Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have been looking at all the different type of construction techniques for doing the walls. I was originally planning on just doing the 3/4" plywood framing method with 3/4" insulation in the wall. Well I got to thinking and that's not usually a good thing how about making a template. Then taking strips of Maple and bending them around the template to create the wall edge. In my thinking this should make a stout wall design and would also allow me to use a full inch of wall insulation instead of 3/4 inch in my walls. I am planning on making the walls 1.5 inches thick. So I would have 1/4" cedar strips on the exterior and 1/4" for whatever I choose to use for the interior. At this point I am thinking cedar inside and out. I was curious if anyone has tried something similar or am I opening up a can of worms that I don't want to deal with if I tried this idea.

If I understand, you want your walls to bow out? Depending on how much curve you have, you can build that curved beam from several thinner plys of wood glued together. I would use white oak or Ash rather than maple. Make one wide curved piece and rip saw it in half to get a matched pair

Introducing curves into the design makes it stiffer than a flat sided box so you should be able to build it lighter .

Tom Horn wrote:I have been looking at all the different type of construction techniques for doing the walls. I was originally planning on just doing the 3/4" plywood framing method with 3/4" insulation in the wall. Well I got to thinking and that's not usually a good thing how about making a template. Then taking strips of Maple and bending them around the template to create the wall edge. In my thinking this should make a stout wall design and would also allow me to use a full inch of wall insulation instead of 3/4 inch in my walls. I am planning on making the walls 1.5 inches thick. So I would have 1/4" cedar strips on the exterior and 1/4" for whatever I choose to use for the interior. At this point I am thinking cedar inside and out. I was curious if anyone has tried something similar or am I opening up a can of worms that I don't want to deal with if I tried this idea.

I think it's a large can of worms with an expiration date that's nearly up.

I can cut out two plywood skeletons in under two hours. (Two clamped together). What you are thinking would take days and may not increase the strength. And then there's the advantage with a plywood skeleton of easily adding blocking and bulkhead mortises where needed.





Adding a 1/4" of insulation --or an R factor of about 1-- in your walls isn't going to be noticeable. The big advantage in my experience to an insulated wall in a teardrop is the elimination of condensation, not heat loss.





Tony

My walls are only 5mm. I cut the walls and placed the ribs across for the roof. I did the interior ceiling first, then I used cut blocks of 1 x 2 glued and stacked side by side along the edge of the wall. The straight sections are cut long and glued the same between the ribs. This is very similar to acoustic guitar construction. By using PL and gluing the blocks to the ceiling, wall, each other and eventually the roof, it made a very strong light cleat.

Tt

Pmullen503 wrote:If I understand, you want your walls to bow out? Depending on how much curve you have, you can build that curved beam from several thinner plys of wood glued together. I would use white oak or Ash rather than maple. Make one wide curved piece and rip saw it in half to get a matched pair

Introducing curves into the design makes it stiffer than a flat sided box so you should be able to build it lighter .

No, I am wanting the walls to be flat just use the strips glued together to give the camper its profile of the ceiling just like the 3/4 plywood would do in the diagram Tony posted. My thinking is one yes it should lightened the camper up and two I can maximize the usage of wood instead of wasting all the plywood cutouts. I just mentioned using Maple because I am use to using Maple in my longbows I build and I know I can make it curve and shape like I want. The white oak and Ash would do the same thing and be cheaper too than Maple.

When you mentioned cedar strips I immediately thought of my canoes and compound curves. If you're going with flat sides, then skeletonized plywood is probably the way to go even with the waste

...instead of wasting all the plywood cutouts...

Let's get this on the record: There is no waste --or scrap-- wood. It get's used. (And I assume you'd use your form for your arches for some other project down the road.)

Since you're a bower, you can pull this off. I'm wondering how you will join the other members of your framing to your arches?

With my first teardrop, I followed Steve Fredrick's manual and used his "stick" framing method.



I think it took me two days to create two frames with all the joints. (Most of them were with biscuits.) The pine was cheaper than three sheets of 3/4 CDX ply but the labor wasn't worth it.

In my thinking this should make a stout wall design...

How will you join the bulkheads into your sidewalls?





If you go this route, make sure you take plenty of pics. I enjoy watching unique builds come together.

Tony

tony.latham wrote:

...instead of wasting all the plywood cutouts...

Let's get this on the record: There is no waste --or scrap-- wood. It get's used. (And I assume you'd use your form for your arches for some other project down the road.)

Since you're a bower, you can pull this off. I'm wondering how you will join the other members of your framing to your arches?

With my first teardrop, I followed Steve Fredrick's manual and used his "stick" framing method.



I think it took me two days to create two frames with all the joints. (Most of them were with biscuits.) The pine was cheaper than three sheets of 3/4 CDX ply but the labor wasn't worth it.

In my thinking this should make a stout wall design...

How will you join the bulkheads into your sidewalls?





If you go this route, make sure you take plenty of pics. I enjoy watching unique builds come together.

Tony

I would join the bulkhead into the sidewalls by using bracing boards just the same as in the stick framing method. As for attaching the other joints to the arches I am thinking a combination of dowels, glue, and screws.

You are correct I would use the form later on to make forms for new bow designs or something of that sort. As of right now this is all thoughts in my head but if I do decide to go this route I will take plenty of pics along the way. Any which way I decide to go I will be having fun building it.

I realize this is an older thread, but speaking from experience (I laminated the edge stiffeners for my galley walls), if I had it to do over I would have done the mitered method then route to template.

My slats were cut from warped 2x4 fir, so were uneven. Glue up required a dedicated fixture, was messy, and they sprung a little over time (if you go this route install soon after gluing). I hadn't allowed any extra width, so due to the unevenness I had to plane them down and add material back to get them proper.

It wasn't worth the effort, and by the time you factor in all of the kerfs from ripping and the waste that gets too small to push thru the saw, you aren't really saving material.

Laminated frame members can work well (see curved glue-lam beams for architectural & structural members), but on a trailer it's not really necessary. When you start talking about compound curves & irregular shapes, it can be the easiest way to make a form. For basically "flat" walls, it's a time consuming, labor intensive method of building. A production run of similar shapes & sizes can be done this way, but it's a lot quicker to cut plywood into the shape & skin it.