Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Why are some of the builders building a 2x4 type frame to bolt down to their steel frame? Hell I just bolted my 3/4" ply to the steel frame. Did I screw up? Seems to me a waste of time and money. Is it because some are building a small house on wheels and then calling it a teardrop?

Everyone has their own style. Mine is a sandwitched floor (insulation between lumber), and attached to the frame with alum angle. Working great for me.

Many lack experience. Many of them think old school. If I overbuild it, it won't break. Some people need to make their own mistakes to understand. Then many of them sell that one and start another willing to listen to experience here next time around.


(had a big flippen paragraph written and deleted most of it for non neccesity)

I tend to agree with the last 2 comments Gage....for many people, this is all new turf for them so they might tend to overbuild. "I've got this much $$ tied up into it, I don't want it to break up on the ride!" While it may not be needed, it gives a sense of comfort in that they are more than covered, and 2x4's are cheap!. I build in very light weight materials on the frames. 16 ga., and I have had some issues that needed to be engineered prior to towing (once). It does require a different level of abilities, especially if you are scratch building something that is out of the ordinary.... I think that if some of those people built a 2nd or 3rd tear...they will find out what is too much and what is not enough. It's all a learning curve. And remember...the body is going to provide you a ton of strength...the frame may flex, but the body will take care of it all, if properly built. I personally doubt that there are any HF or other manufactured frames that don't have some flex in them without an attached body. I could be wrong.

For me...I'd rather see people overbuild on a frame or body than underbuild and have an issue down the road. There is however a point of just "out of control heavy" Just me...Doug

My floor is mounted on a wooden frame that is mounted to the steel frame. Mine is done like this to raise the floor up as my trailer is an offroad trailer and I have a 31x10.5" slung under the floor. The wooden frame lets me tuck the tyre up a bit higher. I originally was going to have the floor mounted directly to the steel but it meant the tyre would hang down too far, then I was going to raise just part of the floor but in the end this was the easiest way to do it

I do have minimal wooden framing though, also if you look you can just see the scallop cut out of the wooden frame at the rear to allow the tyre to tuck in.



So there's one reason

Cheers
Steve

IMHO:

It's a valid question ... one I've been wondering about for many, many years as I watch hundreds of homecrafters build their teardrops that way.

If you look back in history to the most famous, most successful, highest-number-produced teardrops - from Kaycraft Kampster to KIT Kamper to Ken-Skill to Benroy to Serro-Scotty to Scad-a-bout and so many others that have survived the test of time and the torture of the road, none of them had built-up floors, just simple plywood bolted to the steel frame.

Yes, a couple of the early vintage magazine plans showed built-up floors, but you'd think that by the year 2000 we would have progressed beyond that! Commercial manufacturers certainly did ... over 60 years prior! Believe me, I'm not saying that the trailer industry of the times got everything right or should have all of their methods held up as examples to follow (hell, NONE of them expected their products to last 25 years, let alone 50 or 60!), what I am saying is that many of them got some things simple, efficient, straight-forward, and just plain right! And, remember ... we're talking teardrops here, not RVs ...

Nostalgia is one thing ... and so is doing something a certain way to achieve a certain "woodwrightsmanship" ... but if your goal is to build a solid, long-lasting, good-looking teardrop as efficiently and inexpensively as you can, why would you spend the extra time & money on a built-up floor when a simple piece of plywood does the job so much more adequately? Some of us can cut a straight line with a handsaw, but today there are power tools that do the job so much easier and faster and cleaner and ... well, you get the point ... ...

So, I'm going to be watching this thread, too, to see what you all have to say! I've never claimed to know it all, nor am I too old to learn anything new (or even not-so-new ...), but I'm always willing to be surprised!

CHEERS!

Grant

I understand your reasoning Steve. I'm talking about the guy who builds a 2x4 frame the same as the steel frame and just lays it on top and bolts it down and then builds his teardrop on top of it. I'm not going to show an example because I don't want someone to get pissed off at me and P.M. Madjack because they don't understand what I'm asking with an example. As you can see, my floor is bolted right to the frame. But I also don't need the 'off road' clearence.


This pic is of the 1946 KIT that I'm restoring/rebuilding and the only reason I replaced the floor is because I replaced the sides and beings how I had it torn down that far, I might as well replace the floor.

Maybe the same reason you (Gage) put your spars at 8" and others put theirs at 12". I guess they were building their own tear the way they wanted to and I suspect everyone has spent many, many hours reading before starting and they built what they are comfortable with.

I used the Kuffel Creek plans and thats what they called for, since I had never built anything like it before it seemed reasonable. I had looked at the Outback Tear website and it used similar methods.

Just a rookie builder..myself.. I have a 20mm special ply that is used on utility trailers as well as Truck Trailers here. Also Ive seen this on some German Made Caravans sold here.


It has a roughed coating on one side and the other is smooth and shiny.

WISA®-TRANS
WISA-Trans is a multilayer laminated plywood panel intended
for heavy use as truck and trailer flooring

Info below:

Bonding
Phenolic resin cross-bonded weather resistant glueing according to EN 314-2/class 3 (DIN 68705 Teil 3: BFU 100; BS 6566 Part 8: WBP).
Construction
Special oriented construction. Also standard construction WISA-Trans X available on request.
Surface
Face: Brown (about RAL 8017) phenolic resin impregnated multi- layer laminate with hotpressed pattern. The surface pattern of maxi size panels is slightly different from that of standard size panels.
Reverse: Imprinted phenolic moisture barrier.Edge protection: Acryl-based paint.

It does not rot and its waterproof ..Well ok 20 30 years maybe..

No other framing added or included..cut to size of frame and bolted on.

Should I have built a frame then added the ply.. I dont know cant say since Im no pro by any means..

But I know next time I build it will be sandwiched.. aluminum or fiberglass
under the bottom layer - Styrofoam in middle and ply on top.

Now thats my way..

Or maybe even Honey Comb Sheeting in middle.

Next time I build mine will be lighter.. but ok Ive learned a lot from this build of mine or I better say ours since the wife and sons have also been involved..

Classic Finn

And Rick, did you really use 2x4's in your sandwitch (floor) construction?

No, not 2x4, ... 3/4 insullation between 1/4 top,and a 1/8 bottom. That's in the sleeping area. The galley is just strait 3/4"

I went with 1x3's with 1/2" ply on top. Should have been 3/4" ,but the 1/2" will work ok.

While building the floor I continually wondered what the advantages were to the 1x3's . You might recall that it took a chain saw to remove the floor from the Star Craft tent trailer in order to salvage the trailer .And that was a 1985 model with 3/4 OSB screwed to the the trailer for flooring.....

Having said that.
I do believe most here and me included are not familiar with commercial building techniques to where we can build something structurally sound out of pressed paper and glued wood chips and still make it look good. So we err on the over building side rather tan utilize techniques most of us are not familiar with......

Would I do it differently next time.Yep I will use 2x4's instead of the 1x3's . Of course ,unless I get a degree in structural architecture.Not likely.

So Gage. Bottom line for me at least is that I know my limits and I admire guys like you and Halfdome Danny and few others that have superior skills and the brain power to put them to good use.......


Greg.

Gage wrote:Why are they doing it that way?

Why did I use 2x4s? Well, the trailer I bought was built with 4x3 angle with the 4" side being the vertical one. I know, way overbuilt for this application but it was what I had to work with. The angle was supposed to be smaller but the builder beefed it up and I didn't know better at the time. I could have just put the ply on the floor of the trailer but then the sides would either be on the inside or outside of the angle. I wanted the sides to sit on top of the angle for support and for the sides and angle to be flush. So I built a sandwich floor with 2x4s. If I had to do it all over again, I'd make sure the trailer was built differently and NOT use 2x4s for the floor. It was more out of necessity in my case, not because I thought I needed the extra heft. Also, as I go along, I learn things about how to do it better and lighter next time. All us noobs make mistakes now and then. I'm sure most tend to err on the side of overbuild than underbuild on their first trailer. We don't all have your infinite knowledge on this subject, at least not yet.

Hope this answers your question Gage, I thought it was a good question also.

Some of us are wheels under the body. Many building wheels under choose to space the body up to avoid building wheel bumps for tire clearance.

I am not one of them, although wheels over I layered 2 layers of 3/4 foam on the 3/4" sub floor that is bolted dircct to the frame . The foam evens out to the top of the factory fenders . I then covered them with 7/16 osb. I now have a flat floor that is insulater to an R 10 +/- with the foam fully protected.