Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am a newby to the TTT world and forum. I have 40 years in construction and I am planning on my first TTT build. I have a HF 4x8 trailers just setting around and my wife and I have been talking about taking our 2 door Jeep and going to Alaska via the Alcan highway when she retires. The thing is she has a serious fear of be eaten by a bear so the tent would be out! We love tent camping and have done so all over the USA. So I got to thinking about a teardrop. I am not interested in a galley so during my searching I came across the Runaway which is what I was kind of thinking about only I was thinking of a flat roof with 45* angles at each end of the roof. After seeing the Runaway I decided that was what I wanted to build.

My plan is 3/4 ply walls with a 1/2" roof overlapping the wall tops and skinned with .040 aluminum with 3/4" angle on all the corners. I was planning on ordering doors and windows, but man those things are expensive for a retired construction worker! So then I thought about making the doors. Ok so what kind of latch works on a 2/4" plywood door that locks inside or out? What type of hinge do I use? How do I make it water tight? Man! There is a lot to learn here. I went to Home Depot and looked at the aluminum stuff they had and found 3/4" end cap that I think will fit over the ply even with the .040 skin. If not I could relieve the inside edge some to make it fit. Then using some 3/4" angle and some 1" flat making all my trim and weather proofing for the door. Maybe overkill. I still don't know what to do for hinges or latch and I am not sure how to seal the hinge side on the outside. So any tips would be much appreciated.

Welcome and good luck on your build. Dont worry. There are plenty of guys on here that will help. I bought a door on Craigslist and will cut it down to size. Cost me 30.00

greygoos wrote:Welcome and good luck on your build. Dont worry. There are plenty of guys on here that will help. I bought a door on Craigslist and will cut it down to size. Cost me 30.00

Thanks. Lucky you to get a door so cheap.

The latch is a standard teardrop item. The hinges I used are available from nautical and trailer websites. Mine are chrome plated cast whatever, but I've since seen stainless hinges of the exact same size. I used a fair amount of the aluminum you're considering. In my case 1/2" channel aluminum did indeed fit over 1/2" plywood covered with, don't laugh, sheet laminate. Go slow, plan ahead, draw pictures first, use caulk under everything, and you'll find making your doors is very rewarding.

Nice! Those pictures will help. I was a little confused till I figured out the inside picture was of the other side door...LOL. Did you trim the inside edge of the cap where it curved or did it bend to the curve without trimming? I was looking at a square cornered door, but I like that small arch you put in yours a lot. I like the wider door too.
Thanks!

Sorry about the delay bbrider. I'm unsure what you mean by "Did you trim the inside edge of the cap where it curved or did it bend to the curve without trimming?" If you're referring to the aluminum, I annealed it with a propane torch, bent it to fit, and trimmed the end to fit with a hacksaw. Mapp gas would have worked a lot better for the annealing. Basically I just went slowly and it came out pretty nice. Thank you for the curve compliment. I wanted the door to match the roof line.

woodywrkng wrote:Sorry about the delay bbrider. I'm unsure what you mean by "Did you trim the inside edge of the cap where it curved or did it bend to the curve without trimming?" If you're referring to the aluminum, I annealed it with a propane torch, bent it to fit, and trimmed the end to fit with a hacksaw. Mapp gas would have worked a lot better for the annealing. Basically I just went slowly and it came out pretty nice. Thank you for the curve compliment. I wanted the door to match the roof line.

That was exactly what I was talking about. So you annealed it and made the bend by hand then test fit it to the door or frame after it cooled? I thought about that, then I thought I could make a copy of the door top to work it on. I have never tried to anneal aluminum before so it would be a learning process. Thanks for the reply.

As I recall, I just slapped the hot aluminum right on the door edge. Sounds kinda crazy now that I think of it.

I built my door similar in principle to your drawing. Here is a cross-section detail of how I trimmed and weather-stripped (minus the interior seal) my doors.



If you are using an overhanging flange on all sides of the door (and particularly along the hinge side) there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, you need to allow room for weatherstripping. On my doors, I used a 1/8" spacer under the wall side of the hinge. This spaced the door 1/8" "proud" of the wall and allowed room for weatherstripping. The second thing to keep in mind is where the door pivots. You need to keep the hinge line on the outside of the flange. Otherwise the flange will prevent the door from opening. Here is a drawing of my door that shows the location of the hinge pivot beyond the outside flange edge.

I saw and saved a copy of your door drawings awhile back aggie. I sort of based my drawing on yours without using the T molding and using angle in place so I could offset the angle 1/8" proud to allow for the weather strip. I planned on attaching the angle to the endcap with screws.