Thinking Vardo

[yugogypsy]

I lost this once, here goes again!

While online tonight I found a vardo floor plan that should fit on my ex-travel trailer frame. Now to find materials to build it.

To tow it I've been offered a one ton, tall & camperised, Chev van with a gas guzzling 400 motor , but I'm not going far with it, so won't use too much gas (I hope)

I think my love of the various types of vardo's comes from my Montenegran heritage.

The plans I saw all had drop down roofs, but I'm going to do something different

So I'm getting quite a collection of misc RV type vehicles around here, but they will provide me with extra sleeping spaces for the Help Exchanger's I have around occasionally.

Wish me luck Gang and Happy New Year to All
Lois

[rlaggren]

Golly, a free and running van is hard to turn down. <g> A one ton gasser usually gets about 8-10 mpg. Towing something over 2000 lbs (like... just about anything) it'll be less.

Happy New Year! Looks like you're getting a running start. <g>


Rufus

[yugogypsy]

Won't be that heavy a tow, trailer frame has 8 feet of useable length and 6 ft 6 inches in width, just enough to throw in a mattress or to use as a storage trailer instead.

Not crazy about the van idea, but my Caravan has a valve that's bad and it won't last forever.

Darn I need another little car like the Hyundai Pony I had!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Lois

[yugogypsy]

http://www.enslin.com/rae/gypsy/dwagon01.htm

This is what I'm sort of going to copy. Small, perfect for one or two.

Day one of Vardo consisted of inflating a tire and moving the frame because I slept in--NO I did not party the night away

Tomorrow we will take the old floor off the frame and give it an inspection for anything else that needs repair and then I am going to start searching the property for materials.

I know I have windows and a door that can be adapted to this plan.

So wish me luck, I think this is going to be fun.

Gotta run because I left the Caravan running to charge its battery and its been going for an hour now.

Cheers
Lois

[stuartcnz]

I have something similar planed, based on this one http://mygypsycaravan.blogspot.com/

I recently bought a light single axle trailer with an 8x4 bed. When done it should be light enough to tow with my old 2 litre Camry.

I won't be starting it for a couple of years though, because I need to use the trailer as a trailer for around that long.

[yugogypsy]

Very nice Stuart.

The big thing I'm doing different for the top on mine is to make it wood and not canvas. I'm not into getting wet in a downpour with a canvas roof.

I'm not hurrying this project as I don't plan to attend any events with it and my Dodge Caravan needs its trailer hitch fixed before I can tow anything.

I am thinking NEXT year for the local open car show, all kinds of things show up there.

I also plan to rebuild the inside of the Dodge so it matches to the vardo.

The Chev van needs some work and the vardo won't be heavy so my good little old Dodge will tow it, may only be a 4 cylinder but it's a 2.6 litre, plenty of power.

Good luck with your project.

Lois

[yugogypsy]

Wow, I'm enjoying the research part of this project. I spent hours last night looking at vardo pictures online and I picked out a few I really like and sent a text to an artist buddy of mine about helping with the paint.

His response--"How do you paint a Gypsy wagon?"

So I printed 5 of the pictures and will mail them to him today

I am thinking of using the colors we used at the donkey farm I worked at, burgundy and blue with "silver" trim. A salute to Phantasy Pharm, now no more since my friends that ran it passed away.

If I do attend any events with it, my clothes would be in the same colors. (Luckily I look good in those colors!)

So today is going to be busy. Rick has to split some firewood for Natalie next door and I have some serious house cleaning to do after the holidays (YUK)

Then we are going to figure out how to strip the old floor off the trailer frame. We may have to hacksaw some bolts and drill out some screws but it will come off.

I am going to take pictures, so whenever my brain can wrap itself around how to post them, I will.

I'm going to get a better service package on my BlackBerry,so I can post from it, this being without WIFI is driving me nuts and my neighbour has his wireless router so well firewalled that I can't pick up from it.

I'm glad I have lots of pictures to work from and 2 different floor plans that are similar. Definitely going with a wood or tin roof so I can be authentic and have a little woodstove in it.

So be patient gang, I am determined to post pictures on this one, but would someone please send me the posting link again?

Thanks, Lois

[stuartcnz]

http://www.nomadicista.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1906

[tamangel]

here's a bunch more.. each pic takes to to a web page..

http://www.google.com/search?q=vardo+pl ... 74&bih=940

or combine the idea with your new van...

http://shirleytwofeathers.blogspot.com/ ... o-van.html

Mike

[yugogypsy]

Mike

That's where I found one of my possible floor plans and the article that details the basic design I'm going to use.

I gifted a set of the Tumbleweed plans to a friend of mine who wants to build a camper for his F150, which is what those plans were designed for.

Wet here today so I didn't get a start on my project yet and the forecast is for rain all week.

My carport is full of bathroom fixtures and a hot water tank or I could do it under cover.

I have a bunch more house cleaning to do. The camperful of boxes I had went to the thrift store, time to clean out some more!

LOL have I accumulated a lot of stuff in the last 12 years, some of it will be useful for my projects but the rest can go.

I'm sure glad I have Pit Stop for a storage unit but we may have to build another shed before this house renovation is done.

Cheers
Lois

[yugogypsy]

Due to whitish weather, this project is now on "HOLD"

Lois

[yugogypsy]

Due to needing a weld, this project is on hold a little longer!

LOL, weather, a cold in my head and now a weld, plus the steps fell off the trailer frame somewhere and I need to find another set.

Lois

[yugogypsy]

The weather is improving and I'm looking at my trailer frame and thinking.

It's a little wider than required to build the caravan in "The New Gypsy Caravan" by Timothy Lemke so I'll be adapting the plans and will have some outside storage cupboards below where the Bowtop starts and I'll have plenty of room to put in a bed that is comfortable.

I'll also be able to make the seats wider and have room to use a little 2 burner propane stove with a tiny oven. Refigerator will be a 12v cooler that plugs into a lighter socket, just have to have my mechanic adapt a bit of wiring.

I changed my mind about the woodstove because it wouldn't pass inspection with one so I'll use the propane stove, which can be taken out and stored elsewhere when then caravan is not in use.

Otherwise I'll be going with a standard vardo floor plan, keeping everything on the light side.

I have to get new tires for the trailer frame, the tires on it still have lots of tread on them but are badly weathered on the sidewalls and I don't want to have a blow-out on my test run.

Of course I'll have to get new wheel bearings because that frame did a lot of dusty road travel before the trailer body fell apart--just as it came into my driveway.

We had a good laugh over that , it traveled 11 miles behind my friend Tom's van and then as he turned in the drive the door swung open and hit the gate post and the trailer body collapsed!

So now it gets a new body and I'm going to start looking for more frames, because if this one goes well I am going to steal a friend of mine who works in construction and make some to sell.

Wish me luck

Cheers
Lois

[yugogypsy]

Project temporarily cancelled until I can get another trailer frame. The one I have has the wrong type of hitch to be legal, no place to put a lock and it can't be changed because of the way the frame is made! PHOOEY