Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

three years later(and many nights sleeping and camping in it) my interior still isn't finished, I never intended to make a super duper woodworkers showcase, just a hard sided tent.

Do the 1x4s fit in the hurricane brackets I would think there'd be a gap since I was pretty sure they are made for 2x4s? If not are you going to fill the gap with something?

I was thinking of doing something very similar and am watching your progress and hoping for weather above freezing so I can start work.

Laura

lthomas987 wrote:Do the 1x4s fit in the hurricane brackets I would think there'd be a gap since I was pretty sure they are made for 2x4s? If not are you going to fill the gap with something?

I was thinking of doing something very similar and am watching your progress and hoping for weather above freezing so I can start work.

Laura

No, they don't, yes, there is because yes, they are.

The gap will be filled with a 2" long or so piece of 1x4, glued onto the 1x4 crossbeams where they fit into the hurricane brackets. I intend to add those spacers today, so watch my build thread for updates later tonight.

You could glue those spacer blocks in at 90 degrees to the grain for a stronger( plywood-ish’ ) effect ...

GPW wrote:You could glue those spacer blocks in at 90 degrees to the grain for a stronger( plywood-ish’ ) effect ...

I'm not sure if that would do anything, in this case.

I spent most of today out shopping. Harbor Freight, Lowe's, Ace Hardware, Menards, and Home Depot. Bought a couple things, and browsed the tool sections. No work, nothing I had to do, it was 47 °F out and sunny, a heat wave! I did not wear a jacket today, just my hoodie. Got back and my couplers had come, so I hooked up my air compressor. Going to use it tonight (for the first time besides just letting it fill), trying out my new HF HVLP spray gun, "painting" water on cardboard. If everything looks good, I'll be spraying the visible parts of my trailer soon with it.

Ready to Use by jseyfert3, on Flickr

I had my garage door open when I got back, enjoying the sunshine and relatively warm temps.

KCStudly wrote:Why not header behind the fender longitudinally along the frame rail on each side using the same 1x4 (...or was 1x3?), then 'T' the short xmbr into these headers. Like this...

Okay, so say I build this. Can I screw and glue this (what you modeled up for the 1x4 frame) together before attaching it to the trailer, soak it really good with "the mix" for waterproofing, and then screw it down on the trailer (via the hurricane brackets) before I attach the floor? I would then coat the bottom of the OSB in multiple coats as well before attaching it to the frame with screws and glue. I know wood glue doesn't really work good after you have applied a wood coating, so I figure I could use Gorilla Glue or similar to glue the floor down.

I'm just thinking that if I attach the OSB to the frame before screwing the frame to the trailer, it'll make for some awkward positions later on since I would have to get underneath it to screw it in place on the hurricane brackets.

Also, do I recall hearing GPW saying coat the threads in beeswax before installing screws to waterproof the screw hole? Or is there another method of making sure water doesn't get into the screw holes? I'm thinking specifically of the hurricane tie wood mounting screws, they will be underneath and exposed to wood spray, and I wouldn't want it to start rotting in the holes that hold the camper to the trailer! What about coating the threads in GG before screwing them into pre-drilled holes?

Off to buy a belt sander so I can sand down the rough surface of the OSB, I'll check in with you guys later.

Run the screw in, take it back out, fill the hole with wood glue (or sealer of your choice) and run the screw back in.

I sealed the underside of my floor with glue, scuffed it, and intend to paint it after canvas, before attaching to the trailer.

I don't see a problem attaching the sub-frame to the trailer first them the whole cabin to that, so long as the frame stays square and doesn't rack (check that the measurements across the diagonals are the same before pinning it down). You need to wrap the canvas over the cabin and around the underside of the floor; and IMO it is better if that wrap gets captured when the floor gets attached. I suppose you could wrap the canvas under the edge of the frame instead, but with your cantilevered floor that won't really trap the canvas between the floor and trailer frame.

The proven method is to build the cabin on the floor off of the trailer frame, and then attach the cabin. No chance of lifting a canvas edge or flapping in the breeze. On the other hand, I guess it shouldn't be a problem either way. There are plenty of seams at the roof to wall joint that haven't flapped, so take your choice.

I was one of those who built cabin on frame and wrapped my outer material, fiberglass in my case, under the cantilevered floor. The epoxy means the fiberglass fabric won't be pulling off or flapping any time soon and I think if you a good glue to attach your fabric to floor, you won't have problems either. As KC said, either way. Your choice!

Is there a thread where you detail the fiberglass procesd and cost? Did it add much strength to the foam? I will have 3 kids in mine and worried about it getting dents in the foam.

I have thin (5mm) underlayment inside so no worries there. The outside is plenty durable. Fiberglass work was pretty basic. Spread out the glass, pour out and roll in the epoxy, allow epoxy to dry to tacky state, more epoxy and then one more epoxy coat at least. I did the panels before I assembled them onto the floor IIRC I spent about $300 on epoxy. I got a deal on the fiberglass on e-bay and got a roll of 6 oz glass pretty cheap. . You do get a few flaws in the material, but nothing I couldn't work around. If I had to do it over again, I'd cover with canvas and use a thick primer to hide the grain (I wanted a smooth skin. That's why the fiberglass.) After the fact, someone tried the block filler primer and said it was pretty smooth after you give it a light sanding.