Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

PigTrail, Howdy;

Ran into the same stuff in my Interstate Trailer. Called and the kid at the seller's
called the factory and told me it was regular chalk. Almond colored in my case.
Just hang the 'wall' back up and squeeze a bead into the crack between the wall
and floor.

hank

called the factory and told me it was regular chalk.

Thanks for this bit of info.

Chalk?

Or caulk?

Definitely caulk. Definitely caulk.

I purchased two 4'x8' sheets of the 2" thick XPS to use as floor insulation underneath the trailer. I've seen others do this and it seems to hold up to the road well enough.

I cut the XPS to size and used a liberal amount of Gorilla Glue Construction Adhesive to attach it between the frame rails. The Gorilla Glue says specifically that it will work with foam-board, so hopefully the glue didn't just dissolve the foam.

Glue applied and ready for install:




Pressed into placed and install between frame-rails:




Adhesive Gorilla Glue - I used a whole tube on two 14"x74" sheets under the trailer and gluing in the 4'x8' insulation partition that separates the bed from the garage. Now i need more adhesive.




Two sheets installed.




The trailer cross-members are a sort of C-shape. I'll fill in the insulation gap of the open C portion with spray foam out of a can once I get all the XPS in place. I plan to only insulate the floor in the living area which will save me a panel or two ($40 each).

I think I am going to do the same on my CTC. I have not insulated the floor yet.

Did the Gorilla Glue adhere as you expected without dissolving the foam?

I am also thinking of running a bead of expanding foam along the frame where the foam engages. Since the expanding foam also adheres to the frame, I am thinking it will seal airtight where I cut poorly and it will form a flange for the foam to essentially sit on so it won't drop if the glue does not adhere well over time.

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It's seems pretty tight, but you don't really know until you drag it along for a couple hundred miles.

I am also thinking of running a bead of expanding foam along the frame where the foam engages.

My thoughts exactly. With the C-shape cross-members I will actually get pretty good coverage by running a bead of expandi-foam along each edge. Should make it weather-tight, reduce thermal bridging, and maybe even hold it in tighter too. We'll see.

A few cabinet construction pics of the left rear. This will hold items that normally go "outside" once setting up camp: Stove, tarps, shovel, shower tent, stakes, lantern, etc.

The blank canvas...or is it reused? Maybe not so blank.




Cabinet shells




Building the face. Love that Krig pocket-hole jig.




Ready for doors and a clothes hanger rod that will go underneath.

Cabinets in garage area drivers side complete. Here they are caulked and ready for paint.




Test fit...Yes, the handlebars do fit under the clothes hanger tabs.




In the living area I installed the bed floor and notched an area to ease entry and exit.






The 3/4" plywood is solid, but needs a cap. I don't have a routing table, so the table-saw was set to a low height to make a cap for the plywood.

This test piece was to make sure I had the width right...




Different stages of the trimming process:




A trim cap!




Here it is cut and installed.

That looks super!

Dado, Dado. All the Dooda Day. ... ...

McDave

Ever install cabinet doors and want to add some of those cool gas strut supports?

Use a bathroom scale at your point of support to measure how much force you need.



Cabinet door struts are available for cheap on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AHHCHBK

The scale read 32.5#, so I got the 22.5lb struts. 45 pounds of force should be enough, right? Any other tips for installing these?

PigTrail wrote:Use a bathroom scale at your point of support to measure how much force you need.

PigTrail wrote:Ever install cabinet doors and want to add some of those cool gas strut supports?

Use a bathroom scale at your point of support to measure how much force you need.



Cabinet door struts are available for cheap on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AHHCHBK

The scale read 32.5#, so I got the 22.5lb struts. 45 pounds of force should be enough, right? Any other tips for installing these?

It is all looking good! Was that a CRF 450 I saw in the garage area? Do you have a tag on it for Dual Sporting.

I have an XR650R and the wife rides a CRF250L...both plated for the road. We have a website that is helpful (hopefully) to beginning dual sport riders at http://www.dualsportdispatch.com

I'm hoping to nab a KTM 350 late this season and do some of the cross-country races in north Texas. May have to add AC this to this build. Currently we do most of our trips to AR, UT, and CO. The rockies are only 14 hours from us in ETX!

Worked on the trailer for most of the weekend. Boy, I'm slow!! I watch some of the detail and speed deployed on other builds and I'm impressed. It takes me forever to plan, plan, plan again, and finally cut install, and caulk, paint, etc. Okay, enough whining.

Made headway this past weekend finishing the rear compartment. I added an attic cabinet on the passenger side for towels and bathroom items, installed a switch that works the lights, added the propane box and finished a mix of other small projects (i-hooks for boot storage area, gas struts for cabinet doors, paint touch up, ceiling trim, etc.)

The lights work! See the little rocker switch under the passenger side cabinet?




Box secured and vented. It holds a 20lb propane tank.



Drilled a whole through the floor and ran a bit of 3/4" PVC to act as a vent in case of tank pressure loss. I had a roll of screen-door material left over from a previous project, so I snipped a piece to limit critter entry.




Installed under the trailer...




The top of the propane cabinet needs to be sealed well too, so I added a 1/2" strip of 1/8" thick neoprene to the edge before adding a few wooden strips to facilitate a tight fit. Need to figure out a way to secure it to the top. The propane box setup/plan was lifted from Far Out Ride's website here: http://faroutride.com/propane-system/




This Triton hot water on demand system has worked well for several years. I previously had it on a cart that held the propane tank, pump, and the hot water unit. The supports were just tacked together from the factory and the bottom one failed after one too many wash-board roads. Hopefully this JB-weld will hold it together. This unit will be mounted on the rear, passenger side between the window and tail.




Now to read about Pex. Are Crimp or Shark-Bite fittings more secure? Which are better for vibration resistance? This trailer regularly gets pulled MILES down dirt roads that it probably shouldn't go down, so I don't want fittings vibrating loose and creating a swamp in my tiny-home. Any guidance on plumbing fittings?