Baby Belle 60 Build Journal

[hankyknot]

Welcome to my build journal.

Baby Belle 60 is my first ever teardrop build. its based on an old 6' x 10' single axle trailer I picked up for $300.

I want to build something that is capable of operating off-grid so I want to include solar power and some water storage capability.

I'd love to have a large window in the ceiling so that I can lay back at night and watch the stars but this is one area where I'm not really sure what to do because I haven't seen anyone else do it. I am planning to have an automatic roof vent as well for cooling and ventilation purposes.

So this is my donor trailer...

BEFORE

Donor 01 Web Small.jpg (74.84 KiB) Viewed 840 times

right off the bat I stripped the lights, fenders and lumber off it until it looked like this...

Once stripped

Naked trailer.jpg (59.2 KiB) Viewed 840 times

I've been working on the details of how to attach the walls and floors and so far I've come up with this...

Construction detail

Construction Detail 01.JPG (37.44 KiB) Viewed 840 times

This weekend I'm hoping to cut off the uprights and get ready to prep the trailer, will post more pics as I have them.

[CliffinGA]

For tears with ceiling windows you can look up Bobhenry's tear that the roof is all I believe Lexan and Thomas (2bit) tear he had that had a window in the roof.

Cliff

[KCStudly]

Okay, you're up and rolling now!

I can see now why you were thinking a little outside of the box. Those under slung x-members are a little unusual.

I would try to simplify your plan as much as possible. Take the stakes off completely, seems that they will be in the way and just something that you will need to work around. Bye, bye. Ask around and find someone to weld in some brackets for the rear stabilizers. Worth the effort to avoid doing anything sketchy that you will regret later, IMO.

What is the thickness of the long steel outer members of your trailer? Are they box tube? Looks like they are.

Consider this; instead of sandwiching the trailer frame between floor skins, just top it with a single layer of 1/2 inch ply flush with the steel, and back fill the bottom with whatever stock thickness of foam you choose. The foam is never consistent in thickness and there are plenty of people that have had success bedding there underside foam in wet tar emulsion; just dry fit the foam first before adhering. Some add security by screwing up into the upper floor ply using long screws and fender washers, or wood battens. You could seal the edges with Great Stuff, tube sealant or tar, or even cover it with paint and canvas or fabric (see the Foamie section for details on canvas covering options). That's it, no bottom ply. You could add some 1x2 wood stiffeners on edge across wise under the floor ply by screwing down through the ply into the cross pieces, plus adhesive, if you want to stiffen it up some or if you want to go thinner on the upper skin, say 1/4 inch.

On the wall to floor joint; simplify. Eliminate the outer skirt and thru bolting. Keep the outer skin overlap (assuming you are planning on a fairly thick outer skin like 3/8 or 1/2 ply), add a sill plate to the wall inner frame, then use construction adhesive on the underside of the wall frame and the inner face of the outer skin flap. Clamp the wall in position then pre-drill and screw (self tap or hand tap) with machine screw straight into your trailer frame in several locations. If you plan on adding the inner wall skin after erection you can add a few screws down through the sill and into the top of the trailer frame, too, but I would try to build as much of the wall in the flat as I could...the way I have described will be hugely more than adequate.

Just my $.02 for you to consider. You will have more work than you can imagine w/o making things overly complicated, just read TPCE build thread and you will know why I offer this advice. Complexity takes time and is usually harder to make it come out as you imagine it will.

[hankyknot]

Do you mean something like this Kc?

Construction Detail 02.JPG (23.89 KiB) Viewed 781 times

[KCStudly]

Yes. There's actually a thread somewhere here with illistrations of various wall to floor attachments. Lemme see if I can find it.

Yup, it's a sticky in the construction techniques section here:
Wall Attachment Options Illistrated

[hankyknot]

One of the main reasons for the sandwich was to avoid drilling into the frame. Although looking at the options on that thread it doesn't seem like something to be concerned about.

[KCStudly]

Yeah, I chose not to do it that way, but foamies go together differently, and I had no problem welding mounting tabs onto my trailer.

Lots of different ways to get it done. The key seems to be to use lots of glue, plenty of sealant and/or waterproofing.