Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I bought the cd from Steve Frederick and it doesn't say how to attach the floor to the frame. I assuming I should use lag bolts counter sunk in the floor. Is this correct or is there another method.

Mike

benzu wrote:I bought the cd from Steve Frederick and it doesn't say how to attach the floor to the frame. I assuming I should use lag bolts counter sunk in the floor. Is this correct or is there another method.

Mike

Mike,

If you are talking about attaching the flooring to a wooden sub-frame, then I would use glue and a series of countersunk wood screws. If you are talking about attaching the flooring to the metal frame, I would use a bolt known as an elevator bolt. It has a nice flat head that distributes the load without having to countersink and use washers under a bolt.



I found elevator bolts at the Ace Hardware around the corner from my house.

Joanne

Thanks, Joanne

I'll check them out Ace today, yes I'm going through a metal frame, my steel frame is 1'' x 3'' x 1/8'' square tube. Hey another question I bought the roofing sealent for the floor and was wondering do I seal the underside only or do I seal the topside too.

mike

benzu wrote:Thanks, Joanne

I'll check them out Ace today, yes I'm going through a metal frame, my steel frame is 1'' x 3'' x 1/8'' square tube. Hey another question I bought the roofing sealent for the floor and was wondering do I seal the underside only or do I seal the topside too.

mike

Mike,

Since the topside of the flooring is going to be on the interior of the cabin, I can't see why sealing it would be necessary. I bought vinyl flooring remnants and glued that down in the cabin.

Joanne

Mike you don't want to get the evil smelling black goo anywhere you will use glue. You might seal the inside floor with some paint or poly before you put down flooring. Gives the flooring a smooth surface to stick to and if you ever take it up it will be easier.

GitRdun

I used carriage bolts with spiked carriage bolt washers. The washers have the square hole in the center and spikes like those on a tee nut to grip the plywood and spread the load of the bolt head.
They work great and when tightened they become nearly flush with the suface, you could coutersink the bolt head using a spade bit but do it before you drill the through hole.
Aaron

Airspeed wrote:I used carriage bolts with spiked carriage bolt washers. The washers have the square hole in the center and spikes like those on a tee nut to grip the plywood and spread the load of the bolt head.
They work great and when tightened they become nearly flush with the suface, you could coutersink the bolt head using a spade bit but do it before you drill the through hole.
Aaron

good to hear about those washers. Years ago I was working with wood and carriage bolts without those washers and found that was a bad combination, too common to end up with a loose bolt that can't be tightened or extracted.

Thank you to everyone for you help, I'm currently glueing the 1x4s to plywood hopefully by tomorrow I'll be ready to bolt the floor to the frame.

Mike

We just finished bolting ours down.

We used 3" Hex bolts in Zinc and will cover the nuts on the underside with an undercoating material.

Stainless steel is ridiculously expensive in 3/8" x 3" here for some reason ($5.79 each, w/washer and nut it's close to $10 each set!).

We left our above floor level, the wall width will actually cover the bolt head. I'll dado cut a channel to fit over the bolt head in the wall frame.

I just bought some good quality galvanized bolts at under $2./set (for 3/8 x 5). I'd tend to go with galvanized over stainless for outdoor usage.

Find a Fastenal place nearby, they are a lot cheaper than the box stores for stainless.

Dave

I used Tnuts on the inside and bolts going through from the bottom. Used loctite to keep them tite. I figure if I ever have to remove them I won't have to rip up the interior floor.....

Dave Bob wrote:Find a Fastenal place nearby, they are a lot cheaper than the box stores for stainless.

Dave

Just my .02 on Fastenal here in MO they were caught price gouging during our severe ice storm and subsequent power outage earlier this year so i will no be doing business with them locally.

Okay, I have a couple Rookie questions and don't want to start a new thread just for these and they seemed like they would fit here. I've had one person tell me to bolt the deck to the frame only in the corners while another told me to bolt it every 16 inches. So, I'm hoping somebody will see the date of this posting, read my "duh" questions, and answer them.

1) How often and where do you bolt the deck to the Frame?
Do you only bolt it in each outside corner or is it each outside corner plus a couple times in the middle of the outside frame members? Do you put any bolts through the inside cross members of the frame or is that way-way overkill? (That's more than a couple questions for #1...sorry. I tend to get carried away with my thoughts.)

2) If you glue the deck to the frame can you really get it back off if you unbolt the bolts later?

Thanks...Thanks.......Sharon

I think I've got it figured out. I read a thread where Tom used ten 3/8" bolts. The way I see it, that would mean one at each corner, one in the middle of the front and back, and one fore and aft of each wheel. That's kind of what I thought I would do and that thread gives me confirmation that I've got the basic idea.

Thanks anyway.