Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm considering building a teardrop or TTT using bent & laminated wood strips to make the curved frame. Unfortunately, the local Home Depots only carry lattice in stain-grade, and that's 47 cents per linear foot for the 1/4 inch thick by 1-1/8 inch wide strips. Does anybody know of a more affordable source of lattice-type wood strips?

Most lattice wood is not worth your time. The thickness is nice and that about it, unless your willing to spend quite a bit of $

If you have or have access to a tablesaw you can rip your own stock down for laminating.
Or
set up a strip jig and use a circular saw to rip strips from your stock

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~durgerian/id5.html

They do an very nice job, I don't care for the hand placement in one pic, Fingers should never be below the plate. other than that the set up they use works very well.

I ripped clear, hand picked 2 X 4 studs to make laminated curved spars. Also have made them from strips of 5.2 mm plywood for spars that are not exposed (inside walls)

I'd recommend looking at 2x10 or 12's. Usually they are a better grade (fewer knot holes/warping, etc) and will make for higher quality strips. While one 2x10 is much more expensive than a 2x4, I don't think the board-foot cost is that much higher. Combine that with higher quality and it's well worth it!

Thanks for all the advice so far. Based upon what I've seen so far, I'll plan on ripping solid wood (2xwhatever) down to make the strips. Thanks!

It might be worth asking if a bent laminated frame is necessary?

It appears to me that some teardrop builders think they are building a house where a self-supporting framework is built first and then skinned in with plywood to keep the weather out.

In a teardrop, the plywood does all the supporting and the framework is just there to hold the plywood flat and to make it easy to join the corners. If a framework is built first, and can hold itself up, then it's way overbuilt.

Andrew

Thank you for saying that again Andrew. My long-indoctrinated brain is slowly absorbing the mantra "self-supporting monocoque", and your repetition is helping so much. The more you say it, the lighter my trailer frame dimensions are getting!
It's the best diet plan for heavy tears I've found yet.

angib wrote:It might be worth asking if a bent laminated frame is necessary?

I'm not sure, but I was leaning towards building the lightweight standy from the March/April 1946 Popular Science, and that's what the instructions for that one called for. It also gives me space for thicker insulation, which is very important -- winter camping is a major design criteria.

It appears to me that some teardrop builders think they are building a house where a self-supporting framework is built first and then skinned in with plywood to keep the weather out.

In a teardrop, the plywood does all the supporting and the framework is just there to hold the plywood flat and to make it easy to join the corners. If a framework is built first, and can hold itself up, then it's way overbuilt.

Andrew

I was thinking the framework be necessary since I'll be working with multiple sheets of plywood. If I was just building a teardrop, I'd probably be going the plywood frame route, but I've decided a teardrop is just a little too limited.

Your answer is no you do not need to bend/laminate the frame. The plans you are looking at, which I love BTW, also call for a canvas roof- I don’t think you will want to have one of those either.
It sounds like your sides will want to be “sandwiched” with a touch of pre-planning your joints can land on a ‘stud’ and your laughing. Also ply can be “scarfed” like the boat builders do- but I doubt if that is necessary.
http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/stitchglu ... rfjig2.htm

RogHodge wrote:Your answer is no you do not need to bend/laminate the frame. The plans you are looking at, which I love BTW, also call for a canvas roof- I don’t think you will want to have one of those either.

Thanks for your comments. I was planning to try either vinyl like on old-style automotive roofs, or fiberglass as in the Lil Guy plans.