Fold and Roll

[sam123]

I have a 1999 Fold and Roll. It was manufactured in Morgan Hill CA by Irv Perch.

It also has a Low Liner decal.

These HI-lo trailers are about as close as one can find to my Fold and Roll.

If anyone here has a Fold and Roll please contact me. I have only found to others.

I have attached two images of my trailer.

Sam

 

[JackandJanet]

That's pretty neat, Sam. So it has a tricycle wheel setup that removes the tongue weight on the rear of the tow vehicle? Does that cause the trailer to sway?

Actually, looking at it more closely, I suspect the front wheel inhibits sway, am I right?

How much does it weigh? Is the top raised "manually"?

- Jack

 

[sam123]

Actually it's a long story about the front dolly wheels.

They were designed to allow a small car to tow it. The dolly wheels support the weight on the front of the trailer. I have a full size pickup so no real gain for me.The other two I found did not have the dolly wheels.

Short version: First trip, great. Custom ball hitch stolen. Had new one made from very fallible memory. Tore up thee front wheels after that. Re did the ball hitch, carefully measured the dolly wheel alignment. Seemed to work.

Then said the H with it and removed the dolly wheels and welded the front tong so it wouldn't rotate up and down.

Tows great, no sway, no more worries.

It also has a heater, potty, indoor and out door shower with hot water, stove, refrigerator, sink, two batteries, two propane tanks, and two beds!

All in small package.

I don't know the weight. I plan on taking to a truck stop about 35 miles from me to have it weighed.

The top is raised with a hydraulic motor.

Sam

 

[sam-HILO]

Welcome to the forum

Thanks for sharing this unique trailer with us. Would love to see some interior pictures.

 

[JackandJanet]

I'd like to see the interior too. Thanks for the answers to my questions, sam123. That's terrible about your hitch being stolen! I used to worry about that when I first got our trailer, but have since become rather complacent. I DO put it where it's not easy to see, but I don't lock it up. Maybe I should???

- Jack

 

[sam123]

I'd like to see the interior too. Thanks for the answers to my questions, sam123. That's terrible about your hitch being stolen! I used to worry about that when I first got our trailer, but have since become rather complacent. I DO put it where it's not easy to see, but I don't lock it up. Maybe I should???

- Jack

I bought a hitch lock, and I don't leave it on the truck when I unhitch the trailer.

But if traveling and unhitch for a day I wouldn't worry too much with the lock.

The lock is the hitch pin.

Sam

 

[KnottyRig]

Very interesting design there, Sam. I like seeing different approaches to making trailers more compact. I'd never heard of the Fold and Roll, but I found some videos of them on Youtube.

No criticism meant of yours, but it seems like the Hi-Lo approach (cap over base) is a better design from the standpoint of minimizing sealing surfaces (since the top is larger than the base, it doesn't have a water seal to worry about). Though I think the solid pivoting walls for the interior is nicer than the curtain you find in small Hi-Lo's (I'm sure this is to prevent problems with lowering). The waste cassette is a surprise too - I hadn't seen those until recently.

Seems like folding would provide some flexibility on shape/designs (sides could fold out, etc), while the Hi-Lo is more limited to the rectangle (plus tip-outs).

I really like the trike idea - that's pretty smart, and seems to be a precursor of the hitch wheel you can buy today. It must be a tricky piece to engineer to work well with a variety of vehicles/hitches.

I'd love to see a tour of it - pictures would be fine. Any info/experience of using it would be great to hear (is there a forum somewhere for these?). Does it use a laminated wall structure like the Hi-Lo (I would expect it does). What kind of pain points have you had with it - any leaks? Do you find the cassette limiting your trips?

Cool find - thanks for sharing!

 

[sam123]

OK,

I will schedule a photo shoot for today.

KnottyRig,

A Fold and Roll forum.

I only know of three in existence and one of them is mine.

Criticism and or design discussion not a problem. No design is perfect.

I had considered a Hi-Lo bur all of them are larger than what I was looking for.

I needed less than 20 feet from the trailer tong to the rear to fit in my driveway. I was thinking a 16 foot trailer max would work.

I had been looking at 12' to 16' that were absolute junk, so when I found this I pretty much made an emotional decision and got it.

I then found out how rare it is.

Later,

Sam

 

[KnottyRig]

Cool Sam - I'll keep googling for more info on them - dimensions would be my first target, then I'll see if I can find floorplans or anything else.

Any idea what kind of axle they have? Leaf springs? Electric brakes?

I really like to see the ingenuity of designers/engineers, since I'm never content with what's available off-the-shelf. Seems I always end up modifying my stuff (I'm not afraid to re-engineer what I see as problems in design).

I guess the market for collapsing TT's isn't very large. I wonder if that's a cart/horse kind of problem - not many are made, so people don't know about them, so don't ask for them. Maybe they cost more per sq foot than a conventional trailer too (takes more engineering/design to make it all work together).

 

[sam123]

Here is a link to more photos. Posting here is to limited in size.

Fold & Roll - samlinvillephotography

Don't lose the link. This gallery is not open to the public.

These are for documentary purposes only.

Sam

 

[KnottyRig]

Thanks Sam, nice shots. Clearly not from a phone camera!

What's that below and to the right of the sink? Looks like heat/AC?

Bathroom looks pretty good, and like it uses pretty typical components/config. Are there separate grey/black cassettes?

 

[Garry-HILO]

Here is a link to more photos. Posting here is to limited in size.

Fold & Roll - samlinvillephotography

Don't lose the link. This gallery is not open to the public.

These are for documentary purposes only.

Sam

Very interesting. My first trailer was a small (12 ft??) Estrelle made in Indiana by a European company. By hand, you had to raise one end of the trailer roof which included the end of the trailer, then raise the other end for the same results, open the top half of the dutch door to gain access to the interior of the trailer, then by hand lift one side of the trailer and lock in place, then lift the other side and lock in place. Trailer would sleep three, had a small sink with cold water only with foot control pump, a two burner stove top and a small refrig. Very little storage inside. We used it about 10 years before we bought our first Hi*Lo. I no longer have pictures of it in the towing position and only a couple of it in use.

 

[sam123]

Thanks Sam, nice shots. Clearly not from a phone camera!

What's that below and to the right of the sink? Looks like heat/AC?

Bathroom looks pretty good, and like it uses pretty typical components/config. Are there separate grey/black cassettes?

The top vented metal plate is the heater. The bottom is the main fuse box.

On the left mounted on the bottom of the top bunk support is the thermostat.

There is a gray water tank and a clean water tank. I don't know how many gallons each is. I am going to try and measure these at a latter date. The Potty is a small self contained cassette that is serviced from outside.

Sam

 

[KnottyRig]

Wow Garry - that's a neat unit! Thanks for sharing the pics and story. Seems like a pretty simple approach to the problem, makes me wonder why they didn't catch on.

Thanks for the update Sam - for some reason I assumed all the tanks were cassettes like the black. Since there's more grey water, it could be problematic as a cassette.

 

[sam123]

Wow Garry - that's a neat unit! Thanks for sharing the pics and story. Seems like a pretty simple approach to the problem, makes me wonder why they didn't catch on.

Thanks for the update Sam - for some reason I assumed all the tanks were cassettes like the black. Since there's more grey water, it could be problematic as a cassette.

I meant to comment on Gary's trailer. It does look like a nice small and simple pop up trailer. If I had found on like that I would have bought that in a heart beat.

The clean and gray water tanks are in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 gal and the potty cassette is 5 gal.

 

[Garry-HILO]

I meant to comment on Gary's trailer. It does look like a nice small and simple pop up trailer. If I had found on like that I would have bought that in a heart beat.

The clean and gray water tanks are in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 gal and the potty cassette is 5 gal.

It was a nice LITTLE trailer and we did enjoy it on many trips in Arizona, Utah, Montana, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and here in California, but we needed something larger for our trip to Canada/Alaska in 2012. We had always wanted a Hi-Lo but at the time did not have the proper tow vehicle. We had the Estrelle 14 years.