After looking through hundreds of designs for teardrops and mini trailers. I think I have finally found a design I like. My wife says if we have a trailer she needs to stand up in it which means it won’t be a traditional teardrop shape.
Today I sketched out a cool little box trailer design and I really like it. I have plenty of room a bunk for the kids and it looks pretty cool. So here is my modified teardrop trailer. Now let’s get into the plan for building the roof on a teardrop trailer.
Building the Roof on a Teardrop Trailer
Now we have come to planning out the roof for our teardrop trailer. I am going to use a sheet of aluminum as my seal on the roof. On the walls I think I’m going to go with Poor Man’s Fiberglass (PMF). We’ll touch on that later when we get to it but it is a pretty cool option. Especially if you like that old 40’s era canvas look.
Here is the sketch I drew up. That way you have an idea of what is in my head. I’m going to work on a base design and add more info to this so I can give it away to anyone who wants it.
As you can see from my design there’s not much bending which is nice. Near the back where the roof starts to come down toward the bumper is where I’m going to have the hinge for the back door.
This is the first version. Instead of the normal galley I’m going to put a bunk there for the kids. There’s going to be a pretty sweet little ladder going up to the bunk too.
Materials for a Teardrop Roof
I’m going to have an insulated roof so I’ll have to tack on the first sheet to the walls. Since my teardrop is 5 foot wide I can’t use one sheet length wide, I’ll have to use 4 foot sections.
I’ll work from the front and go to the hinge. Once I have the interior roof laid out and tacked to the walls I’ll add in the studs/ceiling joists.
Each ceiling joist will have a notch in it so I can run the wires for the fan and the lights. The fan is crucial in a teardrop.
You Must Have Ventilation in Your Roof!
If you are planning a teardrop build you MUST HAVE VENTILATION! If you don’t have any ventilation a sealed teardrop will kill you.
These Fan-Tastic Vent fans are supposedly the absolute best air vent fans you can buy. I’m not going to mess around so I’m just going to go with the best. I know it’s a little expensive but I’m not taking a chance. You can find them here.
I’ll use the same insulation in the roof as I did in the walls, you can see that here. The foil duct insulation is much thinner than the foam board and any other insulation.
For the top layer of sheathing I’m going super thin and will use 3/8ths plywood. I’m going to use aluminum for the top, I think it’s going to look pretty sharp.
The back door will be hinged with the piano hinge you see on most teardrops and will have some pretty heavy duty struts on it.
I’m not going to write about the process of making the back door right now. It would be tough to explain all the steps. Here’s a really good video series that will walk you through it. He does a really good job showing all the steps.
Have you built a teardrop? And what issues have you run into while building the roof?