Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Gosh , I sure miss the days of camping in the high lonesome where a shovel and a tree were your friends ...

It's sure fun to read the build and all your ideas!

2 questions after reading:

1. Since you did the interior canvas before assembly and the exterior was difficult...do you think it would work to do the exterior canvas before assembly? And then canvas over the joints after assembly

2. Any report on durability for the way you did the canvas edges around your window openings?

Thanks so much!
Taylor

Taylor , Thanks !!!
Doing the interior canvas first is the Simple way to do it .... trying to install,canvas inside can be a PIA especially overhead ... The thing is , canvas sticks to foam as well as foam sticks to foam , so Yes, that’s a good idea applying the interior canvas while small easy to work on pieces ...
We just folded/glued the canvas V’s in the window openings and sealed the window in with the 3M Marine sealer ... still perfectly sealed after two years living outside in the weather ...

Zaylor wrote:It's sure fun to read the build and all your ideas!

2 questions after reading:

1. Since you did the interior canvas before assembly and the exterior was difficult...do you think it would work to do the exterior canvas before assembly? And then canvas over the joints after assembly

2. Any report on durability for the way you did the canvas edges around your window openings?

Thanks so much!
Taylor

Oops. I've been busy on other projects so I haven't checked back very often.

1. I would definitely do the sides different as far as canvasing goes. It might be possible to canvas the side before assembly as long as you leave enough canvas to overlap the roof and under the floor and as long as you don't try to glue down about the last 2 inches of the wall on all sides. That way you could tape the excess back and still have access to the edges of the wall which you will need for construction. That works on paper but I don't know how well it will work in practice. It would require you to install the door frame when you did the windows but I don't see a problem with that. My other thought is to make a stretching frame for the canvas so that you could get all the wrinkles out and then hang the frame beside the wall with the canvas stretched on it before you start gluing. Gravity really helps with the canvassing process so I am leaning towards doing the canvas before putting the wall up.

2. The window openings are great. No sign of trouble at the edge where the canvas meets. The only spot (out of all 7 windows) that I need to fix is a spot where the paint didn't stick. (shown in photo below) Not sure what happened but I'll sand it down and repaint. My guess is that there is some of the rock hard putty there that didn't have enough tooth for the paint to stick to.

I finally had a chance to create the rest of the window coverings. I painted some posters in the style of vintage travel posters and then glued flexible magnetic strips to them. That way they can hang on the wall as art when not in use and they can cover the windows when you need privacy.


You can see the magnetic knife block above the galley counter (knives stored when traveling) and a small basket with light that I installed above the dinette.


The rear ones are larger


At night, with the light on inside, you can still see them from outside. The effect is pretty cool.




Finally, I got around to making a curtain rod for privacy using the toilet. The curtain shown here is just a piece of canvas that I had left over. It will be replaced with something more attractive.

Very nice! I like the chic-ness and clean uncluttered look you are giving your interior.

Looking really good! Your build is truly inspiring!

Your build looks awsome! It is really nice.

Mary C

Good job! Nice design.

So Cool NMM !!! But how does that curtain rod work ? I need something like that for the FS...
Ps. Love those Posters !!! I’m just getting ready to start a similar style Large painting of an old RR Cafe (now abandoned) in a town I grew up in ... it will feature an old school poster (see pic) ... We’ve researched this for months and months now , and finally all the pieces came together ... Especially Thanks to an exceptional RR modeler who has an F7 in his basement ... a real one ...

Very cool idea with the posters! And the trailer build is just great, congratulations! I wonder how you like the windows, for their taking some valuable space inside especially in a "bathroom", is it working fine or you would change something next time?

KCStudly wrote:Very nice! I like the chic-ness and clean uncluttered look you are giving your interior.

Thank you. It's not in the same league as the Poet Creek Express. I still haven't made it all the way through your thread yet but there is no doubt you are building a work of art that just happens to be a teardrop trailer. So I consider your praise to be a great compliment. As for uncluttered, I wish I could take credit for that but the reality is that everything has to be stowed for traveling and that forces an uncluttered look.

GPW wrote:So Cool NMM !!! But how does that curtain rod work ? I need something like that for the FS...

Here is a picture of the hooks that support the rod in the middle and the hooks that hold the curtain. One hook is screwed into the beams in the roof and the tip of the hook fits in a small hole drilled in the copper tubing. The other hook (that holds the curtain) can slide past it and still hold the curtain with the clamp end. The hooks that hold the curtain were taken from curtain rings. I hope it clarifies how it works.

OP827 wrote: I wonder how you like the windows, for their taking some valuable space inside especially in a "bathroom", is it working fine or you would change something next time?

So far they work great! Because my walls are 2 inches thick they only intrude into the interior about 3 inches. The bathroom is the only place that you can even get close to a window and that 3 inches isn't a problem. Maybe if I had enclosed the toilet in a compartment it would have caused more of an issue. It might also be more of an intrusion in a smaller teardrop trailer. So as far as the windows go, I wouldn't change a thing.

Very Clever !!! Thanks!!!

The trailer looks amazing.
I have a question about the windows, I like the idea of being able to make
any size/shape window. The only thing about the Wiley design is, I have a hard
time understanding the weep holes.

I understand why they are there.
How big did you make yours, and how did you seal them?
Did you use "the mix", or paint on the inside of them?
I would be concerned about the edge of the canvas at the circumference
of the hole.
Folks spend time painstakingly wrapping and sealing edges and corners of the canvas,
and then drill a hole through it.

I have always pictured epoxying some small diameter stainless steel tubing in the holes,
something with a nice smooth surface, one that you could fit a Q-Tip through to make sure it stays open?

Is there any kind of "draft angle" (sorry, a casting/die making term) along the bottom
exterior edges of the window openings to help keep water from running towards the glass?

I have 6 variations of tear drop profiles and weekender/grasshopper profile drawings I have been going
back and forth with in my cad software. Expecting to use traditional materials.
I have mocked up a couple. While there is more room in them than the backpacking tents I have used the last
40 years. I just seem to want more room for all the time and effort that goes into the building process.

The more I look into these "foamies" the more appealing they get. One of the nice things is I can get
more interior space and not gain the weight.

I think you have built a perfect sized two person trailer. I hope you both get many years of enjoyment from it.
Thanks for going to all the effort to post your build, it is truly inspiring.

Brushy Bill I have Wiley windows and mine are great. I had almost 1.5 inches of rain here last week and not one drop of water inside. The weep holes I made are about the size of a pensil. Look up wiley windows there are lots of pictures. You could line your weep holes with a piece of tubing just a thought. That thought just came to me when looking at the round windows. The thing is there are lots of inventive things that can be done. I am particularly interested in this build as I am planning a standie. Sorry NMM I couldn't resist to answer, your build is so cool. I plan to incorporate some of your design fetchers.

Mary C.