Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello all. This may be a stupid question but I was wondering what type of plywood would be best for my side walls. I am just doing a solid 3/4 wall.

I can get Maple Plywood, Oak Plywood and Birch Plywood - Just regular birch not Baltic.

Which of these would be better or rather the best to use for my walls.

Also, has anyone use stuff called Tigerply (I think it is an underlayment and is 1/4 inch) for their roof skins. I live in Nebraska and they carry this at the Menards where I live.

What is the price on this tigerwood? Looking at the spec sheet it made out of poplar which from what i know is a great wood to build with.

The Tigerply is about $20 for a 4x8 sheet. It has a bunch of little x's on it where you would put staples in it to staple it down to your subfloor.

I just am not sure what to use for skinning the roof. I hear that Luann is bad but 1/4 Luan is all I can find and I dont want to be snapping sheets of this trying to make it go around my 24 inch radius's.

http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/at/courses/at308/Technical_Links/Ac43-13-1B/CH1_4b.pdf

What part of NE are you in?

I currently live in Northeast Nebraska in a town called Norfolk.

Looked it up here: http://www.tigerply.com/newproducts.html, towards the bottom of the page.

This actually sounds like pretty good stuff for the price (if the marketing fluff can be believed). It is a little thick IMO for tight bends but is inexpensive enough to be worth experimenting. If you decide to kerf do it on the outside for sheets that will be exposed to the inside, and on the inside for sheets that will be exposed to the outside (seems obvious, I know, but has tripped up others before).

Stu, the best advice that I can give you is to immerse yourself in this forum and absorb as much information as you can. I lurked here for 2 whole years, while formulating my build plan, before ever posting. I recommend the trailer and chassis forum, the construction techniques forum, Build Journals and the Foamie section (not to slight anyone, they're all good!). Read all of the "Stickies" (the fixed subjects at the top of the indexes) and as much of the build journals as you can stand. It is a huge wealth of knowledge and will set you on your path by answering more questions than you know you have!

Good luck and welcome aboard!

KCStudly wrote: and as much of the build journals as you can stand.

I make one mention of the dog inspecting my frame and you havent let me live it down.



Actually KC your build journal is one of the best ones out there for usre.

Forrest, sorry I don't get your reference (addled memory and single malt are probably contributors), but do remind me. I'm always up for a lark.

And thanks for the vote of confidence, kind sir.

You don't mention how you are going to finish the tear, or maybe I missed it. Is it to be aluminum clad, a woody or painted? Doug

I will coating with CPES and then painting.

I'd use a very smooth surfaced ply...I used an MDO on my last painted one. It gets much flatter surface for paint in a hurry. Typical exterior or interior grade ply will take much longer. Just a side note.....epoxy will build for a flat side much quicker with less chance of failure than CPE$. Other opinions will vary....but do what you want....

I have done both CPES and Aeromarine epoxy. lets talk cost for CPES you are looking at about 120$ for a gallon. For AeroMarine 300/21 (1 1/2 Gallon Kit) - Total yield of 1.5 gallons epoxy. looking at 91 plus shipping. for an extra 10 dollars you get meter pumps so worth it. There is also West Epoxy for 1.25 gallon your looking at 150$.
I used teh CPES and Aero and i was happy with both. i ran out of CPES and bought the aero to finish it and when i do this again i am going with the aeromarine. Becky (Oldragbaggers) uses West and she is happy with it.

I'll second the MDO option if you have it locally. It's exterior plywood with a resin impregnated paper on the exterior side. No need to CPES or epoxy the outside (still do the edges) and is pretty much ready for paint/primer as soon as you put it on except for the screw hole patches - it's as smooth as you will ever sand plywood. You can sometimes find it at sign shopes or sign supply places as well instead of the lumber store. The sign supply place here sells it in 4'x8' and 4'x10' pieces (and they sell 4x8' and 5'x10 0.040 aluminum which is nice as well).

If you google plum creek MDO you can find a PDF about the exterior durability and wear of painted MDO. We now use it on the above waterline structures of boats we build and I know several people who have built whole boats out of it.

Found the PDF, one thing if you use MDO to remember is that 1/2" MDO is actually 1/2" instead of 15/32 etc...

The downside of MDO is it won't bend as tight as non coated plywood, but since you were talking sidewall it won't matter.

http://www.plumcreek.com/Portals/0/down ... fo/MDO.pdf