Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have made a little more progress on the camper this week. I added 3 new picutres to my album.

http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/album_personal.php?user_id=1677

Basically you are loooking at my finished extremely over-engineered floor and the storage boxes. I decided to use oil based porch and patio paint instead of asphalt on the bottom due to the looming cold and the desire to not have to wait 5 days to a month for it to cure. The first coat was messy, but I am sure that had somethign to do with thinning it down quite a bit to let it really soak in.

Man it was nice to have 50 degree weather today in Michigan!!

More paint tomorrow.

gratis wrote:Man it was nice to have 50 degree weather today in Michigan!!

More paint tomorrow.

Enjoy it while it lasts... I hear Tuesday it's supposed to plunge back into the 30's, thrusting us back into another ice age!

Mike...

P.S. I like the way you have your fender tucked in under there!

...as I have said before, our collective ingenuity is amazing...and to think there has been talk of "codifying" it all ....ya gotta good start there gratis keep it goin", get it dun, go camping and most importantly, have fun
madjack

The fender idea was an interesting discovery. I was originally going to just build boxes under the floor for wheel wells, but I found out the hard way that 6 inches overhang on either side is not enough room for the tires to clear a straight side. Rather then re-invent the wheel (well) I decided to just incorporate the durable metals ones I already had. It turned out better then I had thought it would.

madjack wrote:and to think there has been talk of "codifying" it all

Nah, I think you missed my point... but never mind... we won't come up with any codes...

Maybe just a bunch of ways to burn down your trailer...

Mike...

gratis - I too like the way you've tucked the fender under the floor framework. Do you mind if I borrow that idea? I'd been planning something similar to Dee Bee's Zephyr but I have the HF 1800 trailer & the 12" wheels require a little more clearance than the 2X4's will allow. What is the outer rail in your pic, appears to be maybe 1X6 decking?? Lookin' good .

Harv

Borrow away! There is definitely not a patent on my design.

The side boards are 1x4 pine. If you look at the older pictures you will see where I had to glue them together to make the 8.5 foot length. You will definitely need wheel well extensions with the 12 inch wheels. A little jig saw work on the 1x4 and it was all over.

While I am at it I thought I would pass along some wisdom for other starting their build:

Always pre-drill! I bought a cheap set of countersink bits and I have been using them religiously on this project. No splits or cracks!

Buy straight lumber. Some of what I bought was bowed and it makes the build a little more difficult to say the least.

Make a jig for doing long circular saw cuts if you are not sure you can hold a straight line. (Trust your jig too)

Have fun and remember that the pictures you post will somehow make it look like you knew what you were doing. Your sloppy joints and messed up cuts will blend in real well unless you do a closeup!

mikeschn wrote:P.S. I like the way you have your fender tucked in under there!

So that demonstrates the clearance required above the top of the HF frame is 3", as that's what the OEM fenders provide - that should be useful to other builders.

gratis, for the record, is that the 1175lb HF trailer*? And for everyone else, I see the HF 1800lb trailer now has 5 lug 12" wheels - weren't they 4 lug previously?

Andrew

*Definition of being a sad git: able to notice the difference between 1175 (cross-bar halfway along A-frame) and 1800 (no cross-bar) HF trailers from photos. Must go now and get a life.......

Yes, it is the 1175 lb. trailer from HF. I would guess that the fender rise above the frame is around 3 inches. I know when I eyeballed it I thought it would be more, but with the axel under the springs that is all it needs.

I "Tucked" my wheels in also. I wanted to build 5' wide but didn't want my wheel wider than my tow vehicle. It worked great. I'm glad I did it. The only thing that I gave up with doing this is the usual "Teardrop Fenders".