Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Ya, that guy thinks he's real funny. A bucket of yuks. Class clown at MIT. Those 12 year old PHD's looked at me er, him..him like he was from another planet. Not even a courtesy chuckle. Rough crowd.

P.S. Low-tech = More dollars for travel (which is what its about, not wowing the teardroppers with the latest RV gizmos and expertise in wiring/installation/complexity)

P.P.S. I just got the MIT Media Lab to 3-D print me a new space craft. See you guys. Do as I say, not as I do.

Haven't had a chance to do much lately.
Just did the shower plumbing as suggested by Hank & Don. Finished the shower base and will be working on the walls next.
Just got my 25 Gallon black & grey tanks. Size as suggested by McDave. I got lucky! The tanks are as close as they can be for a custom made, $133.54 each delivered.

I only lost 2/3/4" of height for the shower base. Grey tank will be all the way behind axle.

Used a 1 1/2" p-trap to keep from sticking past the frame.

Hader, that shower and plumbing is looking nice! Great job!

I am curious.... what are all the notches cut in the wood supports for the shower base? Seems like that was a lot of work.

flboy wrote:Hader, that shower and plumbing is looking nice! Great job!
I am curious.... what are all the notches cut in the wood supports for the shower base? Seems like that was a lot of work.

One of the main objectives of this build, was to see how ‘light' can we build it. We removed all the 3/8” panel that came with the trailer (240 LBS), and replaced it with 0.197” (5mm) Luan (63 LBS). Then, used some of the 3/8” and added 3 2x4’ to build the bathroom walls and shower base. By the time we finish the bathroom walls, the trailer should be about 150 lbs. <> lees than it was (still, have a lot of 3/8” left).

There were, and there are, more places where an Ounce here and a Pound there will add up to maybe the equivalent of an extra propane tank or a battery.

We are shooting for a total (bed, toilet, shower, AC, Fridge, stove, sink, empty B&G tanks, empty water heater and windows) of around 150-200 LBS more than what we started with. … The shower base was made with 3/8” ply and 2x4 cut into 2x2.38”, to reduce height. That meant it needed more lateral support. The notches made the 2x2.38” shower base laterals about %45 less than as if being solid. Notches were made with 3/4” dado set, it came with a table saw that I scored from a school auction for $212.00, it took me about 3 minutes.

Started on the 1st part of bathroom walls. Walls will be 1.14" in thickens, made out of double 3/8" panel that came with trailer and 5mm Luan on the outsides. The wall below is 38" x 77", will weigh 25 lbs when it's finished.

Wow... you are going all out on the weight savings.. That's is what it looked like to me, but I have never seen anyone do that on a trailer before. I certainly understand. I am not sure on these CTC's where the trade off on Weight and Wind loading crosses the efficiency curves... but regardless.... less trailer weight = more payload. Way to go!!! I am sure I could have done better on my build, but I am too lazy for all that cutting.

I remember years ago making the little balsa wood derby cars for the race on the tracks in Boy Scouts.. Even then as a kid I understood the trade offs and was drilling holes in the body and filling with foam to reduce weight and I was experimenting with aerodynamic shapes for drag.. of course I had a little coaching .

Hello all,

Been very busy doing other stuff, and had no time to do much work on the trailer.
Shower, tanks and most of the trim done. We'll get back working on it in 2 weeks.

Gray water to tank behind axle (under bed).

Gray tank vent.