When one designs a boat, trailer, mobile home or RV, it can be fabulous test-beds for designers to show how one can live with less space, how to squeeze every cubic inch out. They also have to deal with many restrictions in weight, shape and dimension. They can also challenge our assumption that we have to live in a fixed location, when one might have a smaller footprint if we lived in smaller spaces and were not so tied down.
The "two-storey campingcar" built by three Japanese students is full of clever ideas, and a great demonstration of how to get more out of less.
They have solved a number of very complex problems of fitting different shapes together, making them move and still keeping dry and comfortable inside.
It is not the greenest trailer we have seen,(that would be the miniHome or the Portabach) and is full of the usual RV stuff like waste tanks, generators and propane. But then, it was built eight years ago when these issues were not so high on the radar. In the RV industry they still matter for little.
But unfolded, it really does feel like a traditional Japanese house, most of which are pretty small
The kitchen looks workable;
The bathroom is tight but no worse than many I have seen on boats or RV's;
And it has a storage stair!
The lifting mechanism is ingenious
By the side of the road it looks quite normal;
Inside
The second floor Japanese-style room
The second floor becomes a pure Japanese-style room, and there is about 4 tatamis-mat. area.
There are stairs in the lower right.
Bathroom
This is a bath and a restroom. The feeling is happy if I open a big window.
A shower is usable
There are a sink and two burner gas ring.
The under of the gas ring is a trash box.
This is a rice cooker. The fuel is LP gas.
The refrigerator of the 3Way type of Electrolux company.
The stairs become the storage space.
The cabinet door is made with a pine.
The electricity is 12V and 100V.
A motor moves Locke of the door.
The outside
Outrigger
The shake of the
camping-car is stopped. It can be electrically operated from the cabin.
The deck of about two
square meters can be put out.
The second floor is lifted in
two air cylinders installed back and forth. Mechanism and operation
that the second floor lifts
The generator uses it to move the compressor. Output 1.3Kw.
Take on a two propane gas
cylinders of 8Kg.
Water tank of 120 liters.
Take on a Container box.
There is a faucet also in the outside.
The sewage tank is a
detaching type. Moreover, there is capacity of 50 liters!!!.
The step is withdraws while
running. (It is electric)
We sleep seeing the star!!
.Moreover, the skylight is closed in the shoji.
The control panel of the
second floor and the outrigger. (On a dashboard)
The switch of a charge
control and various lights.(Center)
...be continue