Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Has anyone used a dado in the side wall to locate the plywood for their headliner?

My thought is to use a 1/8" router bit and my router edge guide to form a dado to receive the headliner. With any luck it would make a nice clean joint and solve the dilema of trying to trim out any gaps where the headliner and the side walls meet.

The headliner could be cut a little more narrow than the maximum distance between the dados in order to allow for expansion. Stringers would still be used to back up the headliner and to stabilize the side walls.

So would this work? Too much work? Opinions?

Are you planning on sliding the headliner in like a roll-top desk? Sounds like a lot of work but would be cool if you could get the ply around the curves. It would look really clean and be very strong. The other method that is used for a clean edge on the inside is to build completely from the outside, putting the headliner on first and then the supports and then the roof. There are a few threads regarding that but I can't recall the term that was used.

I kind of like the trim inside, it really dresses up the interior. But of course I had no choice with all the gaps.......

Ed

M, check out Steve Fredericks build journals...he is the DADO king (for all intents and TD"s)..................

Mike,

I really wanted to do it that way, but gave up and cut a 1 7/8" deep rabbet to catch the edges of the ceiling skin and as well as the ends of the ribs (the tear sides are a full inch thick).

There is no reason why it won't work. With a side guide on your router, you cannot go to deep, though you may not always have a wonderful dado on the outside, but who would know.

You might need to borrow a few extra hands when you put it all together.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

dave

I built mine of 1/8" luan. glued up the whole headliner including the "hulliner" cover. cut 1/2" deep x 1/8" dado in the side and sprung the liner and slid it in. better have a prop close at hand to hold it up against the rafters.
TIPS 1) put a bead of glue at each rafter location before you put it up
2) have a helper to help put it up and hold it until you can secure it to
the rafters
3) if you are going to cover if with fabric, cut the fabric 1"
(width of the 2 groved) narrower and contact cement it with the
headliner flat on the bench with 1/2" bare wood on each side
4) use a pin nailer thru the fabric into the rafters to hold it till the glue
sets
5) plan on cussing a lot

Thanks for the comments guys.

Gaston, I was looking in your album and it looks like you installed your headliner and then installed the rafters. Is this correct? Do you have any more detailed pictures of the install? I might have to build a ply box to use as an experiment to see how easy / hard it would be to install.

If I don't follow up with this method then what would be a good source of trim to cover up the gap between the headliner and the side walls?

Thanks!!

Yes I installed the headliner then installed the rafters. I would install the rafters first if I were doing it again. the 1/8" material is flexable to bend and spring into the grove and the rafters will give you something to hold it against. The way I did it, it took 2 people 3 tries to keep it in the grooves, It kept pushing out the top or saging inside, sometimes both at the same time