Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

by **2bits** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:32 pm

Wow so you are adding to your tongue weight? I see most people grappling with how to lighten it. I guess it is a tightrope eight way though, don't want to be wobbling around the road for either reason!

by **GreatPumpkin** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:05 am

Thomas - Look at the last picture, the water tank is just forward of the axle. The 1st picture showed it at the front of the frame, but I decided that was too close (and too much additional tongue weight) with the extra 100 lbs of water.
While I'm not too worried about tongue weight, I want to reserve room for additional weight from the tongue box I'm going to have to add for the battery and possibly the converter. I'll probably have room in the back for the converter, but no room for the battery unless I work it in under the sink compartment.
I'm still contemplating that setup. My tongue is actually quite long (50â€

by **GreatPumpkin** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:35 am

Here's a couple pics of the tank holder I fabricated. The two white pieces in the second picture allow me to bolt thru them and the middle frame piece, and the other side will bolt to a crossmember in the frame with two lengths of all-thread. I'll continue on with that later when it warms up and I am able to paint the frame.

by **GreatPumpkin** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:42 am

Time for the floor. Going with a sandwich construction. 1st layer is 1/2" Baltic Birch. (I contemplated using 3/8" as that would be plenty strong enough, but it actually cost more than the 1/2").

Cut and loosely laid in place

Couldn't resist seeing how the fenders will look...

by **GreatPumpkin** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:54 am

1x4 and 1x6 framing layout. I used 1x4 for most of it, but used a piece of 1x6 for the joint of the two pieces of plywood. The plywood joint is glued and screwed. The rest of it is glued and air nailed.

Required?

clamping picture

Insulation installed

by **GreatPumpkin** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:03 am

It was wayyy to cold to be doing this step, but I needed to get it done before I could continue so I did it anyways. I used 200J industrial contact cement that is quick drying. It's supposed to be used at a minimum temp of 65 degrees. I don't think it was anywhere near 1/2 that. :shock:

If you look close, you can see where it dripped off the front edge. It will scrape off pretty easy later. You can't apply this stuff with a roller or foam brush like you would regular contact cement. I ended up using the edge of a board to "squeegee" it on.

Plam (Formica) installed on the bottom side

by **GreatPumpkin** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:15 am

The Generic Benroy terminates at the floor at 90 degrees. While I wasn't 100% set on my side profile at this point, I knew I needed more curves than that. The Original Benroy terminates at the floor with a radius.
Here's my solution - adding a 4" radius to the front and back. The front (pictured) adds an additional 4", the back (not pictured) adds only 2" more, but with the same 4" radius. Fortunately my C.R.A. plans allow for modification on the fly.

Front view

Side view

by **GreatPumpkin** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:37 pm

Time to add the top layer of the sandwich. 2 more sheets of 1/2" Baltic Birch would set me back another $60. Then I would still need to cover it with vinyl or ???
Time for another Craigslist bargain... Bruce Hardwood Flooring, prefinished, solid maple. Approximately 80 sq ft advertised for $100.00. It had been listed for a little while, so I emailed an offer of $60.00. He accepted!

I glued the joints, and where it met the 1x4. I also nailed it into the 1x4's so it shouldn't go anywhere!

by **GreatPumpkin** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:20 pm

Next it was time to finalize my side profiles.

REJECTION? LETTERS:

Camp-Inn - Does not offer plans/profiles.

Halfdome, Danny - Not a custom profile, rather a Grant Whipp Lil Bear design.

Grant Whipp - No PDF drawings available, just the full size tracing/pattern available with a 4-6 week wait time.

Steve Fredericks "Peg's Custom" - $10 for a PDF with the profile and other details.

Classic Finn - No drawings available, just drew it to his liking. Similar to Camp-Inn, but with a full galley.

Andrew's (Angib) Design Library - Nothing just quite exactly what I'm looking for.

All my favorites have a similar profile. I might have gone with the Lil Bear, but I didn't want to wait that long. The PDF from Steve was a definite consideration. Andrew was kind enough to draw up a new profile for me. But meanwhile I had already taken liberties with his Grumman @ profile.

Bottom line was I would have to modify any plans due to the 114-1/4" length of my frame. I ended up using the rear of the Grumman 2, utilizing his drawing from 12" up and over to 60". For the rest of the profile I adapted a Benroy profile I found elsewhere on the net. My results below - I call it MOBIUS.

by **S. Heisley** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:28 pm

Oh! That's going to be a pretty floor!

By the way, I like your avatar but can't wait to see what you really look like without your head up your...well, you know. :lol:

(Sorry all...couldn't resist the off-chuckle. I guess I'm human.)

It just dawned on me that down the road, your avatar may change and people are going to think I'm insulting you. Just so folks know, your avatar at the time of this writing was/is a skull sitting in the pelvic cavity of a skeleton.

by **synaps3** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:29 pm

GreatPumpkin --

Why not just freehand the profile? I think you'd be amazed at what you could come up with in an hour or so.

I agree with Sharon, that floor is impressive. I might have to borrow that idea for my build.

by **GreatPumpkin** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:29 am

synaps3 wrote:GreatPumpkin --

Why not just freehand the profile? I think you'd be amazed at what you could come up with in an hour or so.

I agree with Sharon, that floor is impressive. I might have to borrow that idea for my build.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Well, somewhat I did. I really liked the profiles I mentioned above, and the Benroy. When I layed it out, I wanted a little more curve, and less flat spot on the top than the Benroy so I came up with the MOBIUS profile. I measured each point, connected the dots and then cut it out. Used my belt sander to smooth out the curves. I didn't use a pattern, but once I got one side done I used it to route the other side to an exact match.
This profile leaves me with only 2-1/2' of a flat roof. I'm planning on some kind a skylight/sunroof in that area. If someone used this profile for an 8' trailer they would have even less flat spot.

Here's the Benroy front profile. The upper line is a 19" radius found on the Generic Benroy. The lower line is a 24" radius that I found on another Benroy plan. I went with the 24" on mine. (That's my expensive, hi-tech beam compass pictured below)

This is the rear. Here the two layouts are the Generic Benroy (upper line) and the Grumman 2 (lower). I went with the lower one.

I'll see if I can get a picture of the whole side, but my work space is pretty tight. (Two car? garage - yeah right. 4 Dirt bikes, 3 kayaks and a snowblower take up one side, my table saw, workbench, tools and the teardrop take up the other side)

by **GreatPumpkin** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 12:30 am

S. Heisley wrote:Oh! That's going to be a pretty floor!

By the way, I like your avatar but can't wait to see what you really look like without your head up your...well, you know. (Sorry all...couldn't resist the off-chuckle. I guess I'm human.)

It just dawned on me that down the road, your avatar may change and people are going to think I'm insulting you. Just so folks know, your avatar at the time of this writing was/is a skull sitting in the pelvic cavity of a skeleton.