Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So here is my rough sketch I am using a 5 x 10 trailer I scored off CL. I am having a queen on the floor with a 5 ft long "Full" bunk for the kids. I think with foam I will move from a more Benroy shape to a more traditional tear shape. My concern is building the walls. I feel they need to go outside the frame so water wont collect between the channel frame and the flooring and rust out. But I also have the wheel boxes to wall around and seal up then. Any opening design thoughts?

Here is the trailer I am still working on removing some of the extra side bits but I need to get a new grinder...I killed the other one this weekend. Any recommendations on a good deal on a grinder I would love to hear that too!

I'm not clear on your intended bed arrangement. Is the lower bed running crosswise and the upper bunk the long way over the lower bed's feet?

I can not envision there being enough room to: (A) sit up comfortably in either bed, or (B) not knock your shins on the upper bed when sleeping in the lower one.

Have you worked this out in true scale, or done a full scale mock-up in cardboard? If not, I would highly recommend that you do before committing to this arrangement; and don't forget to allow for the thickness' of the mattresses.

I'm not saying that it can't be done, and I'd be happy for you to explain what I am missing (if so), but I would also hate to see you to get half way into a build and find that it is not working out the way you thought it would.

I'm a newbie to this forum so I'm asking a dumb question that seems to be known by all: What is a foamie? Is it what I'm thinking - a trailer made out of Styrofoam? Does anybody have pictures?

If I may trample on Jayhawk's thread, a basic foamie is built using expanded (those little balls squeezed together) or extruded (the blue and pink construction board) polystyrene foam as a core material with a canvas (or other cotton fabric) outer skin that is adhered using glue or paint. Once adhered, the canvas weave is saturated with more paint, similar to a glass composite construction.

The inner panels can be skinned the same way; with chip board (single ply paper box); or with thin ply (hybrid). Variations include using epoxy and glass for the skins, and using more wood inside (in my mind, a hybrid).

The key is to minimize the amount of wood. Basic foamies, like GPW's little camo 4wide, and Eaglesdare's Mickey have very little wood, just some hard points around the doors, are quite basic, easy to build, and can generally cost less than a more traditional build with more features.

Atahoekid's Road Foamie has epoxy and glass skin, and IIRC, wooden cabinets. Mine has a lot of wood in the cabinets with wood inner skins (The Poet Creek Express link in my signature below). Some people even use the canvas skin over plywood outer walls, but those aren't true foamies; that is more of variation on a 'traditional' instead of using aluminum skins.

Everything you ever want to know about foamies can be learned from reading The Big Thrifty Thread, but be forewarned it is a monster and comes with a separate index thread to help navigate through it.

Now, back on topic.

Jay, As far as your grinder question, Harbor Freight would have one you can get at low cost. I know of boat builders that will buy two and get the replacement plan so they have a back up when the first burns up from the heavy use, they switch to the second one until they take the first one back for replacement. If you don't anticipate more than regular home type once in a while type use, you can't go wrong with Porter Cable tools.

Hey Jay, do you plan to build over the wheels? And how many kids are bunking in there? Cause the 5' trailer won't fit a bed sideways unless you build over the wheels. If you do go over the wheels and put a full length bed in, I would put the bunk on a hinge and have move up so you can have more room when the kids are elsewhere.

Right now the plan is an airbed size queen on the floor (airbeds normally run a couple inches narrower than a true queen which will give room for walls space to tuck in sheets etc) and an upper bun for my boys. Mom will most likely not join us as she doesn't sleep well in our bed much less an air mattress and no ac only a fan. So me and one boy on the queen and the other two in the full bunk. The full bunk I have sketched in at full width but it will be chopped short to the 5 ft width of the trailer. This should last them for many years since the youngest is only 3. I was thinking about hinges on the overhang so it could fold up and give more access to the cabinets underneath. Floor to ceiling will be just under 5 ft I think so about 2 feet for my legs knees down and 3 for the bunk.

As far as grinders I looked at the HF 15$ one the ryobi 30$ and Milwaukee 60$. I am assuming this is a case of you get what you pay for.....

BAJ, it might be good to mark out the trailer dimensions on the floor , load everything you intend to bring in that area , and see if that space is big enough for your needs ...

Please let me address the mattress question..... I slept on an air mattress for a while and my back will never be the same. even a foam mattress is better. my advise is to buy a cheaper queen mattress and put a couple of foam toppers on it. I know you will sleep better.

I suggest you build a mock up. use cardboard and 1 x2s to get the idea of just how tight it will be. My biggest surprise is the how short 8 feet really is. now that I have mostly built mine I have made many changes that I would have not had to do had I built a mock up.

You must plan for Hard points you can glue on some things but anything heavy will tear up the foam. You must engineer the hard points "wood" such that the will give you the necessary bracing and lift and give without collapsing and just falling off the wall.


Mary C.

be_a_jayhawk wrote:As far as grinders I looked at the HF 15$ one the ryobi 30$ and Milwaukee 60$. I am assuming this is a case of you get what you pay for.....

Perhaps. How much do you plan to do with it though? Just occasional use? Here's a pic of my $20 HF grinder, cutting the lip off of one of 40 bricks I did that day.

IMG_4497 by jseyfert3, on Flickr

Cutting some U-bolts off a Jeep Wrangler (which I never should have bought), back closer to when I first bought the grinder.

Cutting U Bolts by jseyfert3, on Flickr

I've wire brushed, ground, and used a cutoff wheel. Not heavy use, but IMO it's held up quite well for only $20 and I'm quite happy with it.

Good to know I have heard a lot of mixed reviews. Honestly I will use it in the trailer and not sure if I will ever use it again. I have never needed on up to this point and the one I had was a loaner from my best friend who didn't care because it was a cheap Chinese piece of junk. I like nice tools of course and want enough power to get the job done quickly but a cheap one would be fine as long as it survived the job and I might even give it back to my buddy to make up for the other cheap one. When you say 20$ model do you mean the regular or sale price?

One on sale right now for $12.99 with coupon. On the bottom of the page.

http://www.harborfreight.com/

My build is mostly foam with roof flashing or drywall beading for strength on the edges and for shelf spans. Build thread in my signature. Welcome to the madness......

be_a_jayhawk wrote:When you say 20$ model do you mean the regular or sale price?

The orange Chicago Electric Power Tools model. At least I think it was the 4" model, unless they used to have a 4.5" model in orange (current 4.5" Chicago one is red, according to the website, and has lower ratings). I can verify this when I get home. Hmm, I have a pic of it with a 4.5" metal cutoff wheel. Problem is, I haven't used the guard in a while, it always seemed to get in the way so I took it off. I'll let you know which model it is in a couple hours.

The grinding wheel that came with it was crap though, I bought a three pack from HF that worked much better then the included ones. But must of my use hasn't used the grinding wheels, mainly metal cutoff wheels and a 4.5" wirebrush (just had to remove the guard to fit it on).

ghcoe wrote:One on sale right now for $12.99 with coupon. On the bottom of the page.

http://www.harborfreight.com/

My build is mostly foam with roof flashing or drywall beading for strength on the edges and for shelf spans. Build thread in my signature. Welcome to the madness......

I notice that's only rated 3 of 5 stars...the $21 Chicago Electric 4" has 4.5 of 5 stars.

Last time I looked both models had two versions....I assume so they can always have one on sale, but one version of each model got significantly lower ratings. I did see the one with the 12.99 coupon in my email (but use the 20% instead to make it 11.99 ). Might be the way I go if I burn it up it will be so soon I can just exchange it.