Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I had to soak my interior 1/4" Luan plywood in hot water to get them to bend but they bent great except one of the spars across the shapest part of the curve has bowed out about 1/4" I'm hoping the exterior sheet will push it back in when I apply it, The rest of the spars are very straight.
Tommorrow I will insulate,run some wire for lights and stuff and sheet the front and top exterior.
Later! Aaron

I wish I could get some pics of the sides but I only have 16" on each side of this thing to work on it! It's gonna be a tight job. It is amazing how ridged this thing is already. I had to jack up one corner to move it over and the hole thing lifted off the the stands and stayed square.
I'm hoping the one bent spar will straighten out when the top layer is applied.Have any of you experienced this before? it is bent out about 1/4" to 3/8ths at the sharpest part of the curve in the upper front radius.
Thanks! Aaron

By the way The next panel I need to soak is going in the hot tub, I have a massive HotSprings spa and it's almost time to change the water anyway!
I will let you know if it was a mistake later! Aaron

Looks great Aaron. I don't know if the 1/4 will come back to bite you or not. One thing, if the roof goes on ---you meant to have that curve, it's special to your teardrop.

I doubt if anyone will notice and if they do they are way too close.

GirRdun

I have a 2X6 clamped across the width and drove some wedges between it and the spar, Hopefully it will straighten out overnight after the glue hardens up. I pushed it about a half inch past straight,maybe it will relax straight. Thanks! Aaron

Looks great Aaron. I don't know if the 1/4 will come back to bite you or not.

What may bite me using 1/4" ply? did I make a mistake using 1/4"? It seem very solid and bent nicely. Aaron

Airspeed wrote:

Looks great Aaron. I don't know if the 1/4 will come back to bite you or not.

What may bite me using 1/4" ply? did I make a mistake using 1/4"? It seem very solid and bent nicely. Aaron

No you didn't make a mistake. I just meant that I wasn't sure if the 1/4" ply would allow the spar to unbow. Is it pushing the spar out? If not perhaps you can use it to pull the spar in.

Aaron, that thing is gorgeous. And looking how you did those spars, solid as a rock.

Hey Aaron...that looks sharp... if you're worried about the one spar, clamp it in just a little further (bowed in the other direction) and then bolt a piece of 1x1x1/8" angle or 1" sq. tubing about every 4-6", running across the full length, that might help hold it straight and will still be easy to drill through, etc. for wires... a 5' piece of that will only come in at about 6#s. GREAT progress, you do good work...

Thanks for the suggestion! I got it fixed though, I clamped a 2X4 across the spar and drove a wedge between it and the spar,screwed another spar against it and let it dry for two days,I took the 2X4 off last night and the spar was straight and is still straight this morning.if it stays straight through the day I will breathe easy. Thank you! Aaron

EXCELLENT... just in time for you to do more work this weekend , have fun with that build.