Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Over the weekend I stopped by a local CT manufacturer trailerfactory.com and had a chance to see the quality of construction first hand. Honestly I was not impressed.

I was able to inspect a few CT's in various stages of construction. I immediately noticed a few things that concerned me.

Welds: They use a mix of rectangular, square and angle steel on the subframe/chassis. The rectangular and square steel is only welded on two sides and I found quite a few places where it was only welded on one side. Angle steel was only welded on one side in most cases. I also found a couple places where the steel was cut a 3/16 to 1/4 inch too short and they bridged the gap with a weld.

Exterior skin attachment: I got a chance to peek into a CT that was almost finished through the side door. I noticed that along three vertical steel frame posts they missed screwing the sheetmetal screws into the vertical frame posts. One post had 3 or 4 screws in a row right along the edge of the post where they just missed it. Two others had a couple screws a few screws apart where they missed hitting the vertical frame. Of course this would be covered up by plywood and would not be noticed.

Is this pretty typical?

The welding kind of is. I've noticed on most trailers they don't weld all 4 sides on square tubing. The short pieces and missing the studs just sounds like bad workmanship.

Build quality on trailers has been failing for some time now. One user on this site just purchased a BRAND NEW trailer and when they took a wall panel off....nothing but rust!!!

The state of the travel trailer industry is about the same in terms of quality.

My suggestion would be to order the trailer you want but request they leave the inner plywood on the floor (after all you paid for it). This would make the factory realize they can not hide sloppy or shoddy workmanship on your trailer. Further NOTHING is yours until you sign for it. INSPECT INSPECT and after that INSPECT.

Should the build quality not meet your standards REJECT. Your trailer dealer should be on your side in this matter. Imagine the customer service you will receive in the future from a dealer that tried to get you to settle for a poorly constructed trailer??? NO THANKS.

Poor undercoating, raw steal studs, fender screws missing studs, bad electrical grounds, brakes not adjusted and more...are all very common.
Click on my album below to see how the Diamond brand of trailers are constructed.

How many collapsed cargo trailers do you see? So aren't they mostly strong enough?

A lot of structures don't need most of their strength - things like wall studs will be sized so that they are robust and withstand the occasional knock and small welds is all they will need to do their job.

I'm not saying this is a justification for poor workmanship - just that 100% welding is not a requirement for all structures.

Yes I think the welding is standard.. I don't think they are missing spots I just think they don't fully weld all 4 sides of tubing. I agree its also probably not really needed. Even more so if you have 16" on center studs like mine. It just sorta of bugs you though cause I'd weld all 4 sides weather it needed it or not.. I understand time is money though...

If you welded all 4 sides you would weaken your trailer.
Was in the steel fab business a long time so this isnt a guess. Welding all 4 sides will tend to crack across the web of the piece you are welding to, it is super stiff so want flexe and tends to fatigue.
Another reason is moisture , when you completely seal a tube you get condensation from the inside and your tubing rust from the inside. If you omitt the right welds it can breath.
Ron

Tx River Rat wrote:If you welded all 4 sides you would weaken your trailer.
Was in the steel fab business a long time so this isnt a guess. Welding all 4 sides will tend to crack across the web of the piece you are welding to, it is super stiff so want flexe and tends to fatigue.
Another reason is moisture , when you completely seal a tube you get condensation from the inside and your tubing rust from the inside. If you omitt the right welds it can breath.
Ron

@Tx River Rat: Don't quite understand the first part of your post about weakening the structure. Would you please explain?

The part about the condensation in a steel tube makes sense but, I think I'd be more concerned keeping dirt, rainwater and road salt from getting in there and staying in there.

@BC Cargo: I saw your pictures and that is exactly why I'm thinking about building my own CT. Also sending you a PM.

Regards,
Tom

when you weld the sides only you spread the load out over several inches when welded on all four sides that makes the area inside those welds super stiff . It is just like bending a wire if you try to bend a wire with your hand six inches apart it will take a long time to break it. put your hand right against each other and it will break quickly.
Leaving sides unwelded is standard practice for the reason I have stated above.
Ron
I have cut into a 10 ft capped 2 inch pipe and had a quart of water run out.and the inside be soilid rust

Tx River Rat is correct. All trailers need to flex. If you weld the uprights solid then you would not have enough flexing of the trailer and it would be junk in a rather short time. Also most of the time the interior plywood isn't an option on whether to put on or not. It must go on in most circumstances because it is structural (not all). The screws not hitting the uprights and the other issues you had are just plain laziness and shoddy workmanship. I call them the "Friday" trailers (just get it done so we can go home "It's Friday). It's sad to see because the price of these little trailers are pretty penny for no more than what you get.

Tx River Rat wrote:If you welded all 4 sides you would weaken your trailer.
Was in the steel fab business a long time so this isnt a guess. Welding all 4 sides will tend to crack across the web of the piece you are welding to, it is super stiff so want flexe and tends to fatigue.
Another reason is moisture , when you completely seal a tube you get condensation from the inside and your tubing rust from the inside. If you omitt the right welds it can breath.
Ron

I would have to think that unless the tube was filled with water, the slight amount of moisture in the air trapped in a closed tube would soon react with the steel to form a minimal amount of rust. Once the rust was formed and the moisture consumed in the process there would be no more rust formation unless more water was introduced into the tube which wouldn't be possible if the tube were completely sealed. I once saw a neighbor's boat trailer fabricated from tubing. It looked like Swiss cheese as the tubing wasn't sealed, fresh salt water was allowed inside each time he launched his boat, and the trailer was toast as a result. I think that's why the vast majority of boat trailers are made from channel. I'd opt for sealing all the tubes rather than leaving them open. Realistically though, unless one was in a really moist environment with a bit of exposure to salt, I doubt there would be a problem. Here in the deserts of So. Cal., which is pretty much desert anyway, the trailer would last forever or longer.

"To infinity and beyond."

As SC says, just my too cents.

Cheers,

Gus