Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello,
This is my first post after wandering around this website for some time and marveling at the amazing wealth of knowledge. It has been most helpful and inspirational as I undertake creating my first teardrop this spring. Thank you for this portal of information!

Two questions I have:

1. I was looking at the pneumatic staple guns (Porter-Cable) at HD and wondering if anyone uses these for their TD construction, in particular with attaching the skin and internal paneling? Is it worth getting vs. just using screws/drill for attaching. Are the staples going to be strong enough to hold the skins compared with screws?

2. Living in the Southwest, the winds can be brutal here in the spring time (40-60 mph aren't uncommon). Has anyone weathered out such winds while on the road or is it best to not venture out with the TD if possible?

Again, many thanks!

Tom

If you use staples with glue, they will certainly be strong enough. There are some people that uses screws with glue, and then remove the screws once the glue has dried.

I'm actually planning on using staples with my next build. It's much easier to fill the holes left by staples than the holes left by screws!

Welcome to our adult sized romper room Tom.........
1) I use an air stapler as much as possible...used in conjunction with the proper adhesive, it will produce very good results....

2) I have driven/towed my tear waaaaaaaaay too fast, does that count??? A tear has a very low profile so most winds don't have a bad negative effect...if stopped for the night and the wind gets too serious, hook it to the tow vehicle...if the tow vehicle gets blown away, just say hello to Dorthy for me
madjack

My TD is not low or slow. I drive at 60mph all the time and a couple of weekends ago drove home with a 50+ mph wind.... You just have to pay attention to the trees ahead of you in case you are gonna get broadsided suddenly.

I used my narrow crown air stapler a lot on my build. However, the staples just hold things together until glue dries. I wouldn't use the staples to hold anything beyond trim pieces by themselves.

I liked the staples because they countersink themselves, and leave a very small hole to fill.

Just be careful with thin materials not to use too much air pressure, or you will go right through the material. Something to remember with a roof skin.

CD

caseydog wrote:I used my narrow crown air stapler a lot on my build. However, the staples just hold things together until glue dries.

Same here. It was very helpful as I was bending my birch in the front. It held everything together so the glue could do it's stuff.

I also used the stapler to hold my aluminum in place before I put on the trim. No glue, just the staples and trim hold it on.

planovet wrote:

caseydog wrote:I used my narrow crown air stapler a lot on my build. However, the staples just hold things together until glue dries.

Same here. It was very helpful as I was bending my birch in the front. It held everything together so the glue could do it's stuff.

I also used the stapler to hold my aluminum in place before I put on the trim. No glue, just the staples and trim hold it on.

+1 Very handy when holding things in place with one hand. I got all Emeril Lagasse with mine. Bam Bam and paused for a beer.