Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I love the woody style tears. What kind of ext. wood can I use? Does it have to be exterior grade? How about the thickness of wood? Just haven't made up my mind yet, to paint or varnish.. help please Peg

Peg,Bill Larson here built my woodie using quarter inch laun plywood outside,white cedar strips and white pine for trim.Used automotive urathane.Check out my build pics.Bill

Peg..I used 1/8" okume mahogany marine grade, cuz I couldn't find good enough luan here, and the marine grade always has a great looking grain on the top veneer...I used aniline dye and covered it with a couple of layers of epoxy and topped with auto clear....if using epoxy on the wood, it really doesn't matter what wood you use...just make sure it is sealed thoroughly...all edges especially...I'm an epoxy fan though, I'm sure others will have different ideas on it...if you haven't checked it out...build pics in my album...PS Varnish typically takes more maintenance in the long run...Doug

Bill and Doug thanks for the fast response. Your woodies are so beautiful. You both should be proud. Doug where did you get your epoxy from? Does it take a long time to dry? Thanks again guys. Peg

I use West System...curing time varies with temp...typically a couple of hours...overnight to sand...Doug

As long as the plywood is protected from the weather (epoxy, paint, varnish, etc) it does not need to be exterior.

I used 1/8 birch for the skin, but had trouble with the finish and reskinned it, making it two layers of 1/8, but that wasn't my plan.

dave

thanks Doug and Dave.I'll have to check out the west system product. Peg

Peg
I used 3/8 baltic birch. I used 3/8 because I couldn't get 1/4 in a 5x5 sheet without patches on both sides.

Aunti M

Okay I had this same thought process when I jumped into this adventure. I ended up putting CPES on top of oak plywood then putting 4 coats of spar varathene on top of that. The cost was the same as painting CDX plywood with Epoxy Paint from ROT DOCTOR. Now the cost of putting Aluminum on all surfaces is a very regionally thing. I hope this helps, as I'm just finishing my own trailer and can't really comment on what lasts the best yet.

...to add another option...MinWax ClearShield...this is a heavy bodies, outdoor rated polyurethane...I haven't built a woody but have quite a bit of outdoor Adirondak furniture has come out of our shop and at present my partner has a set built over 15years ago and shot with ClearShield with a HVLP gun and looks as good now as the day it was finished...the only water intrusion it has is where some of the wood has split and around a couple of the screw heads...keep in mind that epoxy is not generally considered UV friendly and needs to be coated with spar varnish, auto clear, ClearShield or some other UV protectant
madjack
p.s. the furniture mentioned has been sitting on an open deck that does have a roof but the sun is onit everyday and anytime it rains it does get wet...

My sides are 3/8" ply, skinned with 1/8" "beaded" birch. (I didn't know what beaded meant until Woody told me--it's just birch with channels cut into it.) My roof is 1/4" bendy birch.

I didn't stain--just used 4 coats of Vitralite Marine Saper varnish (Pratt & Lambert brand). The stuff is VERY expensive, like $30 a quart, but it's rated for 30 years of UV protection with 3 coats. The varnish alone gives a tone/color to the birch, so unless you want something darker, you don't have to stain.

Although I didn't anticipate it, using regular cheap ply for the sides and then skinning with the finish wood came with a great benefit for a spastic builder like me--I didn't have to worry about nail/screw heads and other problems with your wall wood, since you're going to slap the skin on there anyway to cover it.

The roof is just 1/4" birch with nothing under it.

To each, it's his or her own taste, but to me, unless you're going to skin with aluminum, it's woody all the way. Most of these TD styles have an antique look to them, like something from another era, so I really prefer the wood look.

peggyearlchris wrote:8) I love the woody style tears. What kind of ext. wood can I use? Does it have to be exterior grade? How about the thickness of wood? Just haven't made up my mind yet, to paint or varnish.. help please Peg

Looks like from all the answers, any wood you like if you treat it properly. I used West Epoxy too. My tear has 1/4" red oak ply on the outside. I could have done a better job matching the grain of the different sheets of plywood. I rolled epoxy on the inside of plywood before I cut the profile of the tear on it. The outside has 6 coats of spar polyurethane.

Ira wrote:My sides are 3/8" ply, skinned with 1/8" "beaded" birch. (I didn't know what beaded meant until Woody told me--it's just birch with channels cut into it.) My roof is 1/4" bendy birch.

I didn't stain--just used 4 coats of Vitralite Marine Saper varnish (Pratt & Lambert brand). The stuff is VERY expensive, like $30 a quart, but it's rated for 30 years of UV protection with 3 coats. The varnish alone gives a tone/color to the birch, so unless you want something darker, you don't have to stain.

Although I didn't anticipate it, using regular cheap ply for the sides and then skinning with the finish wood came with a great benefit for a spastic builder like me--I didn't have to worry about nail/screw heads and other problems with your wall wood, since you're going to slap the skin on there anyway to cover it.

The roof is just 1/4" birch with nothing under it.

To each, it's his or her own taste, but to me, unless you're going to skin with aluminum, it's woody all the way. Most of these TD styles have an antique look to them, like something from another era, so I really prefer the wood look.

GEEZ finally I get mentioned somewhere GEEZ my idea get trivilized and now everyone is doing it It is birch bead board interior paneling



Exteroir skins come from a wide variety of sources, ya just have to look and see what is available or unique in your area possibly. That is how I came up with this one you never guess what the source was from. Although far from finished with exterior trim. It will be different but still a woodie

Woody on your first trailer I see what appears to be a pipe on the side of your trailer? Or is that a anttennae?

apratt wrote:Woody on your first trailer I see what appears to be a pipe on the side of your trailer? Or is that a anttennae?

apratt,
It is a boat anttena flip up mount, it contains my AM/Fm Radio, weather radio and TV anntenas and it also serves as a flag pole in the up position. It is in the stowed position in the picture. At the gatherings when the pirate flag flys above my teardrops the Captain is in (Captain Morgan that is) The new one also has them also, the mounts are installed, the anntenas are yet to be installed. You can see one of them behind the porch lite assembly in the teardrop in the foreground( the little handle behind the lite)