Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

aggie79 wrote:The biggest issue I had with 1/8" baltic birch is fastening it until the adhesive set. I tried narrow crown staples but they "blew through" the plywood no matter how low I set my compressor or nail gun.

You need the modern version of the trick used by boatbuilders producing cold-moulded hulls:

Get some used polypropylene strapping tape used to wrap goods - short lengths with the joiners still in them work OK, so just ask to raid the scrap bin at almost any factory/warehouse.

Shooting the staples through the tape serves two purposes:
- the strength of the tape stops the staple from marking the surface of the ply and certainly stops 'blow-through';
- always leave a foot of tape unused at the end and you can just pull the tape to remove the staples after the glue has set, again avoiding marking the surface when extracting the staples (plus it's fun!).

Andrew

Thank you all for so many great ideas! Notes, notes and more notes, so many ways to go, I can't wait to now get inside a few Tears to really get the feel of them. With all the amazing technical help and expertise of the members here, I don't think I can go too far afield, you guys are the best.

Dave

DMcCam wrote::lol: Sure could leave the lowest curve attached to the frame. I was mostly concerned about my wife being able to reach everything in the galley. I think I'll have to lower the counter in the galley to something closer to 36" from the road. This would allow me to move everything aft a little bit.

Maybe I should show the hatch stays in the drawing to save my wife's noggin.

Thanks guys, Dave

If she is not a tall gal 34" or 35" would be even more comfortable for her.

(just for thought) A dinner table is 27" - 28" and a bathroom vanity is 32" - 34"

Hi Bob, My lovely wife is 5'7" so a little taller would be fine with her (me too). We have one of those high type dining tables that sits at 36" tall just like the kitchen counters. Makes it easy to move hot food from the stove to the table. If I can keep the height about the same she'll feel right at home. Of course we are still in the early planning stages so who knows. She might look at another TD and like the lower arrangement better...then it will be lower. As the wise old saying goes, 'happy wife, happy life'.

Cheers, Dave

aggie79 wrote:A little late to the conversation, but I'm partial to your first design.

With a little coaxing, I installed 1/8" baltic birch to a 6" radius "roll pan" at the bottom front of my teardrop. The picture below shows my hatch. The lower radius is 10", and I didn't have any trouble bending the ply to install it.



The biggest issue I had with 1/8" baltic birch is fastening it until the adhesive set. I tried narrow crown staples but they "blew through" the plywood no matter how low I set my compressor or nail gun. I ended up using screws fastened through a temporary plywood backer plate.

Tom

3/8 crown- 22 gauge upholstery stapler... I use it for building cedar-strip kayaks. makes tiny holes and because the crown is wide it won't blow through thin material.. on wood like maple, the hole is barely visible. on wood like luan you won't even see them.

it's available is several styles.. 20, 21, or 22 gauge, 3/16, 3/8, and 1/2 inch crown in lengths from 3/16 to 5/8 inch.. I have a Grex but there is several other brands as cheap as $100.00

http://www.grexusa.com/grexusa/products.php5?id=71AD

http://www.grexusa.com/grexusa/prod_typ ... 20Staplers

Dave,

REALLY good lookin' design!

Prem