Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Well I have my trailer parts ordered and the welder will start soon. Thanks to all that have offered advise up to now.
I am starting to plan the walls ect. I have looked and read all over here and other places and I don't seem to find any standard wall thickness. It would seem that when it comes to door and window construction that there must be a thickness that works best. I was hoping to use 1/2" Baltic birch sides, 3/4 or 1" insulation/framing and 1/4" inside. This makes the walls 1 1/2 or 1 3/4" thick. Now to add to this question, I want to make a Woody design and was going to use 1/2 or 5/8 outside ribs. This would take the wall thickness to about 2- 2 1/4" including the ribs which would be around all the window and door openings. Does this work alright or does anyone find a problem with this thinking?

That's the way I am building mine. Except the outside ribs. It is solid. I used the Steve Fredrick method of building a ledge for the cieling and building from the inside out. It's working great. You should get his CD Although I'm not a novice, he has some ingenious methods.

Thanks for the reply. It looks like you are well on your way. I checked out your album for. You are going to have a real nice trailer when you are done. I checked out Steve Frederick's site. I did not see a link to buy his CD. I will try emailing him.

WB, have a look here http://www.steve-frederick.com/shopman05 That takes you straight to it.
Cheers
Paul

Woodbutcher wrote:This would take the wall thickness to about 2- 2 1/4" including the ribs which would be around all the window and door openings. Does this work alright or does anyone find a problem with this thinking?

One thought is that you will lose 4- 4 1/2" of interior width. To keep a good seal, you want the roof material to run to the outside edge of the wood framing. So, depending on what roof material you will use, you may need to make the rest of the body narrower to allow for this.

Len's Slumbercoach illustrates this:



Andrew

I went with uninsulated 3/4" FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plywood)

It is basicly the stuff that they make Ryder trucks out of. It is Plywood with a product similar to Filon adheared to both sides under pressure. It has been good so far. I have slept in 20* weather and have been warm.

PaulC wrote:WB, have a look here http://www.steve-frederick.com/shopman05 That takes you straight to it.
Cheers
Paul

Thanks Paul I just ordered the plans. I am ready to go so I am hoping this will help keep my from screwing up to badly!

angib wrote:

Woodbutcher wrote:This would take the wall thickness to about 2- 2 1/4" including the ribs which would be around all the window and door openings. Does this work alright or does anyone find a problem with this thinking?

One thought is that you will lose 4- 4 1/2" of interior width. To keep a good seal, you want the roof material to run to the outside edge of the wood framing. So, depending on what roof material you will use, you may need to make the rest of the body narrower to allow for this.

Len's Slumbercoach illustrates this:



Andrew

I will have to give up the interior space to get the look I am after. But it should only be the 1-1 1/4" that the outside slats add? I was going to run 1/4 or 3/8 bending luan as the roof skin over the 1/2" birch that will be the side. Then cover the luan roof skin edge with the slat on the side.I was then going to run a wood slat flat on the roof,covering the side slat seam. I was planning to paint the roof with black epoxy paint. Will that work OK?

Sounds good. You just need to think in advance what you're gonna do when the extra height of the side strips is a problem - for example, if you're gonna use a hurricane hinge, you'll have to stop the side strips short of the hinge.

Andrew

Thats a good point Andrew, thanks. I was looking at the So-Cal Galley & Door hinge.The trim may cause a problem. I have email them to see if I can get some tech info on how to install it.