I also looked into linear actuators but they are about $150 each and you need 1 on each side)

Re: Teardrop trailer - first images

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:53 pm
by OrangeQuest
Garage extension springs will cost around $20.00 for a spring that can lift 150 pounds 7 feet. If you need to only lift a few feet then the correct pulley system could lift 300 pounds with one spring. Then if you have the weight that needs to be lifted counter balanced you can use a window motor to lift and lower by switch.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxhist=0