need a little advice on materail

[stjohn]

Ok i have gotten trailer
I have place to work on trailer during week in the evening were Iwork starting a week from Monday
witch will let start working on cabin at my place next weekend
I have settled on a design and built a pretty much to scale model to make sure every thing will work so far so good heres were I need help
need to know what material to use floor I'm going to bolt it directly to the frame

side walls are going to be 3/4 material I've narrowed it down to 3 choieces

3/4oak
3/4 birch
3/4 blonde wood don,t know much about the wood but looks realy good not a lot of voids in the edges nice wood grains sanded both sides this is the way I'm leaning

since the floor is first any tips on seams or anythig else I may have not thought about


any help, feed back or advice would be greatly appreciate



Thanks alot
Mike St.John
Lake Fork Tx.

[madjack]

...Mike we used 5/8 ACX pine for the floor which is bolted to the frame. For the sides, welllllll that is kinda up to you and what look you are going for...they will all look good. Birch is a commom choice, you can find some nice figure in it and it takes stain/finish well. Oak...what can I say, it just looks good, a nice light stain(golden oak or such) really brings out that rich grain and is easy on the eye. Blondwood is usually cheaper, doesn't have as nice a grain or figure and can be a little more difficult to get the finish you want unless painting, however it can be used succesfully with a little care in appling your finish and look just as good as anything else....click my WWW button and checkout "glue and screw" for some more ideas on joining side to floor
madjack

[Roly Nelson]

Mike, I suggest you bolt some 2x3 members to the frame to secure the floor to. Then fastening the sides can be done by gluing and screwing the plywood to the bolted-down 2x3's. This is a very basic way to get started, and should get it looking like a teardrop in just a couple of days.

I am a bit of a loner about using super-heavy plywood for the sides. I feel the 3/4" floors and walls are over-kill and just add weight. Lots of tears are built with much thinner plywood, so check out what your needs are and build accordingly. Ahh, I'm just a light-weight builder, so don't take what I say as anything set in stone.

Good luck on your build..............Roly ~~

[JunkMan]

I'm using 1/2" AC plywood on my floor. Don't see any reason to go any heavier since all we will be doing is sitting or sleeping on it, and the mattress will help distribute some of the load. The plywood that is under the mattress of my 5th wheel campers bed is only about 1/4" and it's worked fine for over 20 years. If my tear was tall enough to stand up in, I might think about 3/4" plywood. I'm just bolting it right to the frame, don't see the advantage to making a wood frame on top of the steel frame.

I'll bolt my sides to the sides of the frame also. Some people mention the shear force put on the bolts if you do this, bit I don't think it will be a problem as long as you use heavy enough bolts. I plan to use four 3/8" bolts on each side. I want to keep the overally height of my trailer as low as possible, without sacraficing any room inside. I also want my 4' wide aluminum to cover the entire side, including the frame.

[stjohn]

Thanks every body your insight was helpful as usual

Madjack your right about the blonde wood not nearly as nice as the oak that's what I'm going to use made up my mind today

thanks again
mike

[IraRat]

Cubby plans have 1/2" ACX ply floor.