Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

If anyone anyone is interested in going with a fiberglass foamie build here are my videos about how I built mine.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... e98uv4rsCT

Hi Jim, I've been following some of your videos as they've popped up on my YouTube feed. Really great stuff. Glad to have that link to the whole thread. T-Rex 2 is probably closest to what I've been planning. Thanks for all the experience you've been sharing. I'd love to pick your brain about some stuff, but I'll ping you offline.

I am in the planning stages of a foamy build on an old tent trailer frame. Mine is a 1968 Steury and the frame is 7' x 14'. I intend to go wider (and longer) and am undecided how much but as others have indicated, 8'6" would be foolhardy for several reasons. I am leaning towards 8' and the concept of overhanging the frame 6" on each side doesn't worry me a bit. Adding length concerns me a bit more mostly because doing so would mess with the tongue weight ratio and I don't much feel like relocating the axle. I want to add full water and electric and I think keeping all the tanks and battery forward of the axle will help balance things out.

I had been lurking and reading build journals for several months last year before I joined and one in particular fascinated me. It was a guy building an enormous foamy in (I think) the Vancouver area. He was building considerably wider than the frame (as much as a foot on each side) and going for a profile resembling a sausage more than a box so he was cutting lots of kerfs in order to bend the foam panels, even at the bottom of the walls. I'll see if I can find it or maybe my description will jar someone else's memory.

Good luck with your project. I'll stay tuned for updates! Don't forget the

My apologies for not having posted pictures sooner. Attached are pictures of the original Aerolite, a few stages of demo, the "clean" trailer, and the aluminum tubes I've put on so far.

The 8'6" I was going for was based on the siren call of the tiny house movement. In that world, 8'6" is practically mandatory. But they want them to seem like houses, not trailers. Confession though: I feel like I'm betraying you somehow, but I sorta want something in-between, so I'm going for 8'. I really want this to be canned hammish, but for my husband's sake, I also want it comfy enough for long-term travel (i.e. a few months at a time).

One quick question. In one of the pictures, you can see these rusted out things near the front end of the trailer, and I have absolutely no idea what they're for. They look like something you'd set up a saddle on a horse with. I haven't removed them yet because, a) I'm being lazy, and b) I don't want to do anything either way until I know what they're there for.

As always, thank you

The rusty things are part of a weight distribution hitch system.

Mystery solved! Thank you.

I definitely plan on having a weight distribution hitch, no question. I'm sure there are different systems out there, but should I leave these on with the idea they'll likely be used by any/most systems?

tem3000 wrote:Mystery solved! Thank you.

I definitely plan on having a weight distribution hitch, no question. I'm sure there are different systems out there, but should I leave these on with the idea they'll likely be used by any/most systems?

Are you building a really large Foamie?

I would think a Foamie would be light enough to not necessitate a weight distribution hitch?

Ah, that's a good point. Not a lot of weight to distribute with a foamie.

I'm actually worried about the other side now, that the lack of weight will be unstable being towed buffetted by the wind and passing trucks. The fresh and grey water tanks will be the heaviest thing in there. A weight distribution hitch wouldn't help with instability due to lightness, eh?

On a related note, during the demo, I ended up needing to cut the wires to the electric brakes. Given the expected lightness of the foamie, are the electric brakes necessary? That may be a stupid question...

A few more (tardy) pictures to share. The project is going super slowly (constricted by time, finances, and pandemics) but I managed to put 1/2" aluminum square tubes on the frame, and began putting flat corner braces on each side of them for the walls of the frame. It's all being JB Weld'd for placement, to be followed by brazing.

Watched some of you build video on YT. Noticed you're using PL to glue the foam and are you still using dowels? I use the standard Gorilla Glue and it sticks great! Another here prefers the tube GG, but I think that's a bit expense (probably like you're PL).

Also saw you glued up some foam/ply panels! I'm about to and going to try some water based contact cement. I read a post elsewhere where it's said it works well.. I'll let ya know.. What did you use?

tem3000 wrote:A few more (tardy) pictures to share. The project is going super slowly (constricted by time, finances, and pandemics) but I managed to put 1/2" aluminum square tubes on the frame, and began putting flat corner braces on each side of them for the walls of the frame. It's all being JB Weld'd for placement, to be followed by brazing.

Wow tem!
That is one enormous trailer! What did you decide, on width?

Oh dear, I think you were looking at someone else's YT videos. I'm way too self conscious to do that in front of this experienced crowd. I'm worried people will see what I'm doing and boot me from the board!

But what you descibe sounds intriguing. If you find out whose vids you were watching, could you post it? Sounds like something I could learn from. Dowels sounds smarter, but because of the size, I'm using 1/2" aluminum square tube for framing (light but strong, hopefully), and attaching 1" foam boards on either side of the frame. Tests have been successful, and believe it or not, I've had good success using TBII to attach panels. Way cheaper than GG, of course, and once you wrap it all in cloth, glue and paint it, I was thinking I didn't need to worry so much about its longevity. But maybe I should. Hmm...

JazzVinyl, I finally decided on 8' 2". Given what the focus of this board is, I realize this experiment is way way too big and wide. But it's all a crazy experiment, drawn both from other people's experiences here, and my wild imagination that's not informed by that experience! Hopefully, people here will at least find it amusing. Someone here pointed out that some states include "equipment" in the legally exceptable width so I'll be able to put lights, door handles and such on.

tem3000 wrote:JazzVinyl, I finally decided on 8' 2". Given what the focus of this board is, I realize this experiment is way way too big and wide. But it's all a crazy experiment, drawn both from other people's experiences here, and my wild imagination that's not informed by that experience! :shock: Hopefully, people here will at least find it amusing. Someone here pointed out that some states include "equipment" in the legally acceptable width so I'll be able to put lights, door handles and such on.

Will be following with great anticipation at what you come up with, tem!

Good building, to you!

.

tem3000 wrote:...On a related note, during the demo, I ended up needing to cut the wires to the electric brakes. Given the expected lightness of the foamie, are the electric brakes necessary? That may be a stupid question...

My state says that if the trailer is equipped with brakes they have to be functioning, and the tow vehicle has to be equipped to operate them. I assume it is similar in most states.

Having the brakes operational won't add much effort or cost, and will make the ride much more enjoyable, even if the total weight comes out reasonable.

Removing the brakes entirely, and replacing the drums with hubs would probably cost the same as keeping the brakes and adding a controller to your tv.

Thank you, that's interesting very good to know. It's actually no longer a problem because... I'm now working on a second foamie. I took the chassis in for brake repair, and the mechanic declared it unfit for travel. More to that story but I'll leave it there.

I threw in the towel and swore I'd never do something so foolish again. Two weeks later, I had a new used trailer.

I bought a 1991 Terry Resort 26B. And my apologies again for posting about something so huge here, but I do so only because it's going to be a foamie, and this is *the* forum for that. You guys have been a great help already.

So this is the plan: The interior is 7' 6" wide, and I'm keeping it at that. I know this sounds wacky, but the plan is to gut the thing, replace the current exterior walls with foam panels within the current framing, then strip the siding and complete the foam walls with PMF. I know it won't be as simple is that, but I'm working outside, on a slope, with limited space, using only cordless tools whose batteries run out way too quickly.

I have a bunch of questions that I'm confident you can answer, but this is already way too long. Thanks for being so helpful.

-Terry