Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

A question was posed to me about my build, and I am going to pose it to the forum...

The trailer I have to work with has stained slats over mesh.

(Someone borrowed and improved on what was there before. Pressure treated wood)

A friend asked me if I couldn't just leave them in place? Build my box insert with some type of water proofing in between the bottom of the box insert and the top of the slats.

And if so, (thinking and typing at the same time ) Could I seal in between the slats to decrease water coming through? Having a hmmm moment

Opinions/Thought?

Those boards are going to keep moving (wider and thinner) as their moisture content changes. If you leave them on and run a sealant between them, I'd be concerned about water held between them and your cabin's floor through capillary action.

Why keep them on? They are just weight. I'd lose the screen and side rails too. $40 of tools at Harbor Freight and it'd be gone.

Tony

JMHO, I’d Leave them ... use them as a floor .... The only reason we say that is, the untreated boards on the floor of my 20+ year old All Steel cargo trailer are still in good shape ... Just cover them with a bit of linoleum and it’s done ... If you’re going for the lightest weight possible then remove the boards ... but why make more work for yourself ... ?

why indeed

Here's an interesting article on the movement on decking and how much gap one should leave to compensate:

http://www.mcilvain.com/what-size-gap-s ... y-decking/

Will glued-down linoleum handle this movement? I don't know.

I had a commercially built teardrop that had linoleum in the galley. If water was spilled, the edges of the stuff would hold water from capillary action and it was a problem If not addressed. (I seal my plywood galley floors with epoxy and water isn't an issue.)

Tony

Tony, the suspect material in my ASC trailer is just laid over the boards , not glued ... Maybe it’s not linoleum , but something else ... ??? We had some Vinyl flooring once ( Our First plywood TD , on the floor ) that seemed to have a Paper backing , soaked up water like a sponge .... grrrrr!!!

I'd not remove the top rail around this type of trailer. The rail should add much strength and stiffness, similar to a steel arch bridge.

T

Tomterrific wrote:I'd not remove the top rail around this type of trailer. The rail should add much strength and stiffness, similar to a steel arch bridge.

Which is an important consideration for a lightly built UT.

However, when you plan on adding all of that strength back by securely fastening an extremely rigid box on top, you will end up with a much stiffer structure than you started with. Because the cabin is so much deeper in section, despite being made from seemingly weaker materials, it stiffens the trailer, not the other way around.

Now if you plan on doing a slide in and using the trailer as a UT some of the time, I'd say absolutely, do not cut the top rails; but there is a whole other discussion for why slide-ins are not as practical as one might initially think.