Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Going to start to finish this project soon. As far as fenders I am thinking of just attaching the fenders to some strong trim (Doug Fir) attached to the TD sides. I don't know if I really need to put in metal brackets. The fenders are 13" steel from etrailer which I have primed and painted. What do you all think? Has anyone just bolted their fenders along the inside edge to the body successfully? Referencing last fall's photo of the fenderless TD (below), I was thinking of maybe a couple of through bolts on the 2x2 steel frame (black horizontal area below the wood siding) and then the top would just be attached to the body. The wall in that area is solid wood. A trim board will be mounted front to back to hide the frame underneath. It will be fender shaped in that area to act as a shim to bring the mounting point out from the body about 3/4" to 1".

If the frame is tube I would not bolt thru it. That opens the frame up to moisture potentially collecting inside. I've had good luck with heavy nut-sert style thread inserts and a dab of sealer, but the inserts have a small flange on them and do raise the surface a tad. If you do decided to bolt into the frame, or use inserts, placing the holes on the vertical center line (half way up) will weaken the tube the least.

Lots of people bolt their fenders thru their wooden walls and I only vaguely recall anyone having issues with this method. As always, sealing everything "to the nines" is called for. Variations include placing T-nut inserts prior to installing the inner skin, or using elevator bolts with wide flat heads and nuts under the fenders for minimum intrusion into the sleeping space.

I plan on using machine screw thread inserts from the outside, but may also do a dry run fit and weld on fender mounts before bolting the cabin to the trailer on final fit... haven't decided yet.

KC has covered all the bases with some very solid advice. My fenders are bolted thru the side walls with elevator bolts that have been counter sunk to fit flush (1/8" +/-) on the interior side, then epoxied to help secure them from turning. No issues at all

Check near the bottom of Page 5 of my journal for how I mounted my fender. I used an old HF flat fender on an NT trailer so I had to add the plywood spacer to cover the tire. Otherwise I would have bolted the metal fender directly to my 3/4" plywood side walls. Like others have said above, just make sure you seal all the penetrations really well.

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=49333&start=60

I'm screwed to blocks inset in the foam sides in 4 locations
for each fender with #12 sheet metal screws. About 10,000
miles so far with no sign of loosening.

Thanks all... I feel a little more confident that a simple solution will work best for me. I'll just bolt the fenders in place with a 3/4" to 1" piece of wood between the TD and fender. I understand some folks concern to have welded or bolted steel brackets holding the fenders secure, however, there's something to be said for breakaway fenders if I hit a piece of 2x4 or other road detritus. I will bolt a short wire rope tether to each so they are less likely to become flying detritus!

I guess the reason some people are reluctant to bolt straight to the walls is because if there is enough energy to rip the fender off then it is just as likely to damage the wall and not just the fender.

Your thoughts on a tether reminds me of Indy car and F1 racing. They do that a lot with wheel/brake assemblies. I don't think I would go to the trouble, tho.

Also reminds me of a story. When I bought my hot rod pickup I hired an acquaintance that had a home built landscape/car hauling trailer to make the run out to Tiverton and help me haul it home. He had configured the trailer with a lot of nice features, including a tilt bed for easy loading of lower vehicles, a separate axle carriage for weight balance adjustments, and removable bolt on fenders that were home made from some pretty stout steel sheet with angle steel frames.

Traffic was really heavy as we went thru Providence but was still moving along at a decent clip. At some point I thought we bounced over a pretty good frost heave in the road, that got his attention. When we got to the pickup point we noticed that the driver's side fender was gone! He was a little embarrassed and said he thought maybe we had driven over it when we felt that jolt, but given the traffic conditions at the time, he wasn't of a mind to go back and look for it.

I guess that sounds somewhat irresponsible looking back, but we were younger and poorer at the time.