Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Fantastic Jess. I didn't know Stanley made hinges but I found some here in Oz and they are just what I was looking for. Most gate hinges are pretty floppy but these have a nice nylon bush. Perfect.

Thanks for your help. The project continues...

HB

Small update...

Nicole and I bought a house a few months ago. Add the fact that we have had the wettest spring in years and thats whats been taking up a lot of our time. We haven't even been camping yet...

The new house:

1973 split entry, 1800 sq ft, got it at auction for super cheap but it needs a few things done to it. The most important part is there is room for a 28x32 shop in the back


Anyway... back to the trailer. Repairs have started.... I have had some cracking on some of the 1/4" skin on the radii at the front and on the hatch area. Plus some of the corners started to show some cracks too. The radii were just too tight at 6". Sanded the spots down, cleaned them out and mixed up some CPES. I put on about 3 coats on all the spots so it would soak in good. Next is paint. Hopefully in the next week or so...










Thats all for now-
Jess

Jess; sorry I'm late in posting.

The idea about the padding under you while you are sleeping. I use two layers of "Exercise Mat" with the old sleeping bag on top and in summer I leave the winter bag under the light weight bag on top


Just a thought ..... the length problem in sleeping would be harder to solve.

Great job on pictures and post ....I hope it comes out ok.



Pat

fantastic build my friend. i am envious. i would definitely need it about a foot longer, as i am a bit taller then you

one day i will try to attempt one 1/2 as nice as yours.

Jess

I just read back to last year and saw you are having problems with your foam being to soft. I also had that problem. My fat ....... body would just sink into the foam and then i was sleeping on wood in a foam lined hole and very hard to move about. So this year I replace my foam with this.

Nice foam

I used the 5 inch thick but only enough for the upper 2 thirds of the bed. Leaving my feet on my old cheap crap foam. This is working much better for me even if it is now a bit to hard but it is not to bad. I slept in it for 10 days during Burning Man this summer. I would say that it is a bit hard, there is one that is not as hard. I used the 5 inch stuff, I could probably use 3 inch and not tell the difference, leaving a bit for a soft 1 inch foam, or just live with it.

I am 5 foot 9 inch tall and weigh 280.



Laying on the foam I doubt if I sink in more than one 1 inch, probably less, setting on it I don't go down over 1/2 way, this stuff is firm. So firm they could barely compress it even a little bit for shipping. That box looked like it was about explode.

So if you go this rout take that in to account. And my feet/legs don't know they are getting the cheap stuff.



Randy

First of all, congratulations on your new-to-you home! It will probably keep you pretty busy for a while.

On your trailer, please recognize that the CPES is only as good as it is able to sink into the wood and you probably know that those cracks need a good filler as well. Some sort of epoxy filler might be best. The Rot Doc sells 'Fillit' which has chopped fiberglass threads in it to help a little extra; but, there are probably others that could be used too. It's good that you were diligent and caught the problems early!

Wolffarmer wrote:Jess

I just read back to last year and saw you are having problems with your foam being to soft. I also had that problem. My fat ....... body would just sink into the foam and then i was sleeping on wood in a foam lined hole and very hard to move about. So this year I replace my foam with this.

Nice foam

I used the 5 inch thick but only enough for the upper 2 thirds of the bed. Leaving my feet on my old cheap crap foam. This is working much better for me even if it is now a bit to hard but it is not to bad. I slept in it for 10 days during Burning Man this summer. I would say that it is a bit hard, there is one that is not as hard. I used the 5 inch stuff, I could probably use 3 inch and not tell the difference, leaving a bit for a soft 1 inch foam, or just live with it.

I am 5 foot 9 inch tall and weigh 280.



Laying on the foam I doubt if I sink in more than one 1 inch, probably less, setting on it I don't go down over 1/2 way, this stuff is firm. So firm they could barely compress it even a little bit for shipping. That box looked like it was about explode.

So if you go this rout take that in to account. And my feet/legs don't know they are getting the cheap stuff.



Randy

Thanks for the tip Randy. looks like decent prices- I actually bought a 5" latex chunk off of ebay from a guy. It worked pretty good but still not quite enough. The next trailer will have at least a 6" good quality latex mattress in it... I have the 5" over the original 3" crappy foam and it seems ok but i wish i would have put the good stuff on the bottom. Probably would have worked better that way...

S. Heisley wrote:First of all, congratulations on your new-to-you home! It will probably keep you pretty busy for a while.

On your trailer, please recognize that the CPES is only as good as it is able to sink into the wood and you probably know that those cracks need a good filler as well. Some sort of epoxy filler might be best. The Rot Doc sells 'Fillit' which has chopped fiberglass threads in it to help a little extra; but, there are probably others that could be used too. It's good that you were diligent and caught the problems early!

Thanks Sharon- I used some automotive body filler over the cracks and splits. It worked ok but I think i'm going to have to do some dissasembly and really give it a good once over before i sell it.

The house is a constant project but totally worth it for the price we gave

stomperxj wrote:Thanks Sharon- I used some automotive body filler over the cracks and splits. It worked ok but I think i'm going to have to do some dissasembly and really give it a good once over before i sell it.

You selling it? What will #2 be?
There is always a #2



Randy

Jess, this worked suprisingly well to add the extra length I needed to sleep comfortably without having to make the main body any longer. This made the bed area 6'6" long. I am 5'11" and 270 lbs. I had no problem stretching out comfortably.



The walls are only 6 inches in from the outter walls to give plenty of head room.

Beautiful build. Going to use alot of ideas from here

Could you upload some better pics of how you sealed the openings (ie. Doors and hatch)

Thanks

Wolffarmer wrote:

stomperxj wrote:Thanks Sharon- I used some automotive body filler over the cracks and splits. It worked ok but I think i'm going to have to do some dissasembly and really give it a good once over before i sell it.

You selling it? What will #2 be?
There is always a #2



Randy

Randy sorry it took so long to reply. I'm not sure how I missed your reply - Yes #2 is designed in 3D and sitting on my computer. Just waiting to get my shop done and I'm getting married in June. After that, Sawtooth XL gets fixed and hopefully sold so I can start buying parts for the next build...

jss06 wrote:Jess, this worked suprisingly well to add the extra length I needed to sleep comfortably without having to make the main body any longer. This made the bed area 6'6" long. I am 5'11" and 270 lbs. I had no problem stretching out comfortably.



The walls are only 6 inches in from the outter walls to give plenty of head room.

Good plan. looks like it works well. I am going bigger with the next one though so length won't be an issue... (that's what she said)

clintstuckless wrote:Beautiful build. Going to use alot of ideas from here

Could you upload some better pics of how you sealed the openings (ie. Doors and hatch)

Thanks

I'll see what i have and try to get something uploaded for you. I wasn't very happy with the way I sealed these doors/hatch though... I'd do it different next time-

Jess

Jess,

I think you said you used topside paint on your XJ. Or was it Sher-Cryl HPA?

Are you happy with the long term results, or would you do something different next time?

Hugh said he used Interlux paint, which developed a lot of cracks.

I'm putting on the fiberglass now, so the next step is paint!!!

Mike...

Mike-
This is what I used:

http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=4

I am pretty happy with the results of the paint. The only areas that it had problems was not the paint's fault. I applied the CPES incorrectly and had some end grain issues and some delaminating. The paint on the flat surfaces looks great and is glossy still. I used a paint gun to apply it. I did 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of the Marine paint...

Let me know if you have any other questions Mike-

Jess

I just read this thread. I'm quite impressed.

I'm now insanely curious to see what you are planning for Mark II.

As for your wedding, may happynes follow ya'll till the end of days. (It's going to need a 4X4. )

Pip

Thanks luneywan... The next trailer is going to be bigger and badder for sure. I'm still in the design phase with it but hopefully going to start on the frame at least next year...