Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I need to install some drip rails over the doors of my wooden tear. My doors have no seals- just wood closing on wood. Water seems to gather at bottom of doors and swell the wood. Not enough room to install foam seals between door and sidewalls (have tried the thinnest stuff made). The aluminum ones that are sold would not look good. Anyone have any ideas on how to build drip rails from wood? I am thinking:

-cut pieces out of oak planks, attach them together
-rout out one side of the rails to channel the water
- stain them to match birch sidewalls on tear
-spar the heck out of them where the water would go.
- glue and screw them to sidewalls
- seal the edges where it attaches to sidewall

Think this would work? Any better ideas? How far should rail be from the door? How far should it extend?

thanks

We routed out the side toward the doir to channel the water. These are cherry to match the tail lights. . I have a better close up somewhere. Here it is

And close up.

Thanks. My door is shaped diffently, and will take several cuts/pieces to make the radious if I cut out of planks. I figured best not cut it out of larger piece of plywood since I will need to rout the channel into it. See pic below:

[album]http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=241&image_id=85587[/album]



EDIT: I cannot for the life of me get pics to show up! And cannot find a simple, step by step instruction post on how to do it. I have photos in my gallery, and tried clicking on IMG and adding the URl between the IMG parentheses; tried doing the same using URL instead of IMG and linked it to photobucket account; and tried using the ALB feature, all with no luck. Frustrated and feeling dumb..

Driftwood,

Hi.

If water is swelling the wood, the first thing you need to do is clean, sand, and completely seal anything that is soaking up water.

Once that is done, I would try some open cell foam weatherstrip applied to the interior trim that your door closes against.
While it isn't the best weatherstrip because it will hold moisture, if clearance is an issue, it will work to prevent water from getting inside.

Routing a channel into the interior trim to accept closed cell weatherstrip may also be an option?
A wood, or metal drip rail will help divert the water away from the door, but the real problem should be solved first.

Rob

Rob, I found the thinnest foam seal made and it was too thick unless I rout out the door or backstop trim, which I dont think is possible because both the door and the backstop is birch plywood (I am assuming you cant rout plywood do to splintering- correct?)

The water damage to door in only in bottom inch of so on one door, the top layer of ply buckling a bit right at bottom of door. I think it just runs into the small gap between door and backstop, and runs to bottom, and pools there perhaps. So I thought a drip rail would be the next best thing.

Here is pic of the setup (if it will show up, I am struggling with pics):



[urlhttp://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image.php?album_id=241&image_id=101269][/url]

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How about routing off the inside trim piece flush with the wall. leave the part inside the tear on to attach a new trim ring that is smaller . The door will now close with a space in between. Seal the cut edge. Then make a new trim piece slightly smaller all the way around, and attach the gasket to that old trim ring. The gasket would be the thickness of the seal you routed flush. You may lose a 1/2" of inside space in each side where the new trim ring goes but it should not effect anything. Nothing beats a good seal on your doors.

driftwood wrote:Rob, I found the thinnest foam seal made and it was too thick unless I rout out the door or backstop trim, which I dont think is possible because both the door and the backstop is birch plywood (I am assuming you cant rout plywood do to splintering- correct?)

You can rout plywood. I do it all the time, when building cabinets

That would be probably be best. One of the challenges is that the existing "trim ring" (backstop) is cut out of birch plywood. Actually four pieces of wood glued to together to form one ring. Plywood is not "routable" is it (ie I could not rout some of the existing ring down to make room for a seal? I guess I could remove it, and use it as a template to build another just like it, then glue them together, and remount. This would leave gap for the foam to go. But then again, the height of the trim at the bottom is so small there is not much room for the foam seal to stick.

Plus, if the seal is placed on the trim ring where the door buts up to it, water can still get in the gap and channel down the gap to the bottom. It may not can get in the trailer, but would still impact the wood door at bottom as it is doing now. A few more photos below to help show the problem:

View of door closed


Cloesup of trim ring from outside


Trim ring from inside


Damage at bottom 2 inches of door (hard to see, discolored area above gap)

Our drip rails are out of hardwood, not ply. Also, like everything else on the triler, it is epoxied first, then spar varnish over the top. I would sugget some epoxy on the ply cut edges of your doir openning. Although you may need to trim it sligtly. That has worked well for us to not damage the wood. Our trim inside was routed about a quarter inch on the door side to create a lip to accept tge wearther strip. Our tri, however, is the same cherry, not a ply.
We used he methd in steve fredricks shop manual.

By the way, if you have a smartphone or ipad, the easiest way to uplad a pic is in tapatalk. You can upload directly from your phitostream.

Also, i agree with rob, the drip rail only solves the problem with water when the trailer is at rest. We had a problem with water forced into the bottom of the door where it is slightly warped while driving on wet roads until i added more weather strip. Another stop gap is blue painters tape over the opening while driving, and heavy plastic bags over the bed between the door and bed and a towel shoved in there! Nothing if not willing to try a redneck method.

Plywood is not "routable" is it (ie I could not rout some of the existing ring down to make room for a seal?

Yes, it is.
It would be easier though, to use a flush trim bit to remove the protruding material, as Steve suggested to give yourself a spacer.
By adding another ring on top of what you have, you will have provided a space for a quality weather seal.

Plus, if the seal is placed on the trim ring where the door buts up to it, water can still get in the gap and channel down the gap to the bottom. It may not can get in the trailer, but would still impact the wood door at bottom as it is doing now

Two issues here;
The first is that the wood must be completely sealed against water, not just a little, but completely!
If it is not, your trailer will self destruct, usually faster than you may imagine, and it won't happen a little at a time, giving you an opportunity to correct it, but rather suddenly you'll discover that the damage has been done and it is too late...
(It actually does happen slowly, but it will be hidden until it is too late).

The second is that water will always find a way into any crack or groove (your door in the door frame).
Accept that it will happen, and you can focus on ways to temporarily block (weather strip) and divert (gravity) the water, be it from a gentle spring shower, or 70 mph driven rain.

The bottom of your door opening, the horizontal trailer body section, will benefit from being beveled.
With weather seal in place, the water will get in the gaps, meet the weather seal, and travel to the bottom, where the bevel will direct it away from the gap, down to the ground.

Once you are sure all that is good, adding a gutter or diverter will help a little, mostly to keep morning dew pooled above the door from dripping on you when you are getting out of the trailer.
It won't/can't replace proper design and weather sealing.

I can't find a good shot of the bevel on the wood at the bottom of the door opening, but here is one of the diverter over the door.

Rob

As others have said, epoxying the jambs is the first step.

This is another approach that you may want to consider. Instead of creating space by routing your trim ring and/or adding another trim ring, you may consider offsetting the door to gain space for the seal. I can't tell by your album, but it appears that you used a piano hinge for your doors. On the sidewall side of the hinge you could add a 1/8" spacer made out of aluminum, wood, etc. This would make the plane of the door stand out 1/8" proud of the plane of your sidewalls, and leave you room for a seal.

Tom