So I Bought a Mobile Tiny Home

[freebeard]

I'm reminded of this thread from 2015: ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/camper-build-using-old-hi-lo Hersbird's Hi-Lo. The thread is subject to link rot. Maybe a PM would shake some loose?

TWhat I wanted to point to is the pilasters on the front. They seemed to be successful, but the only surviving picture you have to know what your looking for.


Permalink #65

The idea came from some research paper, I used it in this design for a pickup truck camper



It's a hack, to radius the front corners without cutting into the structure. If you own the thing outright, cut the right front top corner off and have a symmetrical gable on the front.

[aerohead]

Naked, without the tow vehicle in front, approx. Cd 0.90.
A frontal area is necessary to begin any numbers-crunching. Measure everything.
She'll have to investigated as a 'system' as well, so we need all we can get for the tow vehicle as well.
AeroStealth's F-150 / Cougar Fifth-wheel is indicating around Cd 0.26 as a 'system, @ 100 Square-feet frontal area. 9.5-mpg @ 100 km/h.
I hope you know someone with an industrial-grade sewing machine, or an awning company.
An extremely light, aluminum-framed, stretched-fabric nose and boat-tail could easily be fabricated for such a simple structure, and serve as sun-shade when not mobile.
Awesome project!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by aerohead

An extremely light, aluminum-framed, stretched-fabric nose and boat-tail could easily be fabricated for such a simple structure, and serve as sun-shade when not mobile.

Why not using it as extra storage space too?

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Why not using it as extra storage space too?

Nothing would preclude it, but if carried on the road, it would all have to re-engineered as load-carrying structures, which could endanger attachment points unless supported all from below.
Also, the polar moment of inertia could be dangerous if some oscillatory motion ever got initiated, perhaps impossible to dampen, and recover from, once initiated.

[freebeard]

I'd be willing to bet one could cut the roof down the middle, convert it to a gable; and heal the split with a trolley top.

What would be lost in the high side of the ceiling?

[seifrob]

Given the shape and size, I would get inspiration in commercial dry van trailers. Round front edges using PVC sewage pipes with one quarter cutted out, use foldable box cavity/boat tail, put a deflector on a truck.
Tent-like front cone (teepee tent??) with its base attached to front wall and tensioned by rubber rope attached to the truck might be worth trying too.

[Taylor95]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Neat to see what becomes of the project, but none of that addresses that fact that it's broadsiding the oncoming wind, and then leaving a huge vacuum behind in the wake.

Nothing can change the fact that it is just really big. A few things can help a little bit which is what I'm after.

[Taylor95]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I'd be willing to bet one could cut the roof down the middle, convert it to a gable; and heal the split with a trolley top.

What would be lost in the high side of the ceiling?

That is a good idea, but I think it is built the way it is to handle a large amoint of snow on top. Plus, I would have to convince my wife that it is a good idea.

I haven't done anything yet. So far my time has been spent getting the inside ready to paint. There is a lot of work to do on the inside so it might be some time before I can get to the other things.

[freebeard]

There is all that opportunity below the floor line.

What do you have planned for the fenders?



This was done for a pickup truck in 2013(!). But you have all that room to work with so you could do big spats. The construction is a metal C-shaped bracket and a piece of conveyor belting cut into a trapezoid. Fastened on two sides so it can flex on impact.

You'd want wide belting.

Six minute delta: The top is probably a simple construction. The most useful top is a trolley top. You have half of one already.

edit: One way to skin the cat: I estimate a length of 21ft (to make the math easy). Acquire an arcylic tube 6" x 7' and cut it into three 120 degree sections epoxy those onto a flat metal truss. Such that the acrylic is a stressed member and the metal is sized to make a 21ft ridge/skylight. (The truss doesn't hold the edges up, it holds them apart)

[Taylor95]

Originally Posted by freebeard

There is all that opportunity below the floor line.

What do you have planned for the fenders?



This was done for a pickup truck in 2013(!). But you have all that room to work with so you could do big spats. The construction is a metal C-shaped bracket and a piece of conveyor belting cut into a trapezoid. Fastened on two sides so it can flex on impact.

You'd want wide belting.

I was going to just find some regular trailer fenders and modify them so they would fit.

Keep sending fender ideas; that is one area I am not too sure on what to do.