Teardrop trailer campers

[bennelson]

Has anyone here ever heard of a "Teardrop Trailer"?

It is a small camping trailer based on an old style. Lots of people build these themselves in their garage.

There is a great forum about them at
http://www.tnttt.com

I think the "Non-Traditional Designs" section is especially interesting.

I thought all you would be interested in this transportation/fun related subject.

Now, how do we make a camper get better gas mileage? And not just in its name (cough, cough, Airstream, cough)

Here is the trailer I built:
http://web.mac.com/benhdvideoguy/iWe.../Teardrop.html

[elhigh]

Lower top height, close up the gap between tow and trailer, tapered end. That ought to make for a slick, effortless tow.

Riding behind the typical travel trailer is usually a big, rumbly wake of turbulent air. Snuggling up behind it usually allows me to cut my throttle back by about a third or more, and you can see the tow vehicle speed up due to reduced load.

[JerkOfAllTrades]

Lighten, lighter, lightest, if you're pullin' the lighter the better for your tow vehicle.
Wheel skirts should improve aero. And I agree with elhigh, close up the gap and taper the rear more. Although, I'm not sure how much the gap can be closed and still maintain the the ability to turn.

How about the use of low rolling resistance tires?

[Big Dave]

Google up "Bowlus Road chief" and get a gander at that old rascal. It is the daddy of the Airstream trailers of today.

I'm thinking if you combined the slick shape of the Road Chief with the low height of a Hi-Lo you have a very low drag. The Road Chief is only 80 inches wide do to regain interior space (the whole purpose of an RV) you'd have to go longer.

[Stan]

Very cool, Dave. Just think...way back in 1936 they already had trailer "telephone to car".

[johnpr]

not to hijack to much, i have a 1984 rv (yep brick on wheels) and i've done a few cross country trips in it, i noticed i got much better fuel econ when i was towing my trans am behind it, not much of a difference but it was certainly noticeable about 5% or so
john

[bennelson]

Do you figure that the Trans Am sort of worked as a boat-tail to the RV?

Those things are so NON-aero, adding anything to the back has to help.

I am really impressed by that aero-mod pickup truck cap done by Bondo. I especially like how it can convert up for more cargo room.

I was thinking that something like that would work great for pulling a trailer.
Keep the cap down and pointy for regular travel, but pop it up when pulling a trailer to make the air flow better from the pickup to the trailer.

An "elongated" cap that had an extension to come close to the trailer might work even better, just don't make any tight turns.

[johnpr]

hmmm, i typed a reply to this thread the other day at school, it looks as though it didnt get posted, probably an issue w/ the school comps. anyhow, yeah my theory is that the car helped with the aerodynamics, I tow it with a 2 wheel car dolly so it lifts the front end up even higher which might help smooth the airflow, the setup also brings the car pretty close to the RV. I had thought of a few aero mods for the rv but have decided to sell it and get a scamp trailer as i would rather get better mileage and dont really need all that space anyways. i would love to build a td like yours (its such a beautiful trailer btw) but it is to small for my purposes as i find myself living out of rv parks for up to a year at a time (yep im a nomad).
john

[bennelson]

Scamps are great lil campers. I think one of those would be almost the perfect 1 person nomad home.

It's about the smallest, lightest camper I can think of that would still have what you need (just add your own toilet!)

The TAB may also be good, but I think they are very overpriced compared to what you could find an old used Scamp for.

Here is a link for a web page a guy made talking about very small campers.

At the bottom is a link for CampInn. These guys are a couple hours drive from my house. I went up to visit them when I was building my camper and bought a few specialty parts. I also met a guy who owned one of the Camp Inn trailers - really nice!

[johnpr]

thanks for the information, out of curiosity how long did it take for you to build your trailer?