Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

With inspiration from many of you, especially Ron's Canned Ham, I decided to build a foamy. I wanted a light, comfortable trailer for my wife and me to travel in but it needed to satisfy some basic requirements:
- Around 1,000 lbs. loaded weight
- Sleeping space for 2 adults, min ~ queen size bed
- Interior height ~ 5’10” over dinette, 6’2” in bathroom/kitchen area
- Private bathroom w/window, both tank and bag toilet units accommodated, w/medicine chest storage
- Permanent sink w/removable 2 gal fresh water storage, hand powered pump, and grey water holding tank w/external drain (min 7 gallons)
- Single burner, self contained stove
- Ice box
- Removable battery/power source w/inverter and charger
- DC power jacks (lighter and USB sockets), LED interior lighting
- AC shore power hookup
- Clothes, shoes, gear, and food storage cabinets (under bed, wall/ceiling cabinets, closet)
- Externally accessible storage (tongue box and side pods)
- Leveling jacks on chassis rear corners
- Swing away rear bike rack allowing access to entry door
- Spare tire mount
After viewing available options on the web, I settled on a hybrid trailer of my own design, that wouldn’t break the bank. I started with a landscape trailer that was on sale at the big box store (the blue one), as I don't currently have a satisfactory welder. It also simplified registration and about another month of work.
After extending the tongue, removing the ramp, and adding leveling jacks to the rear corners, assembly of the shell began.
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I used FG tape and epoxy to strengthen any critical corners and seams as I've had good success with this building method. I built a 13' Garvey boat a few years back using stitch and glue construction that is still like new!)

I built up the support box inside the frame to assure a good fit as the trailer was a little tweaked and had to be squared up.
I built a tongue box for storage and a grey water tank using ABS pipe. I tapped the ABS with a filed nipple and used solvent to affix my PVC plumbing.

I sealed the box and added linoleum tile to protect the flooring from the expanded metal.
I then began internal framing and structural support elements.

Started attaching walls and it began to look like a trailer!
I built my sink using a SS steam table tray with lid as it was cheap and strong.

Installed dinette, kitchen, and closet framing and supports: Window frames were added to walls and the walls were added:
It does rain in San Diego....

I built and installed the ice box framing and planned out the kitchen and bathroom spacing:
The door and frame were difficult to keep square and working smoothly but turned out to fit well with minor tweaks:

I canvassed the exterior with 7oz canvas, and TBII. I used FG tape and epoxy on the all corners and edges, followed by priming with Gripper.
My paint is Behr exterior latex and the color combo looks pretty good (from at least 10 feet!) The windows are Ebay surplus exit window specials and can be swung out by releasing 2 latches on either side:
This is where the build is today, now the internal wiring and cabinetry begins...

What a great build! I especially love your sink.

I also like the way you used FB tape and epoxy on the corners of the wood as well as the foam. I had wondered if the canvas would glue and prime well over that. But your demonstrations shows that it does well. That is great information to add to the foamy skill sets.

Kathleen

Looking good!

How long did it take you to get to this point?

I started my build in June but just decided to take the time to upload my progress. I thought I'd be "done" by now but I am designing from scratch and the details take a long time to do right (It's a ton of fun though!)

Great looking build, congratulations on your fast progress and thanks for sharing! It does seems like it should be very light, do you still think you will achieve the target of less than 1000lbs total and loaded?

ScottE wrote:I built my sink using a SS steam table tray with lid as it was cheap and strong.

I LOVE that idea!

Catherine

This looks great! I'm impressed with the outcome and the speed of your build.

How did you attach the flooring (really a floor pan) to the trailer chassis? I've been thinking about ways to make the shell removable so that when needed the trailer could still be used as a utility trailer. That would be a very attractive option for many people.

-Ron

The floor is attached through the angle iron frame of the landscape trailer in 18 places with T nuts through the 3/4" plywood (after FG taping, sealing with the PU/spirits mix, and adding a vinyl floor tile "gasket" to protect the wood from chafing on the expanded metal floor on the trailer.) Then, 8 additional bolts (5/16" w/washers and lock nuts) were used through the "wings" of the box and the top channels of the frame. I added angular supports along the sides and front to provide additional support for the overhangs but I don't know if this was necessary, as the tongue box was internally framed to support the front and it's really stiff! In theory, the shell could be removed from the trailer if I had kept the original lights/wiring in place and not routed the trailer wiring through the box. I contemplated doing just that but I figured that this trailer was going to be dedicated use. If I were going to make another box that was removable, a simple sled arrangement could be easily fabricated and I would just add a little more internal bracing for the overhanging sections. By the way, Ron, your build convinced me to do this!

NICE JOB !!!!