Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

As I was roaming through a Menards Home Center, (like a Home Depot or Lowes) I ran across the steel framing section and had an " AH HA " moment.

So I bought a 10ft section of 1-5/8" steel bottom / top plate and brought it home to experiment with some 1-1/2" foam that I already had. I also bought a Crimping tool used to lock together sheet metal.

Here's a few pics of what I was able to do:

Here's more pics:

Still more pics-What do you guys thinks?

The 1-5/8" metal track fits over the 1-1/2" foam with just a tiny bit of "play" in most cases - some sections were "snug".

Wow, that is totally cool.

Thanks, Bill

Agreed, very cool. I was looking for something like that but was stuck on the idea of 2" foam.

Should we ask for a sticky on edging, framing, flashing, etc. ? It needs to include this thread and this older one:

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=60303

ghcoe used aluminum flashing and drywall corner bead. This new idea of steel top/bottom plate adds to the knowledge base. Would be very helpful to have them in one place (and findable even if you don't know you might want to know it)

**waves in the direction of eaglesdare**

Wow, that is a great thread too. Great resources!

Glad you liked it.

I thought ghcoe's hints on using Great Stuff as a glue and the need to clean the flashing were worth giving it new exposure.

I never asked but was always curious if there were any downsides to metal flashing. Condensation in very cold weather or issues with thermal expansion and the glue joint were the 2 that I thought of. (Sorry ghcoe: Ooccupational hazard. failure mode and effect analysis just becomes part of your thought process during the design stage after a few decades.)

What a Cool idea !!!

me&z wrote:Glad you liked it.

I thought ghcoe's hints on using Great Stuff as a glue and the need to clean the flashing were worth giving it new exposure.

I never asked but was always curious if there were any downsides to metal flashing. Condensation in very cold weather or issues with thermal expansion and the glue joint were the 2 that I thought of. (Sorry ghcoe: Ooccupational hazard. failure mode and effect analysis just becomes part of your thought process during the design stage after a few decades.)

There is a thermal difference in expansion and contraction. Really the only problem is where I butted to pieces together. With expansion and contraction I have a area that bubbles out a bit. When it is hot out it goes away.

In my #2 build I decided to move the flashing to the outside of the canvas so I did not have as much fairing to do. In the process of the build though, I found that by laying the canvas over each other along the edge and using full strength TBII it made for a pretty solid edge. I still think adding the flashing to the outside of the canvas if you need more protection is going to be better and easier to do for most builds.

Flashing for hard points, I think, still will need to be installed under the canvas. The canvas adds a lot of holding power to the flashing and the flashing gives you a hard point to pop rivet/screw into. The two have to work together though for a strong mount. George.