Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm in the process of building a 1000cc trike and i am looking to build one of the t drop vans but cant sus out which is going to be better for me and my towing requirements, as in what size type of construction would wood be better than ally whats the best thing for framing strength it needs to be small and light ??? do yu see were I'm come from i was looking to do the Roswell but flicking throw one of the members web site i spotted some thin really nice then a saw something alls made from polished ally (English). so here i am bloomin lost. iv completed two years worth of boat building skills from collage so the bit were i put this thing together is not a prob. I'm probably better to stay with wood but i do like that ally look.
there is so much info i dont no were to start. im looking..
thanks al if you can advise.....

Hey Shaun,

Calm down... this is a process that we all go thru. Read some more. Grab a notebook and sketch down your ideas... then read some more. Ask more questions... Your ideas will firm up with time.

Mike...

ok the ally iv seen on some of the vans very highly polished how is that achieved in a d.i.y way of doing things,
and what is the best wood to use for framing, that's put it like this what do you guys and galls use over in the u.s. for strength and lightness,will it need to fleks like a boat.
i can get Canadian hard wood ocke ( spelling not to good so bare with me please,)

If you are talking about polishing aluminum, Danny could probably tell you how...

Danny?

Mike...

pine, aspen, or fir would be good for framing as they are on the light side, oak would be good also but it would be heavier.

is your trike going to be like a mogan 3 wheeler?

Shaun,

Nice work on the trike, I built a VW trike in the 80's, not the fiberglass body kind. It was a bare frame chopper, lottsa fun.

Here's a pic of Shaun's work so far, looks like a good teardrop hauler.

mikeschn wrote:If you are talking about polishing aluminum, Danny could probably tell you how...

Danny?

Mike...

Mike, I got to go pick up Jane's car from the mechanic. Be back in an hour or so & I'll look up all the products & polishers I used. Danny

rasp wrote:pine, aspen, or fir would be good for framing as they are on the light side, oak would be good also but it would be heavier.

is your trike going to be like a mogan 3 wheeler?

no its like a bike but with three wheels, cool looking if you are in to them.
thanks for the wood tips, i will looking to them and find out what is available over here on that list.

Steve_Cox wrote:Shaun,

Nice work on the trike, I built a VW trike in the 80's, not the fiberglass body kind. It was a bare frame chopper, lottsa fun.

Here's a pic of Shaun's work so far, looks like a good teardrop hauler.

thanks for the kind words about the trike, a t drop trailer will work well behind that. but tis got to be light and small about the size of a double bed and the no higher than a large car roof, the next trike I'm building after this build was going to be a v w but i love the v 8 so I'm lookin in to a small block that rover purchased the plans from America, and produced them over here.

halfdome, Danny wrote:Here's the thread on Compounding & Polishing Aluminum. Danny

thanks danny i will on ebay for the stuff as not sure it can be found over here but will keep a lookout.

i must admit that i was thinking that id need a big hard working polishing pads like the typ you see on and bench grinder typ tools.
i was thinking about the dodge van as thats made from ally all 22 foot x 22 foot x 22 foot x 8 foot thats a lot of polishing. danny you have a lovly t trailer there you must be proud....

Here's a British trike pulling a teardrop:



Now, the trouble is: you're going to ask me who built it, and I can't find any way to locate this guy - his website (trikes.freeserve) has disappeared.

One thing to point out is that even where teardrops have ally skins, in 99% of cases it's only a cosmetic and waterproofing layer over the top of a wood body - very few teardrops are built with a metal-framed body.

If you want a polished body, it might be good to get quotes for mirror-finished ally sheet, which I think we can buy ready-polished, though at a price. It comes with a plastic protective skin on it, which one day you would have to remove.....

Guys, advice on timber types to use for framing are of limited value in Britain. We can readily get two types of timber - "redwood" (usually pine) and "whitewood" (usually spruce), whichever the timber yard stocks and anything else costs a fortune. The oak floorboards I laid in my house last year were imported from the US - you can guess what it costs to ship lumber across the Atlantic!

Andrew

Andrew thanks i did not think of looking in to ready polished ally, i do know of a company in lowestoft that supplies the stuff as iv already had some for my truck, as for wood, I'm going to use the canadian oak as its a fast growing wood for hard wood and there is a lumber yard near here that serplys it, and im use to using it and it will take longer for it to rot if that should ever happen, it will be treated.
it is a bit heaver but i feel it will do a better job for me, it steams well for shapeing as well.
so that's the wood and hopefully the ally figured out , i will ring the metal man in morning to find out more
thanks people
as for the trailer frame and running gear i will make a light structure and find a back axel from a front wheel drive van and play about with that (fettle it).
so springs 'there's some thing i for got about
i need this low slung to the ground, the only thing i can think of is what is on the modern carvans and that be rubber blocks and two link bars.
mm i will have to think about that for a while un less some one has an idear to help with this.

[quote="Steve_Cox"]Shaun,

''Nice work on the trike, I built a VW trike in the 80's, not the fiberglass body kind. It was a bare frame chopper, lottsa fun.

Here's a pic of Shaun's work so far, looks like a good teardrop hauler.''


again thanks iv been aprochd by a mag/ rag that they would like to put it in to the busy mag for trikers, so iv been looking to find a td build to go with it thats as intresting as the trike. that was the word used by one of the chaps of the mag, ,,intersting'' at first i did not know how to take that but he told me if he considerd it to be rubish he would have told me or not have replyd at all.
so thats why im here and also cos i fell in love with the shape and size of the td as well.