Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hey guys! I am new here and I want to see and learn about your doors!

Right now I am knee deep in my first foamie build. However its not just a foamie, it has 85kwh of power underneath it and 40 more under the car. I drive an EV and I am building the worlds first range extending teardrop. I know that sounds braggadocios and I really dont mean to come off that way. I'm just ambitious and eager to learn more and I am very curious to see what each of you have done to build your doors.

I did multiple searches and I couldn't find a thread like this so I thought I'd make one.

Thanks for playing along!

In my build I am keeping it as aerodynamic as possible. I have a few sketches posted in my gallery. I have tweaked my design a little since posting those but you get the jest.

Currently I am looking at my sides, which obviously means that I need to consider my doors. I see that most prefab doors are 36" tall and various widths. I was hoping to have my wall shorter than 36" in order to stay in the shadow of my tow vehicle, a 2012 body style, 2014 Toyota Rav4 EV. Check out my youtube channel for more info, www.youtube.com/jimbo69ny

As I see them, here are my options.
1. I could fiberglass my foam to my aero plans, fiberglass the exterior, cut and fabricate a door, add trim and hope it seals. The door would include a curve similar to the Chesapeake Teardrop trailer. https://www.clcboats.com/teardrop
I have heard that those doors had trouble sealing.
2. I could make my walls 38" instead of around 30 inches to incorporate a store bought 36" door. I am going for weight savings so probably a 26"x36" door max.

What have you guys and gals used on your builds?
Custom or store bought?
Please share your photos and descriptions.

You can buy a door or build a door.
We built ours because we strongly desired an unusual door shape purely for appearances. We love the look of a big round hobbit hole.
If your tastes are more utilitarian I would recommend buying one. Saves a bunch of trouble; you can assure a good fit and a good seal; and you can get a screen door.
Well worth the money spent.

So you’re making a teardrop trailer on top a big Battery … ? Well then, that’s a new idea … So do you plan on Camping with it or just a battery tow … I assume weight is everything …so you’d want something simple and light … In that case you could make your own door to suit your needs … All comes down to your labor vs, your budget … check the weights of storebought doors … Simple and clean ( streamlined Lightness ) is the best for electric endurance …

GPW wrote:So you’re making a teardrop trailer on top a big Battery … ? Well then, that’s a new idea … So do you plan on Camping with it or just a battery tow … I assume weight is everything …so you’d want something simple and light … In that case you could make your own door to suit your needs … All comes down to your labor vs, your budget … check the weights of storebought doors … Simple and clean ( streamlined Lightness ) is the best for electric endurance …

Has anyone done a door with an angle like the one I posted a link to?

I built the the worlds first range extending trailer for my EV. I received some notoriety on it too. Here is a link to another youtubers video about me and my build. https://youtu.be/Qb7vg08zluQ
There have also been a couple articles about me. Here is one https://insideevs.com/range-extender-tesla-toyota-trailer-video/

Now I am building another one with a larger tesla battery pack and building a foamie on top. Check out my youtube channel for more info. youtube.com/jimbo69ny

I built my doors on my first build and purchased doors for my second build. It is a real pain to get everything to work and seal right if you build your own. The manufactured door was a snap to install and it seals well. In general I would probably prefer the manufactured door over the home built door.

Here are some shorter doors that might work better for your build if you want to go with the manufactured door.
Drivers side https://amzn.to/2rnFjCn
Passenger side https://amzn.to/2SAxQeP

You do have to order the proper interior rings for the thickness of the wall you plan to install them in. These doors use the clamp ring style installment and are super easy to install on a foamy.

George.

If I could get it to seal, I think I'd rather go with home built one. I've done 3 with the manufactured and they are nice but seriously heavy for anything foam and light skinned. I did full foam sandwich construction which is seriously stronger than canvas which most are building foamies out of so I'm not too sure about bracing for that much weight and slamming the doors and so forth. I've done 3 and they take a good whollop to close without pulling the handle to push it in.

Food for thought for any people interested in what these all entail.
Steve

Range extender sounds like a good idea. Why not just use a generator in the teardrop? I would think a inverter generator could be adjusted to your charge voltage.

KennethW wrote:Range extender sounds like a good idea. Why not just use a generator in the teardrop? I would think a inverter generator could be adjusted to your charge voltage.

Thanks Kenneth,
A generator would technically work but it would be much slower than even a public charging stations and by most peoples standards, a public charging station is slow. A typical public station is 30 amps and around 200 volts. That's only 6000 watts, charging time would very depending on the car and the size of the car's battery but for me it would take 9 hours from totally empty to totally full at 6000 watts.

Max charging speed is dictated by the cars onboard charger and computer system so each is a little different. My car can charge up to 9.7 kw. So around 40 amps at 240v.

A generator is good for what, 2000 watts? It would take me a full day to fill up on that. My better bet is to have a big enough battery to have a large enough battery that can get me to either a level 2 charger, or better yet, a level 3 charger. A level 3 charger is a DC fast charge that can recharge the battery in a fraction of the time. From totally empty to totally full I can recharge in 40-60 minutes. Much faster and much more preferred!

Thanks for asking!

OK, Now I know. A generator running when driving would not extend drive time a lot but might help prevent a tow of shame when you may not know where to plug in. But yes you have a good plan.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

The Big Pink door is made from foam trimmed in wood.
It seals very well.


This is a closeup of the door jam.

I just ordered WD13 and WD14 from Frank at Vintage Technologies. Just under $800 for both of them shipped to my door.

OK, COOL !!!
Your choice J’ , and of course we’ll want to see pictures of these doors … ( we all love pictures here )

  And not to be too far off topic, but still a door … We’ve been long needing to replace my Studio entry door … Just a 20 year old HD steel door That had rotted away inside ..

Looking around at the price of new doors we panicked ... So decided to do the "TnTTT thing" and rebuild the old door . We took it off the hinges , hung an old blanket up on the remaining screen door ( to keep the Cold out) and put the door on saw horses inside (warm) . Carefully peeled the steel outer skin away from the edges and removed the cheap PLYWOOD perimeter framing which had rotted out leaving just the inner beaded Foam core glued to the steel skins ... Not much to it really , so we ripped up some new framing out of clear N’ dry teated Pine ( primed with the Gripper )…glued that back in with lots of polyurethane sealer , and then put SS screws every 10” around the outside perimeter (into the Pine ) to hold it all together … The 2 glasses had black gummy rubber spacer that had dried up and was also falling apart . So we found some foam tape and replaced that , installed it back in the door . Then drilled the end holes for the locks , mounted the hinges , and we were done … Hung it up , it fit … A little paint (today) and it’ll be good as new … well almost!!! ... Since I had all my materials in the stockpile , the whole job cost me nothing but a few hours of time , but saved me at least $500.00 or likely much More had we gotten someone else to install it …

Bottom line : Doors are EXPENSIVE ... Whether house or trailer, storebought or homemade … Take good care of them and they’ll last a long time , defraying the initial cost per year … Doors are much like trailers , Water that leaks in unnoticed can do major damage over time …especially if any wood is involved ..

GPW wrote:OK, COOL !!!
Since I had all my materials in the stockpile , the whole job cost me nothing but a few hours of time , but saved me at least $500.00 or likely much More had we gotten someone else to install it …

Bottom line : Doors are EXPENSIVE ... Whether house or trailer, storebought or homemade … Take good care of them and they’ll last a long time , defraying the initial cost per year … Doors are much like trailers , Water that leaks in unnoticed can do major damage over time …especially if any wood is involved ..

Glen your so tight I hear you squeak in Texas but that's what I love about you

Steve , had a fella here on the internet even called me a “Cheap bastard “ … I was Flattered !!!