Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm at the stage where I'm laying out the interior for the galley wall and cabinets. For the galley I was going to use 1/2" birch, it will be routed into each of the sides for lateral strength and to give the galley a good backing for the cabinets and counter top.

For the interior cabinets however, can I use 1/4" birch? Weight is ALWAYS an issue and it's always on my mind when building. Just wondering what others have used, I'm not putting doors in, but instead rounded hatches, again that will save weight.

I got the sides routed out for insulation, installed that and for the first time put them both up, it was super exciting to see how big the teardrop is, and it showed some areas that need some tweaking. It also modified my wiring plan a touch, but that's how building something like this goes. I'm going to finish all the cabinetry, walls and other interior pieces, include the galley hatch. Then when I put the sides on, it will just be assembly

Thanks
-Paul-

I'm not sure that 1/4" would stay flat.

For the rear of the cabin interior, I like open, accessible storage shelves. No drawers or doors. Things stay organized and easy to find. (Note the clothes hook. There's one on both sides––it's a big deal.)



For the font storage, I use sliders made from 1/4" birch (subfloor) plywood work well.



The sliders work as supports for the pillows but are easily accessible.



We put frequently used stuff on the rear shelves and headboard and the infrequent stuff like the shower behind the sliders.

Tony

tony.latham wrote:I'm not sure that 1/4" would stay flat.

For the rear of the cabin interior, I like open, accessible storage shelves. No drawers or doors. Things stay organized and easy to find. (Note the clothes hook. There's one on both sides––it's a big deal.)



For the font storage, I use sliders made from 1/4" birch (subfloor) plywood work well.



The sliders work as supports for the pillows but are easily accessible.



We put frequently used stuff on the rear shelves and headboard and the infrequent stuff like the shower behind the sliders.

Tony

I was less worried about flat, than just structural strength. I was thinking of small square pieces to join the carcass pieces, that should be strong enough. I'll build one this weekend as a proof of concept and see how it fairs, and how light it is...

Also, your pictures are locked

I would love to look at them...

Thanks

The galley bulkhead I used was 1/4" birch. Once the walls & deck are routed & the panel is in place, nothing is moving. The hatch spar holds the top in place. The cabinets (galley & foot board) attach to the bulkhead from both sides & the wall panels at the edges. This is a very strong & tight way of building. It can't move once the assembly is complete. You might want to use 3/8" for a bulkhead, but even an 1/8" panel which is glued in place would provide enough shear value. It's just too difficult to fasten through in some cases & depends on your build.

I used 1/2" Baltic birch for my cabinet shelves & partitions, with 4/4 alder as a face frame material. It's probably stronger than it needs to be, but it's actually part of the structure of the box, so strength is not an issue.

noseoil wrote:The galley bulkhead I used was 1/4" birch. Once the walls & deck are routed & the panel is in place, nothing is moving. The hatch spar holds the top in place. The cabinets (galley & foot board) attach to the bulkhead from both sides & the wall panels at the edges. This is a very strong & tight way of building. It can't move once the assembly is complete. You might want to use 3/8" for a bulkhead, but even an 1/8" panel which is glued in place would provide enough shear value. It's just too difficult to fasten through in some cases & depends on your build.

I used 1/2" Baltic birch for my cabinet shelves & partitions, with 4/4 alder as a face frame material. It's probably stronger than it needs to be, but it's actually part of the structure of the box, so strength is not an issue.

That's a good idea, the interior is going to be mahogany, I found a good local source for 1/4" sheets, so I could use a single piece for the bulkhead, or a piece of 1/4" birch and then glue on the mahogany as it's going to be on one side only, and about half the wall (the bed takes up the lower half). That should be structurally fine if I put a 1/2" routed channel for the wood to slip into (you could use a nail gun to secure it in, but the glue will do the trick once it sets).

Also on the cabinets, where I'm worried about strength (the bottoms for instance) I could use two sheets glued up. The hatch will be 1/2" birch stringers, 1/4" mahogany on the outside, and 1/4" birch on the inside (the whole galley is birch).

I'm getting some great ideas!!

I love these forums

Also, your pictures are locked

I would love to look at them...

I just checked on an unlogged-in second computer and the pics are showing. Can't help you there.

Tony

Most of my whole trailer is 1/4". The sides the shelves the dividers, the sliding doors, all 1/4" .

Here you will see how I did some of the interior cabinets. The framing is all soft maple and pocket screwed. The framing has a groove cut to accept the 1/4 and keep it flat. The cabinet doors are 1/2" Baltic Birch.



This is the front above my head. There are sliding 1/4" doors that cover the area.



Here is a finished inside picture.

My interior walls and all of my open shelf cabinets are 5mm (3/16 inch) Okoume. The cabinet face frames are 1x2 soft maple divided into three rectangles by two vertical stiles. The shelf floor panels are slipped into dadoes along the lower rear rail of the frames and in some cases into cleats around the other three sides. The face frames are an integral part of the cabin, but the shelf panels were kept slightly under size and allowed to float in the dadoes; except for two small screws, one toed in thru the panel and into the face frame at each of the two stiles, thus pinning the panel and stiffening the face frame so that it can't bow out. I was concerned that if I glued everything up solid the plywood shelf panels would expand and contract at different rates to the rest of the structure.

I have yet to load these up with gear and bounce it down the road, but I can tell you that they are very sturdy and I can put a lot of weight on them just leaning on them as a test. The panels aren't very deep from front to back so they have a lot of rigidity once the are restrained well. In the cabin my lower rear cabinet is stepped back under the deeper upper one, so the lower face frame provides additional support for the widest upper shelf panel.

1/4 will work however you need to make a box frame out of at least 3/4 x3/4 framing and attach the one quarter to it it will stay flat most pop ups r made this way and some campers and use regular. 1x2 for the face frame