Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi all - first post. Woohoo!

I'm building my first tear, and need a 1/8" plywood source - hopefully near the Outer Banks of NC. I've searched the archives, but no luck. Anybody know of one? Every time I ask for it at any of the standard lumber/home improvement stores all I get is "trout face" in return. Can you help a brother out?

Thanks!

Try a shop which caters to woodworking. They may even have some in stock. If not, they can tell you where to look.

I ran into the same problem, forget about the big boxes, you have to go to the smaller mom & pop type places.

...a viable alternative...goto the big blue or orange box store...look in their paneling section for 1/8th all wood paneling...this is usually a Luan ply with a decorative veneer onit...if you look thru the stack, you can find some with a back that is good enough for showing...the veneer side has a finish onit that has to be sanded off or otherwise removed IF you wish to glue on that side...usually sells for 15-20 bux a sheet
madjack

Find a professional cabinet maker! Also real lumber yard may agree to order it.

Since you are near the outer banks there should be plenty of boat builders, which would also be another good source, since they often use 1/8 or 3 mm plywood.

Are you looking for something that has some nice grain to it for interior purposes or something more structural? If it's the interior, like Jack says, I've found it at some of the big box stores however they all carry different things nationwide, better stuff at an "official" wood/ lumber yard. Be careful on some of the import stuff. They will use crap for the core and it can break on you, not so likely on the 1/8" though. If you want exact dimensional stuff like a baltic birch for exterior bending for tight radius even uniform bends, again the official wood or lumber yard. The grain is sort of blah though.

The marine grade material is great, but depending on your use, may not be worth the expense. If it's a woody, the marine grade is an excellent choice for the exterior skins however. I've used it on 2. Just what I've experienced. Doug

The big box stores around here don't carry it, but I found that the good old fashioned lumber yards did. Google maps should be able to turn up plenty of options.

Hey!

Thanks to all of those that replied - good stuff. I think my course of action will be to check the "real" lumberyards and boat builders as suggested to see what I can turn up. I'm looking for something with nice grain to go inside and probably marine-grade for the outside. I can find loads of 5.2mm stuff, but it doesn't want to bend as tightly as I'm asking it to (Ultralight profile). I'm not making a woody - planning on sealing the exterior with generous amounts of CPES and then using Uniflex 255 after fairing everything out.

Just FYI, I'm also going to set up a jig to experiment with cutting width-wise shallow saw kerfs in the backside of the 5.2mm stuff to see how flexy I can make it. I think I can get by with kerfing about 36" - maybe in a couple of spots. The rest should bend ok. Time consuming yes, but no more so than chasing all over looking for thin plywood. I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks again for the great info. You folks are a wealth of information, and the best part is you don't mind sharing it.

Look in the yellow pages of your local phone book for hardwood or hardwood suppliers. If you find some listed call them and ask if they carry 1/8" and 1/4" hardwood plywood. 1/8" is better for bending along the roof. It's how I found several in my area. The quality was much better than plywood from big box stores. Good luck in your quest.

Try the lumber liquidator type stores..........look for 1/8" wood paneling. Just use it backwards. It beds pretty easily around a fairly tight radius.

http://www.boulterplywood.com/

http://plywood.boatbuildercentral.com/

Find a marina and ask around. There is probably a source locally. Strictly speaking, I don't think you need marine grade for the interior, but it can't hurt. And the grain is usually very good.

Most exterior-grade ply today passes the same 3-hour boil test as marine grade, it just doesn't contain enough layers and it has too many voids.

Some of the Luan from the Orange Big Box Home Improvement Center has delaminated (around the edges) in the Florida humidity even stored out of the weather. Since trailers can see high humidity...

Beware of Marine Grade fir. It has a tendency to check around the edges.

there are 3 grades (well 4 really) they all meet the same 3 hour boil test.

1088 is the most expensive usually A/B faces (not always) minimum voids in the plys. All plys will be of the same material

6566 is next in line B/C

German certification is out there for some panels. Depends on where it is imported from. Look for "German Lloyd" designation.

The 4th kind is aircraft structural-grade.

Look at http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/wp/plywood.html

Hey!

As suggested, I started looking around at the local lumber yards and found a guy willing to go the extra mile and order some 1/8" birch for me. I'm picking it up tomorrow. Thanks again for the helpful suggestions and tips.

sandman27959 wrote:Hey!

As suggested, I started looking around at the local lumber yards and found a guy willing to go the extra mile and order some 1/8" birch for me. I'm picking it up tomorrow. Thanks again for the helpful suggestions and tips.

Be sure it is plywood when you get it. I ended up with paneling and though it is pretty it is very fragile in the sun.