Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Been working on my roof rack for a couple months now in my spare time, collecting and fabricating component's and such to jump in and knock it out. I found a couple days to bring it all together last week. I purchased a wire basket style roof rack and then modified to suit my mounting design and fabbed a 16 X 16 center vent guard. The cross bars are 3/4" sch 40 SS pipe, the side brackets are 10 ga. SS with Mc Master Carr sourced 3/4" pipe sized vibration dampening clamps welded to them and thru bolted into the sides to hold it all in place. The same type pipe clamps are welded to the bottom of the basket to attach the basket to the cross bars. It's simple but stout.

It looks well built!

So all the weight is resting on the 8 screws through the siding?

Rob

48Rob wrote:It looks well built!

So all the weight is resting on the 8 screws through the siding?

Rob

That is correct Rob, the holes thru the 3/4" baltic birch sides are exact size (Snug fit) with 10 ga. SS backing plates on the inside to sandwich it all together. My sole purpose was to transport large lightweight, but yet bulky items such as a pop-up, folding chairs etc.

Ah, so bolts through the wall, not screws just into the plywood?
Mine was designed for the same purpose, which was to carry up to a 150 pounds or so, though I attached mine to the roof.
Nothing wrong with yours, I like it, just wondered about screws or bolts.

Rob

I love bolts. I use them as much as possible. My Dad uses screws a lot. I guess he is just used to that more.

Your basket looks nice and sturdy. What are you planning on putting up there?

I am going to need to build a shelf/basket on the back of my camper. We use the bag thing with chemical in it for our facilities. Will definitely want to put that bag outside the camper as we make our way out after the camping trip.

Nicely built! Are you going to paint the pipe? You said it was SS, stainless steel? That would be uncommon and expensive pipe! SS would be fine unpainted, but steel or even galvanized steel should be painted. Galvanized should be painted because it galvanization was messed up where it was threaded for the caps.

I like the bolts through the sidewalls. Nice and strong.

I bolted mine through the 2x2 roof spars that were placed specifically for the roof rack. Your vent protection is interesting, I had not thought of that. I made mine so that the vent can only be cracked when loaded on top of the rack. I would need to remove things from the top to open the vent fully. I was trying to keep it as low profile as possible. I also used what was the trailer ramp for the roof rack, so mine is steel, isolated from the aluminum skin by felt pads (bolted through at the bolt points) and all painted black to blend in with the other trim and trailer pieces.

Here is a shot of mine.

[quote="jonesnforcampin"]

Your basket looks nice and sturdy. What are you planning on putting up there?





I only plan on large bulky items that really don't weigh all that much such as a pop up, chairs etc that seem to use up a lot of space in the truck bed.

[quote="citylights"]Nicely built! Are you going to paint the pipe? You said it was SS, stainless steel? That would be uncommon and expensive pipe! SS would be fine unpainted, but steel or even galvanized steel should be painted. Galvanized should be painted because it galvanization was messed up where it was threaded for the caps.

I like the bolts through the sidewalls. Nice and strong.

I bolted mine through the 2x2 roof spars that were placed specifically for the roof rack. Your vent protection is interesting, I had not thought of that. I made mine so that the vent can only be cracked when loaded on top of the rack. I would need to remove things from the top to open the vent fully. I was trying to keep it as low profile as possible. I also used what was the trailer ramp for the roof rack, so mine is steel, isolated from the aluminum skin by felt pads (bolted through at the bolt points) and all painted black to blend in with the other trim and trailer pieces.

Here is a shot of mine.







No paint on the stainless steel cross pipes, got lucky in the scrap bin at the shop and scored 2 pcs long enough to do the job at hand. My side brackets are 10 ga stainless with 10 ga stainless backing plates and 5/16" stainless button head allen bolts. My vent box was designed with the thought of being able to crack it open a good distance if I should be just spending the night on the road without having to move things around, the punched or perforated metal while mainly protecting the vent will also help dissipate some air I hope. My rack is basically 38" wide X 49" long with 5" deep sides, I could have easily fit a 5 or 6 foot long rack on top but then I would tend to overload it and maybe cause myself some grief. As it sits I think it could handle 150 pounds or so spread evenly with no issues, but I will never approach that kind of loading.

Nice score with the stainless!

Only 150 lb on yours? Hmmm... I need to shoot a picture of mine next time I really load it up for a overland trip... 40 lb pop up awning, 40 lb flat iron grill, 35 lb for 5 gallons water, 35 lb for 5 gallons gas, 60 lb 16 foot canoe, 20 lb for 4 camp chairs, 30 lb dry food box, 40 lb bag of charcoal, and I don't even want to know how much the Dutch Ovens and DO gear box weighs!

Just kidding... All that gear is spread out between the teardrop and tow vehicle roof racks. Some also goes on the teardrop bed.

I know that the pipe clamps you used will take abuse they are used in military applications to hold steel hydraulic tubing.

Sonoma ZR2 wrote:I know that the pipe clamps you used will take abuse they are used in military applications to hold steel hydraulic tubing.

You are correct on the clamps, they were sourced through Mc Master Carr and are really inexpensive as far as I am concerned. You can get them in just about any O.D. to fit tubing sizes and nominal pipe sizes.

Great ideas with the roof racks. I was thinking of designing my own but was stumped by the vent feature. I almost fell out of my chair laughing about the picture you posted about loading you Tear. Thanks I needed that.
Enjoy, Chris

Thanks for the pictures folks. I believe I will bolt through the wall as well.