Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I know this isn't really a tiny trailer. I have a 20'lx7.5'wx6.5't skeleton cargo trailer. The top is 1" steel and I'd like to keep unnecessary weight off those bars if at all possible. I'm making it into a trailer for my reptiles as well as hopefully a spare bed. Basically I want a.fully insulated outdoor shed on wheels so I can take it with me during moves. As such it's definitely getting a mini split and I'm kinda playing with the idea of doing a half foamie sort of deal. I was thinking of doing frp or 1/8th ply skin on the front and bottom 3-4' of the trailer sides to help with wind force from the road. The ply skin would still be backed in foam
In fact I was thinking I would glue the foam to the skin for strength. The top half of the sides and the back would still be foam walls only and I was planning on covering the whole thing in pmf. Because of the volume of face to cover smoothly I was thinking polyester mesh(Henry's roof fabric), burlap, or even polystyrene mesh(blown insulation fabric). For the pmf paint I was thinking I'd use regular outdoor paint and do 75% water, 50% water, 25% water, full paint method ive seen but I also have a ton of roofing paint to use up so I was having mixed feelings on the best top coats. I have a ton of Henry's roofing paint, ames max blue, and ames super stretch. This is gonna be left out in the weather most likely in Washington. So as sealed as I can possibly get it is important. I was also thinking about using some wood to make shallow arches on the top beams and then bending foam over the top to make a domed roof to allow a significant less pooling.
So I wanna hear your thoughts. Insulation, skin type, pmf methods, paint, sloped roof etc. The good bad and ugly. The goal is cheap and quality. Quality more important than cheap. Appeal is honestly the least important but it's still a bonus. I know I don't wanna do aluminum. I am willing to ply all over if that's smarter. I'm willing to do a lot of things.

Hey Deranged, Big welcome to you..
Can you shoot us some pictures so we know what you are working with..
Makes it a whole lot easier when trying to help someone with suggestions. .

Sure can when I get home. ATM it's literally just the trailer and a Skeleton frame. No skin, nothing. I need to go through and restore the steel. But ATM it's just a giant steel cage with old damaged ply on the base of the trailer, which will 100% be replaced because it's in bad condition. There's also some clear corrugated roofing I'm in the middle of removing. They were previously using the trailer as a less than reliable green house.

Pictures of the trailer as it is now. I'm planning removing everything except the metal. Including the rust. I may have renew a few welds but the frame is very sturdy on bottom and the top is 1" steel

Derangedplanet, Howdy;

Welcome to the forum, WOW, talk about a 'bare bones' start. chucklin'.
Looking forward to following your build. Should be one of the more interesting
ones we've had on here.

hank

Did you have any thoughts on how you think things might work best? I'm really liking the semi foamie approach but I dunno if that would stay structurally functional for high speeds with such a big wind block. Love to hear any input you might have! I'm excited to move forward but the only place I know where to start is to finish stripping it

Derangedplanet, Howdy;

When you mentioned covering the exterior with _______, (fill in the blank), and having
foam on the inside you are now entering the group of folks that gather here in the CT.
We just start with walls, floor and roof. Most folks here have added some sort of insulation
to their builds. Floors, usually, are of 1/2" or 3/4" plywood, treated or treated by the
owner. Roofing can be any material you wish to use. Heck, you could even make it a
convertible if ya want. chuckle. It's your canvas, paint by numbers or free-style your rig
your choice.

Lookin' forward to seein' what ya do with it.

hank

Deranged..
as it is that you have mentioned foam in both your posts...
I'd direct you to the next set of postings down on this forum..

viewforum.php?f=55

maybe there you can get GPW's attention.. he has made a large foamy and has experience with the foam,
that some of us wouldn't have in this part of the forum..

gallery/image.php?mode=medium&album_id=1860&image_id=150891

Derangedplanet, Howdy;


Amazing what thoughts come to mind when sittin' on the 'throne'. chuckle.
This morning I was in meditating and it dawned on me that I'm livin' in an
RV that has exterior walls made of basically, a thin sheet of fiberglass that
is Bonded to a layer of foam. On the other hand, I used to dwell in a stick
& roll insulation type of RV. As a fulltimer, I prefer the livability of a 5th
wheel with a slide in the living area rather then a torpedo tube Travel
Trailer (TT). Here's a video of a comparison of the 2 types of siding and the
guy makes the points in the first 6 or so minutes;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8BE2f8bd5o

Hope that helps some.

hank

I am doing basically the same project but using a 37 year old 6x12 so some of my experiences so far may transfer over. Going to assume you are going to remove the floor if you haven't already to do your de-rusting.

I painted my new floor with bed liner (tape up the edges so you still get a good factory to factory edge for spacing) when I laid the floor I used a bead of silicone on the seam joists and on the perimeter then drilled all holes and gave them a slight countersink and used 1 1/2 self tapping screws to attach. If the silicone squeezes up in the cracks you used to much.

After the silicone set I went back and sanded a slight groove on the seams using a flapper disk on a grinder used Bondo body filler to cover all screws and fill in all the seams in the plywood.

As for de-rusting my trailer I used mainly flapper disk then wiped everything clean and sprayed all areas with a bunch of half full Rust-Oleum rattle cans that I had laying around (yea under the skin my trailer looks like a rainbow lol)

I hope your trailer walls are thicker than mine. My studs are only 3/4 thick which means either thin insulation or encroach into my already limited living space.

I went with FRP for my skin due to cost and then bondoed out the seams. If you can afford it go with real trailer skin because my route is alot more work and is a little bit heavier

For your new roof one piece would be best but you can also rubber membrane it (might not be a bad idea to do both)

Alot of guys here prefer to start with new or newer trailers so that they don't have to mess with reskinning (after doing it I am part of that group lol) but the brain power here will be able to figure out just about any problem you throw at them. Welcome to the insanity

With the 3/4" sq tube frame I had the thought of using 1.5" XPS foam and doing a 3/4" rabbit around the edges to accept the steel frame work thus not encroaching on your interior space while also beefing up your wall structure for the foamie sections. That foam doesn't experience much thermal movement, similar to the steel, and I don't see an issues with Gorilla gluing and spray foaming the foam right to the steel, skin the inside, PMF or glass the outside and there you go.
You might also look into the 3M 78, it's their foam board glue. Not sure if that's the right route for your situation, you would want to do a couple test to see which is best, 78 or Gorilla. I haven't used it yet but that's the glue I'm using to bond my foam core.