Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So I've been planning my tear project for awhile and Im starting to get my materials together to get started but one thing I am confused on is attatching galley cabinet framing and shelf framing to the walls prior to installing them. I plan to use 3/4 plywood for my walls and frame with 1x2s. Do I

A) Glue and clamp, then reinforce with screws from the outside?

B) Glue and clamp, then reinforce with screws from the inside?

C) Glue and clamp, and hope like hell they support the load of cabinets?

I plan to finish the exterior side of the ply rather than skin because I'm extrememly budget minded, so minimal ammounts of screws would be to my liking, however I don't have any idea of the strength of screwing from the inside (1x2s to plywood). Please help! Thanks.

-J

Most folks on this forum will probably say get a Kreg jig.

I see many applications where that would be handy, just not for the galley framing that actually attatches to the walls.

Typically the screws would go through the thinner material into the thicker material. Since your walls are the same thickness as your 1x2's, it doesn't matter which way you go.

Mike...

woodsman83 wrote:I see many applications where that would be handy, just not for the galley framing that actually attatches to the walls.

For attaching my main bulkhead between my galley and cabin I routed channels in the sidewalls



predrilled holes from the inside so I knew they were exactly in the center of the channel



set the bulkhead in the channels with glue (Titebond III) and screwed into them from the outside .



For the main cabinets in the galley and cabin I am screwing and gluing the cleats to the wall from the inside.



But for smaller or shallower shelves and/or cabinet faces where cleats are not going to be used, they will be attached with glue and the Kreg jig.

I like how that's routed. I imagine it adds much more strength without material. Great idea.

If you want simplicity use a liberal amount of tightbond3 glue and a nailer and shoot it in place and then the glue dries in stronger than the wood end of story. Or sometimes I just drive deck screws through from the outside into the walls or shelving with glue to hold it into place and then when I skin the outside its covered up anyways. You can get technical and do joints and routering and such but sometimes simplicity and glue are just as strong and give you more time to spend on other things. If there are blemishes then you have the invention of trim to cover things up with and get on down the road.

Like Becky, I routed dados for the galley bulkhead of interior headboard cabinets. I used PL premium to glue the framing to the sidewalls and pocket screws to attach the framing to the floor and roof. (The headboard framing is black because it is the actual face frame for the cabinets. It was constructed from red oak and was pre-finished in an ebonized finish prior to installation.)









I did use screws through the sidewalls into the framing, but if you use cauls and bar clamps, you could eliminate the screws.

Take care,
Tom