Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Posted: **Sun May 28, 2017 8:02 pm**

So I'm sitting around waiting for parts to arrive so I can continue my build. I've been thinking about various ways to build the floor. I have Steve Frederick''s Manual and have scoured the forum. I don't think I have found the following...

* Bolt a 1/2" or 3/8" sheet of ply to the frame to make the top (interior) of the floor.
* Fill the cavity between the trailer frame cross members with foam insulation.
* Bolt a 1/4" underlayment/ply to the bottom of the trailer frame to make the exterior of the floor. Allow this bottom floor section to extend 1/4" on either side of the trailer to allow the 1/4" outer wall skin to rest on it.
* Fiberglass the entire bottom of the floor and wrap the fiberglass up the side of the outer wall skin that is resting on it.

Please see my sorry sketch of this to better understand it.

Thoughts?

Hope everyone is enjoying the Memorial Day Weekend.

: teardrop floor.jpg (52.69 KiB) Viewed 1343 times

John

Posted: **Tue May 30, 2017 4:33 pm**

I prefer to build off of the trailer for convenience. It's a lot easier to work on everything w/o the tongue, axle and fenders getting in the way. Also a lot easier to flip the cabin to do work on bottom, or to work down "in the flat" on the sides when the trailer frame isn't in the way. Have you ever done epoxy work on a vertical or overhead surface? I did a little bit when wrapping the bottom edges of my wall to floor joints and will avoid it from hence forward.

Also, easier to build on a cradle that lets you alter your working height (at various times in my build I had the floor at saw horse height and used that as a work table for the walls; then once the walls were up I lowered to the shop floor and could work more easily on the roof line and pulling electrical before the roof went on; then while doing side skins I could tilt it up, etc.). Much more difficult to move the whole trailer around.

The other issue I see is working around all of the suspension mounting points, tongue connection points, etc. I see this as being very difficult to obtain good sealing. Remember that epoxy (or poly/vinyl-ester resins) doesn't (don't) like to seal wood to steel very well because of the dissimilar expansion rates through temperature changes, and the fact that the bond with steel is limited to a mechanical bond (tooth only) with no absorption/penetration.

In comparison, sealing the cabin side walls to the floor and the underside of the floor itself is relatively easy w/o the trailer in the way; then all you have to do is use sealant or welting to set/bolt the cabin down on the frame when complete.

The only advantage I see to what you propose is if you are looking for that scant inch and a fraction additional head room in a scenario where you are trying to come in under some magical overall height restriction that just barely lets you pull it into your garage w/o having to deflate the tires or swap to smaller wheels. In that case I would still build the cabin off of the trailer, seal the cabin as one unit, but only have a simple ply slab floor... then, after installing the cabin onto the frame, add the insulation underneath, making sure to do a really good job fitting (or fill in the voids with GS spray foam (good luck getting that to go only where you want it... perhaps spray it on a pallet and shovel/trowel it in with a spatula/stir stick); then just caulk around the edges of the insulation panels before painting them and overlapping onto the frame with Gripper latex primer and/or paint. There have been plenty of examples where no sub-floor panel was used ...or any other treatment for that matter... and the foam panels have shown great longevity. Even still, in the "fit it into the garage scenario" I would probably just build on top of the frame in the more traditional manner and come up with some simple plywood disks to temporarily swap out the wheels to lower it and allow it to be put in the garage (mine probably won't fit into the garage either way, so maybe my opinion is biased, :NC

).

Posted: **Tue May 30, 2017 5:20 pm**

Thank you KCStudly for taking the time to explain what you did. So far, I think I have done nothing but overthink the entire process.

I wish my grease seals would get here so I can finish step one -- build the trailer so I can register it.

I plan to purchase my 1/4" ply to start building a pattern as soon as possible.

Thanks again!

John

Posted: **Tue May 30, 2017 7:43 pm**

Like KC (I believe), I have only built one camping trailer. However, unlike KC, I enjoyed building the cabin on top of the trailer deck. It may depend on how much space one has, dunno. I used the trailer's deck as a building surface because the space in my two car garage was really limited. Being short, I also enjoyed using the tongue as a step up when I was working on the front. I did not find that I bumped into any part of the trailer while I was building. I did, however, leave the fenders off for most of the build and I slipped trash bags over the wheels for part of the build.

When I built the deck, I put several coats of epoxy sealer on the bottom (underside) before I bolted it to the trailer frame. I put in 3/4" Styrofoam, using screws and large washers to hold it in place. Instead of plywood over the Styrofoam, I used metal hardware cloth as my final layer. I did that because I wanted the undercarriage area to be able to breath and dry out in between rain storms yet I wanted the Styrofoam protected. I have since heard from several people that they have had no problems with their undercarriage Styrofoam even when it was totally open to the elements. Once the deck was completed, I sprayed the underside with several coats of undercarriage spray (about 4 cans worth) instead of using black roofing tar. That may have been over-kill; but, it's in its 6th year of camping and is still doing well. Do your research and then do what feels right to you.

Enjoy your build. Best wishes to you!

Posted: **Wed May 31, 2017 7:09 am**

I guess I'm not very agile when it comes to climbing on trailer tongues. On two separate occasions (once on my boat and another time on the ballista) I have gotten tripped up, lost my balance, and taken a dive to the ground (once on pavement, once on packed gravel). That extra foot or so of height makes a big difference when you are falling. I was okay, but it was very scary going down that hard at my age, and I just don't bounce as good as I used to (... so I tried to roll as best that I could

).

I'm also reminded of an acquaintance of my wife; the woman's husband went missing from a local boat launch. They found him later. The theory was that he slipped off of the trailer, hit his head and drowned. Just saying, I try to avoid climbing on trailers with inadequate footing.

Posted: **Wed May 31, 2017 9:22 am**

KCStudly wrote:I guess I'm not very agile when it comes to climbing on trailer tongues. On two separate occasions (once on my boat and another time on the ballista) I have gotten tripped up, lost my balance, and taken a dive to the ground (once on pavement, once on packed gravel). That extra foot or so of height makes a big difference when you are falling. I was okay, but it was very scary going down that hard at my age, and I just don't bounce as good as I used to (... so I tried to roll as best that I could ).

I'm also reminded of an acquaintance of my wife; the woman's husband went missing from a local boat launch. They found him later. The theory was that he slipped off of the trailer, hit his head and drowned. Just saying, I try to avoid climbing on trailers with inadequate footing.

That's an excellent point, KC! When I was building, I secured a left-over piece of the decking plywood to the tongue so that I had a platform to stand on there. ...Forgot to mention that. Thanks!

Posted: **Wed May 31, 2017 10:16 am**

Seems like a lot or work for little gain. But you need to satisfy your brain first. I built my floor on a big rotisserie so I could get to both sides and paint/seal etc,. then rolled trailer underneath and bolted together when I was ready to work on walls.. I filled in smaller sections with sealer then expanding foam then undercoating, middle section i screwed glued a piece of 2.6 mm to it. The frame will flex, and if semi rigidly attached by FG may develop stress cracks quicker.

Posted: **Wed May 31, 2017 10:44 am**

I had to make my trailer mobile, and all surfaces protected, from the start of its' life, as it was initially not under my control, but in a location 50 miles away. I started my trailer build by enlarging the frame, adding an improved tongue, and transforming the 8"-wheeled axle to a 14"-wheeled one, using larger bearings, changed the hubs from 4-to-5 lugs, added adapter/spacers, and fenders to match. I did this work in a friend's 60'x40' home shop, where there were always several automotive/racing projects going on at any time, so having the wheels on, and the trailer mobile, was necessary, as it was moved to many different spots in the shop, or even outside, as the different projects required different configurations (it was also the reason I worked on the other projects more, than on my trailer, for 11 months, before I brought it home, to do the interior, in my cramped 3-bay garage).
I installed the deck after the rolling frame was completed, and used rattle-can automotive spray undercoating, with the deck in place. It was easy to do, even in a crowded shop, with no messy consequences to deal with (unlike the tar-like undercoatings others use). The topside deck was poly'd,too, since I wanted it to be able to leave the shop, even in inclement weather, which happened once, overnight. Even though my friend's shop was quite spacious (at times), I used the trailer deck as a work-surface and parts/tools storage facility, until I had the outer structure completed, painted, and even until I had it home, where the tailgate area of my two trucks became my work tables (since the garage is always overcapacity, packed with cars, wood supplies and equipment, lawn equipment, old furniture, and whatever overflows from my wife's three sheds she can stuff in there...I barely have room for the trailer and my three tool storage areas, car parts, and my junk - you can see why I use the tailgates as workbenches).
Totally un-insulated, the trailer was polyurethaned and painted to the max, outside (with the inside walls & ceiling getting just paint), just as the deck was poly'd on top and spray-undercoated on bottom, and all surfaces are re-touched and sealed whenever a new hole penetrates the skin (always modifying!).
Painted in 2012, started camping in 2013, and stored in the garage bay in between trips, there's been no water penetration, even though every trip has been a rain-fest, so I'm happy with the way I made it a roller first, then painted/weatherized it, preparing it for movement and storage for any location, inside or out. If I had built it entirely in my garage bay, I would have done the build in the same fashion, considering that I would be working alone, and the heavy 3/4" plywood superstructure would be very difficult to install onto the frame/deck in limited space (even with an overhead lift in my garage), and I still would've had to store the frame itself, outside, uncovered, while the cabin was inside. I built from the ground up, on wheels, since it was the logical way for my TTT build, knowing that it would need mobility at various times, while still incomplete. If the OP has limited space to build in, that may be the best way for him, also.

first, complete the frame, and make it mobile
install the deck
coat/protect the deck
inside large shop for upper structure construction
using deck as workspace/storage area
outside for exterior paint
back inside, shell still used for storage
exterior completed enough for travel to my home garage
trailer, completed, emerges from my garage

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