Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I agree with Amanda (and many others), you need a little "finger room" at the edges of your mattress. That "perfect fit" will have you muttering to yourself (not in a good way) when you want to change sheets............jd

Amanda, try cutting your cushion foam with a common electric carving knife … cuts like Butter …

GPW wrote:Amanda, try cutting your cushion foam with a common electric carving knife … cuts like Butter …

Oh, the foam cut beautifully — that wasn’t the problem. It was separating the springs on the mattress that required me to cut through the heavy wire that was such a slog.


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Great advice, everyone. Not to continue on the bedding sidetrack, but friends of mine that own an RV swear by beddys.com for their bedding. It's basically a fitted sheet over the mattress, but then you zipper open the top to climb in under the covers, much like a sleeping bag. So, "making the bed" is just zipping the top closed again.

And, for the galley, I ran across this alternative to hanging mason jars: Plastic jars of spices, teas, etc held in place on a shelf using paracord. Check out this video at 20:00 where the owner/inventor explains it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUKc1TGS-bU

So, long time no update! It was mainly because there wasn’t much trailer-wise to say. I got delayed by a wrist injury and a dog adoption, and just stayed on through the holidays and then some. Trailer sat almost finished in the garage for months.

But now I’m on my way! Too tired to write much now, but tonight is my first night traveling in the trailer. Currently parked outside the home of a family friend in Richmond, and will be heading to a campground on North Carolina tomorrow.

https://instagram.com/p/BeRo6TwhVTM/


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Don’t feel bad about being absent …. Most of us have been too Frozen to do anything ...

Its encouraging to hear you are out using your trailer.

amandacreiglow wrote:
The bad news? Well, first, it took all night. And second, it's much taller than I thought.

This whole time, I thought that 12" wheels meant overall. It never occurred to me once that it might not include the tires, and therefore the wheels are actually 20".

Soooo.... that's new. In some ways it's not so bad. Things being off the ground a little further will make a few things more comfortable. But the big thing is that I designed the galley counter to be at standard counter height, and it's now super high.

Figure the only real thing I can do is buy some kind of step to make the kitchen useable. It will be nice to have more headspace under the kitchen hatch, but still. If it's not one thing, it's another...

How is your axle mounted to the leaf springs? Above or below the spring? I finally got tired of my door sills being too high, so I flipped the axle to above the springs. Doing so dropped the entire frame/cabin by 4 inches. You have to remount the fenders afterward.

Sparksalot wrote:
How is your axle mounted to the leaf springs? Above or below the spring? I finally got tired of my door sills being too high, so I flipped the axle to above the springs. Doing so dropped the entire frame/cabin by 4 inches. You have to remount the fenders afterward.

That was suggested at the time, but the thought of dealing with all the trailer stuff again was just too much to bear to me. Still is, but the more I use it, the more I think just four inches would make the kitchen usable enough. I didn’t end u bringing along a step stool of any kind, although I bought one. I didn’t get a chance to cut the legs on it down, so now I’m just going up on my tip-toes for doing anything in the kitchen.

When I can face trailer base stuff again, this is definitely on the list. But there’s a lot on the list before it, so it might be a while. Thanks for the suggestion, though.


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So, I had a rough first couple of days. The first night I was sleeping on the street next to the house of some friends of the family, and the heavens opened. It was quite a storm, and I guess a good test for the system. unfortunately, the doors failed.

I figured they would leak, and was planning on eventually replacing them. But I thought it would be just a tiny bit of manageable water that wouldn’t really be more than condensation-levels. And I was 100% right about that for 50% of the doors. The other door, partially because of the angle I was parked at, seemed to actually funnel the floodwaters directly in. But because I was sleeping on the other side of the bed, I didn’t notice until morning.

So I ended up staying outside the friends’ place (couldn’t really come inside since they have cats and my dog was way too excited to meet them to grant us a moment of peace) so that I could use their garage and get their help with rebuilding the doors.

In a couple of days, I got full plywood doors built, with acrylic cut for the windows. Now I just need to canvas them, paint them, fasten in the windows and mount them. While camping. Easy, right? But I spent so long putting off going that I really don’t want to go back and put it off some more, so we’re doing it live. I have a tarp to pull over the doors as is if the forecast indicates any chance of rain.

But all that to say, tonight is my first night actually in the camp ground. It’s a bit chilly, but nice and quiet, with the occasional chit chat with friendly campground people. Here’s Donna, the trailer, and the trees I get to see out my window tomorrow morning.




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amandacreiglow wrote:

Sparksalot wrote:
How is your axle mounted to the leaf springs? Above or below the spring? I finally got tired of my door sills being too high, so I flipped the axle to above the springs. Doing so dropped the entire frame/cabin by 4 inches. You have to remount the fenders afterward.

That was suggested at the time, but the thought of dealing with all the trailer stuff again was just too much to bear to me. Still is, but the more I use it, the more I think just four inches would make the kitchen usable enough. I didn’t end u bringing along a step stool of any kind, although I bought one. I didn’t get a chance to cut the legs on it down, so now I’m just going up on my tip-toes for doing anything in the kitchen.

When I can face trailer base stuff again, this is definitely on the list. But there’s a lot on the list before it, so it might be a while. Thanks for the suggestion, though.


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No worries, it only took me 8 years to get 'rountoit.

When testing a new trailer in the rain , it might be a good idea to bring along a tarp for the roof …

Indeed. Before I did the duct AC connection to my tear, I had a 2nd left side door the had a window unit cutout instead of a window. The first trip with that setup we had a deluge. I found all the leaks at once.

GPW wrote:When testing a new trailer in the rain , it might be a good idea to bring along a tarp for the roof …

Yeah, I was super glad I brought one, along with bungee cords to tie it down! Now to go buy another one, and mount them like awnings so people won’t know they’re to make up for leaky doors...


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Sparksalot wrote:Indeed. Before I did the duct AC connection to my tear, I had a 2nd left side door the had a window unit cutout instead of a window. The first trip with that setup we had a deluge. I found all the leaks at once.

Yeah, pretty timing on the weather’s part. :-)

I ended up just being glad that it was only the doors — and that storm definitely would have told me if there were any others. So I guess it’s a good thing in retrospect... just didn’t feel like it at the time.


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