Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

This forum is great and I'm learning a lot. I'm building a Benroy-ish design and wanted some advice . I have a 5' x 8' frame and I understand that I have to get twice as much wood since they come in 4x8 pieces, at least for my floors that is. Weight is being considered tremendously. I'm going to an actual lumber yard, not the big box one we don't mention. I don't want to over build, which is a concern on here, but I also don't want to be sleeping on the ground because I went through my floors during the night lol. These are my questions, for now at least:

(1) For my floors, I was thinking of, from bottom to top, 1/4" ply ACX, 1"x2" skeleton (flat-don't know the material yet) filled with EPS insulation in the voids, 1/2" Birch ply on top of that for sleeping on. The bottom ply, the one touching the frame, will stick out side ways by 1/2" on the left and ride side for my walls to rest on. Should I switch the 1/2" ply from the top to the bottom? or it doesn't matter? I've read some of you guys do 1/4" top and bottom, even 1/8. I haven't read of any particular order that we should follow, meaning thicker wood on top or bottom etc...unless I missed it.
As for bolting, I'm thinking of carriage bolts or elevator bolts. For the carriage bolts, do I have to counter sink the bolts? won't it take some of the material away from the floor since its either 1/2" or 1/4" depending on which I have on top? will it cause problems with wood strength? I have read some mention it on here.

(2) My walls, will be 1/2" Premcore Plus White Birch (its lightweight) and I will cut out voids for insulation, 1/4 White Birch outer, and 1/8 or 1/4 Birch inner. TBH, I'm still working on the type of wood for the outer/inner skin. I'm attaching the walls with deck screws to the 1"x2" skeleton frame of the floor.

Any thoughts? I welcome any advice, concerns, tidbits, or whatever you have to say lol.

On mine I have 1/4 top and bottom with 2x4 framing (on the flat.) Roughly 24 x 24" spacing with eps fill. It does flex a bit if you kneel in the center of one of the gaps. I doubt yours would with 1/4 and 1/2" top but why not just the 1/2"? If it's for appearance sake (no visible fasteners) I get that.

If the walls are over the frame, your 1/4" shelf should be fine, the walls will be attached to the floor framing. If cantilevered (5x8 on 4x8 frame) like mine, I'd think about framing your floors with 2x lumber.

1/2" Birch ply on top of that for sleeping on

That's too much wood. My floor is a 3/4" framework with foam-filled voids and sheathed with 1/4" top and bottom. There's no flex and plenty of strength to walk on during the building process.





The gussets are there until the other side is sheathed.





Tony

Pmullen503 wrote: I doubt yours would with 1/4 and 1/2" top but why not just the 1/2"? If it's for appearance sake (no visible fasteners) I get that.

I was going to sandwich the 1x2 Skeleton with the 1/4 and 1/2, are you saying don't worry about the underside and just leave the 1/2" on top, to sleep on? I've seen some pictures where they totally didn't cover the bottom and you could see the skeleton and insulation.

tony.latham wrote:

1/2" Birch ply on top of that for sleeping on

That's too much wood. My floor is a 3/4" framework with foam-filled voids and sheathed with 1/4" top and bottom. There's no flex and plenty of strength to walk on during the building process.





The gussets are there until the other side is sheathed.





Tony

Tony,

I was thinking of doing that but didn't know if 1/4, 1x2 Skeleton, 1/4 Sandwiched would be sturdy enough. Also, I was concerned about bolting it to the frame if it would have enough meat sort of speak but I guess it does.

23Sojourney45 wrote:

Pmullen503 wrote: I doubt yours would with 1/4 and 1/2" top but why not just the 1/2"? If it's for appearance sake (no visible fasteners) I get that.

I was going to sandwich the 1x2 Skeleton with the 1/4 and 1/2, are you saying don't worry about the underside and just leave the 1/2" on top, to sleep on? I've seen some pictures where they totally didn't cover the bottom and you could see the skeleton and insulation.

No, I meant 1/4" + 3/4" core + 1/4" top OR 1/4" x 3/4 core + 1/2" top.

...concerned about bolting it to the frame if it would have enough meat ...

Just put the meat where it's needed. The rear of my floor is solid plywood because it has to support 56 pounds of water, sixty pounds of battery, and vertical supports between it and the countertop.





Tony

Pmullen503 wrote:

23Sojourney45 wrote:

Pmullen503 wrote: I doubt yours would with 1/4 and 1/2" top but why not just the 1/2"? If it's for appearance sake (no visible fasteners) I get that.

I was going to sandwich the 1x2 Skeleton with the 1/4 and 1/2, are you saying don't worry about the underside and just leave the 1/2" on top, to sleep on? I've seen some pictures where they totally didn't cover the bottom and you could see the skeleton and insulation.

No, I meant 1/4" + 3/4" core + 1/4" top OR 1/4" x 3/4 core + 1/2" top.

Yes Pmullen, I'm seriously considering it. I've read so many of you guys mentioning overbuilding and adding unnecessary things to our build. In a way, I guess we just want a solid build and to trust the advice being given.

tony.latham wrote:

...concerned about bolting it to the frame if it would have enough meat ...

Just put the meat where it's needed. The rear of my floor is solid plywood because it has to support 56 pounds of water, sixty pounds of battery, and vertical supports between it and the countertop.





Tony

Tony, you have a cooler? how big is it? ? Your galley must be massive and organized to support 56lbs of water and 60lbs of battery.

Tony, you have a cooler? how big is it?

It's 54 qt Coleman Steel. The slider rails are attached to the wall and the vertical support. I can't imagine having a kitchen without it.

Your galley must be massive and organized...

I don't know about massive, but it's "engineered" to support the weight. Organized? Yep.

Tony

We were going to build our floor with 1/4" - 3/4" core - 1/4" and then decided to make the floor side 1/2" ply for added stiffness. I think changing our minds was one of the bigger mistakes in our build, though, of course, I don't know how stiff our floor would have been with the lighter ply. That floor was heavy, and hard to get from the assembly table to the trailer.

We actually designed and built our galley after the rest of the build, and decided we didn't have room for our cooler. So we take it in the back of our truck. That works well. When we camp in bear country, we'd rather have our food in the truck, or in a bear box, anyway. We designed our galley with plastic bins to hold the food that doesn't need the cooler. The bins come out to go in the truck or bear box, when necessary.

Tom

tony.latham wrote:

Tony, you have a cooler? how big is it?

It's 54 qt Coleman Steel. The slider rails are attached to the wall and the vertical support. I can't imagine having a kitchen without it.

Your galley must be massive and organized...

I don't know about massive, but it's "engineered" to support the weight. Organized? Yep.

Tony

Usually, I just look at the pictures but you can never tell how big or small something is with angles etc...I have a Coleman cooler as well and have taken it camping multiple times, can't live without it. Good point about the floor and the build supporting the weight. Its important to know what "we", the campers, will actually be bringing and using. It would be a shame to under build and get a giant cooler and realize the floor can't support it.

Tom&Shelly wrote:We actually designed and built our galley after the rest of the build, and decided we didn't have room for our cooler. So we take it in the back of our truck. That works well. When we camp in bear country, we'd rather have our food in the truck, or in a bear box, anyway. We designed our galley with plastic bins to hold the food that doesn't need the cooler. The bins come out to go in the truck or bear box, when necessary.

Tom

Tom, that's a good point and I bet you're not the only one on here to realize the "after" build measurements. But, I don't think its a bad thing either because you can still bring a cooler with you in your tow vehicle and you feel safer that way. I wonder if there is anyone on here that have had issues with bears "visiting" their trailers because of the cooler. I wanted to ask, how wide and deep is your galley? did you not make it wide enough or deep enough because of structural issues of the floor and/or walls? or did you have an original cooler (smaller) and changed your mind and upgraded to a bigger one. My cooler will be close to Tony's and I want to make sure it doesn't fall through the floor sort of speak

23Sojourney45 wrote: I wanted to ask, how wide and deep is your galley? did you not make it wide enough or deep enough because of structural issues of the floor and/or walls? or did you have an original cooler (smaller) and changed your mind and upgraded to a bigger one.

I seem to remember about 22 inches deep, and the width of a 5 foot camper minus the walls. Nothing to do with structural issues. (We made it plenty strong enough.) We could have fit a cooler in sideways (like Tony's), but didn't like taking up all that real estate, which we ended up using for our non-cooled food bins. At one time, we were thinking of making our own cooler out of 2 inch foam and fiberglass, so the dimensions wouldn't have been an issue. In the end, it was just easier to buy an Igloo.

Steve Fredrick built three teardrops and said he finally got it right on the last one and put the cooler in the truck. He camps in the Adirondacks which is definitely bear country and the reason he left it in the truck. Seemed like a pretty good idea to us. Also, we have the cooler with us when we take drives from the campsite, so lunch is easy. And, we have it when we stop for gas and buy ice.

Tom

I wonder if there is anyone on here that have had issues with bears "visiting" their trailers because of the cooler.

Nearly two decades of teardropping in Idaho, Montana, and Idaho without any issues.



Almost always in bear country.

Tony