My project(s)

90% finished now. I finish the lid and mount it come daylight. Also need to setup some fenders on the inside, lay some caulk or sealant along the seams of the inside, and get a safety triangle (reflective red/orange triangle) for the back until I get my lighting built up.

Trailer is 33wx35Lx24h, plus height of frame underneath. I need to get some corner edging to cover the corners, since I had width panels cut just a touch too short... Like an idiot I was thinking the base dimensions..not base plus width of 2 sheets...duuuurrrrrrrrrrrr

I stained the outer sides of the sheetwood and top of the lid, I think it looks good. I'm thinking about how I want it all to look at the end. Thinking about taking the bike wheels and trailer wheels apart and getting the rims powdercoated silver, spokes coated black, and hubs coated silver. Bike and trailer frame will both be blue. Racks on the bike (yet to come) will be stripped and fresh coated black, as will the handlebars and stem. I think it will look sharp when it's all done. When I do all the electrical stuff for lights and whatnot I will take care to keep the wiring tight and clean and minimal, keep the bike looking as perfect as possible.

To start with, I'll use the frame mount gas tank that comes with the motor kit, but eventually I want to either find or make a tank to sit on the front rack. I will have a motorcycle battery on the rear rack in a tidy sheetmetal box (but will switch to a car battery in the trailer when I have that attached) for the lights and GPS. <sighs> Less than 2 weeks until I order my motor. Can't wait. Everything is getting there piece by piece.

Anywho, here's pics for you guys.

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Well, I finished the lid today, but since all my updates drive everyone nuts, I'll just wait until Tuesday when I do the fenders and get the safety triangle for the back lol
 
So anyway, other than a short length of small chain to keep the lid from opening too far and some more rubber coating to go inside the new fenders, trailer is done and 100% usable now. Wheels are covered, everything is secured, lid has a latch that holds super tight (no rattles here hehe), and I have a reflective safety sign on the back.

Tomorrow I get to haul scrap to the yard with it, and start a running tab with them again. Man it is awesome. I'm thinking about getting another sheet of plywood to use inside. The bottom is split up into 4 small compartments plus the main area. I would cut the plywood into 2 sections, with hinges. These sections would be attached to the front and rear of the inside, and could drop down at moments notice to haul bags or other things on top of the dropped down sheetwood, effectively doubling my usable floor space inside. Awesome when I am out picking up car parts and groceries. :D

And now, the pics. (BTW, yes mods, I know you hate my large pics, but the forum won't upload them at their current size and I don't have anything right now that I can use to resize them.)

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Awesome job TOS. Really, it looks great. Does it slow ya down much? I wanna build one and was wondering.

I wouldn't have thought to add wheel wells. Nice touch and will protect cargo.
 
Around the trailer court it seems to slow me down some, but I'm thinking that it might be cause the entire court is kind of a hill, even where it seems flat, cause it rolled smooth coming back down into the court. I need to run some errands tomorrow, I'll take it with me and see how it rolls. I need to double check that the wheels are on tight as well.

Looking back through my receipts, it looks like I spent close to 50 bucks on it. I was hoping to do it for cheap, but the 1x12 was 11 and change, the long bolts and washers to hold the body to the frame was 15 bucks, I bought something like 6 or 7 1x2 at 1.28 a piece, I got the sheetwood for like 6 bucks from the yards scrap shed (where they cut it down to size for customers), ended up with a sheet and half actually, nice price there. Let's see... 5 bucks for the 2 rolls of reflective tape, 8 bucks for the safety triangle, I forget what the wheel paint, clear coat, and sanding sponge cost me, the rubbercoat was 6 bucks, the 1lb box of screws was 3 dollars I think. The stain was laying around, as was the piece of wood I used for the floor of this beast. The fact that my braindamaged butt is pulling all that from memory is nothing short of a miracle.....

So lets see...that makes the total......wow...63.46 plus the crap for the wheels. Good lord.... Ok, so I guess I spent more like 70 bucks on it.

WELL WORTH IT :D
 
Oh I'm sure lol. I'll be making a better one come spring though. Gonna be aiming for 3x6 on that one, not entirely sure how it will be built yet. I do know it will be full metal framing, probably angle iron to make it strong, and I will be using it for hauling scrap and what not. This one will haul scrap, but I already know I won't be able to load the crap out of it because of how the aluminum frame is assembled, plus the fact that I barely needed a drill to open one of the holes, the aluminum this frame is made of is like butter.

But that is then, this is now. In the interest of doing the cheap stuff first, I'm going to hold off on my motor until after New Years because of one upcoming trip and an extra leg of that trip pending. I'll need the money if I end up doing the extra leg of that trip. So the next thing to happen will be the LED's. I'm going to order a batch of white 18,000mcd, and a pile of red and amber as well. The white is for part of the headlight, the amber is for the sides and signals, the red is for the rear. I plan to use the Pontiac 3rd brake light I picked up as the brake light on the trailer, and the 5mm leds around the side and rear will stay constantly lit. I'm thinking I will frame the rear with LED's spaced around 2" apart give or take. The sides will have amber leds every 4 inches or so. I'm more worried about rear visibility than side. The bike will still get the 5mm LED/HDPE tubing combo I was talking about before hand (pretty sure I talked about it here, maybe I didn't...IDK anymore lol). The LED's shouldn't cost me more than 15 or 20 bucks, plus the motorcycle battery to run them. The diodes for regulation don't cost much either lol.

As much as I would love to have my bike motored right now, I don't mind being able to haul and be seen first. After all, no point in going faster if it just means drivers don't see me and therefore hit me that much harder.
 
Holy crap that ride kicked my butt....
Hauled in scrap today. Rolled onto the scales at 520lbs. Rolled off at 400 even. I weigh 280-285. That means my bike and trailer weigh 115-120 on their own.....daaaaaaaaaaamn. I had a hard time maintaining 10mph pedaling. Man, that motor I'm gonna be getting will have its work cut out for it. Especially once I get the motorcycle battery in there to run the lights...

So....66cc is enough to roll 400lbs right?
 
I was planning on getting the F80 from ThatsDax, but after seeing that thread with the 4 stroke mounted in frame....idk... I don't care so much for top speed, but more the ability for it to pull.
 
So after talking with KilroyCD for a bit, I think I'm going to do the Harbor Freight 2.5hp with the EZ Qmatic gearbox on it. Sounds like it will pull me, my bike and trailer, and cargo with no problem at all. Exactly what I need. I'm saving up now, gotta get my kids something for Xmas, and am taking a couple train trips in December, hoping to at least have the cash to get the LED's before New Years though.
 
I agree, I would think the 4 stroke would perform better for this purpose. I have one of the greyhound's. It is a sweet little motor. Little heavy for a rack mount, in my situation, but still a great engine.
 
chris (kilroy) is a good dude :),
that engine is a torque monster from what I understand
he will have lots of tips on the greyhound set-up I am sure ;)
 
Heya folks, I've been looking around different sites to get ideas how to build the travel trailer I'll need for the coming summer trip I want to make. I've settled on something of a mini-teardrop design, and am in the process of designing the frame and body (speaking of drawings, yes, I know I still owe you guys a copy of the houseboat plans I made. I'm trying to find a scanner so I can scan the paper and upload them).

As I was going through the forums at MikenChell Teardrops I came across another website. On this site they sell the plans for different types of bikes.

I kind of like this one AtomicZombie - Loderunner 2 Delta Tandem Trike and am thinking that if I want to build a sleeper, perhaps on the back of a long recumbent trike would be better than on a trailer.

So...thoughts and opinions? What do you guys think? Should I go with bike and trailer, or save money on a bike and go for the pedal RV? Either way will obviously be motorized.

My thoughts on the matter so far:
combined unit will allow me to set up for total comfort, both in riding and the cargo/sleeping area
combined unit would allow me to build with the motor of choice, plus place it where I want it instead of being limited
combined unit makes it easier to keep things from being stolen on the trip I have planned

On the other hand, having a regular motorized bike build with a separate trailer means that if I choose to go to a campground for a couple days I don't need to drag the sleeper along for trips to a store or rides where I go site seeing.

Back to the first hand, a recumbent design would make peddling and motoring the entire shebang easier, especially the peddling part. No trailer whipping around, or bouncing around separately from the bike. Would also make loading it up easier and the weight could be better spread, examples being where the battery sits, where the motor sits, etc.

So, let's hear some thoughts on the matter, and in the mean time I'm still attempting to save up to kick this shindig off.

DISCUSS!!!! :D
 
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george_n_texas said:
My thoughts are get a pup tent.
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I would, but I'm severely arachnaphobic, plus I get real uncomfortable sleeping in wide open areas. I guess you would say I'm the opposite of claustrophobic. When I'm awake wide open is fine, but not when I'm sleeping. Plus the sleeper would be insulated allowing me to stay warm in colder weather, definitely stay dry in wet weather, and by god I can't think of a better conversation starter than pulling a sleeper with a bike or on a bike.
 
TheOtherStyle said:
I would, but I'm severely arachnaphobic, plus I get real uncomfortable sleeping in wide open areas. I guess you would say I'm the opposite of claustrophobic. When I'm awake wide open is fine, but not when I'm sleeping. Plus the sleeper would be insulated allowing me to stay warm in colder weather, definitely stay dry in wet weather, and by god I can't think of a better conversation starter than pulling a sleeper with a bike or on a bike.
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Get a football helmet and wear it backwards...you ain't gonna pull a trailer that size behind a bike that far.
 
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