Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hey everyone,

I haven't been on this board too much lately, been busy with work and all.

I have kept on working on my Cubby.

It is decided that I am going with woodgrain sides and a painted metal roof.

Recently, I framed the walls, insulated them,ran the wiring through, cut the interior wall panel skins, and glued them in.

I used 10 ga wire for the battery to the fuse box and 14 ga speaker wire for fuse box to lights, pink 3/4 inch foam for insulation, and glued in 1/8 inch Birch plywood for the interior paneling using a Liquid Nails product and LOTS of clamps.

I am also looking at the possibility of making my own windows, so I can have some nice, swoopy, round shapes. I will also check out custom van shops for portholes.

Please take a look at my gallery and offer me any comments.

Thanks Guys!

Ben Nelson

Ben...it looks like you have things well in hand...I thought I was happy to have a 4" Porter Cable belt sander....how wide is that thing in the background....appears to be at least 48"....Great job and keep the pics coming...everyone enjoys pics....Doug

My father is a residential remodeler. He bought the cabinet shop down the street from his house a few years ago. I have the good fortune to use a corner of it for working on my trailer right now.

I am really trying to keep my project out of everyone's way. I think when the cabinet shop guys use that big sander, they just roll the trailer out of the way and then roll it back when they are done.

The guy that runs the place is around after hours a lot (which is when I am there.) He has been real helpful with advice.

Even though there are a lot of different tools there, I have only been using any in a real limited way, I don't want to break anything that somebody else uses to make a living. (That said, the panel saw they have there is awesome!)

It beats the pants off my garage. I was having problems building in it because the concrete floor is so busted up and uneven, the trailer wouldn't even sit straight parked on the ground.

Doug,

I would love to get more information on how you did your woody trim and metal roof. I am planning on a similar design. Any tips are appreciatted.

-Ben

I overlapped the maple framing on the sides with 1/8 x 1 1/2 inch flat strap aluminuim....I only used 48" aluminum skin on the top and the sides were wider than that so I used flat stock to beef up the edge and overlap the gap where the aluminum was missing on the roof....I used 3M 5200 marine sealer under the flat strap...Waterproof so far....Doug

doug hodder wrote:I only used 48" aluminum skin on the top and the sides were wider than that so I used flat stock to beef up the edge and overlap the gap where the aluminum was missing on the roof....I used 3M 5200 marine sealer under the flat strap.Doug

Hey--I feel better now, knowing I did something similar to Doug because I was in the same situation.

But that 5200 isn't much fun to work with. Maybe it was me, or the heat down here, but I used the small tubes and it was a real pain squeezing it out, required a lot of effort. Granted, I didn't snip the hole TOO big, because with this stuff, you basically just have to fill the gap and cover the edge of the ply.

I also used a piece of flat stock on top the seam/edge/5200, plus I have those ropes--which I'm going to start expoxying shortly. I just picked up the smaller cans of 2-part Bondo epoxy (21 bucks!) to start experimenting. And it looks like I'm going to need at least 5, 6 of them to epoxy everything I have to epoxy.

Thank God that when I walk into the house with just cans of stuff, my wife has no idea how expensive they are.

Ira...I don't think you are going to want to use epoxy BONDO on your ropes...you are going to want the liquid epoxy resin..(it cures clear) .bondo has a filler in it and it'll most likely be pink in color..when catalized, or could be light green....it also sets up pretty quickly and will not penetrate the ropes like you're gonna need....just my thoughts on it...but you might want to rethink that one....just pop the lid on a can and take a look..If you want the ropes to show as ropes, this probably isn't what you want ..Doug

doug hodder wrote:Ira...I don't think you are going to want to use epoxy BONDO on your ropes...you are going to want the liquid epoxy resin..(it cures clear) .bondo has a filler in it and it'll most likely be pink in color..when catalized, or could be light green....it also sets up pretty quickly and will not penetrate the ropes like you're gonna need....just my thoughts on it...but you might want to rethink that one....just pop the lid on a can and take a look..If you want the ropes to show as ropes, this probably isn't what you want ..Doug

This is called "Marine Epoxy Resin." The company name is Bondo. Wrong stuff?

Plus, I also just looked--the cans were lyingon their sides, and some dribbled out the can! Meaning it's too messed up to return. What can i use this stuff for anyway?

More money wasted.

...auto body bondo is pinkish and very heavy bodied...actually a putty, Ira. What you have may be OK, just look at it and if it is relatively clear without much in the way of color it is probably OK
madjack

madjack wrote:...auto body bondo is pinkish and very heavy bodied...actually a putty, Ira. What you have may be OK, just look at it and if it is relatively clear without much in the way of color it is probably OK
madjack

Will do--thanks. I guess I have to pour a drop from each can into cups to look? Or maybe I should I mix a drop of it.

...yep, mix a dollop of each and take a look, if it looks like a relatively clear and colorless(not totally) urethane or varnish it is what you want, if it is an opaque pink heavy bodied "putty" then it is not
madjack

Ira...I didn't mean to confuse the issue, just when you mentioned bondo I thought you had the wrong stuff....If it's putty...no, if it's liquid...go...it should have a slight amber cast to it when catalized...at least the West System is....Also...as a side bar...there are different epoxies...some for structural work...others for top coating...it's more uv resistant...but will still need a varnish or some other material to top coat the epoxy...Make sure you mix them in the appropriate amounts, or you'll get a really hot batch with no working time on it....just some pointers....Doug

doug hodder wrote:.but will still need a varnish or some other material to top coat the epoxy...Make sure you mix them in the appropriate amounts, or you'll get a really hot batch with no working time on it....just some pointers....Doug

Oy vey...

Yeah, the total working time on this stuff is just 25 MINUTES! And since I bought the smaller combo, a pint for each part, we're not taling about a lot of material. That's why I previously said I would need at least 4,5 6 of these just for the side ropes I have on there now--not to mention what I'm going to do with rope around the exterior of the air conditioning, and maybe on part of the hatch.

But it never occurred to me that I would still have to varnish on top of that. That's no big deal, really, but what I'm NOW concerned with is MASKING off the skins while I'm doing it.

So your thoughts?

If I use masking tape on the birch roof and sides to keep the epoxy from globbing onto there, and if this stuff is as strong as everyone says, how the heck is that tape ever going to pull off after? Should I forget about masking, do the main surfaces of the rope first which are more or less safely away from the wood surfaces, and then go back later and really take my time, freehand with a small brush, to finish it off? Without masking it at all?

Or should I leave a 1/4 inch, whatever distance, of my wood exposed, use tape, and let the epoxy cover those exposed strips of side and roof skin as well?

Same issue with being able to remove that tape later--will it actually come off?

Of course, this is all predicated on whether I have the right stuff now or not (haven't tested it yet), but I'm gonna need answers to these questions regardless.

Yup...epoxy creep under the tape is going to be an issue, you might want to think about just coating out the entire roof and ropes with epoxy...Don't know if that is in your budget...but trying to coat out the ropes and not have any runs or drips on the sides is going to be a problem....maybe just put the tape down until you get them coated out, work in short segments...pull the tape and wipe down the line with your finger...finish sand later, then monitor any sags and runs that may appear until it sets up...25 min..seems a little fast. I know the West System gives me about an hour for messing around with it...If it were me, I wouldn't wait until it cures before pulling the tape ,I hope you bought a ton of brushes!!!! On the hatch portion, if you haven't done the rope treatment yet...try wiping down a piece of rope with a skim coat of epoxy, let it cure....then the following coats won't want to soak in so much and you can stretch your epoxy further..the rope should still form to the curve fine...just make sure it is stretched tight when you wipe it down...I dunno if it will work...just some ideas...Doug