Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi all. I've been reading through this forum for years, and have admired so many of the great builds, designers, and creators. I appreciate all the build sections, the traditional teardrops, cargo conversions, everything. I have also and have seen the Foamie concept and section originate and develop. I loved the conception phase, and the years of ongoing testing, refining and the dedication to finding and developing the best materials, and the best practices (as someone who developed software in various R&D teams). I was really drawn to the Foamie builds since they were lightweight and with surprisingly great strength.

At the time, I had a Honda Civic and wanted a very lightweight option. I ended up building a small wood trailer (years ago), which served it's purpose as a camper and utility trailer. I now have a Subaru Outback (for the past three years), and decided it is time to build a nice Foamie camper home. I quit the corporate job a few years ago, hundred hour weeks, living in a metro area, never used vacation and I noticed the past 2 1/2 decades of life slipped by in a blurry memory of nothingness. So long story short, I ditched my townhouse and a ton of stuff I accumulated, hit the road and turned and started living my dream of traveling and fly fishing.



Originally I had sketched this up and was intending to build it on the ultra-light 5x8 Northern Tool aluminum trailer, but since most of my time is on the wind and ice blasted roads in Wyoming, and I know what it is like to tow a trailer diagonally down the road in a winter storm with a Honda Civic, I decided I needed the extra weighted base, particularly since I will be building this trailer with about a foot more height then the standard teardrop. I recently found a good deal on a used 5x8 Carry-On Trailer. The angle iron design does have negatives, particularly some of the frame flex, but I will be adding a little support (want to keep the weight down however), so mainly am planning on support from the floor and uni-body design of the foamie shell.

I originally was also intending to build a teardrop with the Camp-In 560 Raindrop style, and the u-shaped front end. Since this trailer will mostly be my home, I wanted the extra room and headroom, so I opted for a cargo type trailer, but keeping the u-shaped front. I know the u-shaped front won't help much with aerodynamics, but I like the look of it. I likely will ad top and rear foils to mitigate the wind drag on the square back end however.



Thank you to all the builders, designers, and contributors. Note, I also have been following George's (ghoe) outstanding youtube series of the 4x8 bug out build, which has been immensely helpful and will particularly be a life saver when it comes to the canvas steps. I also thought the brilliant idea of using the spacers between the floor and the trailer to prevent water from being trapped between the floor and steel, particularly the critical edges. Also GPW's brilliant idea of using drip edges. I will be incorporating these and other well thought out best practices that came from this forum!

I'm late to posting, so I'll catch up with some following posts, but here is a pic of the 5x8 trailer I bought a couple weeks ago ->

Since I'm behind in posting, I have a few pics to catch up on the progress.

I removed the tailgate ramp, ground off the hinges, removed the steel mesh floor, and started on the rust prevention work underneath the frame.


I have since cut the OSB boards, painted the underside w/ Henry 587 Dura-Brite White, Elastic Roof Coating. Kerfed a couple some 1" foam panels for the 30" radius front, and started to fit some of the panels. I have also started the build of one of the doors. I'm going to be putting in a simple pop-up roof, and have started the frame structure. Also have ground off the front rail and part of the side rails of the trailer.



My dear friend also recommended that I document the process with a video series, I thought her idea was outstanding, so here are the three vids so far. 1st one is just a preview of the old trailer, and the next two are simple overviews.

Preview (Old Trailer)


Part 1


Part 2

With the trailer you have with the single bar tongue, make sure you anchor your floor real good on the first cross bar that's not the outside the tongue is welded to. The other angle stuff is ok but this is the weak bending point unless you use the strength of your camper to keep that from happening. Other than that point you should have no problems. Is that 12 or 13 wheels?

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I am sure you know, but in case you don't, the wood will telegraph through the canvas. Looking good!

Looking forward to watchin' 'er come along!

ghcoe wrote:I am sure you know, but in case you don't, the wood will telegraph through the canvas. Looking good!

+1 after some time the joint between wood and foam will become visible through the canvas in the right light. My guess is different rates of thermal expansion. No sign of structural issues after five years but it's something to be aware of.

Pmullen503 wrote:

ghcoe wrote:I am sure you know, but in case you don't, the wood will telegraph through the canvas. Looking good!

+1 after some time the joint between wood and foam will become visible through the canvas in the right light. My guess is different rates of thermal expansion. No sign of structural issues after five years but it's something to be aware of.

Even the foam joints will show up under certain conditions that I can explain easily. I found that by cutting the canvas with a 2" overlap that it disguises this issue.

The right paint job will make the joints less noticeable as well.

Hey all, sorry I've been negligent with postings and updates. I was stuck on two big projects for my family and a friend, but back on the project I've been wanting to do.

linuxmanxxx wrote:With the trailer you have with the single bar tongue, make sure you anchor your floor real good on the first cross bar that's not the outside the tongue is welded to. The other angle stuff is ok but this is the weak bending point unless you use the strength of your camper to keep that from happening. Other than that point you should have no problems. Is that 12 or 13 wheels?

Thanks linux, will do on ensuring the floor is bolted strongly to all the cross members, particularly behind the tongue. I also have extended the tongue inwards to the next cross member just to be safe. Unfortunately the wheels are 12s, but I intend to upgrade later this summer when more funds are available (and before I take an extended fall road trip).

ghcoe wrote:I am sure you know, but in case you don't, the wood will telegraph through the canvas. Looking good!

Thanks George, oh yeah I do remember that now heh. Well, that's all right if it telegraphs a bit, even on the outside.

JazzVinyl wrote:Looking forward to watchin' 'er come along!

Thanks Jazz, I watched your build process and you were extremely detail oriented and it shows with an outstanding build! I do really like the design of your's and I'm actually going to have a bit of a roof overhang just like your's. I had intended to do so, one to perhaps drop some of the wind drag from the flat back end, and also to have a short rain shield for the back door. btw, I thought your idea with the shelves and adding screen on the underside to firm up the shelves was brilliant. Did you use metal screen or the soft nylon?

Pmullen503 wrote:The right paint job will make the joints less noticeable as well.

Good point, I will be having a little canvas overlap with the foam joints between the roof and sidewalls. I may do some type of trim line with the paint.

Had not spent a lot of time lately with this project, but back on it.

I did extend the back of the trailer frame by 12" and added a hinged tailgate to the back. Primarily to prevent a high bumper from pushing the back of the camper in with a low-speed traffic light bump, but certainly won't protect very much over 1/2 mph or so. I also wanted the tail gate however, for changing fishing waders, leaving muddy shoes on the grate overnight, place to put tools, place to put a stove etc.


Short vid showing the progress and demoing the tailgate.

Good job on the Kurfing. Looking good! George.