Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Anyone make walls out of 3/4 finished one side plywood without framing? The good side pointed in so you have a nice finished interior and a skin or frp or aluminum on the rough outside of the ply?

Yep ... it's done all the time Mike ... ...!

BTW ... welcome to the funhouse!

CHEERS!

Thanks. Is there a downside? I was thinking of skeletized ply and skinning both sides for weight but it doesnt seem like you'd peel enough weight off for the labour you'd put into it.

If you skeletize it, you can fill the cutouts with some kind of isolation material, might be useful in the colder regions.

mikefree wrote:Thanks. Is there a downside? I was thinking of skeletized ply and skinning both sides for weight but it doesnt seem like you'd peel enough weight off for the labour you'd put into it.

Hi, Mike!

No real downside to it, as long as you carefully plan your entire construction around it. "Skeletizing" the walls IS an option, and it's how I build all of my teardrops (39 and counting) ... yes, it is more work than using a solid wall, but much less work that "stick framing" and much stronger, and you do get the added benefit of extra insulation space ... it's a compromise, like everything in teardrops is a compromise, and it all boils down to the amount of work you want to expend and the desired overall quality & finish of the end product.

However you choose, Good Luck ... we're all here to offer advice & guidance ... ...!

CHEERS!

mikefree wrote:Thanks. Is there a downside? I was thinking of skeletized ply and skinning both sides for weight but it doesnt seem like you'd peel enough weight off for the labour you'd put into it.

Hi Mike, We skeletonized our walls and it did save about 12-15% of the weight but, it did add a ton of time and work. The pluses are that you get a very quiet warm cabin with strong walls that have voids for easy wiring. I'm with Grant and would do it the same way if I did it again. If you want ease of basic construction the 3/4" ply walls are much easier accept for the electrical.

Cheers,

Dave

I've seen the skeleton method on a few tear drops. How about a tt. Like. The widget.
I plan to start #3 soon but framing method is still undecided.