Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Well, my jerk landlord has asked my wife and me to vacate his property. He wants it back.

So yesterday, I moved my teardrop project to a friend's house. While running down the road in the really hot sun, the aluminum skin expanded and WOW! It got some huge bulges in different places where the aluminum came loose from the plywood underneath. I'm glad I spotted this before I completed the thing.

I'm thinking that I did not get good adhesion originally and I suspect that it's because the wood soaked up the contact glue. So, I think the right thing to do would be to completely remove the aluminum and do it again. I'm just going to get 2 new sheets rather than trying to save the old ones. I'm sure that I'll find a good use for the old ones somewhere.

But this brings up a couple of questions:

First, I think that I should take advantage of this really hot weather we've been having and remount the sides out in the hot sun while the aluminum is at its maximum expansion. That way it will always have a tendency to go smaller than the wood rather than growing bigger. Is this a good idea?

Also, over a period of time during this build, my aluminum has gotten a little scratched here and there and a little beat up. It's not bad but I'm thinking that aluminum can be polished and this "patina" removed. But I'd sure like to know the proper way of going about it. Since I'm planning on removing the sides anyway, now is a good time to practice buffing and polishing with no worries over doing any permanent harm. I can always learn new lessons. lol

Welcome back Dave.....sorry to hear that you have to move, always a hassle...I don't think that a lot of the aluminum builders are using contact cement, but are using Henry's or in my case ,on my roof, Roberts outdoor carpet adhesive...trowel it on and it gives a better bed for the aluminum to stick to...lots of working time for it also...In the case of Jacks Alligator tear, I know that he just floated the aluminum sides on his and it looks fantastic! There also was a thread on polishing aluminum a while back and more recently a recipe from someone on a home polish....

Did you finish up the Zip? Doug

doug hodder wrote:Welcome back Dave.....sorry to hear that you have to move, always a hassle...

Did you finish up the Zip? Doug

I don't want to wreck my own thread but my wife and I have been the very BEST of tenants. We've NEVER been late on our rent and have paid it faithfully for the entire 2½ years that we've been here. We've never made a lot of noise and we've never complained about having anything fixed except the garbage disposal once. We live in a duplex and the LL lives next door. This is a mistake I will NEVER make again. It wasn't all that long ago he was telling us that we have been the best tenants he's ever had. However, we do know this much:

The dude has a real drinking problem. He's rarely sober and when he IS sober, he never owns up to anything he's done while drunk. And when he's been drinking, he turns totally evil! ....abusive and spoiling for a fight - ANY fight. If anything I think we've about had enough of him.

He's got a girlfriend and we think she's bi. She doesn't want to move in with him because her babe "roommate" doesn't want to live with him. So the 2 babes are going to move in here once we vacate. So I think the LL is looking forward to some really hot 3-way sex without having to drive far to get it. We think it's kinda humorous because he has no idea what kind of gonad breaking will be going on when he gets drunk and tries to hassle a couple of lesbians.

Anyway, my wife and I want none of it so we're actually ok with the idea of just "unplugging" from this toxic situation and getting out of Dodge. We're looking for a place to buy as the market here in middle Tennessee looks like it's going to tank a little. It's way overbuilt after 15 strong years of mucha construction. So we've got a 1 year lease on a new place and we'll use that time to get our finances in order and get our tax returns groomed for lenders to look at. Being self-employed that's how we have to do it. But you're right. It IS a hassle for the garage/barn that I've been using for my projects will be lost. This setup has been golden up until now. I've often wondered if the LL didn't somehow think that he'd been too generous with us in the beginning. We pay rent on our half of the duplex and because I'm in the lawn biz, I've been taking care of the 2 acre yard in exchange for the use of the barn.

I have not finished the Zip yet. I've just allowed myself to get distracted but now I'm getting back to it. I want to finish both projects ASAP without sacrificing quality.

Dave,
Have you asked the LL if you could just rent the shop from him???

Well, I built a 5x10 and it is skinned with alum. It's been on the road for two years now and no bubble problems whatz so ever. Maybe because I over trimmed my skins about an 1/8 of an inch and then floated them. I got the cheapest contact cement I could find and applied it to the sides just to hold them in place while I located the roof skin and edge molding. After all was located, I put the tear out on the drive way all day in the hot sun to break loose the contact cement. Now all I see is about 1/8" of scratching all around the edges of the side skins where it is moving under the edge molding. I've got .063T on the roof and it doesn't move. My sides are .040 and move all over the place. Remember, wood and alum expand different so if they are glued together, they will be fighting each other daly.

Now mind you. It may not be the correct way to do it but it is the way I did it and I have no problems or worries about expansion.

Have a good day.

David Grason wrote:The dude has a real drinking problem. He's rarely sober and when he IS sober...

Hey! I think I saw those people on the Jerry Springer Show

Seriously, it's no fun living next to a dysfunctional drunk. You're better off getting out of there pronto and not looking back.

why not screw the aluminum sides to the plywood for that aircraft look????

GPW wrote:why not screw the aluminum sides to the plywood for that aircraft look????

Is that what you did? Or are you just guessing that would look good and work.

Have a good day.

So why didn't you skin your teardrop, I forget?

Screwing the aluminum onto wood seems to be the way most of the commercially built trailers that I've seen are done(and we got alot of em' around here now ) ... I know they do it for a reason , but being a novice , I thought I'd ask ....I kinda like the aircraft /rivet look , if done neatly , it could be attractive (opinion) and certainly secure...and you could use smaller pieces....easy for us old geezers to manage alone... I also thought of when screwing (?) to drill a starter hole , inject some hot-glue and then screw into place... the hot glue acting as an adhesive and sealant ... ?????? I dunno ', just thinking ?????

....smaller pieces are probably the reason why..and I always squirt a dad of sealant in all screw holes for those reasons....
madjack

Thanks MJ!!! That makes sense!!! Cheap , and especially those FEMA "toasters"... I just painted my TD ... but then I'm an Artist and paint is my "thing"... hahahahaha..gonna paint the next one too ... even better ... Aluminum is really COOL !!! But I think I'd like the panel and rivet look of a an old P-51... complete with appropriate lettering and nose art ... and then we're back to paint ..... I dunno " !!!! hahahahahaha

David Grason wrote:He's got a girlfriend and we think she's bi. She doesn't want to move in with him because her babe "roommate" doesn't want to live with him. So the 2 babes are going to move in here once we vacate. So I think the LL is looking forward to some really hot 3-way sex without having to drive far

Would it be inappropriate for me to ask if any pics of this project are available?

I'm going to have to agree with Gage (did I really say that?) about floating the aluminum rather than trying to glue it down. This is what a good edge moulding is all about. I assume that my aluminum has already separated from the contact cement that I used to temporarily hold it down. I also assume that when it heats up, the aluminum slides forward or aft about 1/8-1/4". I used .062 on the roof, so I probably have less movement than a thiner sheet would.

Gern Blanston wrote:Would it be inappropriate for me to ask if any pics of this project are available?

I wouldn't want to risk the all out WAR that I'd be in if my wife caught me trying to take those pics!

Ok, here's a quick update on my loose sides on the teardrop. Today, I used a little lacquer thinner in an industrial spray bottle and worked the aluminum back off. I'd already decided that I wasn't going to try and reuse the aluminum because I'd made that other mistake. (cutting the sides too short) I don't think I described it earlier but now's a really excellent time to fix it but I would have to get new aluminum anyway. I was really surprised at how easily the sides popped off. I was expecting it to fight me all day but it didn't. Anyway, I'll prep the sides by sanding off the old glue. It looks like the contact cement really did a nice job of sealing the wood up so anything new should work just fine. I feel a whole LOT better about it now.