Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

After browsing this board for a number of weeks and being motivated by Steve's Puffin, and Mike's weekender designs, I have taken plunge... building has begun.

I'll be building my weekender as follows:

4 X 8 bolt together trailer puchased at Canadian tire and upgraded to 12 inch wheels.

The frame as also been extended out the back 12 inches, tounge extended 2 feet and the sides extended 6 inches.

I realize that the axle should probably have been moved back, but I'm not going to have a galley and most of the storage that we utilize will be at the front of the trailer, tounge weight shouldn't be an issue.

12 feet long
66 inches wide
5 ft tall (at the highest point)

My wife and I will have a queen size bed.
two bunks. One accross wise at the front of the trailer and then a higher L shaped bunk that will run the lenght of the trailer from front to back.

Walls will be 1/2 inch ply ( I know most will say that this if overbuilt, but its the way I want it) 3/4inch framing and insulation.

No electrical... Lighting will come from battery operated LED tap lights.

I will post picks as I go...


Modified Frame



Lumber ( 500 canadian bucks worth)



4 hours of work, side walls cut, trailer floor framed... Not yet fully glued as my wife left, and she had all my screws and glue in her car.

Interesting build idea


Will follow and see how it goes!

It took 6 hours work for my wife to leave, but you can always buy more glue and screws.

Great mod on the trailer! I am sure with the bunks in the front you will balance it out.

You got a lot done for a few hours.

Walls under construction, at this stage one is completed and one is partially completed.



Here are two pics of the completed wall mounted, it is at this stage only half insulated, and doesn't have the interior panelling yet, as we can't decide what we want on the inside yet.




I also managed to get 4 RV windows from an old gent that was parting out his camper, paid 60 bucks for them... didn't think that was to bad.

Anyway, I'll update again when the second wall goes up.

Nice looking camper you've got shaping up there.

So how many people will be camping in it? 4?

Thanks for the compliment. Yeh, 4 people. Myself wife, and two kids.... I would have liked to build something on the lines of your puffin, but the kids don't want to sleep in a tent yet so... This is where it stands. Even though I can't stand in my camper, once the kids are out sleeping in a tent, I'll remove their bunks, put in a small galley and possible a small low bathroom. We'll see.... Gotta finish this first.

All the small things suck up mucho time. Once done, I'm going to have to seal the wood and fill some ehem... poor measuring jobs.... Bondo I guess, or epoxy and wood flour....

I'm going to take the trailer to a scale when its complete to see what it weighs. I'm shooting for 1200 pounds but we'll see.

I'll be watching your build. I keep thinking I need something to sleep four.

beevel wrote:Even though I can't stand in my camper, once the kids are out sleeping in a tent, I'll remove their bunks, put in a small galley and possible a small low bathroom.

That sounds like a good idea. These little campers are easy to modify.

beevel wrote:All the small things suck up mucho time. Once done, I'm going to have to seal the wood and fill some ehem... poor measuring jobs.... Bondo I guess, or epoxy and wood flour....

The little things are huge time suckers. I spent more time on stuff that people will never see than constructing the body. I'd stay away from bondo to do any structural filling, epoxy and wood flour will hide any imperfections, and it will also make it very strong. Small gaps are actually beneficial for good bonding with epoxy. Save the bondo work for making the outside pretty.

But I managed to get the second wall, framed insulated, skinned and mounted.

Tomorrow I'll insulate and skin the second wall and start doing my roof stringers.

Oh and if you look carefully, you'll see I had some skill saw issues....
(actually measuring issues) I'll take care of those mistakes with the epoxy woodflour mix. (I'm trying to source that locally)

Man I wish I would have bought a router with a flush cut bit. Would have made things much easier.

With your wheels so far forward, you may need to buy an anti sway bar for your tow vehicle...

Other than that, it's looking good.

Mike...

I really like this one, any drawings of your interior?

A couple of update pics...

Won't be able to work on it for a week or so, as I'm going on a road trip to the calgary stampede.

Anyway here are a couple of the latest pics, I have both walls insulated and skinned on the inside, when I get back I will fill, sand and make the interior panels pretty, i figure its going to be easier to do while the roof is off, once painted I will install the beds and any cabinetry that we decide on. Once that is done I will finish the roof and ceiling.

Sorry Jeeper92, no diagrams of interior layout because it was a mid construction change, as soon as I have photos of the interior layout they will be posted.



hooked up to my jimmy....

aNYMORE PROGRESS
What you have so far looks great

No progress yet, I'm still out of town at a friends house. I should be home thursday. Hope to have the interior done, beds layed out... walls painted and floor done. I have to go back to work next week so I'll be relegated to evening work.

But I will keep updating as I go....