Foldoub Trailer Travels Small, Lives Large
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.23.08
It may well be that towing a trailer behind a station wagon is not the most fuel efficient way to travel, but squeezing all the air out of it and making it fold up as small as possible certainly is going to help. While pop-up trailers have been around forever, Dutch designer Niels Caris has designed a very clever pop-out unit that expands to many times its folded size, in a manner not dissimilar to one we have shown from 1936.
While the trailer and motor home businesses are in the tank because of gas prices, many clever solutions for dealing with small spaces start with boats and trailers, then migrate to furniture and housing.
So much of the space we use is empty most of the time; in mobile housing, moving big volumes of air is expensive, so pop-up and folding units, with their lower profile, are far more fuel efficient.
This design is not without its share of problems, such as the lack of kitchen, washroom or any storage; most pop-out designs for trailers or prefab houses have a core of basic facilities. However I like the way it all folds up into a hard-sided suitcase that is narrow enough to go anywhere.::Niels Caris via ::DVICE
Trailers on TreeHugger:
miniHome: The Green Prefab Modern Trailer
Trailer Pops Out Into Three Room House
M-house: The Trailer for the Tasteful
TreeHugger Picks: PreFab Trailers
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Less is More: Sheds For Living
- Reaction Housing Stacks Up Against Trailers
- Acorn/ Deck/ Empyrean Born 1947 Died 2008
- Greenovate Episode: Scott H.
Green Roof Creates "Image of a Mountain" in Japan
|
Oil Shale Production to be Subsidized Under Bush Administration Proposal
|
Looks a little narrow. I wonder how well it can deal with sharp turns and travel on highways.
Yawn - another guy with a concept and some pretty pictures getting his moment in the media. These ideas are completely useless and non-news worthy exercises until a functioning unit is actually made and reality and concept meet.
Going around a corner too fast or driving in a crosswind could be pretty exciting. You could subsidize the cost of buying the trailer by selling billboard space on the sides.
Seriously I don't see that this is any big improvement over the traditional horizontal camping tent trailer, although it is very shiny.
Oops...
Just blew over in a cross wind....
(18 wheelers are know to flip at times. Think how easily this one will tip.)
@Joe - I likewise wondered about that. Seems like it'd be very susceptible to tipping over in high wind, especially dangerous when traveling at highway speeds.
What's the point in starting thinner than the tow vehicle?
Great idea. I have been thing about something like this for a long time.
I like the 1936 version.
You'd be better off with a standard popup trailer. This has too many seals to fail, and leak. Also, why bother camping, if you're going to separate yourself so far from the outside?
--Hawk