Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello to everyone. I am finally "coming out of the closet" and posting a my question here for some help. I am finally taking the plunge into building my own teardrop after 1 yr of research, reading, and other various lookups on the T.D.

I printed the Benroy Plans from the site because I like it the best for me. It calls for 1/8" birch plywood for the ceiling/outside roof sheathing. While at H.D. today I tried to locate the 1/8" plywood but had no luck.

My question: Where can I purchase the 1/8" birch plywood? Can I use 1/4" birch instead without it cracking on the bends?

I appreciate all your help with this and I hope to get pictures as I start building the T.D. any other suggestions for the T.D. will be appreciated.

Thank you
Jake

ilbigredtruck

Glad to have you here

For my roof outer skin I used water resistant luan from H.D. 3/16" @ about $10.75 a sheet, it made the bends nicely.


And for the ceiling I used Tung and grove pine from home depot, 3 1/2 " planks about 3/8" thick, which I wasvery happy with.


Well best of luck to you, have fun.

Welcome Jake,
I started mine a few weeks ago. I found the same thing at Lowes. They do have 1/8" luan, I am planning on using that for my exterior roof skin. While wandering around ( I do that alot in there) I noticed something interesting in the bath dept. They had 1/8" unfinished birch beadboard there, They also had 1/8" inch MDF with finnish's I might go with the MDF look like it bends easily and had some good looking finnish's I saw a Light blue linen finnish I might use. Since the walls and cabinets are all oak I think it would be great to break it up.

Thank you for the suggestions, I may have to look into something like the T & G for the interior, I would like to "personalize" the T.D. I have not made it to Lowes yet but I will go and look tomorrow. I spent the whole day shopping with the wife to make her happy. this way she can't say too much when I spend several hours on the T.D. Keep anymore suggestions coming for me I always appreciate them.

I would tend to think that it is a regional thing but Sonetpro is in my region. I couldn't find 1/8in ply at any of the big boxes. I had to go to a specialty wood store to get my 1/8in ply and luan. Check the yellow pages under lumber if there is one in your area, it will be worth it because they have good stuff. I also bought 5X5 sheets of 1/8in baltic birch. For a 5ft wide teardrop, it was perfect.

Sonetpro wrote:They had 1/8" unfinished birch beadboard there

That's what I have on my exterior and interior walls--30 bucks a sheet if I remember correctly. But I don't think it's too bendy for roof use, plus, the beads would have to run lengthwise. (Funny looking?)

Schreimaster, that's one purty lookin tear. Just checked your gallery and it looks great. Can't tell from the pics, but what's the size? I like the profile too.

The Big Box stores don't typically have 1/8" plywood. You have to go to your speciality plywood stores for that. Our speciality plywood store had 1/8" luan, cherry, oak, birch, mosswood, and a whole host of other neat stuff.

Worst case scenearo, you can order the bendy plywood from the same place that Tom S. got his... Boulter Plywood I think it was called.

Mike...

P.S. Ah yes, here is the link...
http://www.boulterplywood.com/

P.P.S. Welcome to the forum ILBigRedTruck!!!

Sonetpro wrote:Welcome Jake,
at Lowes. I noticed something interesting in the bath dept. They had 1/8" unfinished birch beadboard there, They also had 1/8" inch MDF with finnish's I might go with the MDF look like it bends easily and had some good looking finnish's I saw a Light blue linen finnish I might use.

I saw that yesterday too... 4x8 for $16.79 or you could get a special order of a different pattern for around $26.00 . I liked it too, they had a light creamy color "suede" look, and I saw that blue linen, they also had stuff that looked like leather, etc.

I wondered how it would stand up to a bend also.

Julie

Yes, I got my flexible ply from Boutler Plywood in Somerville, Mass. Fortunately, they are only an hour away from me. But, they do ship. Ira used this vendor for some of his plywood and had it shipped to Florida.

For my interior, I used 1/8 inch bending birch. This stuff is VERY flexible and finished up really nice.



Need I say more?

For my exterior, I used Wacky Wood, a 3/8 thick 2 ply flexible luan. Here's a close up shot of it.



The Wacky Wood is soft and somewhat porous. If you go this route, you'll want to seal it well. I used 2 coats of CPES an 2 coats of Uniflex 255 to seal mine.

[quote="TomS"]Yes, I got my flexible ply from Boutler Plywood in Somerville, Mass. Fortunately, they are only an hour away from me. But, they do ship. Ira used this vendor for some of his plywood and had it shipped to Florida.

For my interior, I used 1/8 inch bending birch. This stuff is VERY flexible and finished up really nice.


Looks like the beginng of a teardrop toy....

The 1/4" bendy birch I got shipped to me from Boulter finished up/varnished up BEAUTIFULLY on the exterior roof, using the orbital sander between coats. Easy to sand on the exterior roof.

However, using this same material for the interior roof, trying to varnish it that same way with that inward curve, I wasn't thrilled with the results.

However...

The stuff is so bendy, you could definitely finish it FLAT, and then install to your curve.

Boulter Plywood is a really cool company. After all was said and done, they basically shipped me mine for FREE. (LOng story.) Yeah, I paid, but I know that they didn't make a dime on the sale.

Thank you to everyone who gave great advice. This forum has been soooo helpful. I did check out Boutler Plywood web site and I might have to go with them since I was out and about this morning and couldn't find the 1/8" stuff. I was suprised by the price of shipping through them, I have a very little budget. (the wife isn't enthused about the project, gave me a small allowance) But it did get me to thinking Her aunt and uncle own American Sycamore Woodworkers Retreat in Indiana and maybe I can get the 1/8" ply through them. Sometimes it take others helping to wake me up.

Thanks again for the help

P.S. started to revamp the old pop-up frame today, made good progress

micro469

Thanks, I'm happy with it so far. I joinde 2- 5 X 5 sheets of plywood together for my sides. so I'm right at 10" long at about a 4 1/2 ' height with an interior width of 54 '. so it will fit a full size mattress in the cabin.

Take care.

BigRed...check with your local cabinet shops for bendy ply, 5x5 birch and other hard to find items...we use a local cabinet shop a lot for hard to find items...
madjack