Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Yes,I'm a newbie to the board but long time builder of various projects... Done body repair all my life with lots of experience in many areas... My project it to build a teardrop with rear galley light enuf to pull behind my Harley and will sleep 2. Im tossing up between building an all aluminum, a glassed foamie or a hybred between the 2..... My intention is to put a somewhat pointed nose on a 4 1/2 x 9 and low ground clearance with skirts (and storage under bed floor) for aero. It will see many miles each year on all ranges of road conditions. Main question I have right now is durability with rough roads, vibration, and ageing plus effects of uv rays and weather... Has anyone on here had one with many miles on it and a few years of weather and sun?

LW, 3 Summers in our Blistering Southern Sun and my Foamie #1 is still fine ... Our official Foamie’ aging tests only go back "so far" here, ( The "Big Bang” of the virtual foam universe ) but many are well-travelled and show no ill signs from what has been reported...

We do know they outlive the wooden trailers stored outside, and Anything “RV” ... Personally tested ..

Using polystyrene for building with it great, it does not degrade. From a litter point of view it is a disaster.
SIPs houses have been around since the 40's and 50's. it's also surprisingly strong.
Google "sips strength", look at the omages and you'll see 4x4s on sips panels.
I'd not worry too much about the strength of polystyrene. Not sue about pu though...

I'd recommend building using SIPs. I built my trailer essentially this way and it is durable. I've had it come unhitched down a gravel road and I've had a wheel fly off leaving it to scrape along the ground. The only damage I suffered was a crack to the fender skirt which was easily and permanently repaired using the Great Stuff foam in a can. I also suffered a crushed nose cowling (where I store my battery and propane) when the trailer came unhitched and it slid under the rear end of my truck, (but that's built of foam and a skin of canvas only, no inside reinforcement at all) and I just remade another one. No other structural damage, no cracks, or leaks, or dents or joints that broke or anything like that...

You might want to check out Goldbrand trailers. they've got an interesting website and they build trailers for pulling behind a motorcycle with foam, fiberglass and aluminum. You might get some ideas.

Thanks for the replies.... if I go the foam route, i'd use epoxy and probably fiberglass cloth,. I did look at carbonfiber too. To those ofyou using cloth, did you get a smooth surface capable of holding automotive finishes?

my tear is drop cloth canvas and proch paint finished, I like the textured finish, it isn't for everyone, most of us who have used the cloth finish don't have a smooth finish. it has been talked about, it would require a lot more filling and sanding.

All depends on what you “Need” .... A canvas covering is Much easier to repair/repaint than a fiberglass one... and in the long run, down the road , may end up being more flexible and less prone to minute cracking over time ... That and Fiberglass takes an awful lot of filling , priming , and sanding to get that true “automotive finish “ ... I used to work in my brother’s Custom Body shop (late 70’s) working on fiberglass Corvettes, PIA finishing those really, my fiberglass experiences and the reason I avoid it now ... For me, a Foamie' is a PRACTICAL "camping trailer" that sees much use (or in my case, potential use) , and is NOT going to a “Car Show” to win any appearance trophies ...
All this just a repetition of previous discussions in the Big thread...

atahoekid wrote:You might want to check out Goldbrand trailers. they've got an interesting website and they build trailers for pulling behind a motorcycle with foam, fiberglass and aluminum. You might get some ideas.

I did and have been studying it since... I am strongly considering building something to the order of his prototype 2. Looks like they glassed over the foam with resin, not epoxy?? I thought I read here that resin melted polystyrene? also does anyone have any iteas on an affordable way to build the lift like he talks about?

I used fiberglass on my Road Foamie mostly becuase I wanted an automotive smooth finish. It turns out that it was a lot more work than I wanted to do and working under a deadline made it impossible for me to take the time to put on enough coats. (I'd have liked to do two more coats) Add to that the fact that epoxy costs a lot and I'd think long and hard before I go with fiberglass again. I'm OK with the finish, I'd have preferred something much higher quality for that much work and expense. I did use canvas in a couple of places and I gotta say that I really like the look. You could use block filler to get a smooth finish out of the canvas but that will require sanding to smooth it out. There are also the fillers that wooden canoe builders use to get a glass like finish on their canvas covered canoes. I only recall one person (Rosie) who went that route and she said she was thrilled with the result but we've lost touch with her and cannot seem to find her to ask more questions. I think the stuff was called Ceolfil or Celotex or something like that. Good Luck!!

This is one product the wood canvas canoe builder/restorers are using. I will be giving it a try on my foamie.

http://www.wayfair.com/Foster-Products- ... I1005.html

if you want a really slick finish on canvas to paint over , you can use Artists GESSO, a very thick white acrylic primer, that you can prime and sand till you get it like an eggshell finish , that’s what portrait painters do ... sands easy ... really FILLS the weave !!! Not that expensive ... readily available ...

I’ve used that stuff all my life , funny it only now occurs to me for trailer finishing ... Canvas and Gesso ... Uh Duh !!!

ghcoe wrote:This is one product the wood canvas canoe builder/restorers are using. I will be giving it a try on my foamie.

http://www.wayfair.com/Foster-Products- ... I1005.html

That was the other stuff I'd see used and I think that's what Rosie used. I looked at it for quite a while but the shipping on it at the time was horrendous, so I formulated a plan B. You know I probably went up to about plan F or G. Exterior finish was the one area where I really struggled to come to a decision. I thought about canvas and paint, thought about using a filler, thought about aluminum, thought about a couple other things and then finally decided on fiberglass. Do I regret my decision? No, but I still second guess myself... And NOW (really, now??? after all this time) GPW mentions Gesso. I'm not an artist and I'd heard of Gesso but I have no idea what it's used for. Now that I know, that would have been another plan to think about.

Mel , sorry for not thinking about that sooner ... it was right under my nose all the time ...
http://www.utrechtart.com/Utrecht-Profe ... 38.utrecht


A gallon goes a long way ... I like to use a small plastic spreader for the first coat ... that levels the surface , more coats brushed on just makes it smoother ... being Acrylic it remains flexible and waterproof , perfect for our needs ...

atahoekid wrote:I used fiberglass on my Road Foamie mostly becuase I wanted an automotive smooth finish. It turns out that it was a lot more work than I wanted to do and working under a deadline made it impossible for me to take the time to put on enough coats. (I'd have liked to do two more coats)

What thickness of foam did you use and what weights of fiberglass cloth and how many coats did you use? i found one system that you coated the foam with this material then could use regular resin in glassing... im afraid of delamination goint this route tho.... sometimes they brag of things and they just dont work out that way.... One reason i want a show quality finish is that i go to a lot of bike rallys ect and thinking maybe if quality is there, i could sell one a year and build a new one over winter months when i can't ride.... gotta stay busy in garage or i go crazy...

GPW wrote:Mel , sorry for not thinking about that sooner ... it was right under my nose all the time ...
http://www.utrechtart.com/Utrecht-Profe ... 38.utrecht


A gallon goes a long way ... I like to use a small plastic spreader for the first coat ... that levels the surface , more coats brushed on just makes it smoother ... being Acrylic it remains flexible and waterproof , perfect for our needs ...

This might need to be added to the big foamie thread....