Which Trailer shape is better??

[redyaris]

My two bits says make the front fill in as much of the space/volume between the tailer and the truck as posible. the tail end of the trailer looks great.

[Sven7]

^^ I agree with yaris. You could gain a few "free" feet too.

The template is not placed correctly. The "ground" in the drawing should line up with the "ground" in real life. Correct that and it will look great!

Good luck on the build.

[slowmover]

Tractor-Trailer gap is ideal at 24" or less. Above 30" is frowned upon.

Looks like fun, Ed. What "accommodations" will this trailer feature. That might help what-to-put-where and point a particular direction.

Have you a floorplan in mind? Or, interior wall-plan? I've seen some good give-and-take on AIR around these questions (exterior shape is given, but interior plans can go a very long way to using space).

[Ed-in-Maine]

slowmover-Not much to a floor plan in a 4'x11' area But yeah, the bed is forward the rear is a "chuck wagon" type area. I think I'll make the rear hinge up to an awning position to give my wife coverage when at the camp stove.

But with this extra volume dictated by aero considerations I'm thinking about a "garage" area for a bike(actually a "Catrike Trail"). I'm riding a Trident ST2 Trike from Maine to Washington state this spring/summer. My wife will SAG for me. We have tent camped always in the past but 90+ days of tenting is a little extreme for us. So this little trailer is just one step up from tent, but without all the fiddling that a standard Pop-up requires.
Ed

[Ed-in-Maine]

Here is the newest top view. I can't upload too much on a single post.
Ed

[skyking]

Ed, I would make any nice aero shape you want so long as there are a minimum 2' tall straight sides on it, and then make it a two piece slider or pop-up. I have several ideas regarding hard sided pop-ups. No fiddling, no tent section, just slide it up or down in a hurry.
Stand up = momma happy

[KamperBob]

Ed, those HF kit trailers are 4' wide, right? If you build the deck wider with wheel wells and skirts then you could increase the beam to match the tow vehicle (somewhere between 5 and 6 feet). Without any elbow room on the sides of the mattress you'd probably have to crawl over it. If offset to one side there might be enough isle to get past it. Think about where you want the door (assuming only one) how big it can/must be. That will constrain body geometry. Then I'd use the template to maximize interior space with least aero penalty.

More food for thought:

1. Airstream Basecamp



2. Frankenhauler: web page forum thread

3. Tiny toy hauler (Scamp hack): blog post

[Ed-in-Maine]

skyking- I would love to see those popup designs you have, don't know if I have the build time but it would be very interesting. Can you email them or post. Dry Bed that doesn't rock == momma happy We lived on sailboats for 5 years and my wifes first question is always "how are you going to keep the rain out". Also what's that plane in your avatar? Love the old war birds

Kamperbob,-yes HF base is 4'x8', I've been thinking of widening to tire width but it's not giving much more utility. The design has a his/her door on each side. But craw over isn't that bad, had to do it on our last two boats.
That Airstream looks sharp but I was glad to be sitting down when I saw some used prices OMG Also weight becomes an issue. I have an uncle towing a Scamp 13' with a Matrix, IMHO he's nuts. I want to keep empty trailer weight under 600lbs, loaded for highway 1000lbs.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Ed-in-Maine

Here is the newest top view. I can't upload too much on a single post.
Ed

I know that you'd lose interior space,but allowing body plan taper would give upwards of an additional 38% drag reduction.Both Walter E.Lay and Wunibald Kamm confirmed this during wind tunnel research.
The gap is hurting you also.If the gap must remain,then a bulbous nose will give the lowest drag,especially in crosswinds.
If you can look at Hucho's books,you'll find hard numbers attached to different trailer architectures at varying degrees of yaw.

[jakobnev]