Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm (re)considering making my own doors, instead of buying manufactured Doors. I want the doors to be larger than 26" wide by 32" or 36" tall which are fairly standard sizes for manufactured teardrop trailer doors. My Benroy(ish) trailer will be 5"4" wide by 10'1" long with two doors. I'm contemplating building the doors 32" wide by 38" tall. I'm 6'4" tall and want to comfortably and easily enter or exit the trailer.

I may buy windows from Vintage Technologies. Their windows come in many sizes. Most can be be purchased as either horizontal sliders/opening or vertical sliders/opening.

The smallest window I'm considering is WD07 that's a 21" wide by 14" tall horizontal slider (with ~ 294 sq. inches of glass). The biggest window I'm considering is WD10 that's 20" wide by 30" tall that opens vertically (with ~ 600 sq. inches of glass).

What are the optimal/favored window sizes for light, views, ventilation, and rain resistance?

Are horizontally opening or vertically opening windows preferable/better? Why or why not?

Horizontal windows may optimize your view.

Weatherproofing and rain resistance may be better with a vertically opening window.

I'm unsure which way windows open would be better for ventilation.

I will have a Fantastic Fan/vent in the roof to exhaust warm/hot air.

I'm also considering whether, or not, to install a Stargazer window, either the 45"W x 9"T WD12 or the 40"W x 9"T WD12-01. If I do it would be installed in the transition area that curves above front wall to the roof.

I like awning windows. My favorite is a jalousie as each pane forms an awning and they are the retro look I desire. An open awning window sheds water very well in the rain so ventilation doesn't suffer.
Note that an awning window would suck in a door because the open window would hit the side of the trailer every time a door opens.

I found a clever idea to hold my doors open a crack for ventilation. I used a screen door hook with the hook installed outside on the door frame and the eye installed on the inside of the door.

Tt

I'll be curious to watch your post.

[quote]My Benroy(ish) trailer will be 5"4" wide...[quote]

Why the extra 4"? I use numerous sheets of 5' x 5' Baltic in a build and that extra 4" would be like a pissed-off junkyard dog living under my bench. Every time I turned my back, it'd bite me.



Tony

The main reason my trailer will be 5' 4" wide is to have enough width to mount a 58" long 160 watt solar panel onto the roof.

The solar panel will be mounted to the roof with (glue on) drill-free brackets similar to these sold by Renogy or by Eco-Worthy. The brackets need several inches of flat roof beyond each end of the solar panel. I'm going to fiberglass the exterior 1/8" plywood and will round over the wall to roof corners/edges about 3/4" on each side. All that adds up to about a 5' 4" roof width.

Fiberglassing enables me to build wider than (readily?) available aluminum sheets, adds strength, saves weight (~90% lighter than aluminum), and provides very good waterproofing.

The 5' 4" exterior width also provides a little extra room inside the cabin for a queen sized mattress, a mattress cover, and to easily tuck in the sheets, blankets and/or comforter and duvet.

Years ago I tried to make my own doors which warped when the (moist/green) lumber frame work dried out. If I make my own doors, this time I'll use good quality flat/straight/dry plywood for the inner door framework and will clamp straight 2x4s around the fully assembled doors as the glue for the inner and outer skins sets up and fully dries. To prevent the doors from warping until they're ready to be hinged to the walls they will be stored on a flat surface or shelf (not leaned against my work bench like I did before).

That leads back to choosing the "best" windows for the doors.

That leads back to choosing the "best" windows for the doors.

You're right, back on track. Speaking of warping doors, the bigger the window the less flex you'll get in a door. I'm not saying that from experience, it just makes sense. Windows are stiff.

I'm in the planning stags of the next build and have narrowed my windows down to Vintage's WD17. I thought about a stargazer but there have been too many folks on this forum with leakers.



Tony

Today I'm leaning toward using the WD10 20" wide by 30" tall windows in my home built doors.

My alternative to building my own doors would be to buy two custom made 805 series teardrop trailer doors from challengerdoor.com/teardrop-trailer-doors that are 32" wide and 38" tall.