Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi, new to the board but I've used it as a resource for planning and building a custom cargo trailer that's under way. I tried searching the board for this info but there were so many results for the terms I tried and none seemed to match.

I'm a new dad and we are about to do an extended "baby tour" - when I figured out I could build a new trailer for not much more than it would cost me to rent a U-Haul for the period, I started down the path to madness. And who knows, what I learn from this may well leverage forward to a TTT for family camping in the future.

The trip starts in a little over a week. It is cold right now where I am, so I'm working in the basement. I've got the build planned much like a ship model in a bottle, as everything has to come out of the basement through a 30" door & bulkhead. The major parts will be assembled in an unheated garage.

I've got the HF 4 x ~4 ft. trailer frame with 12" wheels. The trailer box is already built (3/4" and 1/2" Douglas Fir marine plywood, joined with Kreg fasteners and exterior wood glue) and coated on all exterior surfaces with West System epoxy, which is in day two of an expected four day fast cure cycle (206 hardener). I had planned to apply Interlux Brightsides one part marine polyurethane paint as a topcoat but I'm now really nervous about the fumes/emissions, esp. with a young baby in the house upstairs. And the recommended primer options seem just as ugly. And it is unclear how quickly any of it would cure. Plus my epoxy surface is not impeccable, so the benefit of the Brightsides mirror-like finish is debatable.

The West System folks have done some research on using house primers over their epoxy and it looks promising in a home environment. So using house paint over the epoxy looks possible.

Has anyone used gloss house paint on their TTT/TD and had good results? Would this be durable? I presume I could easily get a coat of primer and a couple of coats of gloss on and dry in the time I have available.

Anyone have other options? I'm all ears!

Thanks!

PS: Some shots of the box so far:
bare wood

epoxied lid

epoxied rear surface/latch area

partially epoxied interior

How does the new mom feel about it?

Good things come to those who wait...and plan well.
You can probably get decent results with house paint, but waiting till it gets warmer and you aren't in such a rush may also allow better overall results with the entire project.

Not trying to mess with your exciting camping plans, just something to ponder.
New mom's sometimes prefer hotel rooms...

Congratulations on your first child, and welcome to the forum!

Rob

My very 1st trailer was built on a 40 x 48 HF frame.

I am assuming you are just using this as a cargo trailer for the moment.

A couple things I have learned since then.....

You can easily stretch the body off the frame 12 to 18 inches without modifying the frame, simply cantaliever the floor. The sides will act as a truss.

You might give a thought to 24" aluminum flashing it comes pre painted chocolate brown on one side and white on the other. With an aluminum brake ( bending tool) you can bend a hook on each piece and have the flashing come out exactly 40" then simply add some ell shaped edging and your roof is done, No fumes no drying time.

To eliminate rear door leaks extend your roof and sides 4 to 6 inches beyond the door. Your sides and roof will extend beyond the door BUT NOT THE FLOOR. Bottom door edge is best left long to shut onto the floor

My barn build is somewhat this way with the prow of the barn acting as a "porch roof" over the door.

Why not just use the box with epoxy only, and finish with Bright Sides when it's warmer. The epoxy will offer all the weather protection you need, and if your not leaving it in the sun for extended periods, UV won't be a problem either.

Larry C

Thanks Larry, Rob's earlier reply got me thinking and I'd come to the same conclusion - I'll just put the trailer under a tarp if I have to store it in the sun until Spring to give it some UV protection. The way I have it designed, it could all come back apart easily except for the lighting/electrical (which I'd planned to have mostly inside the box not on the frame) but in the interim I'll just assemble it the way HF expects with the wiring all external and rewire later.

My wife likes the trailer as it looks now anyway (though the blotches of wood putty make me a bit crazy, she doesn't notice them).

Bobhenry, yes, the design is essentially just a "roof box" like those Thule things but with a lot more room and on wheels. I like your flashing roofing idea - I realize now I could cover the whole box with that if I want to, and it would give me an excuse to buy another tool!

This design is all made from two sheets of plywood (1 ea. 1/2 & 3/4) plus a pair of 8ft. poplar 1x4s. The top is hinged to swing up (much like a flat galley door you folks are used to) and I have a pretty clever (IMO) gasket system figured out to keep it all dry inside (plus I've installed a boat drain plug, just in case that doesn't work or we have a spill). I've got a 1/2" CPVC pipe wiring chase to protect the wires from cargo inside and road debris out and again help with water tightness, plus allow for easy pull of wiring changes if needed later.

My original idea was to just put one of those pre-made roof boxes on a trailer frame and bit of plywood, but when I saw what they cost (even on Craigslist) then I knew I could do more for less this way (except for my time... ).

Our trip is really just a month long set of house visits up/down the East coast staying with friends and family, with a lot of miles inbetween. So no camping this time around, but once the warmer weather comes this could make tenting easier (until I start on making our TTT ). I just needed something to fit the pack and play, carriage, baby tub, etc. (kids require so much stuff!) into along with our luggage. It wasn't all going to fit in the car - at least not comfortably.

Thanks for the input! I'll post back some photos of the completed rig if folks are interested.

I understrand the to much stuff for the car with the baby. About 18 years ago I built a 4'x6'x2' box with plywood and put a plywood top with a hinge at the front. Painted it with some elcheapo exterior house paint from Lowes witch lasted a couple years. Called it a suit case on wheels for me and my two boys while on a summer trip to Denver. Worked great and pulled it with a 79 Dodge Colt. Have fun I know it will work.Larry

Well it only took me a couple of years but I finally finished (mostly) the trailer, which I've now nicknamed MOET. Thought I'd just come back and close the loop, sorry for the zombie effect on the thread.

I found out the hard way that West epoxy will degrade really quickly if it gets any significant sun exposure. I'd driven the trailer to FLA, parked under a carport, and drove back, all in February. Put the trailer on our East facing mostly shaded porch and by late Spring much of the epoxy had blisters in it. Argh, it was still tough enough to be a bear to sand down but flaky enough that I had to remove most of it.

Long story short, after many rounds of trying to fill up the surface imperfections with the epoxy alone I finally found the light and used some West fairing filler. Wow, what a difference! One good coat and it did what 5 applications of epoxy didn't - give me a mostly fair surface for painting.

Painted using Interlux Brightsides primer and topcoat. Again big learning experience there, I was originally planning to paint the trailer Largo Blue so went with the grey primer. A couple of coats of that and sandings later I opened the blue can to find I didn't like the color at all in real life. Finally landed on a bright yellow but found it would require many more coats to cover up the (mostly sanded off) grey primer. My poor Porter-Cable random orbital got a real workout with the repeated sanding jobs until I switched to using Scotch Brite to merely scuff the finish between coats and just sand the big blemishes.

So glad I didn't try doing this in the basement that original winter! The fumes from the Interlux 333 solvent (added to improve the roll and tip process) were obnoxious, even in the garage during warm weather.

Well now I feel like a pro and know I could do the whole finish job much quicker and with less product than I used. Who knows, I may move along to a teardrop project at some point. Thanks for the encouragement back at the start!

If you want to see how it turned out, check out my blog entries at http://veino.com/blog/?p=707 and http://veino.com/blog/?p=1082 .

Looks pretty good!

Rob

Very neatly done!