Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

What happened to the window?

The window is safe and secure , waiting to get everything else done … Got to get it all back together before we can add new goodies …

The floor repair job went very well , but finding somebody to help me lift the cabin back on is problematic … All my neighbors are Old people … Useless … Difficult to hire four people for a 10 minute job …

You will figure it out

GPW wrote:The floor repair job went very well , but finding somebody to help me lift the cabin back on is problematic … All my neighbors are Old people … Useless … Difficult to hire four people for a 10 minute job …

For a job like this you have to use the right currency:. foamie ballast!

Goos, Cool illustration !!! Levers , looks like that’s the thing to do. I’ve participated in the lifting of a "shotgun house" in the past , using just wood and bottle jacks , so it is doable … but will take a long time … With Four guys it’ll take 5 minutes or less … Still thinking about this … and no, we’re not beyond using the Foamie Ballast idea , me&z … altough we’d consider that a Last Resort ...
The roofing crew is due here next week but that's a week away with the cabin in more rain , I know I can bribe those guys for 5 minutes ( $$ ) … I’ve Got to get this Done !!!! The Weather clock is ticking … The Anticipation is stressful, the waiting continues …

Sorry to hear about your soggy saga, GPW! Looks like you're making excellent progress on the rehab, though.

I'm in the middle of my TD build, and I am now leary of having used OSB for my subloor. I've slathered on 2 coats of the black goop asphalt paint on the bottom. Now, the sides of the OSB (basically the bottom edge of the wall) will be covered by glue/canvas. Is that not enough protection, do you think? Or should I put a coat of black goop before attaching the glue/canvas layer? Or The Mix?

Now that I think of it, is the black goop equivalent to the Mix for water protection? Or am I fooling myself?

Joe 4 , all I know is the Mix Will protect OSB and a lot of other wooden things .. I can’t say the Black nasty stuff does the same , on our first two trailers with plywood floors with the Black stuff well coated on the bottom , there was still some de lamination on the ends and top over time … I’d think if anything, the mix could be liberally brushed on and allowed to soak in ( and it will ) Then the Black stuff added on the bottom to protect against rocks and road spray , FOD , etc. … That would be cool … usually the more you do to protect the materials (within reason ) the better the job , the longer it holds together … For example , The FoamStream held together for four years despite flaws in the design and construction,and Not using the Mix on the OSB floor (my bad) but still not bad considering it lasted Twice as long as a POS Commercial trailer that was more than 10 X the price . And then the only thing that really was weakened (not yet a fail) was the untreated OSB Floor … Had I done that one simple step, I wouldn’t be in this Repair predicament today … I’m all for using “the Mix” I Know it really does work … The very last batch we made, we used the cheap paint thinner (says contents Mineral Spirits , the clear stuff NOT the milky substitute..) ~ $6/gal. and a quart of Varathane oil based clear gloss ~$10.00 and change . I poured out a quart of the paint thinner into another container and mixed the quart of varathane into the paint thinner jug … mixed it all up and had plenty for 4 coats on each side of the OSB nose floor. You can tell when it's doing it’s job when you can place a drop of water on the surface and it just sits there until it evaporates … … also the surface gets and stays a little darker and develops a little shine . Do that if you really want it to last … "Trust me" …

So far this has been pretty easy to do , but I still need brief help for the heavy work … The Foam cabin is light for a trailer , but too heavy for one old fool to be moving around …

The FoamStream is the Fifth trailer we’ve had ( not counting Boat trailers ) , built three , bought two … That’s just in 12 years … Almost got it right now , and not for a lack of trying …

Still looking for Fatter tires rather than those skinny little 12” donuts … I know we’re still waay underweight of what they can handle , but they just look funny to me …. In the fall we may have to add wheel wells and make a tire upgrade… maybe ( or just build that new trailer… ) I still have that Other galvanized trailer that was initially prepared for the Foamie #1 , but never used..yet…It’s a Dilly… still waiting … but not for long ...

“ Well then , out of desperation and a patch of dry weather , My Assistant and I , recalling the ancient Egyptian methods and Goos’s illustration ^ , used a combination of blocks ( concrete ) and Levers ( 4X4 s ), and a floor jack ( not very Egyptian 　 ) ... to lift the cabin and then using PCV plumbing pipe , roll it onto the trailer … All Good now … And it gave me a chance to reclaim my Studio space , returning things to a somewhat Normal condition… for the time being … 　 　 It’s a quick job now to finish the repairs and re-canvas / paint the lower areas… The hard part is over … TG !!! “ It’s Miller Time “ …

GPW wrote: … I’m all for using “the Mix”. I Know it really does work … The very last batch we made, we used the cheap paint thinner (says contents Mineral Spirits , the clear stuff NOT the milky substitute..) ~ $6/gal. and a quart of Varathane oil based clear gloss ~$10.00 and change . I poured out a quart of the paint thinner into another container and mixed the quart of varathane into the paint thinner jug … mixed it all up and had plenty for 4 coats on each side of the OSB nose floor. You can tell when it's doing it’s job when you can place a drop of water on the surface and it just sits there until it evaporates … … also the surface gets and stays a little darker and develops a little shine . Do that if you really want it to last … "Trust me" …

I'm certainly glad I learned of "the Mix"; I used it on my upper structure very liberally, covered with pure poly and industrial outdoor equipment paint (6? coats), and it has made my TTT waterproof, so far...despite severe storms everytime I use it. I used at least 2 gallon of polyurethane just to combine with the "good stuff" (high VOC paint thinner) to make "the Mix", so that tells how much and how frequently I soaked all the plywood! My floor is where I started, before I read of "the Mix"; the floor is covered with pure poly, so much that it's nearly plastic, above a solid layer of Titebond2 sandwiching a seasoned birch plywood base (but I did/do soak the exposed edges with "the Mix"), with PL adhesive gluing it to the frame, and with automotive undercoating applied on the bottom (frequently checked, and recoated after every trip). Oh, I used no OSB anywhere, I'm happy to say.

Many years ago ( the last Century ) we learned of "the mix" in a simple paragraph on waterproofing common corrugated cardboard for making Model planes … http://www.feltondesignanddata.com/id18.html Page 3 , Construction tips , “waterproofing “ … Tried it , and Liked it !!! Been using it ever since , especially living here in a Very humid enviornment … CHEAP , works , and it's easy to do …

Note: In the past we’ve even waterproofed common cardboard boxes for storage or transportation , which lasted a long time …

If you think about it , "the Mix" was what started all this …

I Like looking at his plane designs (construction pics ) thinking how closely related our TTT builds are … great for proven ideas

And we were moving right along , getting the trailer cabin all screwed back on the trailer floor , everything was going well till we found a sparrow nest ( with baby birds) inside the cabin on my mini galley shelf …

Now , being a “a natural kinda’ guy” … I don’t want to disturb them … Don’t have the heart ( or lack of ) to put them out and separate them from their Parents … But we were just to the point of re-foaming in the base ( spray foam) where foam meets floor … Everything aligned , ready to spray …. But now I’m hesitant to use the spray foam around the baby birds …

Wonder how long it takes them to grow up and leave the nest … ?

Glen,

If they are anything like robins, they'll be gone in less than 2 weeks...

Mike...