Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

...as many of you know(and for those who don't) my partner(building/business) and I have been prototyping the Alligator Tear. We have had no plans but the demented thoughts and ramblings of the two of us. We have built, disassembled and rebuilt the A/T 7 or 8 times as we tried various techniques/designs....finally we are doing final assembly using glue and screws(sure hope it's all in the right place)
There are new pics here
or click on my www button and checkout glued and screwed
All wood pieces were prefinished on bench and using 1 or .75 in x 1/16 aluminum angle as cleats and mounted with gorilla glue and screws, the pieces were assembled in about 2/3 hrs from bare frame to what is presently displayed
It has taken us long enough to get to this point and longer still to finish as we deal with the day to day grind of getting by...phew
madjack

Madjack,
Pretty cool, I like the front box design. Good work

...thanks. Obviously we borrowed the basic idea for the front box from Camp-Inn...some ideas are just to good to pass up
madjack

No kidding, I hadn't made the connection. Say the lower openings on the box exterior, are those for surplus bread bag storage

Very nice! I like the front box design but I'm even more impressed with the profile. Taking some time to do some beforehand design work has really paid off with a unique design!

Madjack,
That's looking good...
I hope you two are able to get the time to come out to Pamplin Grove next summer.

Dean in Eureka, CA wrote:Madjack,
That's looking good...
I hope you two are able to get the time to come out to Pamplin Grove next summer.

...don't know about my building partner(Idaho is about as far west as he cares to get) BUT my wife(the poor girl) and I sure hope to get out to the Redwood country and maybe meet some of you West Coasters
madjack

...Woody, the way you miss connections makes me go hmmmmm and yes the lower box is an excellent place to store your extra baggies along with your masked trashcan bandit repellent device

...Ol' Timer, we had a 4' wide roll of kraft paper and just keptdrawing full sized profiles until we said "yeah...that's it"
madjack

Don't forget the pink plastic flamingo on a stick repellant also

Jack, Very cool profile. I like that you covered the frame with the side walls. You also have the same wheels I bought for mine. Keep the pictures coming.

Cool! And I love that front box!

The problem I'm having with mine is figuring out how to support it properly. The A section of my tongue sits at least 6 inches below the level of the floor. Gotta figure out exactly how I'm going to build up that section over the tongue to support the weight of the AC.

IraRat wrote:Cool! And I love that front box!

The problem I'm having with mine is figuring out how to support it properly. The A section of my tongue sits at least 6 inches below the level of the floor. Gotta figure out exactly how I'm going to build up that section over the tongue to support the weight of the AC.

Ira,

3/4" plywood should be plenty strong for the weight of the A/C. Just make the floor of the tongue box out of it.

Kerry

Look'n good, Jack. I like it!

Ira,

Just and FYI, or food for thought, or whatever, I've seen the Camp-Inn and their front box is actually part of the trailer body and built on the same floor with the body. Wish I had seen it before I built mine.

Kerry, do you mean just make the box out of 3/4 ply, and then put a 3/4 shelf in there that the exterior of the AC sits on? Or use brackets to support the AC?

Ira,

I was just saying that the 3/4" should support the weight and allow you to bolt it directly to the 'A' frame part of the tongue. If the A/C needs to be up a little higher then just put a shelf in there to support it. The shelf would not need to be 3/4", I believe that 3/8" or 1/2" shoud do fine for a shelf inside a box with the 3/4" bottom and you could support the shelf with whatever width material you needed (I would suggest at least 3/4" solid stock on edge to support the shelf).

Kerry

P.S. If I can get some free time and can remember to do it, I will make a drawing or two of what I am talking about.