Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I didn't know that great stuff could be used as a "glue" - thought its function was one of a spray foam insulation?

JazzVinyl wrote:I didn't know that great stuff could be used as a "glue" - thought its function was one of a spray foam insulation?

It was used quite a bit as a glue on the early foamies. I find that I did not like working with it too much because it has a hydraulic effect that can cause issues. In this case I wanted the foam to fill in the excess voids in the pockets. I would probably rather have used Gorilla Glue for this application. I had Great Stuff on hand though and it cures much faster.

Seen your trailer on YouTube and you directed me here. Love the trailer! Any updates and or issues with it?

Bigforkg wrote:Seen your trailer on YouTube and you directed me here. Love the trailer! Any updates and or issues with it?

Thanks!
A few issues.
- I used a piano hinge instead of a hurricane hinge for the rear hatch. The hatch is designed to keep water out even with a piano hinge, but what I did not count on is the hinge rusting and becoming rigid. Of course, I did not notice this till I went to open the hatch to get ready for last years first trip. It basically tore out the pop rivets I used to hold it to the embedded flashing. I have since replaced it with a hurricane hinge. What a improvement.

- I had to replace the roof vent plastics this year since it had degraded being stored outside. I am going to build a foam cover for it this year when I find some time. I don't install roof vents anymore to any of my builds since I think they are just a invitation to water intrusion.

- I have never been able to get the doors to seal properly. They don't let water in thankfully, but they do let cold air in. Someday I may revisit them or just install some manufactured doors.

Outside of that it has performed well. It has been stored outside since I built it and I have had no issues with anything besides what is mentioned above. It is however getting too small for us now. We had two dogs that travel with us and it is a bit tight. Looking to build a bigger foamie in the future now.

Thanks for your interest, George.

George,
I just found your YouTube channel and pretty much just binge watched. I really enjoyed it. I would have liked to see the rest. Especially the installation of the doors and windows and you PMF the whole thing. Oh and also how you added your drip edge.

I think you adding the pmf to the inside before glue up was shear genius! I think I might have even painted it at that stage. I’m curious to know about the lack of wood spars. Did you use any wood for the windows and doors? I appreciate you making those videos. I don’t see any videos that were as thorough as yours.

HMK wrote:George,
I just found your YouTube channel and pretty much just binge watched. I really enjoyed it. I would have liked to see the rest. Especially the installation of the doors and windows and you PMF the whole thing. Oh and also how you added your drip edge.

I think you adding the pmf to the inside before glue up was shear genius! I think I might have even painted it at that stage. I’m curious to know about the lack of wood spars. Did you use any wood for the windows and doors? I appreciate you making those videos. I don’t see any videos that were as thorough as yours.

Thanks. Those videos pretty much were run from beginning to end of each step. I just sped up the video where I was not teaching so people could get a good idea how it all came together. Unfortunately, my hard drive crashed and I lost all of the rest of the build. I have always thought I would build another squaredrop and start where I left off. At this point I don't think it is going to happen any time soon since I have a bicycle trailer I am working on now and then I am moving to a larger trailer for myself. It will be at least another year or two before I could even think about a another squaredrop build.

I used a clamp ring style window. As long as you get a nice tight cutout for the window the clamp ring is fine. You do have to make sure the clamp ring is designed for 2" walls or at least close. I have seen some for 1 7/8" walls and 2 1/8". Those should work fine too.

The door I just used a soldering gun and make a 1 3/4" inch deep slot near the center of the wall. I used a piece of flashing that was 1" on one side and used that as a guide for the soldering gun. I then use some hard board or flashing to slide into the slot. This gives you something to screw the door screws into from the outside and the screws for the interior garnish/trim into from the inside.

There is no other wood in the rest of the build besides the floor.

Hope that makes sense. George.

Thanks George! I’m on page 5 of this thread. I’ve always been interested in the work people do on their builds. This has always been a friendly group of people here. I’ve never built a single trailer, but I keep finding myself coming back year after year.

HMK wrote: I’ve never built a single trailer, but I keep finding myself coming back year after year.

Took me years to make the plunge too. Now I have built 4 and working on 5 now.

Wow! Just realized I started #1 Just over a decade ago. Time flies when you are having fun...