Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've been poking around here with currently only wild dreams of construction. One thing I see mentioned is trying to reduce weight. While the TD sides and tops appear to be torsion boxes, there is little discussion of this feature.


Here is some academic background: http://www.bayareawoodworkers.org/jun02/torsionbox1.pdf

A cheap source of torsion box panels is "hollow core" doors, the ones with cardboard webbing in them. Veneer supply houses also carry the honeycomb that you can glue veneer or thin plywood onto.

bobsmyuncle wrote:I've been poking around here with currently only wild dreams of construction. One thing I see mentioned is trying to reduce weight. While the TD sides and tops appear to be torsion boxes, there is little discussion of this feature.


Here is some academic background: http://www.bayareawoodworkers.org/jun02/torsionbox1.pdf

A cheap source of torsion box panels is "hollow core" doors, the ones with cardboard webbing in them. Veneer supply houses also carry the honeycomb that you can glue veneer or thin plywood onto.

I tried to go there but unless you are buying very expensive doors they are rarely wide enough. Now Roly did use one for his floor...These things are great but when you cut them they loose all that "box"... Using thin ply and foam is more rigid and more insulated. Some lite framing for attachment points are helpful...

We have several folks who used 1/8" ply and epoxied it for strength....It's all good...

At Ikea they have a ton of various table tops and desk tops that are designed like this and sold as separates. Pretty reasonable prices for what they are.

Why not make your own? I made some garage doors 10 years ago, cheap white 2" styrofoam with 1/4 chipboard on both sides and 2X4 around the edge to fasten hinges to. They are 9 feet high and 4 1/2 feet wide and very strong. Make any size you like and glue them together.