Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Looking at my box stores for aluminum angle today and I find it in two thicknesses. 16 gauge and 11 gauge. Big difference in price between the two. I am looking at this to cap the corners on my build to hold and seal the .040 aluminum skin in place.

What is the recommended size and what screw spacing?

If your going on a curved surface use the 16 gage. It bends easy. On a flat surface I would use the 11 gage.

On the screw spacing. I'll let some one that has BTDT answer.

bbrider wrote:Looking at my box stores for aluminum angle today and I find it in two thicknesses. 16 gauge and 11 gauge. Big difference in price between the two. I am looking at this to cap the corners on my build to hold and seal the .040 aluminum skin in place.

What is the recommended size and what screw spacing?

My edging that I purchased from Vintage Tech has holes for screws every 4 inches.

It will all be straight flat surfaces. I am building a square caravan style.

I was going to ask them at Vintage when I called to make an order about the screws too. My first thought was 4" spacing, but then I did what I always do, I started doubting my first thought.....LOL.

Thanks for the replies.

When i saw your plan it was remarkable how much it is similar to mine. I purchased 6 lengths of 8 foot trim from Vintage through Amazon.It was 79.00 delivered and bends real nice. No need to worry about kinking from regular aluminum angle.

greygoos wrote:When i saw your plan it was remarkable how much it is similar to mine. I purchased 4 lengths of 8 foot trim from Vintage through Amazon.It was 79.00 delivered and bends real nice. No need to worry about kinking from regular aluminum angle.

I went and looked at your build thread. You are right, it is very similar. I don't want a galley so that is why I designed mine the way I did. Plus I will be using my 2 door jeep as my TV. I wanted it to look somewhat like an offroad vehicle and wanted to be able to pull it over gravel trails as I use several of those for shortcuts in Colorado. One reason I used the 2" X 3/16" square tubing for my trailer frame is so it would stand up to minor off road without flexing and tearing the box apart.

I am not building a sandwich foamie though. Mine is going to be solid 3/4" walls and floor in a 5X8. We won't be spending much time in it and I believe with and AC unit for cool, or even the Fantastic Fan it should be fine for sleeping. We always carry a small ceramic heater for warmth too. My better half doesn't like to boondock so we seldom stay where we don't have electricity anyway.

Good luck with your build too and thanks for the reply. It seems not many people on here say much. A lot of lurkers....LOL. I do that too so it is all good.

Bill

bbrider wrote:

greygoos wrote:When i saw your plan it was remarkable how much it is similar to mine. I purchased 4 lengths of 8 foot trim from Vintage through Amazon.It was 79.00 delivered and bends real nice. No need to worry about kinking from regular aluminum angle.

I went and looked at your build thread. You are right, it is very similar. I don't want a galley so that is why I designed mine the way I did. Plus I will be using my 2 door jeep as my TV. I wanted it to look somewhat like an offroad vehicle and wanted to be able to pull it over gravel trails as I use several of those for shortcuts in Colorado. One reason I used the 2" X 3/16" square tubing for my trailer frame is so it would stand up to minor off road without flexing and tearing the box apart.

I am not building a sandwich foamie though. Mine is going to be solid 3/4" walls and floor in a 5X8. We won't be spending much time in it and I believe with and AC unit for cool, or even the Fantastic Fan it should be fine for sleeping. We always carry a small ceramic heater for warmth too. My better half doesn't like to boondock so we seldom stay where we don't have electricity anyway.

Good luck with your build too and thanks for the reply. It seems not many people on here say much. A lot of lurkers....LOL. I do that too so it is all good.

Bill

I have read that a lot of people on here are on vacation at this time so responses are slow but there is a lot of good info. I stand corrected- I purchased 6 lengths of trim not 4.

I used regular RV edging. I went through a RV dealer, and they got the trim from a local distributor in St Paul for $35 for a 16 foot length.

I used this company for my trim. Cheaper if it's in stock & you have an outlet near you. Larger cities have an outlet typically. Had to drive to Phoenix from Tucson, but it was cheaper than shipping & splicing the shorter lengths.

http://www.rockwellamerican.com/
http://www.rockwellamerican.com/sites/d ... index.html

My problem is the walls will be flush with the frame rails and unless I get 5' wide skin it will be too short to go from the top to the bottom with my walls being 4' 1 1/2" tall. I was thinking about using 3" diamond plate along the bottom to fill in the last bit so I can still use 4' x 8" sheets.

I will be doing the same thing with my build. I plan on fastening aluminum flashing to the cabin and the trailer first and then covering that with either diamond plate or vinyl.

greygoos wrote:I will be doing the same thing with my build. I plan on fastening aluminum flashing to the cabin and the trailer first and then covering that with either diamond plate or vinyl.

That is a great idea. Any water that would get behind the diamond plate would still not be able to get to the wood.

I used a truck tool box to cut out my running boards from and still have a lot of that left. I was thinking about taking my table saw and ripping the bottom and one side I didn't cut into 3" strips and using that along the bottom edge to hold the aluminum sheet in tight. The only thing is I would have a joint behind the fender and trying to seal that was bothering me. By using the flashing first that would solve that.

That is what I like about the forums, great people with lots of ideas.

I finished the lights on mine today and got my affidavit notarized today. Now I am going to put the floor down and call it a cargo trailer so I can get my title and license done. I have to take it to the State Troopers office to get a vin number stamped first.

bbrider wrote:

greygoos wrote:I will be doing the same thing with my build. I plan on fastening aluminum flashing to the cabin and the trailer first and then covering that with either diamond plate or vinyl.

That is a great idea. Any water that would get behind the diamond plate would still not be able to get to the wood.

I used a truck tool box to cut out my running boards from and still have a lot of that left. I was thinking about taking my table saw and ripping the bottom and one side I didn't cut into 3" strips and using that along the bottom edge to hold the aluminum sheet in tight. The only thing is I would have a joint behind the fender and trying to seal that was bothering me. By using the flashing first that would solve that.

That is what I like about the forums, great people with lots of ideas.

I finished the lights on mine today and got my affidavit notarized today. Now I am going to put the floor down and call it a cargo trailer so I can get my title and license done. I have to take it to the State Troopers office to get a vin number stamped first.

This what I am using instaed of aluminum flashing. It is self sticking and flexible.

That should work fine.

I am still thinking about just getting 5' wide sheets and be done with it. I still have time to think about it before I get to that point. My door and windows should be here later this week. That will give me everything to start building the walls and ceiling. I am at a stand still till then.