Tin Tiny - a 1940's rebuild

[crdouger]

The trailer is basically 4' wide, 4' tall, and just over 9' long. It's got that wierd tilt to the front which makes it a little harder to design, but more interesting than a rectangle. The framing is all 1 1/4" x 1/8" wall angle iron welded together and then skinned with .040 aluminum sheet. Only along the lower back edge where there was some significant leaking for years did the aluminum and steel show significant signs of galvanic corrosion. But the trailer survived the first 60 years, I figure if I clean it up and replace the bad parts, it will go another 60. My wife's perspective on it was that I never keep a project for more than a year or two anyway! Unfortunately she's right. When I'm in the middle of a project...I'm sure this is the one I'm going to keep forever!

What is Doug's American Voyager?

[John T. Hodgen]

Hi,
I, too, would like to see a link to Doug's A/V?! To see a comparison. I love the profile and how this trailer was built, will be keeping up with your progress. The hammocks are Kool too.
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda

[Alfred]

Hey Gang,

Doug's American Voyager is one fine looking camper, too. There are more pictures in his Hall of Fame gallery, but here is one of them...

Doug's American Voyager



Here's a link to the American Voyager album:
http://tnttt.com/album_ ... ser_id=454
The A/V pix start about pages 5-6.

Similar to John H. post, I think your camper looks great, very different and interesting. I keep checking back to see how its going. Keep us posted!

AL in Asheville

[crdouger]

Thanks for the picture. It does look EXACTLY like mine...minus everything fancy. I'm shooting for something solid, water tight, and very usable. Today I learned to buck rivets. It was WAY easier than I expected. Now I can plug a few holes, add a few character patches. And put my windows back in with water tight rivets instead of screws.

I'll post some pics when I have something worth a pictures.

Later - Doug

[crdouger]

I just checked the aluminum with a calipers. The exterior shell is .060 aluminum, not .040 like I guessed. It's pretty thick.

[Gage]

You'll find that most all alum teardrops that are riveted with no interior ply are .060 sheeting at least. .040 only came about with ply backing. Stand-ups (vintage travel trailers) are another story. Most of those are .020 to .032 alum sheeting with just 1" x 2" framing

[grizz]

What a beauty.

Great find too.

Love the hammocks, and as they are for emergency use only, you will still be enjoying the trailer 99.9% of the time.

The shape and quirkyness of the design works for me.

[crdouger]

The previous owner installed and removed a roof rack. They just attached it with screws into the aluminum sheet and it was pretty mangled and turned into swiss cheese. So I took some .060 aluminum and bucked four large "patches" in each of the corners. Fairly close buck rivets and some Vulcum sealant should seal it up well



The next step was to install the roof vent. It's a NOS roof vent/escape hatch intended for a bus (I think). It's large, so I should get lots of airflow though it.



Now for the side windows. I'm putting two on the campsite side. One is installed already and the other I just finished cutting the hole. I need to rivet in the drip caps yet to push the rain off the trailer. These crank out nicely and should be nicely rain proof.



The front used to have two small slider windows. They leaked when it rained and didn't open well or even very much. They were small. So I opened up the front and added a window almost all the way across it. The window was 2" too narrow to fill the whole gap, so I riveted a spacer piece of aluminum to fill in the gap. In a unique way, I think it looks nice. We should call it the "Rivet" instead of "Tin Tiny".

[Alfred]

Looking great, and you're making good progress, too!

Al in Asheville

[grizz]

Love your progress.

Love all the work that goes into the riveting, as it comes up looking great.

[hugh]

that trailer looks way to cool. when it,s done people are gonna be all over it at the campgrounds.

[John T. Hodgen]

Hello,
Yets been a few weeks since your last update! Got any new pics of your progress or did all that T-day turkey got you on the couch? Inquiring minds--you know. Lol.
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda

[crdouger]

Thanks for asking about updates. I didn't think anybody was watching! I've been working on it some lately, but not much because West Michigan has been slammed with snow and that means I get to do some plowing. Plowing takes time, but that's what's paying for the teardrop...so it's all good.

I've put off the rest of the windows because I ran out of rivets and needed to order some more from VintageTrailerSupply. So I've started on the hatch door. That's the one thing that has been intimidating me the most. I bought some aluminum angle 2" on one leg of the angle, but the other was only 1". I thought that I might be able to somehow bend it in the vice and make a curve out of it somehow. It ended up being easier than I hoped. Here's the pics:



My next project is to weld together the frame for under the trailer. I removed the heavy steel frame and I'm building one that is light and won't rust (much) instead. I'm using some aluminum I-channel that I found at a local metal yard. It was cheap and seemed strong and light. Here's what the front is sort of going to look like. It's a little longer than probably typical, but I'm hoping it will track better and give me plenty of room for a propane tank and a utiliby box for a battery, charger, and other utility stuff. Any suggestions from anybody on good designs for the front?

[John T. Hodgen]

Hey crdouger,
If your going with a tongue box, I've always like the design boxes that have the same profile as the front of the trailer. The same radii and curves which blend into the camper body. It's always a personal choice and hope that it comes out as nice as rest of the camper has-whatever you come up with.
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda

[crdouger]

I finished installing the last two windows and the rain caps (or eyebrows and my family refers to them). I like the way they came out and the seem like they are going to be really water tight.




Now I get to start on the galley. This has me excited and nervous. I'm excited to finally move on to another part of it. I'm nervous about getting the galley doors to seal and I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to build the cabinets yet. I keep telling myself that it's one thing at a time. I hope you like the pics.





Next I'm going to start on the wiring so I can install the insulation and hopefully get the frame welded together.