Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

dwgriff1 wrote:If I understand Andrew correctly, there is no aerodynamic reason for a tapered back over a square one.

The Boxter design comes to mind, even one with a somewhat slanted hatch. Sure would make the hatch a lot easier to build, and allow the cook to get closer to the galley.

Other than tradition, is there any reason why more of us don't build square backs?

dave

I have to third Rocky and Rich, the squareback just looks ugly.

Gerdo wrote:I would sugest that you mock up the height with your bed. See if you can sit up in the given space. Remember you will loose interior dimentions because of ribs,interior ply, flooring, floor joists, etc.

You can do it, stay focused and don't feel overwhelmed. Why did you not finish the first two?

The height is fine, but not really an issue, I don't read in bed and any movie watching will be either from the galley or setting the laptop on top of the mattress pad.

As far as the first two, the first was getting to heavy for my car (500lbs+, just walls, floor and trailer.) I started building the second out of steel, but decided that I'd be better off to go back to working in wood.

Hey come on. There are a lot of things going on around this forum that are ugly, some are real ugly, and yet we love them.

And, there are a LOT of tears out there that are square front and back. They can look pretty nice too.

My guess is that we are pretty well bound by tradition. My current tear is very traditional in shape, but if I were to build again, it might not be!


dave

Little bit of work in sketchup and here we are...

i agree with dave just take a look at warpony his is squared backed and i love it . looked at it real good at the lcg gathering and it convinced me to go the same route on my next one. you really need to see it in person to really appreciate it, a really beautiful trailer.

No progress yet. Trying to swing a trip to Georgia in before years end and looks like that will take up the $$ I was planing on using for the tear.

Other than needing to extend the tongue, I've got the frame together.




That's the HF 42708 trailer

Got the floor nearly done today.



I'll glue it and add insulation tomorrow.

Running total: $201.41

Alright, Going to pickup the tongue material on Friday and get the tongue extended asap. That's $50 right there.

Also, the selection of plywood at my local HD is pathetic. Going to call up Ft. Worth plywood next week and see what I can do about finding some decent and hopefully affordable plywood.

Trying to decide how I'm going to finish it out as well.

bg,

I'm glad to see you making progress on your tear. Your going to have this done for the Ray Roberts gathering right? (just kidding) I'm looking forward to seeing you at Ray Roberts, you are coming right?

Ron

I could probably pull it off if I had enough extra $$ at the moment.

I'll be there for awhile on Sat. Afternoon.

Fuse panel showed up today. (so I'm ordering things out of order, big deal!)



I'll be using a pair of 12v 24Ah Sealed Lead-Acid batteries for 12v electric.

Ended up not doing anything outside today thanks to sleeping through all but an hour of daylight.

I did manage to test the stains I'm thinking of using.

Light colored is Minwax "Natural"
Dark colored is Minwax "Red Mahogany"



Picked up a kreg mini-pocket hole jig too.

Edit: a 50/50 mix of the 2 stains created a much nicer color that i'll be using on the interior.

bg,

Those pocket hole jigs are great. I got one for my build and loved it. What kind of wood are you going to use for the interior that you are staining? I like the fuse block you got, I need to get one of those for an upcoming build.
Keep up the good work.

Ron

Those test pieces are just scraps of poplar. Plan is to use poplar for my spars and leave them exposed. Trying to decide If I just want to use ACX and painted sides or do nice birch sides and try to make a woody. Part of me wants to try aniline dyes and epoxy/clear coat the exterior.

This is the poplar sample I decided on.


As for the fuse block, this is where I picked mine up. Link

What's you next build going to be? I know you talked about a kenskill when you picked up the pieces to the Jim Dandy.

bg,

I have been thinking of building a woody also but have not decided yet. Aniline dyes and epoxy are greek to me but the results sure look good, like Doug Hodder and Steve Frederick can produce.
Thanks for the link to the fuse block.
I purchased a Kenskil profile from Grant and will be using it on tear #3 but I'm still undecided if I'll use it on #2 or not.
Tear #1, my generic Benroy, is almost complete and when it is I'm going to sell it and start working on #2. Here is a picture of it at the Lake Bistineau gathering.



Ron