Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi all,

Well, I don't know where my brains were but I managed to layout two left walls. In other words. I put the wheel well on the second wall in the same location as the first. We've cut out the 1x2's and have put in a wood filler in the places where it dug up the 1/4" ply. For the new location of the wheel well. Thankfully it was only in the first board of the ply.

Here's the problem, we have to fill in the hole we created in the misplaced wheel well. We have the pieces we cut out from the plywood and the 1"x12" pineboard that we used to go over the wheel well. I've glued the 1/4" ply to the pineboard cut out.

We're thinking of using liquid nail to reattach the piece we cut out. Is that plausible? Will we need to cover with fiberglass on the outside? (Or some other covering?) Would Titebond III mixed with the sawdust create a stronger bond?

Thanks in advance for all your advice.

Lynn & Paul

That explanation has confused me Would'nt the wheel wells be in the same location on both walls? Straight axle and all that. Both walls should be a mirror image of each other, should'nt they?
Cheers
Paul

Lets make sure I understand, you are going to use the cutout to fill the misplaced hole and back it with 1x12 pine??

If you are only using the 1x12 as a backing for the cut out you can save some effort and waist by using thinner plywood. If you are using the 1x12 down the side anyway---go for it. TightbondIII or liquid nails will do. If you are fiberglassing the seams together and have left overs it wouldn't hurt to use it. I don't think you need to use sawdust unless you are just filling in a crack.

Miriam C. wrote:Lets make sure I understand, you are going to use the cutout to fill the misplaced hole and back it with 1x12 pine??

Okay, I'm not making myself clear, sorry. I've uploaded to pics, I hope these will help.

With regard to why the walls are not the same is because they are 1/4 ply, framing with an interior wall of 1/4 those the inside wall is opposite of the other wall.

Here's the link to the picture with the wheel well cut out, this is the one we put in the wrong place.
You'll see the pieces we cut out are being glued together and I hope to insert them back into their original place.

The second picture is the new location for the wheel well and you'll see we've cut out a new 1x12 and removed the frame. We're waiting for the patch we added to the plywood to dry before we cut the 1/4 ply with the hole for the wheel well.

Hope this helps.

Lynn

I was with Paul on this but now I understand, you cut the walls with the exterior side faceing the same direction instead of the opposite direction, in otherwords the outside of the wall on the right was facing the inside of the trailer right?

rbeemer wrote:I was with Paul on this but now I understand, you cut the walls with the exterior side faceing the same direction instead of the opposite direction, in otherwords the outside of the wall on the right was facing the inside of the trailer right?

Right.


Lynn

The real reason we luv da pic. If that is the patch it looks good from here. I get what you mean now about the 1x12. All of the above still applies.

halfdome, Danny wrote:One way would be to get a spline bit and route out a slot on both sides of the offending cut. Cut 1/4" plywood splines to span the slots you routed in each piece (less 1/16" for glue) and glue and clamp it back together. You'll need to cut a strip to band the bottom edge because it will be short from your original saw kerf. I would definitely use a Gorilla type glue for this re-joining of parts. Another way would be to rebuild that wall. Danny

I guess I should wake up and pay attention. You will have a gap on 3 sides from the saw kerf. A filler and some fiberglass or a backer or both will make it right. Or like Danny said do a spline on all three sides, extra wide and fill the gap.

Will you still need the 1x12?

Cutting out 2 of the same side is pretty common. I made a big effort to avoid that by writing "inside/outside curb/street on each side. I still managed to mess it up. Luckily, it was on the outside skin that was going to get covered with aluminum. It just meant that the smooth side would face the aluminum. I wanted the rough side to give the glue more tooth to adhere to.

The piece you cut out will be a tad smaller due to the saw kerf. You may want to cut out a new piece rather than use the old cutout. You may also be able to use pocket screws to help the adhesive clamp the piece.

asianflava wrote:Cutting out 2 of the same side is pretty common.

Been there, done that.

But I did it on my exterior wall skins, where only one side is useable.

So I decided to use the same skin for my cabin, so I didn't have to waste the piece.

When my tear was finished, there was a sizable pile of scrap that had to be dealt with. Most from fall off lumber that was too small to be used on the tear, but a good percentage was from mistakes or changes in plan. There wasn't any room for big patches or almost good enough pieces. Guess it's all about what you can live with. If it had been me with the miss-cut plywood, it would have been no big deal to just cut another piece. Gotta roll with the flow.

Lynn...what a bummer ...but don't get discouraged - anything can be fixed. You have the skills and there's TONS of knowledge on this site to give you tips on making the repair. Think of the end goal, not of the immediate mistake. Danny's idea is good - splines are strong. Dowels are also strong. You could also lay the patch in the opening, trace out and area that goes 6-7" into the wall on both sides and completely through the patch and lay in a piece of wood into a routed out cavity, glued and scewed - basically creating an inlay; sand the patch down then cover and feather both sides of your wall with leveler, let dry and sand smooth (much like doing drywall) - you'll hardly notice it. I'm not a fan of Gorilla glue, but it is strong. I'm a TiteBondIII guy - 3000psi stength, longer open time, easy clean up, waterproof.... any "good" glue will work. Take your time and it will be great. OH...and TitebondIII mixed w/ sawdust does not make a stronger bond - it makes a great "putty" for filling holes - just use whatever glue you use right out of the packaging.

Lynn, regardless of what kinda glue or patch you end up using, a spline, bisquits or pocket hole screws should be used as well
madjack