Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello,

I'm building my first teardrop and have a question about building on the trailer. I picked it up on Craigslist from a welder who built it himself. It's a bit different because it's mostly 2"x2"x3/16" mild angle steel. Plus its big - 6' x 10'. And I'm also big - 6'4" 200+ lbs. I have a working design that includes a California king mattress but I need the exterior walls to be outside the trailer to fit the mattress width. (Should be enough room between the trailer and tires including the fender.)

I'm an engineer and pretty good wood worker / welder. But I do tend to over engineer projects. I keep paring this down (my first design had 2x4s!) but not sure I've pared down enough.

Here's a model of the trailer:


Trailer with deck:


With walls:


And closeup of the joints:


The bottom deck sheet is 5/16" (nominal) and the top sheet is 1/4" (nominal). This brings the bottom of the top sheet level with the trailer top and lets me add standard width rigid foam insulation to the floor but I'm reading most people say that's a waste. The walls are 1/4" plywood in and out with 3/4" plywood skeleton sandwiched in between. I'll probably bolt the deck to the frame with elevator bolts and then screw the walls to the floor from outside (through the trailer frame into the floor) with deck screws (I won't have access to the deck void to use bolts/nuts for the walls.)

I'd love to do aluminum outside but it's a little taller than 4' and a lot longer than 8' so I don't think that's an option. So I'm thinking painted fiber glass instead. Maybe match the color of my 2005 Suburban which would look sharp!

I bought a couple of the books I saw recommended and I'm reading lots of great posts (thanks for all the advice already here!) But I still would love some feedback.

Am I still over doing this? Any gotchas to watch out for with this type of trailer?

Thanks for this great forum!

Welcome abored.

I little over engineered, but I do the same thing.

Make your floor wider so that the wall framing sits at the edge and your exterior wall sheeting runs long and screw it into the side of your floor framing, really no need for the angle iron.

Framing it in 2x2 will be plenty strong enough if you build your floor as a moderately engineered torsion box

Thanks for the quick reply JasonC.

The angle iron is already there as part of the trailer. Might not be clear in the diagram so here's a photo of the actual trailer.



Basically, I don't have a flat surface across the top of the trailer - I'm building a deeper deck to achieve a flush surface that lets the walls extend below the floor. I left the interior wall above the floor so it takes some of the weight instead of the deck screws / glue holding the vertical weight. And I only lose 1/4" interior width on each side.

but I need the exterior walls to be outside the trailer to fit the mattress width...

You might consider a wall attachment more like this:



Yes, that moves your wall inboard, but the wall and roof weight will be sitting on the floor-–not just more or less attached to the side of the floor. Of course, you'll lose two inches or so of interior width. If your mattress is foam, It'll still fit fine, it's foam.

Our 60" wide teardrop is 57.75" wide. The 60" (foam) queen fits in it just fine.

Just a thought.

Tony

I see now.

You might wrap your frame rails with a shelf adhesive flashing like Vycor, or some other method to keep a waterproof barrier between the wood/steel contact, that's a good place for rot to start. Also pump some caulking into your screw holes and run in your screws to seal that up good.

Thanks Tony,

I was considering that as well. It makes my interior width 70" and a Cal King is 72" but I just measured the Cal King in my bedroom (Casper foam) and it's actually 71". But could easily squeeze another inch. Here's the update:



I'll have to be careful on the screw angle so I don't bottom out on the frame. It does have the advantage of letting me fiberglass the exterior walls before I install them on the deck since I won't have any exterior screws. Plus my sheets will stay tucked in.



I'm sold.

JasenC wrote:I see now.

You might wrap your frame rails with a shelf adhesive flashing like Vycor, or some other method to keep a waterproof barrier between the wood/steel contact, that's a good place for rot to start. Also pump some caulking into your screw holes and run in your screws to seal that up good.

Thanks JasenC. Do you need that barrier between the metal and wood for a "normal" trailer as well?

Not really for a utility trailer with 2x decking, that moves around, breaths and dries out. Metal attracts moisture when it's cold, rain, humidity, your going to trap moisture in there, wet wood and steel are a catalyst for rust.