Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

What would be a good thickness and what kind of wood is commonly used for bulkhead wall construction?

3/4" plywood seems to be the popular choice ... many alternatives ...

I have 3 verticle and 2 horizontal bulkheads and all are sandwich built with 1/8" plywood on both sides, 3/4" framing, and 3/4" ridgid insulation!

I used 3/4 on the first and 1/2 on the second...I attach to the side walls using cleats made from 1x1/16 AL angle...the angle is scuffed up and attached with screws and Gorilla Glue....................
madjack

Larry,

My galley bulkhead is insulated so I used 3/4" framing.



Regardless of how you build your bulkhead there are a couple of things to keep in mind. If your teardrop profile is curved in the area where the bulkhead is going to be, then you'll need to angle cut the top of the bulkhead. What I did was stop my bulkhead shy of the top of the profile and came back later and added an angled filler strip.



The second thing to keep in mind is that the hurricane hinge needs to be perpendicular (or I guess that should be "radial") to the curve of the profile. As things go this is often not the same angle as the bulkhead. In the picture above, you can see the radial line that I penciled in on my sidewall. To get that angle, I cut a second filler strip and fastened and glued it to the bulkhead.

Take care, Tom

5/8" cherry mortise and tenon frames with 1/4" cherry plywood panels glued in.



Eric

I built a stud wall and glued and screwed 7/16 osb to the framed wall. Insulated the inside and covered with 1/4" luan stained and polyed.
Used the studs for a pantry on the galley side.

aggie79 wrote:Larry,

My galley bulkhead is insulated so I used 3/4" framing.



Regardless of how you build your bulkhead there are a couple of things to keep in mind. If your teardrop profile is curved in the area where the bulkhead is going to be, then you'll need to angle cut the top of the bulkhead. What I did was stop my bulkhead shy of the top of the profile and came back later and added an angled filler strip.



The second thing to keep in mind is that the hurricane hinge needs to be perpindicular (or I guess that should be "radial") to the curve of the profile. As things go this is often not the same angle as the bulkhead. In the picture above, you can see the radial line that I penciled in on my sidewall. To get that angle, I cut a second filler strip and fastened and glued it to the bulkhead.

Take care, Tom

I was planning on making the top bulkhead out of 3/4" solid oak. I plan on bevel-cutting it to match the angle of the last spar. I guess thats kind of what your talking about, I think?

Even though this isn't the same profile I'm using , the bulkhead configuration is the same. I'm using 3 bulkheads in my build.

Here is a pic of my sidewall with the spars and top bulkhead marked on it. I'll attach my hatch hinge to the last spar.



The spars are 1 1/2" square. I haven't yet routered out my offset. I had to order my bit. I'm going with a 5/16" rabbeting bit now instead of the 3/8". It's in between 3/8" and 1/4" so thats a fair compromise.

Larry,

Looks like you have the correct angle to me.

Take care, Tom

toypusher wrote:I have 3 verticle and 2 horizontal bulkheads and all are sandwich built with 1/8" plywood on both sides, 3/4" framing, and 3/4" ridgid insulation!

+1 -- I like your style!

My bulkheads and cabinet bottoms are 3/4 inch torsion boxes. 1/2" alder grid with 1/2" foam (I had to change that 1/2" grid a bit to match the actual thickness of the 1/2 foam), and 1/8 skins on both sides.

I prefer mortise and tenon joints, with glue and a few slight head pins to hold it together until the glue dries.

The resulting panel is light and strong.

dave