"A man is only as good as his trailer." -Anon.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
concrete countertops, AZ
if you want concrete countertops, or a concrete table, or if you want a concrete vanity, you need to visit http://www.azconcretecountertops.com They offer custom concrete countertops for all of Arizona.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
IT ROLLS!!!!
YEAH!!! We (my dad and I) got to finally put the axle on the trailer!!! I went and found some HUGE 15" rims with some old tires on them for really cheap, and welded on the axle and everything, and now it rolls! we rolled it out into the sunshine to take some pictures of it, and it looks SWEET!!! we also wired it, so now I need to skin the inside and start installing fixtures and cabinets. It's coming together!
This profile shot shows you my placement of the axle
And in this shot you can see the 12" clearance to the leaf springs and the 19" clearance to the frame
-Enjoy!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Framing the walls
YOU USED WHAT???



Enjoy!
yes, it's true... I framed my trailer with 1" square tubing (1/16" wall) instead of the traditional plywood walls. I figure it's going to add some weight, but I'm not too worried about that. I'm going to use the voids created between wall skins for styrafoam insulation and my wiring. Everything's just tack-welded right now... I didn't want to weld everything permanent before I was able to make sure it was all square and true. The bows that give the trailer it's traditional teardrop look I acquired from my dad. He had them hand-bent by a custom metal fabricator back in the day when he wanted to build a trailer. They were originally made for a 8' 6" frame so I added an additional foot to accomadate my 9' 6" frame.
You can see the openings for my doors on either side of the trailer. They are 26" x 36" with a small radius in the upper corner. I doubled-up the support beams on either side of the door and at the point where my galley lid hinge is going to be. (I just figured they might need a little more support... no engineering calculations or anything like that.)
Underneath my protective masonite board, you can see my indoor-outdoor carpet that I'm using. I didn't really like the look of the vinyl flooring people use, so I decided to go with the in-out carpet. It's glued down to the wood floor, and that is all attatched to the metal frame with several long screws and construction adhesive.
Enjoy!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Creating the floor
Now onto the floor of the trailer. I wanted something sturdy that I could build on top of. I also wanted it insulated to keep my butt from freezing in cold weather, so we constructed the floor out of 1/2" exterior grade plywood sandwiching 2x2's and 1.5" styrofoam insulation.

Here's my dad fastening the top layer of plywood

When the floor was finished being constructed, I wanted to make sure the underside that was going to be exposed to the road was weather-proofed. I caulked all the joints between the plywood pieces, and sprayed on some ruberized undercoating. Well, that stuff is CRAP. If you're thinking about using it, don't! It's actually cheaper and works a lot better if you buy a gallon of Henry's asphalt emulsion. that stuff smears on thick, covers everthing, and dries with a fraction of the fumes that that spray stuff had. So that's what I ended up doing. I just smeared that stuff on top of the four cans of spray that I allready used.
Here's my dad fastening the top layer of plywood
When the floor was finished being constructed, I wanted to make sure the underside that was going to be exposed to the road was weather-proofed. I caulked all the joints between the plywood pieces, and sprayed on some ruberized undercoating. Well, that stuff is CRAP. If you're thinking about using it, don't! It's actually cheaper and works a lot better if you buy a gallon of Henry's asphalt emulsion. that stuff smears on thick, covers everthing, and dries with a fraction of the fumes that that spray stuff had. So that's what I ended up doing. I just smeared that stuff on top of the four cans of spray that I allready used.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Frame
O.K., so you have to start somewhere, right? Well, I decided after months and months of doodles and sketches and research that I wanted to build my trailer on the semi-large side of things. The frame is 58" wide and 114" long (not including tongue or axle). This gives me the room I wanted inside as well as room in the galley.
I welded the frame with 2" x 2" x 1/8" square tubing with 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle in the middle for the supports. It took me a couple evenings to finally get all the welds looking good. Welding, grinding, welding again, grinding....
But now it's finished! I took three cans of flat black Rust-Oleum to the frame and now it looks professional!! Just beautiful. I am going to build the entire trailer up on jack stands without an axle and tongue because I want to get the weight distribution over the axel just right. It's going to be a pain welding that stuff on upside down, but I'll get it done.
Next up... building the floor. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
An ode to trailers
O.K., so now that I have this blog specifically for my tear-drop trailer, I'll start posting some pictures and ideas on how NOT to build a tear-drop.
I have a weekly allowance that I am putting towards building this thing, so every week I hope to be one step closer to the finish.
Stay tuned for pics and posts.
-Enjoy!
I have a weekly allowance that I am putting towards building this thing, so every week I hope to be one step closer to the finish.
Stay tuned for pics and posts.
-Enjoy!
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