Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

The one in this avitar is 5' wide.
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I think I will do just fine on a 5’ frame. I think it helped to here it from others. Now I have a question to those who have done it at 5’. Your frame did you build it right at 5’ or did you go just a little smaller to accommodate the wood on the side walls? I am thinking that if I go right to 5’ mount the wood side walls inline with the frame and then when I skin it I will run the skin right over the weed metal seam to give it a nice finished look. My brother in-law who is doing the welding is thinking that I should make the frame 1 ¼ inch smaller so I can run my plywood over the out side of the frame and avoid the seam all together. The original design called for it to be 10’ long but we opted to take a foot out of it as I am not willing to negotiate the placement of my axle and that was going to leave the tong being very heavy. So it is mocked up at being 9’ and the width is right at 5’ but it would take nothing to cut the inner rails down. But before I do that I have to ask how wide is your 5’ frame? I am thinking 5’ right on and just skin over the seam and I should be good. Feed back any one?

Benjamin,

Definetely take the sides down over the frame. Getting the tolerances of the wooden body and the welded frame so perfect that the aluminum will lay flat would be next to impossible. Also make sure to give yourself a good 1/4" tolerance to the frame. I would hate to see you split apart your body trying to set it on the frame because something is 1/16" off.


Cary

So if I am working with 5’ wide sheet aluminum I will need to bring the frame width in the same width as my side walls. The frame is tack welded at 5’ right now but it will take nothing to grind it out. I will make the frame 1 ¼” smaller and I think it will all be worth the work to get the finished look that I am looking for. Is that what others have done?

benjamin,

I'm not shure what others have done, but I built my frame 5' wide, put the 3/4" ply on top of the frame to get the max height out of the plywood without joints, and just brought the aluminum siding down over the side of the frame. That way I could put a small roll at the front and back to give it a more rounded look and cover the farm there also.

You should be able to see it in my gallery.