Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

TRIED THE SEARCH FEATURE AND GOT 3400 OR SO HITS. ..WHILE WORKING ON THE FRAME IM TRYING TO ENVISION WHAT THE FINAL TRAILER IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE...IM GLAD THAT THERE IS SO MUCH INFO AND IDEAS TO WORK FROM...NOW THE QUESTION..IM THINKING AN ALL WOOD TEAR..ANY IDEA WHAT TO USE FOR TRIM WHERE THE WALLS AND ROOF MEET OUTSIDE? THAT WILL BEND THE RADIUS???

I did a woody with an aluminum roof, but it would work with an all wood tear...I resawed maple trim, planed them down to like 5/16" made patterns and cut the shapes out...they are like 1 3/4" wide...then overlapped the top of them with some 1/8" aluminum strap...it really beefs up the corner...but you could also do the top piece in wood..planed down it should bend easily...here is what I have for a picture from the first tear...Doug

Doug, Thanks that is what I'm thinking of doing except the top I, thinking of wood also...Not that ar along that Im comitted to either idea...altohough my wife thinks I should be comitted for doing this..not sold on the tear yet but she will be..or it will be camping for 1

NH
I am about to do mine and not sure I have someone who knows how to use a router or has one. If I had thought this out ahead of time I would have done the following:

1. gotten a cheap router and table and learned to use it.
2. made a pattern before I put the roof on. Put to top edge and trace.

Now my plan is:
1. hold the pattern piece at the edge of the roof,
trace it out piece by piece

Cut it on the OUTside of my line with a jig saw, (I am convinced someone looked into the future and saw my cutting so the name jig stuck) Very
jiggy.

Then I am going to sand it with the belt sander till it meets the line

I am not sure how I am going to get the inside curve to agree but I am very good with the sander.

The top strapping is lattis (16' because it bends real well) If it splits out too much I will make my own.

Thanks, I dont think I want to try the router either haven't used one since high school and a sander is more forgiving I think. The pattern and then cutting it oversized then sanding..I'll take all the tips I can get then work and see what happens

Here's how I do it for cabinets, furniture & boats: 3/16" oak, ash, even cherry is an easy bend with steam. I have steam bent to form up to 5/16" x 6" and 12' long easily using some simple steam bending techniques. Some woods have a natural propensity to resist cracking in a tight radius, others don't; but most will bend with steam. For smaller pieces you can even boil them in water for 30 minutes to an hour.

I use a "steam tube" fabricated using a 8" x whatever? metal tube (stove pipe) with round wood plugs in the ends, connected by a radiator hose to a 5 gallon metal (gas) can with enough H20 in it to produce steam for 20 to 30 minutes. The tube and water can are placed carefully over a propane cooker (the type used for fish cookers, although any safe and suitable heat source will work). The heater causes the water to boil, at which time steam is released through hose connected to the stove pipe with my wood in it.

Sometimes it is necessary to flip the banding to steam the pieces more uniformly since the steam is all going in from one end. (wear gloves, this stuff is hot) I will do this after about ten minutes. You do have to provide a vent at the other end of the steam tube. The eight inch tube will hold a generous amount of banding stock. I use Titebond II or III as adhesive.

Once you have steamed your strips, clamp or tack them temporairly to a form to dry (you can stack multiple layers too for drying purposes). Either one you've made or to the actual work. Let it dry for a couple days... Then sand off the raised grain and glue it in place. For the exterior of a tear I think I would use PL urethane to glue it in place with (a somewhat flexible sealant). I would also prolly seal the wood with shellac first. I use this method for making bent laminations too, with Titebond (PVA glue) or Gorrilla Glue (polyurethane glue).

Anyhoo, that's how I do it...

I used a strip of Pine planed down to 3/16ths.
Bent fine with just a little wetting on the hard bends.

Rob

I used some poplar for the door and side trim and then pine for the top.

I'm not finshed yet with the priming or painting but here's how I'm shaping up so far.....


Have fun choosing yours,
Barb

I made 2 1/2" wide trim from 1/4" plywood on the sides, then used iron-on oak edge banding (3/4" wide) to cover the edge. I had the banding left from a project years ago. I varnished the banding with Helmsman spar varnish. I've used the tear twice so far (about 350 miles total travel), and the banding is holding up so far. I had one loose area that I stuck down by heating it with a heat gun, then pressing it down with my hand on an old washcloth. Seemed to work ok.

NH,

Here is another one with edge trim made of strips of wood epoxied together, the strips were about 3/16" thick red oak, they bent really easy.

Thanks for all the ideas gives me plenty to think about. Im still refinishing my trailer and getting ready to paint it. Hope to have some pics on that soon, Im still preey set on the all wood tear,but may do alum top due to the weather here in the NEastm and mostly outdoor storage, again thanks

doug hodder wrote:I did a woody with an aluminum roof, but it would work with an all wood tear...I resawed maple trim, planed them down to like 5/16" made patterns and cut the shapes out...they are like 1 3/4" wide...then overlapped the top of them with some 1/8" aluminum strap...it really beefs up the corner...but you could also do the top piece in wood..planed down it should bend easily...here is what I have for a picture from the first tear...Doug

I know this is an old thread, but we're thinking ahead to trimming our tin top woody. Doug, could you repost the pic you refer to? And ideas on how any of y'all attached either choice? ripped wooden trim or aluminum over wooden side trim. Thanks for all your amazing ideas!

Cathy...here is how I handled it. The dark wood is the trailer side, the lighter maple is the 5/16 material that I outlined the sides in. I made sure that I epoxy coated out the back side on it prior to attaching the maple trim, also made sure I eased the edges on it, a sharp edge will not take epoxy well and will want to split the epoxy over time or any finish for that matter. After the trim was installed, I skinned the top, then applied the 2" aluminum strapping on the edges, it's 1/8" thick. I used 3M 5200 sealant under that strap. It's water proof, made for boat transoms, it's good for under water uses. I overlapped the maple. It gives a really strong corner and that's where people push when positioning a tear. The screws are stainless. What appears to be dust on the aluminum is gold pearl in the clear. This isn't the same trailer that pictures were originally posted on. I lost them when the hard drive crashed and that trailer is gone now, but it's the same technique. This tear is 2 years old. Hope it helps. Doug

Doug,
Thanks for the detailed response. That was just what we were looking for!