Stainless Steel Micro-Airstream behind motorcycle

[ST1100]

It is looking really nice.
Do the roof top panels and corners over lap the vertical skins like shingles? In that last pic it looks like they slip behind the vertical skins. It would be better if the panels shed water rather than trap it.

Thanks KC for the hint - yes, you are right, but only here in the front !
The front panel is the "crest" of the whole skin and will overlap the roof and corners.

While driving the big air pressure will drive the rain drops here from the front panel up over the roof to the stern.
From the front to the stern every panel will overlap the panels behind.
The seams I will seal with sikaflex polyurethane glue, so that, when the trailer stands, no water should soak inside that single seam in the front.

Tom

[KCStudly]

Sikaflex is good stuff.

[labuski]

what are you going to do for insulation?

[ST1100]

@labuski - for the moment I plan no insulation.

Today I cut my last sheet for the skin, drilled the holes along the border and puzzled all together on the frame.
Then drilled all holes thru the overlapping sheets and into the frame.





Tomorrow is the big day, I will disassemble the whole body, deburr all the new holes, degrease frame and sheets with acetone and then ...

... shoot all together again with my rivet gun ! And if I'm successful, I can take new pictures without clecos on sunday !

Good night - Tom

[KCStudly]

Very cool.

[ST1100]

Okay - after disassembling the whole box I had to clean all with acetone and deburr the remaining holes.

Then I sealed the frame under the sheets with sikaflex 221 polyurethane glue and clecoed the first sheets on it, beginning from the stern.
Under every new sheet border I layed a line of sikaflex before fixing it with clecos and riveting me slowly from the stern to the front.

[ST1100]

And eight hours later I finished with the front sheet.

TADAH !



View of the roof !

[ST1100]

And - the best view I think :



and the other side:


A long day with a very satisfying result !

Tom

[Greg M]

If your arms weren't so tired from wielding the rivet gun all day, I'd tell you to give yourself a pat on the back. It's looking fantastic!

[Martiangod]

Its come a long way from your living room floor.
Must feel " Oh so good " to be at this stage. Almost makes ya want to lay down in it and have a nap.
You deserve it

[danlott]

And - the best view I think :



and the other side:


A long day with a very satisfying result !

Tom

It looks like your corners bottom edges are not overlapping the same way?

Dan

[ST1100]

It looks like your corners bottom edges are not overlapping the same way?
Dan

Thats correct Dan - if I drive in the rain, the water will be blown up the front over the roof, so the front sheet is the "top shingle" of the whole construction.

If I stand still, the gravity will not have the same power to leak inside the trailer as the dynamic pressure of 60 mph speed.

Tom

[capnTelescope]

OUTSTANDING!

[KCStudly]

Stunning results! Great craftsmanship!

[ST1100]

For we in Europe use the metric system, I will translate some sizes to you for better understanding.

The trailer is with the tongue 2.56 Meter (8 ft 5 in) long, 100 centimeters (3 ft 3 in)) wide and the platform 200 cm (6 ft 6 in) long.

The rectangular aluminum tube for my frames is 20 x 20 x 2 mm (25/32 x 25/32 inch with 5/64 inch walls)

The stainless(1.4301 - V2A) skin is 0.6 millimeters (1/32 in) thick.

I use watertight 4 millimeter (5/32 in) aluminum rivets with closed ends and stainless pin.

The wheels are standard 8" trailer wheels and the weight of the trailer without sleeping box is 78 kg (172 lb).
Tongue weight is 10 percent of the trailer weight.
The aimed empty weight with sleeping box will be 135 kg (297 lb) and I am allowed to tow 190 kg (418 lb) with my 100 hp Honda ST 1100.

The inside height of the 6.6 x 3.3 ft wide sleeping box is 95 cm (3 ft 1 in) so I can sit inside without touching the roof.

Tom