Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Ira wrote:I'm gonna rough-frame a 2' by 6' frame out of 1 by 2s to check if it will fit in the cabin.

I would have thought you would want panels wider than 2' - I can't move in a 2' x 2' square, though you are much more sylph-like than me (despite the Bud).

Andrew

angib wrote:I would have thought you would want panels wider than 2' -.

The plan was to hinge 2 together at 2'--giving me 4 feet out. The length of the enclosure is a different story.

Ira wrote:

angib wrote:I would have thought you would want panels wider than 2' -.

The plan was to hinge 2 together at 2'--giving me 4 feet out. The length of the enclosure is a different story.

Ira, the 2' width isn't the problem, the length is. Measure from the right side of your door to the farthest point inside your TD that is 2' high (to the rear on the far side). This is the length that you can fit inside.

cracker39 wrote: Measure from the right side of your door to the farthest point inside your TD that is 2' high (to the rear on the far side).

Do you so quickly forget that I'm a product of the New York City school system?

Yeah, most of my clearance will be going toward the REAR of the TD, where I can wedge the pieces up into the rear cabinet.

Exceptin' it ain't a cabinet yet--just a big hole of a space, to eventually be curtained in, if my wife will ever sew those for me.

Ira,

You mentioned hinged panels. A place called Outwater Plastics used to carry a plastic "piano" hinge. It came in about 100' rolls (been about 15 years) and you cut it to length with snips or a utility knife. It was tougher than it sounds- you couldn't tear it with your hands.

http://www.outwater.com/outwater.html

The page I linked has Flexible Hinge listed under Extrusions. I'm pretty sure that it is the hinge I mean. I looked but even w/ my modem at it fastest blazing 24,000 bps I only got through about 15 pages of "T" molding before I got really, really board- sorry. It might be in those pages but after a while they all looked alike .

There may be a search feature that doesn't show up w/ my browser. O.P. seemed honest the few times I dealt with them. They also have an Architectural Products area on the site that I can't open. It may have more products relevant to TD's. They used to carry some pretty ... odd stuff.

Bob

Bob, that stuff sounds cool. I'm on dial-up too, but when I get back from my sink-finding expedition, I'm gonna check that site out.

angib wrote:

Ira wrote:I'm gonna rough-frame a 2' by 6' frame out of 1 by 2s to check if it will fit in the cabin.

I would have thought you would want panels wider than 2' - I can't move in a 2' x 2' square, though you are much more sylph-like than me (despite the Bud).

Andrew

Adj. 1. sylphlike - gracefully slender; moving and bending with ease
lissom, lissome, lithe, lithesome, supple, svelte, slender
graceful - characterized by beauty of movement, style, form etc.; not awkward


Yup, that's Ira, although I prefer the word lithesome

Steve

Ira wrote:Bob, that stuff sounds cool. I'm on dial-up too, but when I get back from my sink-finding expedition, I'm gonna check that site out.

Ira-

I used this type of hinge on my galley lid, very strong!

http://www.monroeengineering.com/hinges ... -hinge.htm

Cheers,

Coop

OMG! I've been going on for a year about using coroplast to build a camper and my husband just rolls his eyes and tunes me out. Now that real actual menfolk are talking about it, maybe it will suddenly seem perfectly logical to him! Whoohoo!

I have found this style plastic hinge and was wondering if it might work for a hinged folding piece like the side tent that started all this? I'm hoping one side of the coroplast would crease under the lip (rather than having to cut a groove into it), making a little bit of a compression fit to be combined with glue/sealant. (The illustration for the living hinges link is the one I'm looking at.)

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=usplastic&category%5Fname=65&Page=1

Spadinator, I've seen some amazing things done with coroplast by you RC guys and recumbent bike enthusiasts. Stumbling across sites on those subjects kind of got things clicking in my brain as a way to cut weight on a tiny trailer. When you get to skinning the roof I hope you will share how it goes!

Yes! Validation by testosterone! Thanks guys!

Laura

The stuff is called coroplast or Correx. It.s great stuff. I will be using it to skin the roof of my TD. I also build RC planes out of the stuff...it is virtually indestructable.

Laura wrote:I have found this style plastic hinge and was wondering if it might work for a hinged folding piece like the side tent that started all this?

Some of these flexible hinges have quite a strong spring-back effect that wants to return it to a flat condition (ie, like it is in the illustration). I'm a bit worried (hey, when aren't I worried?) that if you try to fold the hinge 180 degrees, to fold the panels flat for storage, the Correx/Coroplast will buckle and collapse where it meets the hinge, rather than the hinge folding all the way.

You may be able to overcome this by making the internal walls inside the Correx/Coroplast run from hinge to hinge (ie, horizontally when erected). And it may be no problem at all if the hinge is as flexible as, say, rubber rather than a stiff plastic.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew, that's a pretty important detail. I'll definitely test it first, I have a couple of pieces I use to cover a small project when I'm not working on it. Currently using duct tape hinges that are getting gunky.

Thanks for helping me think it through!

Laura

Why not get a refrigerator box, cut one side, fold it flat, when you get to camp, unfold, nail flaps down to ground or weight with rocks, when ready to go home, cut into small pieces and burn in campfire?

Folks,

There are lots of creative ideas here! RE: the problem of something being too long to fit in the cabin...would a pass through from the kitchen into the cabin be useful for this purpose? it works great in our car....

Also, for those not inclined to build there is a Trekker Privy shelter on page 224 of the current Cabela's catalogue...it is BG #51-6922. It is also on their website...

No, I don't work for Cablea's <g>

Jim

That pass-through idea ain't a bad one.

I'm determined to come up with a practical side enclosure, but I'm still leaning away from tents because they can get so wet which makes it an even BIGGER pain to break down and store away.

But who knows. Like I said in the toilet post, we all change our minds a bunch of times.

Ira,

What if you built a very thin plywood "A-Frame" that latched to your tear roof with barrel bolts?

think of a teepee skinned with 3/16'' ply. you could hinge 2' x 4' panels at the 2' ends so they'd stand up 6' tall and spread across about 6' on the ground. (Mathematician I am not, maybe Mike or angib can figure the dimensions better). The top part of your spare room would be pretty small but you could stand up in it (and if you wanted, put a rubbermaid tub under it to shower in).

You would need six or eight panels, probably, and eight hinges, plus the two barrel vaults. If you wanted to build the panels with 1x2 furring strip frames and skin the outsides with ply that you painted with latex, it'd be pretty easy to wipe dry and fold away to haul home.