Semi-finalized design - please critique

[Ira]

EZ--the 1 by 2s measure 3/4 by 1 1/2. Which by itself is FINE for each spar. I and some others doubled them up because we're total nuts.

Like it was said above, all of your options above look fine. I just didnt think a cheap pressed panel for the inside would be enough, so I stand corrected.

The only other issue I can see is with the fact that you're not building a galley:

This means you won't be installing those bulkhead/galley walls, right? I just don't know how important those walls are to total structural integrity of the TD--it may be a lot. So you may want to ask around for people who built theirs without those walls, and if you don't put them in, you may want to overbuild other aspects a little.

[lauriandgary]

Hey Guys & Gals,

I've been lurking in the shadows for over a month & now I'm addicted! We tent camp but we are not as young as we think we are. My wife & I were looking at a small motorhome fix-er up-er or bottomless money pit. But after watching the segment on Tear Drops on RV Crazy, we both knew that's what we wanted. Also, we realized that our PT Cruiser and Tear Drop Trailers are made for each other. I apprecate the knowledge, experience and wisdom that each of you have contributed to theses posts and will use that in my research. We've marked our calenders for the Beavers Bend gathering and will do our best to be there.

Gary

[IceeofMN]

Although I haven't built a teardrop, I've built a boat using luan and epoxy and have learned that you can build very sturdy while keeping things light. The proper shape has a lot to do with the ultimate strength and the joints need to have some extra thought put into them. You know all this as well as I do.

Living in Minnesota presents some special challenges for trailers as well as people. Road salt attacks them so make sure that you have no unpainted metal surfaces on the trailer (even paint minor scratches). Frankly the part of the teardrop I'd be most worried about isn't the wood and the plastic but the metal!

You may also want to think about bending the luan side to side a wee bit on the top (a inch lower on the sides than the center would be more than enough) as well as front to back. This will let the rain run off a bit and add some strength to it.

Why not use mobile home roof coating or "roof plastic" instead of tar? The prices are about the same and they skin over.

Finally, the roads back to the best campsites are sometimes quite bumpy. Make sure that the sides are anchored well enough to the bottom so that it can handle the shake, rattle and roll of a dirt road.

[madjack]

laurieandgary...iceeofmn...welcome to the board...LnG y'all got hooked much the same as many here...let me just say I think y'all have made a wise choice and hope to see ya at Beaver's Bend...trailer or no...any help I can provide in terms of local info let me know...by the way, is that a Mardi Gras pic in your avatar

Iceeofmn...your are right, a compound curve is stronger...the problem would be with skinning it, you would have to do some kinda paint on or membrane finish, sheet aluminum does not take to compund curves very well...we used polyurethane for the bottom of our tear, some use tar, some just paint, some do epoxy...my point is anything that will seal the wood well will work just fine, roofing tar is not the only product used...yall stay warm up there, ya heah

to both of ya...when ya start to build remember the pics...we just luv da pics
madjack

[Ron Dickey]

Hey Guys & Gals,

I've been lurking in the shadows for over a month & now I'm addicted! We tent camp but we are not as young as we think we are. My wife & I were looking at the segment on Tear Drops on RV Crazy, we both knew that's what we wanted. I apprecate the knowledge, experience and wisdom that each of you have contributed to theses posts and will use that in my research.

Gary

Lauri and Gary and Iceeof MN welcome on board Hit new topic under member designs. you do not have to give it a name something like A freind for my PT cruzer or the like will work. Then as you start enter it in where you are or what you need or do nothing more until you are ready every time you hit post reply it will come back to the top for one of this nice people to point you in a new or better direction or just say you are on coarse.

EceeofMn go to profile and say what town you are in or area there may be people in your town or across the river that can show you what they have done.

Ron

[lauriandgary]

MadJack

We use those costumes for Mardi Gras, Halloween & Texas Ren Fest. We made them ourselves. The picture was taken at this year's Ren Fest. Lauri won 2nd place in the Halloween Costume Contest. One of the prizes are season passes for next year's festival. So, we need better camping accomodations than our old tent. A teardrop fits the bill perfectly. Lauri gets carried away with the hot glue gun. My head piece is the pelvic bone of a cow, turned upside down.

Gary

[madjack]

Gary, I figured as y'all are from Rayne that the Mardis Gras part was a no brainer and such good getups would do double for Halloween also. We have another member here, Larwyn that does the Ren Fest...I am going to have to make it to one of those sometime...I recognized your "cow" also...
madjack

[cracker39]

EZ and IceeofMN...let me add my welcome and a few of my thoughts.

Like IceeofMN, I also built a boat skinned with 1/4" luan and it was really sturdy. I resined the inside and glassed the outside. I ran an outboard on it.

My trailer will be a TTT, not a TD, but the construction techniques are much the same.

Frame: Home built (starting in a week or two). Outside rails and center cross member of 2"x2"x1/8" tubular. Two additional cross members for floor support of 2"x2"x1/8" angle. Tongue, two pieces of 2"x2"x3/16" tubular. Torsion axle and 13" tires/wheels.

Floor: Will be 3/4" inch ply with auto type spray-on undercoating (not as messy to work with) with 1 1/2" of foam insulation glued to the ply (probably 2 thicknesses of 3/4", the bottom layer the type with foil on the outside to resist wear and tear).

Spars: All will be 1 1/2" thick, width varies from 3/4" to 1 1/2". Most will be 3/4" x 1 1/2".

Sides: 3/4" thick spruce framing with 1/4" oak or 5mm luan ply on the outside and 1/8" Paneling (wood construction, not composite) on the inside. I have 8 sheets of oak picked up on sale. Will probably use 6 for my sides, and buy moisture resistant luan for the front, back, top. That will leave me two sheets of oak for my cabinetry. On the interior, the sides will be light oak woodgrain and the ceiling in same or polar white (undecided as of yet). I have no qualms about this construction being sturdy enough. This coach won't flex in any direction.

A suggestion. Although some builders prefer more expensive (but IMHO not much stronger) oak or poplar for spars. I've found from making large craft items to sell, that the spruce (also called clear pine) from either 1 bys or the better 2x4s work well, ripped to size. There are few knots in this material, and is what I framed my boat with. I plan on buying 1x8s and ripping to 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" widths for my framing. 3/4" x 1 1/2" spars will be from the same. Wider spars will be ripped from 10' 2x4s cut in half (all will be 5' long). BTW, the longer the piece of wood is, the fewer knots are in it (it's cut from bigger trees). I used to buy it in 16' lengths to get the best quality wood.

Now, having said all that, I know that some will disagree with me about some things, and I with them, but so what? We all have our opinions and none are necessarily wrong. If we all did it the same way, it would be terribly boring wouldn't it? That's what's so great about this forum. There are LOTS of different ideas. I got lots of advice from the members here, gave it a lot of thought, and finalized on what I want to do (did I say FINALIZED??? nah...it won't be finalized until it's done, and maybe not even then)

If you'd like to see what I'm doing, click on the link below my signature.

[oklahomajewel]

If you're using a 2 by 2 wood frame, you have an inch and a half of space to insulate. You also don't have to sandwich the floor on the bottom--just glue/screw the insulation under there.

Hey, Ira , that reminds me of a question I had... does that insulation get damaged while it's exposed on the bottom of the trailer? My Kuffel plans (and others) show putting the asphalt coating on the bottom of the wood frame /floor and then attaching the insulation. My first thought is that it will get deteriorated from water, rocks, etc.

hmmm??
julie

[cracker39]

Julie, It's my opinion (surely not experience!!!) that raw foam will deterioriate. I am thinking of putting foam with the foil backing on the bottom, foild side out, with maybe another layer of regular foam between that and the plywood, for 1 1'2" - 2" total. If the foam is cut to fit tightly, and the edges caulked, the foil backing should give it some protection from the elements and moisture won't enter unless the foil and foam gets pierced. The plywood floor bottom will be coated with two coats of varnish, then auto type undercoating before putting it down on the frame and adding the foam insulation. If anyone has a better plan, please share it.

[Chip]

Julie,, there are three lines of thinking,,, 1. dont insulate at all,, 2. build the floor and undercoat and then leave the insul exposed,, this can let your insulation get beat up a bit from road debris,, In my opinion this is not a concern as much as insulation getting wet and holding water next to coated plywood,, insulation of any type will absorbe a certain amount of moisture ,, over a period of time in wet climates this may be a problem,,, 3. cover up the insulation on the bottom with a piece of wood or metal, etc,,, here you are sealing off the insulation and my in fact create a dew point in the cavity,, this could also have the effect of having moisture against the wood parts of the interior of the floor cavity,,

I chose to not insulate my walls and also left off the insulation on the bottom of the floor,, the best insulation you can get(R-Value) is Isocyanurateand it has an aged R factor of about 7.5 to 8,, its some help but in extreme situations it could help,,, so if I get cold I am just gonna turn up the heat or the electric blanket,, or if I am too hot Ill ,,,,,,figure out something,,

chiper

[Ira]

Julie, I did it per the Kuffel plans--I just left it exposed.

First, I don't plan on putting thousands of miles on the TD. My longest trips will be about 5 hours or so. It's only when on the road when this would be a concern--crap kicking up, as well as rainwater.

Second, the stuff is real cheap and easy to replace if ever necessary. If you tried to coat OVER it, then it WOULDN'T be real easy to replace.

I did a pretty messy job of putting mine in there. (In my build world, there's no such thing as perfectly straight cuts.) However, I can see how the insulation makes a difference. When I first enter the TD in the boatyard, and it's real hot out, it's always real COOL in there.