New member with some questions

[aerohydro]

Hi all,
I've been contemplating a teardrop for a while but it's time to get serious. I'm looking at something similar to the ultralight profile at the moment, with sufficient width for a double mattress. Now, a couple of engineering questions.

I have a whole pile of 50x25x1.6mm steel. This is pretty lightweight, but I think I can design a frame from this material with suitable reinforcement. Has anyone built a dual purpose trailer frame which can accept a teardrop body or a simple box for other purposes? While the tear is the main reason for the build, realistically a simple box trailer is likely to get more use. I'd like to save on registration costs etc. by just having one trailer. I envisage the simple box and teardrop body being attached by bolts around the perimeter of the frame, for easy removal.

What do people think about the following body structure: sandwich panels with a 3mm hoop pine plywood inner skin, 19mm pine framing, infilled with polystyrene foam, and an outer skin of sheet metal? It seems like most people use aluminium, but what about going with thin galvanised or epoxy coated (Colorbond etc.) steel?

Thanks,

Leon.

[Shadow Catcher]

Leon
ours has 1x1.5X.060 inch aluminum walls in a sandwich EPS with Filon outer skin and very thin what ever they use for RV inner skin. Strong enough to walk on.

[aerohydro]

Sounds great. Do you have any photos of your frame structure?

[bobhenry]

I thought this was a well thought out dual purpose tear / utility combination. I think it was up for sale for a while, I don't know if it ever sold???


http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=31995&highlight=removable+trailer+jack+teardrop