Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have been looking around to get any ideas to skin the roof in aluminium on my tear drop , I see that people are puting any where fron 1/8 to 1/4 inch luan on there roof before the aluminiun and i have also looked at Camp-inn and from the looks of it they dont put anything on the top before the aluminium ,It looks like its set up , with the interior luan then the spars with insulation and then the aluminium. Is that posible to do like Camp-inn becouse that would save me a lot of time and frustration. I cant bend the rad I need with even 1/8 inch luan. Thanks

Yes, you can do it that way. I did that with my tiny benroy, and it worked well Don't bother with the glue though, it doesn't stick. Capture the aluminum with angle, and put screws in the front lower edge, and perhaps the back trailing edge.

If I were doing another one I would probably put some lexel on each of the spars, and then put in some stainless steel screws every 6". I saw that done on a cargo trailer, and I think it looks nice. But they used screws like this...


Mike...

Howdy Shamrock,

I did mine that way and screwed it at both ends and used the trim around the sides to hold the rest. I really like the screws Mike just showed but we used just some regular phillips head screws.



Here it is with the diamond plate and and some of the trim installed. I was like you and didn't want to skin it twice.

Ken

Ken

Do I have somthing wrong with my eyesight or do I not see ply under the aluminum on you tear?

Classic Finn

Negitive Finn, just the spars and insutlation. I could loan you my glasses you need them...haha now on the sides there is plywood under the aluminum but not on the roof.

Ken

khutson wrote:Negitive Finn, just the spars and insutlation. I could loan you my glasses you need them...haha now on the sides there is plywood under the aluminum but not on the roof.

Ken

Whew... Ok Im still seein with these Ol Goggles given at birth...

Classic Finn (stir)

Ken,
Beautiful job on the tear. I am looking at going with the aluminum skin on mine also. I covered the roof in the luan but for the life of me I cant find aluminum anywhere. Did you happen to order it or did you pick it up local? I went with a 5x10 and the length for the roof i would need is 16' do to the radius. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Also the diamond plate finish looks cool. Thanks Keith

After installing the spars, I installed the interior luan to the interior first, then added rigid foam insulation between the 2x2 spars (one 3/4" rigid foam layer topped with one 1/2" layer). Then glued the aluminum sheet to the top of the spars using polyurethane glue. I did not add a layer of luan on top of the
foam/spars under the aluminum on the body of the tear. I did add a layer on the hatch cover.

The KuffelCreek "Cubby" plans show this construction method. Good luck with your build!

boardhead,

Nice looking tear, it does look familiar for some reason!

khudson wrote:Ken,
Beautiful job on the tear. I am looking at going with the aluminum skin on mine also. I covered the roof in the luan but for the life of me I cant find aluminum anywhere. Did you happen to order it or did you pick it up local? I went with a 5x10 and the length for the roof i would need is 16' do to the radius. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Also the diamond plate finish looks cool. Thanks Keith

Not intending to hijack...srry

Roof AL I got local at a trailer joint that repairs semi-trailers. 102 wide and however long. The side AL was bought locally also at a sign supply shop. Hope that helps.

Roof AL was installed just about the same as BoardHead's was.

Ken

how thick did every one get for the top?

All of the sheet aluminum on my tear, top & sides, is .032".

Did you run into a problem when skinning the top that it didnt bulge out anywhere, like on mine it will have a spar about every 14 inches and then filled with ridged fome . So it will be a spar ,flat insl, spar, flat insl,. It will still take the rad?

My roof is two layers of 1/2" pink foam with the aluminum on top of that. The ceiling is 1/8 Birch put onto the top of the walls,on top of that are the only spars, one for the hatch hinge, two for where the sun/moon roof is going to be and two for a future front window. I used trailer roof aluminum that comes 103" wide. Picked that up right here in Sheboygan.
Brwbier

BrwBier.. Where exactly did you get it, I am looking around here in milwaukee and cant seem to find any. Im eather looking in the wrong places or asking for the wrong material.