Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So here we go
Is there reason to where the door goes.
which way it opens
wheather it touches the floor or is higher

I assume one would need first to know where the wheel went
unless the unit is above the wheel

What advise can you give to those of us that have never neen there?

I did to poll questions about doors it you'd like to look at those also.

Ron D.

Ron,

The Wright brothers once said, "If it works on paper, it'll work when you build it".

What you need to do before you cut your doors and position your wheels, is to draw your design on paper, to scale.

You could do it on a little piece of paper, 8.5" x 11", or better yet, get yourself a roll of brown paper. Tape a couple pieces together to get the size that you need, i.e. 5' x 10' or what ever you decided on.

Then use a pencil and draw your tiny travel trailer, full scale, on your brown paper.

Include your fender and your door. When it looks good on paper, then you can start cutting wood.

Mike...

P.S. A big eraser is a good idea too!

If your are going to aluminum side the TD, I recommend getting the aluminum now, pressing it between the two plywood sides and cut all four pieces together. You need a buff jigsaw and multiple mu, but this could save you huge time and headache later. Cutting aluminum out of a door is easier said than done. Also, think about your window in your door at this point, turn signals and any other bodie features. Also also, consider predrilling the predrill holes for the roof spars while the plywood (not aluminum!) are laying together. This will almost guarantee parallel spars and a square box.

Ron, Mike has done this a few times. . . . take a look at the top of the page of his, "Generic Benroy Plans." I think that will be my 2nd build.

Jim,

Yup, my door is on graph paper near the middle of the tear (don't want muddy dog prints on the pillows) and I agree it is not as asthetically pleasing. It also leads to nightmares that when I put the axle under it and locate it to balance the tongue weight, that the door will hit the wheel..... think I'll move the door a bit and cover the pillows...

After drawing out full scale and locating fenders, i set my doors in a position to be comfortable when you sit up in bed all you have to do is turn out. So I guess you could say mine are located about where my hip section is when lying down.

Yep, I agree about putting things on paper and all. My problem (among many, I'm told) is that I can't really 'see' what it will look like in full scale. Somewhere on this site, someone had made a cardboard mock-up. Great idea:

Here's the one I made out of pallet blankets taped together. It really helps you figure out where everything should fall in real life. When everything is where you want it, you make it out of wood and metal.

hello everyone,
i just came into the house after a long day of working on the fish,
i got on here to ask a question, but will do that in another post,
its ironic that the first post i look at has a reply from Mike,
saying to have a good plan prior to starting construction,

so, i have to say thats the absolute best advice you could get,
the reason my day has been so frustrating is because a year ago
i started building a vision, i should have drawn the vision on paper
and then worked off of the plan,
i have found working without the plan has cost me a lot of time,
and i'm sure some money,
but the bottom line is i would have gotten a better product if i would have designed on paper first,
george / waywardson

Where are you at with your build, George? You just recently started, so don't get frustrated YET. (Plenty of time for that.)

The broke part of your post subject I understand.

Ron,
I did it different than most. I didn't have a plan. Started out my TD sides were 3/4 plywood, 4' X 12' attached to the frame. I had already decided to put my axle at 40" from the back and the frame was 114" long. After I cut my profile on one side I used a sheet of 1/4 plywood to draw the profile and cut it so I could transfer it to the other side... I wouldn't have done this except I wanted to draw the profile just from how it looked to me full size not by some x,y, coordinates on graph paper. Not that I would do it again this way.... It is kind of a boat building thing. So after I got the profile cut on both sides and placed my fenders on the tires, I positioned the door opening keeping in mind where I would be sitting If I was sitting in bed, and where the door would be when it was opened. Don't know if I would do it that way again, but it seemed easy enough to me. I liked the process of planning it out full sized without grid marks to think about. As it turned out, it looks a teardrop. Over built, yeah, but still a teardrop. Next time will be different but I bet 2nd ones always are.


Steve

Steve

i started construction last december,
as far as where im at,
i guess somewhere around 70 %,
but it has been a big project,
the trailer is only 6' x 12' x 8' tall, but still big,
the frustration comes from my designing as i go,
the build wouldnt have been so diffucult or frustrating if
i would have designed on paper,
as far as the cost,
i have no idea,
in the thousands im sure,
maybe 5,000.00
probably more than that,
but i will have a one of a kind tiny trailer,
theres never been a fish before,
or if there has, we couldnt find it on net,
george / waywardson