Offroad teardrop design input

[Unclesam]

Hello everyone this is my first post but I have been lurking around for a little while. My plan is to have most of the comforts in a teardrop camper that my toy hauler had minus the size. Here is a couple different views of a design that I have been working on for the past few weeks and I would like to get inputs about it. This will be my first trailer build and I know that it will not happen over night just trying to get my thoughts onto paper at this point. The camper part is 5'x10'a and the frame is 6'x14' not including the tongue. The power will be 12v with 2 deep cycle batteries with an inverter, this will be used for the outdoor lighting, fridge, and what ever else that may pop into my head There are 2 30 gal water tanks above the axle 1 grey water and 1 drinking water, these will be for an outdoor shower and sink. For the suspension I was thinking about a solid axle with a 3 link with either airbags or springs. Weight is not a huge concern tho keeping the camper to around 2,000 lbs is my goal just so I can use a 3,500 lb axle to have a little room for my ATV/water/gear. The brown box on the roof will be a roof top tent that will fold towards the front of the camper. Anyways here are a couple of pictures on the teardrop, these were the best I could do from sketch up (unless some else can help me how get a larger screen shot).

-Ryan

 

[cwadej]

I'm far from an expert, but that's a long trailer. Almost 20' with tongue. Hopefully your off road is fairly straight and level.

And with wheels that far back, way too much weight will be on the tongue, especially if you put a 4 wheeler on the front. remember 60/40

 

[Unclesam]

It will be mainly used for desert/sand camping with the occasional trek into the woods. It will not be a "hardcore" trail type camper as my tow vehicle is a f250 4x4 4 door and is about as long as a school bus . I see your point about the axle location tho and a figured the 2 water tanks above the axle along with the spare mounted on the back would help with weight distribution. The axle center point is 10'8" from the front of the frame.

 

[Unclesam]

I figured out how to get a larger picture.:wings:

 

[Unclesam]

I shortened the frame down to 10' long with a 5' tongue. This should help with tongue weight a little more. For my ATV I'll just put it in the bed of the truck.

 

[Titanpat57]

I think your on to something now..good luck, looks good!

 

[Ozarker]

Good call, the first rendition needed another axel at the foot of the bed I'd say, but plan B looks great! There are some great TDs on here, I'd suggest you study some of the builds and copy what has proven to be a winning plan, like TitanPat 57's above, the ROAM, very nice, several are very similar to what you have and you can modify to your heart's desire.....almost.

 

[Unclesam]

I made a couple other adjustments to the design. After looking at the Moby1 I saw that they had an external cage mounted on the trailer. I really like that idea so I drew one up for my teardrop then added a roof top tent for the kids and an awning. There have been quite a few campers on both this site an TNTTT.com that i have looked at and have got a lot of different ideas, the hard part is just making everything work on paper....then make it work in real life.

 

[cwadej]

Why put an RTT on top of the tear drop? You'll lose some of the aerodynamic gains of the shape with the folded tent on top.
If you need to accomodate extra sleepers, perhaps a ground tent is a better way to go. They certainly pack smaller and are lighter.

 

[Unclesam]

I added the RTT for the kids and like the idea of the easy step-up with out having to find a spot for the tent. My tow vehicle is large anways so I'm not sure how much aero would be gained by deleting the RTT. Thank you for the input tho.