Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Since my recent catastrophy with falling and squashing my wall, I began to rethink my teardrop build and started to wonder what would I could do differently in my next build. Here's some things I would like to get yall's input on.

Building The Walls and Floors using expensive grade 3/4" Plywood; Is it worth the extra weight and extra expense? How many of you guys build with all 3/4" Plywood and how manyy prefer the 1/2" plywood?

Can I make a tear heavy duty enough and warm enough using thinner plywood?

The expensive sheets of Classic Oak Plywood have cost me $40 per sheet and most of you will pass out when you hear that I have wasted about 7 sheets of the stuff in my quest for the best built tear i can build. Since falling on my wall and watching the expensive grade stuff rip apart, I wonder if I should just go with plain jane old plywood..CDX.

If I built using the thinner 1/2" plywood and skinned the inside walls, would I be just as warm and toasty as 3/4" plywood floors and walls?

I am beginning to think the sheer weight of 3/4" for walls and floors may be way too much overkill. Give me your thoughts on what I can do to have successful build without blowing a wad on expensive plywood. I am ready for the honest, scary truth so sound off all you teardrop pros.

1/2" ply for floor..no sandwich or insulation...you could maybe go with 1/2 for walls but the LEAST I would use would be 3/4 ACX ply...you could also go with a 1/2 ACX and veneer the inside with some nice panelling...another option would be to use 1/2" MDO(not MDF) for both floors and walls...
madjack

I've never seen flat CDX at Home Depot. And I like to start with flat materials.

The Escape Hatch was built with 1/2" baltic birch with 1/4" baltic birch on the roof. Fine for 3 seasons camping, and light.



I did the Baja Benroy with 3/4" walls, and I agree, the walls were way too heavy. But I did so because it was the only size plywood the local place had in 5'x10'.



The Weekender was built with 1/4" luan and 3/4 framing and EPS. Perfect for 4 seasons camping and light too.



It's a toss up between how much effort you want to put into it, versus how fast you want to build it.

Mike...

P.S. My next trailer will have 1/2" baltic birch framing, EPS, and 1/4" skins.

Hmmm..Thanks Mike and MadJack, both have given me some food for thought. I am just kind of tired of wasting the expensive sheets of plywood. For some reason, everytime I mess up, I get that much more determined to build this thing. My wife is loosing her mind everytime she sees a pile of plywood stacked out at the curb on garbage day. She asked how much I have wasted and I am scared to tell her almost $300 worth of wood has gone to the dump thus far. At least I did a great jon the floor. It has been with me though several different attempts. It's bulletproof...just wished I could get the walls the same way.

MadJack- I went to your website and looked at your build photos. It looks like you don't insulate or do sandwich construction on your teardrops? Am I right? What thickness plywood did you use for the walls on your tear?

sandman wrote:MadJack- I went to your website and looked at your build photos. It looks like you don't insulate or do sandwich construction on your teardrops? Am I right? What thickness plywood did you use for the walls on your tear?

...the only sandwich/insulation is in the roof...3/4" ply walls...1/2" ply floor...consider that one of the best absolute best commercially available Td's is built in/by folks in far, northern, cold a$$ Wisconsin and they just use 3/4'ply for walls and floor...no insulation......
madjack

The sides of my trailer are ¾ ply nonstructural parts cut out, insulation added, with 1/8 skins inside and out.

Sandman... When you finally finish your tear... You just might have the most expensive one on the forum.......

lite,lite,lite,
The one I'm working on now just keeps getting heavier. I love the way it's turning out and it won't be a problem but I'd like to see how lite I could build, something bare boned.

I would so make it smaller. It would still be framed and insulated just not as big. I would also get a trailer that I can put car tires and fenders on, or at least fenders. I really want fenders.

95 POSTS AND YOU'RE ALREADY DISGUSTED!?

Get some BALLS, my friend!!!

It took me a year plus to build mine...I didn't listen to ONE word my wife had to say about it or it would have never been built...and finally...

You're doing GREAT!!!

It takes TIME to build one of these things!

I think I better build my first one before I try answering this. Hopefully I will get everything right the first time. NOT.

If I were starting over today, I would build lighter...especially the frame. I also build the walls with insulation, but not for the insulation in paticular, but because they would be lighter. You see, I'm planning on buying a smaller truck.

I started building light but it still ended up overweight. There are a few places where I could have cut weight but I'm happy with it.

My walls, floor and bulkheads are 1/8in ply faces with 3/4in framing and insulation. The roof has 2 layers of 1/8in ply on the outside.

Mine is a 5X10 and the all up weight is 1150lbs. That was weighed with everything installed mattress, airconditioner, battery, cooler, microwave, etc.

Now I don’t feel so bad, we’ve only “wasted” 2 sheets of oak plywood which we bought early on before doing much reading. We are now using ½” Baltic Birch, which was the width I could get in a 4’ x 8’ piece. The oak plywood was made in China and after reading other people’s experience with Chinese plywood I didn’t really want to risk it for my walls, that is a rather major component of a teardrop. Baltic Birch has no voids like other plywood. The small company from which I bought it said they will not buy any plywood from China. Only one time did they try some, to save a few dollars, and out of 40 sheets, 16 were returned because when people cut them they started falling apart and then returned them. . So with that deal instead of saving a few dollars they lost money!

We didn’t throw away the plywood, we are just using it for other things. Also to make sure we liked the profile and door placement we bought a sheet of the cheapest ¼” HD masonite we could find and worked on that, cut it out and then used that as a pattern. We have the sides cut but aren’t quit ready to permanently put them up yet.

Sandman, just look at it as all part of the process and all that matters is at the end is you have a teardrop you can enjoy.
Martha

I would have made mine a foot longer. I started planning for a 10ft long trailer and then shortened it to 9'. Made my galley harder to set up.