Austin Seven caravan

[Peter Naulls]

Scottish enthusiasts may well be familiar with the old camping trailer we tow behind our Ruby. In actual fact it's a caravan chassis with Austin seven hubs and wheels. I took advantage of a lull in customer orders over Christmas to begin work on a new body for it, the design of which I've been pondering for years.

The principles are minimal weight, minimal size, original 'scrapyard' fittings, and art deco styling. 

Don't expect it to be finished by the summer; my daughter pointed out that I have been talking about it for 10 years and only just started work!

   

   

   

   

   

[Ruairidh Dunford]

It looked superb yesterday, but these photos suggest even more progress!

Cannot wait.

[Peter Naulls]

No more progress since your visit - it is in kit form at the moment as I really have nowhere to keep it once assembled!

[Duncan Grimmond]

That looks very interesting. Just for my curiosity, what are the overall dimensions? (or floor length and internal height)

[Malcolm Parker]

Great project, Peter.    About 20 years ago I had the same idea of building a 'tear-drop' caravan to tow behind an Austin 7.   I got a lot of information off the internet, mostly from the USA.   In the end I decided that I didn't have the space to store a caravan so I built the Pytchley instead.   To be honest I liked the idea of building a caravan rather than actually using it.
In my garage I have some fittings you are welcome to if you can use them.  I have a quantity of art-deco door pulls that  came out of an early post-war bungalow, also some pre-war vacuum flasks suitable for food.   Fortunately they do not contain any pre-war food!  I will post some photos later.
What is the external finish going to be?   I was going to cover mine with thin canvas and paint it, a method I used on the Pytchley to good effect.

[Howard Wright]

Hi Peter

Great project. Any idea what the final mass will be? I believe that you need to keep it below 1/2 the vehicles mass unless it has brakes!! (but I’m no expert).

Cheers

Howard

[kenkimber]

It looks wonderful, did you take inspiration from the Raven Argonette which looks very similar. If not I suggest you Google it as there are some quite nice period articles and images showing Austin Sevens as the tow car.

[andrew34ruby]

Hi Peter

Great project. Any idea what the final mass will be?  I believe that you need to keep it below 1/2 the vehicles mass unless it has brakes!! (but I’m no expert).

Cheers

Howard

Hopefully government guidance is an expert.

Trailer with no braking system

The loaded trailer:

• must not weigh over 750kg
  
• should not weigh more than 50% of your car’s weight
  

So it seems the 750kg limit is law, but the 50% is only advice.

[Bluebird7]

No its Max 750 kg, or 50% of cars weight, so Ruby for example will be 6cwt + - ???
3 ton motorhome still only 750kg ( Unless braked )

[Peter Naulls]

I'm aiming at 150kg if only because that's the weight of a couple of passengers so it seems well within the car's capabilities. The rolling chassis is about 50kg so I don't have much to spare. I am having to be obsessive about the weight of each component but not at the expense of the fittings, some of which are Austin 7, all of which are of that period.

I'm hoping to coachpaint it but don't have any experience. Craftmaster will be a useful supplier I assume.

I like the finish on the Pytchley Malcolm, unusual and appropriate. Thank you for the offer of fittings, I shall let you know when I get to the fitting out stage (it'll be a while) but at the moment I think I have everything except window catches. I have a couple of old, small draw bolts but would really like 4 the same.

The overall size is 7' 6" long by 4' wide and about 5' headroom. The design allows for a 6' x 4' bed or a seat and table. There will be a 9" wide worktop /kitchen in the curve at the front end.

Yes Ken , I'm familiar with the Argonette and have taken some inspiration from that, especially the Nissen-hut style dormer windows! Here it is; it is significantly bigger than mine:


  RavenArgonette.jpg (Size: 88.4 KB / Downloads: 282)