Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've seen walls built on top of the frame and also along the sides of the frame. The Generic Benroy plans show the wall built on the side. Placing the wall on top of the trailer seems more secure to me. Aesthetically it looks nice when the trailer rail is covered but doesn't screwing the wall sideways into the floor cause a lot of stress on the wood at those joints?

Get this mine is both. It sits on top of the floor but the outer skin hanges over the side make sense?

This is another thing not to loose sleep over. It all depends on your frame and/or what you want to do. My walls are on the sides because I wanted to hide the frame. I also wanted a full width 60in inside. That meant buying 5X5 sheets of birch and not cutting them along 2 sides.

Some will argue that this configuration keeps the fasteners in shear which isn't ideal. This isn't a big problem because the bulkheads also hold the walls up. They act like a big gusset to brace the walls, since they span the length of the cabin that makes them even stronger.

I agree with Rocky, not a big deal, we used to think it might matter but so far no one has reported the bolts holding the walls on the side of the teardrop have sheared off. Like Kens, I have it both ways inside of the wall is on top and the outside 1/4" oak ply skin is on the side.

Donkro, I ran the plywood sides down over the sides of the frame on both of my teardrops, but the vertical members on the inside rest upon the top of the floor. So far so good. No problems, as long as the glue and scews hold. I think it would take a mean crow bar to pry them apart.

Roly

My walls are both too. I extended the outer wall over the frame, but the framing is set on top of the floor. Here's a picture of my wall prior to putting the inner skin on.

The 1" X 3" across the bottom sets on top of the floor to hold the weight. Plus the bottom front spar and the galley bulkhead also hold the weight and keep the sides pulled in and on top of the floor.

And just because I'm anal, I welded little tabs to the bottom of my frame that extend 1/2" and the walls rest on them.

The biggest problem, as I see it, with running the wall down over the sides of the frame is not strength, but the loss of height inside the tear. For that reason, I put the walls on top of the frame, and ran the aluminum covering down over the sides of the frame.

...whatever you want to do is OK...both methods can be used effectively...we built with 3/4" ply walls and ran them down over the frame...the walls were screwed to the frame and 1x1/16th Aluminum angle used on the inside for cleats to connect wall/frame...along with the front and rear bulkheads, it would take some serious effort to demolish any of it.....
madjack

I did mine on top of the frame, attached in a similar way as MJ only I used a 1x2 as a cleat. I don't think it matters which way you do it if the trailer frame is supporting the walls anyways.

Bruce
P.S. I agree it doesn't make much difference if you cover the frame or use it to support the walls. As Andrew pointed out to me, the trailer doesn't see the kind of torsional stresses that a 4 wheeled vehicle does since its basically a tripod.

This question seems to come up a lot. A solution for those who want to hide the frame but want a little more support for the walls is to weld small tabs under the frame that stick out 1/2"-1" to the sides. The plywood walls can sit on these little tabs and also cover the frame. This will offset some of the concern about not having the walls sitting on something solid. I ended up with this situation accidentally, but am glad I have it. Does this make sense?

fornesto wrote:This question seems to come up a lot. A solution for those who want to hide the frame but want a little more support for the walls is to weld small tabs under the frame that stick out 1/2"-1" to the sides. The plywood walls can sit on these little tabs and also cover the frame. This will offset some of the concern about not having the walls sitting on something solid. I ended up with this situation accidentally, but am glad I have it. Does this make sense?

Fornesto, That's what I was talking about above. Here's a not very good picture (dark) of it.


The tab is is to the right of the pencil mark below the floor. If you look closely, you can see a bit of light from the flash on the left side and the dust sitting on it.

That's exactly what I have. Is that a Snowbear trailer? Anyway, I didn't like the idea of bumps in the road "pulling the sidewalls" down and eventually broadening the holes where the bolts go through the frame horizontally. Those little tabs stop that.

My 3x3x6 toy tear was my 1st effort and I built a 4" deep torsion box with the 7/16 osb rabeted into the side rails top and bottom then glued and screwed.The side profiles are then glued and screwed to the side of the box this gave the sides a lot of strength and stability if you are going to miss the 4" of floor depth add 4" to the height.
my 5x10 tear ( soon to start ) will have a 2x8 sided torsion box with 5/8 ply floor and the box will be divided into 4x10 storage and 1x10 water tank (4" pvc 9'+ long = 18+ gallon) and will also serve as an electrical chase. All electric will feed from the chase to the front bulkhead and the galley wall and can be accessed and changed at any time. Access to these areas will be from the rear. This area will be great for tables folding chairs and other long and/or bulky items

fornesto wrote: Is that a Snowbear trailer?

I have a Snowbear and I didn't want to part with it so I build a new frame. That trailer has been great! I was getting a load of gravel with it last fall. When I went to the scale to pay he said I had 1.16 tons in it. it made it fine. When I went back for another load, I asked for only 3/4 of a scoop.

I fortified the union of wall/floor by using those hurricane-type brackets (Lowes & HD) that are used on Habitat for humanity homes. It may have been overkill, but better safe than sor-wee.

Todah