1/4 inch footwell?

[rmclarke]

Has anyone used 1/4 inch ply to build a dropped floor in their trailer?

I was wondering why couldn't the foot well be made completely out of 1/4" hardwood ply with some additional wood strips on the bottom to reinforce it?

I was thinking of building the box like a 'stitch and glue' boat with 3/4" radius epoxy fillets on the inside corners (maybe even add some fiberglass tape)

It seems like this would be quite strong and relatively light weight, since I'm not going to be standing in the foot well anyway.

What do ya'll thinK?

Am I all wet here?

Richard

[del]

Has anyone used 1/4 inch ply to build a dropped floor in their trailer?

I was wondering why couldn't the foot well be made completely out of 1/4" hardwood ply with some additional wood strips on the bottom to reinforce it?

I was thinking of building the box like a 'stitch and glue' boat with 3/4" radius epoxy fillets on the inside corners (maybe even add some fiberglass tape)

It seems like this would be quite strong and relatively light weight, since I'm not going to be standing in the foot well anyway.

What do ya'll thinK?

Am I all wet here?

Richard

Richard I think it depends on what you store in there. Blankets fine, rocks not so much, a lose spare would most likely beat its way free. Yes fiberglass would help, but maybe some metal "L" brackets would be a good idea to.

My 2c del

[rmclarke]

Thanks for the input del Your Jelly belly is very cool and innovative...I like that door hinge.

Besides the table support, I was just planning on keeping lightweight stuff in there; the spare would go in the back of the Ranger. I think I might go ahead and experiment with this.

Best regards,

Richard

[rmclarke]

I got it all epoxied in place today....seems to be real strong....so far
I used 1/2 ply on the bottom instead of 1/4..(I'm probably pushing my luck as it is)

I 'tabbed' it in place, let the thing dry for 24hrs then removed the plastic ties holding it together


Today, I did the seams


Gonna flip the frame tomorrow and epoxy all the bottom

Richard

[Steve_Cox]

That looks pretty slick Richard and best of all it looks really light weight. After you're done how about a picture of you standing in it? I think it would hold up OK myself. Whadda ya think?

[del]

I like it, looks good. Not good for dancing, but storage I believe it will be fine. A box shape is strong, cardboard flat is fairly week, but you can put a lot of stuff in a cardboard box.

del

[halfdome, Danny]

Looks pretty deep. What's your ground clearance?
Those knife edge driveways in shopping malls love to eat foot wells, voice of experience.
Sometimes the leading edge scrapes. Danny

[rmclarke]

Steve,
It seems very strong, but maybe I'll get the wife to stand in it first

Del,
When I flip the frame I'm going to put some more fillets in along the back sides of the 1/4 ply...should make it more better

Danny,
I am a bit concerned about the clearance especially with a 'wooden box' ( a leading edge scrape to you could be catastrophic to me! )

It is deep at 10 3/4 inches. It was going to be a 9 inch drop but after I raised the bed 2 inches, I decided to let it go a 'bit further south'. I have 7 1/2 inches of ground clearance, I'm hoping that's enough

Best regards,
Richard

[halfdome, Danny]

Richard your foot well is 1 1/2" higher (ground clearance) than mine so depending on where it interacts with the axle will determine whether or not it will scrape. I've given some thought on replacing mine with one half as deep but it's a lot of work. It would help with scraping and reduce tongue weight some. Maybe someday I'll wipe it out and will be forced to rebuild it. Danny