Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

D O O R ....
the weekest link on my trailer is doors I have 2 and posibley 3 or 4 if you look at it right....

My first attempt at a D O O R I put it on I was in a hurry to go out on my first sleep in it at the meet at Mantana De Oro with 35 other teardrop types.

It was windy and the door literly BLEW OFF so I reinforce the board behind the hinges (which also flew off with the door)
So that gun door you see are just one layer of wood with reinforce frames no backing are warping and held shut with a shed lock. at night they are YES tied shut with us inside. "my wooden tent"

I keep working on it looking at door locks one guy used a garage door lock.
I used pine strips around the door and that might be where I need to start
using stronger wood around the parimiter then making new doors that hold up.

I do not understand how to make a door nor fully understand how to hang it.

I want to be proud of my doors and feel that when it it time to run to the restroom I will make it, without them falling off:lol:

So .... for ME D O O R is a 4 letter word and I will use another
4 Letter word to express my helplessness...... H E L P

Ron D.

This is the second negative D O O R story I've read today and I'm not even trying. I wonder, since it is almost time for me to deal with my doors, if the Gods are trying to tell me something.



I'm a scared now.

I made my door like a house door. It is foam filled and has a 1x4 framing inside. The thing I forgot to do was leave special blocking for the handle so it is close.

I used house door hinges (get the type where the pin doesn't come out though.

If the wind is an issue you need a strap to keep the door from blowing open all the way and something to keep it from banging closed.

E-Z Doors
1 X 3 oak boards on the outside of the door and 2 layers of 1/4" oak plywood behind that. No screws, dowels, staples or nails in the construction of the doors, just wood and epoxy clamped together. Checked for square during clamping, trimmed off the outside and window excess plywood with the router after the epoxy cured in a couple of hours. No miter cuts or rounded places, cause I ain't no carpenter. People always comment when the doors close that it sounds like a refrigerator door , car door, etc, etc......

Ron,

I certainly know what you mean about not seeing a td before you build. And even if I had seen one I don't think I could have absored every single detail about the construction unless I was at a certain step and only needed to look at that one detail.

I was also lucky to have my buddy Bill help me on the doors. But after a few trips I got to thinking how will my door and regular door house knobs do as far as traveling and hitting lots of bumps???? I mean.........that's not the way our door knobs at home are used.

I thought I'd add a little extra protection and found in the hardware section at Home Depot this latch or bolt. There are a couple of ways to mount it. Heck it might even work for you to have one inside and out. Latch the outside while traveling and the latch the inside when occupied.

Just happy to share these two pics with you. This made me feel much better about my doors...........





Good luck,

Barb

Barb,

I guess (hope) that if someone was to slide that bolt closed with you inside the trailer, you could reach out through the window somehow and let yourself out?

Try it to be sure - I wouldn't wanna be in there if there was ANY possibility you could get locked in by some prankster!!

Don

b.bodemer wrote:Heck it might even work for you to have one inside and out. Latch the outside while traveling and the latch the inside when occupied.

That`s OK until some prankster locks you in

Yep..............I could undo it through the window but I hope that person would not be hanging around when I come out the door!

Barb

I found a nice brass keyed slide bolt by National Hardware and It locks open ( so some smarty cant lock you in) and locks closed when you are gone so they can't get in and locks in a neutral position so it acts as a simple deadbolt. I have looked and looked for another and they are apparently discontinued as the National web site doesn't even have them. So the inside slide bolts provide security when we are inside. If ANYBODY finds these in a mom and pop hardware please ...please PM me I have looked everywhere for another. The are simple to install and look good.

b.bodemer (Barb), Steve_Cox (Steve), Dooner (Me)
Great minds think alike! Seems to me, we did our doors the same.

WHEW-HOO! LOOKIN' GOOD!

This might help ...
http://www.nfdc.net/home/cbdb/Teardrop%20DoorWin.htm

Dee Bee

My walls weren't completley flat so my doors were especially tricky. I made them by tacking the external (oversized) door skin over the door opening and then building up the door from the inside. When it was all dry and solid I peeled it off and cut it out with the router. They came out great but took me 3 goes to get this method for a perfectly fitting door.

Hopefully these pics will help.



Start of the framing glued to the skin with construction adhesive to allow for small irregularities









Cheers
Steve

Steve,
I really like the way you did your doors. My body is not exactly true either, so I think I might borrow your approach.

I`d like to try your way too, unfortunately I only have one door, so I might end up sleeping in my tear before its finished

Thanks for all the info ......
I did get the idea of outlining the board on the trailer so it is the same size.

I do think maybe I should add extra outside the door so it has a better outside lip and I wanted to put in a stained door instead of just a blut one.

But is there a site that show a door being made. hallow or other wise

And the lock I assume I can put something in like adding the lock intside the the door like add on bolts for a house door. but is there a site showing other type of locks being put in??

I like the look of Dean A. and Steves

I have to admit I have not looked on the net under building a door but I have at the library. And one friend suggested I go to a camper junk yard and buy one and cut it to size ... but there are nune around her that I know of I could check local junk yards.

Thanks... Ron D.