Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Asking those that built a tear over 4 ft. if there was alot of material waste.
what did you do with all of the plywood pieces from the roof?
I guess I am assuming using the standard 4x8 sheet.
It seems like there might be some pieces of ply that are just too small to do much with. Or is there a way to work them in someplace else?

whatcha think?
thanks!

My second build was 58.5 w x 10'. I found that it left approxx 2 pcs about 1/2 sheet give or take. I used them to add the extra 2 foot on the double radius of the front of the trailer to make it 10' long. I guess you could use them in the cabinet framing some where if you were make a eight footer. Trust me you find a use for them somewhere

For the inside ceiling and floor I used 5X5 Baltic Birch so there was minimal waste. The outside roof will be 4X8 luan. I managed to use some of the extra for things like drawer bottoms or cabinet doors.

There's not enough waste that would have made it not worth doing. Mine is 68 1/2" wide outside. it sure looks and feels alot bigger inside and out.
I'm very happy with the width of mine.
Check out my build journal below.

If it were me, I wouldn't worry about the waste. Build what you really want, you'll find places to use the drop, either around the house or on the tear. Just my opinion...........I know that I don't cut every piece perfectly and have to redo things, so it's great to not have to go and get more material.......... Doug Hodder

I built a 5'X9' tear and at that size, nothing was a standard fit. I did, however, use up most of the smaller pieces on cabinets and galley and such.

I agree with Doug. It is much more important to build what you want, rather than what will fit the size of lumber available.

I've had all kinds of ply left-overs.... and since the build last fall, I've been using some of the extras and have saved money by not having to go to the home depot and buy more wood...

We use 5'x10' plywood some there is not much waste. Only the back radus cuts. We also use Baltic Birch 5'x5' for cabinets and hatch face.

Merlin

surveytech wrote:Asking those that built a tear over 4 ft. if there was alot of material waste.
what did you do with all of the plywood pieces from the roof?
I guess I am assuming using the standard 4x8 sheet.
It seems like there might be some pieces of ply that are just too small to do much with. Or is there a way to work them in someplace else?

whatcha think?
thanks!

I'm building a 5 x 10. So far I've only build the floor and walls but there hasn't been much waste. I used half-lap joints to create the floor so that used up two of the smaller pieces. You can see pictures of how I joined the floor and walls on my website.

I also used a couple of the real small pieces to make gussets for my sawhorses. Building sawhorses is the mini-project I'm doing to try out the different glues I'm going to use on my build.

Joanne

Remember that your tear will last you years.... If it cost you another $200.00 in waste, which I think is way high, that figures out to about 20 bucks per year for a better end product......

There are several folks who went with 4' wide who would probably pay that much for a queen sized tear right now.......

arnereil wrote:Remember that your tear will last you years.... If it cost you another $200.00 in waste, which I think is way high, that figures out to about 20 bucks per year for a better end product......

There are several folks who went with 4' wide who would probably pay that much for a queen sized tear right now.......

Yep.

Geron