New Modified Teardrop Concept, Max Storage with Slide-Out
- Thread starter 86JP-CJ7
- Start date
If you use a car-trunk style hinge, you can probably get a 6 1/2-7 foot headroom at the hinge without going all the way to 9 foot
I came up with a way to get some more interior storage room out of this thing. There is just enough room in the bed area to sit up in (I'm 6'1"), so I didn't want to place cabinets in there.
But......
I noticed that I had just over 12" between the front of the fender where the trailer body gets wider (it slims down underneath due to the tires) and the old "firewall" that separated the kitchen compartment from the interior area. Amazingly my water tanks are 12" wide. I moved the tanks out to the sides and into this void/dead space. I then moved the "firewall" behind the water tanks. I relocated the battery into another dead space behind the fender. This allows for drawers to be placed in the center of the interior area.
I will install removable panels (for looks) to hide and allow access to the tanks from the inside area. Now that the tanks are "inside" I believe the interior heater will keep the tanks from freezing. The heat would not be used while moving from camp to camp, but I do not think the interior will get to freezing temps that quickly and allow the sloshing water (due to vehicle movement) to freeze.
I also added shelves on the non-door side. These will have raised lips to keep items from falling.
It is hard to see (it's in yellow), but I will use the interior void above the fenders as long storage compartments (perfect for rifles). The compartments unfortunatley will be under the thin mattress. In order to access them, one would need to roll back the side of the mattress, and then lift the trap door. It's not ideal, but it's free long storage.
I believe I have solved the problem of what to do with the rear door. Keep in mind that this trailer is set up to use for weeks at a time. I as a Jeep owner take my doors on and off with the weather. I have full hard doors that can't be stored on the Jeep when off. I plan on buying a second set of door hinge hangers and attaching them to the rear trailer door. This will allow me to take the doors off of the Jeep and hang them the same way they hang on the Jeep. I will fab up a mount in the center with the same door striker latches used on the Jeep for the doors to latch onto (so they don't swing around). This allows me to hang the doors on the rear door, "close" them onto the striker, and lock them via their key holes to keep them secure/in place.
The doors will be quite high up and close to the rear door and away from stray rocks. If I were to take this on the Rubicon I could see a potential for the doors to possibly see damage. With that said, I don't plan on extreme rockcrawling with this trailer.
I added the Jeep as a reference to how small the trailer really is.
But......
I noticed that I had just over 12" between the front of the fender where the trailer body gets wider (it slims down underneath due to the tires) and the old "firewall" that separated the kitchen compartment from the interior area. Amazingly my water tanks are 12" wide. I moved the tanks out to the sides and into this void/dead space. I then moved the "firewall" behind the water tanks. I relocated the battery into another dead space behind the fender. This allows for drawers to be placed in the center of the interior area.
I will install removable panels (for looks) to hide and allow access to the tanks from the inside area. Now that the tanks are "inside" I believe the interior heater will keep the tanks from freezing. The heat would not be used while moving from camp to camp, but I do not think the interior will get to freezing temps that quickly and allow the sloshing water (due to vehicle movement) to freeze.
I also added shelves on the non-door side. These will have raised lips to keep items from falling.
It is hard to see (it's in yellow), but I will use the interior void above the fenders as long storage compartments (perfect for rifles). The compartments unfortunatley will be under the thin mattress. In order to access them, one would need to roll back the side of the mattress, and then lift the trap door. It's not ideal, but it's free long storage.
I believe I have solved the problem of what to do with the rear door. Keep in mind that this trailer is set up to use for weeks at a time. I as a Jeep owner take my doors on and off with the weather. I have full hard doors that can't be stored on the Jeep when off. I plan on buying a second set of door hinge hangers and attaching them to the rear trailer door. This will allow me to take the doors off of the Jeep and hang them the same way they hang on the Jeep. I will fab up a mount in the center with the same door striker latches used on the Jeep for the doors to latch onto (so they don't swing around). This allows me to hang the doors on the rear door, "close" them onto the striker, and lock them via their key holes to keep them secure/in place.
The doors will be quite high up and close to the rear door and away from stray rocks. If I were to take this on the Rubicon I could see a potential for the doors to possibly see damage. With that said, I don't plan on extreme rockcrawling with this trailer.
I added the Jeep as a reference to how small the trailer really is.
rajin cajun
Adventurer
Impressive :0)
highlandercj-7
Explorer
I love it it's a sweet plan. I can't wait to see it done.
Warn Industries
Supporting Vendor
That looks like a heck of a trailer. Really dig it!
- Andy
- Andy
winstonclein
New member
SWEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like it a lot! Looks like you have spent sometime designing it which means a lot. Good luck
microcampers
MicroCampers
I have a thread on here and build a teardrop hybrid in austin tx and after building these for a living can tell you that you are looking at a very daunting task to make all this work. It is very much different getting from your head/computer drawing to reality with cost and weight aspects being concerns. If you look at what I build I use every weight reducing trick in the world and came in at 1400 pounds with a unit that is strong as an ox and stands 6 ft high and 6 ft wide and about 11 1/2 with tongue long. You could save a lot of trouble and get one of mine and put a slide down in the storage area and then move some of your other things to the galley and minimize all your troubles with designing and building. Working almost every day it took 3 months to build a prototype so don't even think what you are undertaking is a fast journey by any means. If you do this good luck and get a big check book out because it will cost you a lot to do all you want with popup complexities and untested weight ratios and such you are planning on. It will cost you way more than what you are talking about spending on a used little guy. Dropping all appliances but the ac/heater unit mine is 6k retail and my prototype cost around 5k so you can see what cost overruns you will have building something you haven't done before and my prototype was nothing on the scale of what you are looking at doing.
Titanpat57
Expedition Leader
Dont believe it.....
Make your camper at your speed and enjoy it. Dont let fear and common sense hold you back.....and as far as the money goes, you'd be surprised what you can do with very little.
Good luck moving forward, let me know if I can help in anyway.
Pat
Make your camper at your speed and enjoy it. Dont let fear and common sense hold you back.....and as far as the money goes, you'd be surprised what you can do with very little.
Good luck moving forward, let me know if I can help in anyway.
Pat
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JeepN95YJ
Adventurer
Steve,
Everything you say is probably true. IMO, however, your post doesn't paint you in a positive light.
It comes across as an insult to the OP. ie: "I was able to build my dream camper, but you can't. You should buy one of mine."
microcampers
MicroCampers
I had no intention to insult him at all and in the end said good luck if he builds it. Has nothing to do with dream camper but someone that has done this several times and putting a dose of reality to the cost element since he stated that he can do this for less than a used teardrop and I can through experience say that is not going to happen if he builds it like he wants to. I'm just trying to bring some common sense to the equation and again good luck and I hope you knock it out of the park because building these things is kinda actually fun. For the skin and other questions go to the teardrops and tiny travel trailers forum and you will get a lot of answers to the questions you were asking about how to build it as well as get an idea of some of the complexities of turning the design into reality.