SoCal Teardrops Krawler 459 - Enhancements
- Thread starter adventureduo
- Start date
sbwrench
Observer
Thanks for the info. I am going to change out the short trailer springs on my trailer to longer ones and it sounds like the OME springs work pretty good. I will check it out at the Toys 4 Tots.
For those who might doubt the strength of wood construction, take a look at sportfishing boats. The very finest as well as those charter boats which see the most use in the toughest conditions - off the NC Outer Banks - are almost exclusively made of wood, with a thin fiberglass layer mostly for protecting the wood from water. Construction varies from plank and frame to cold molded. Cold molded is the best and strongest, imo.
Thse sportfishing boats run hundreds to thousands of HP and speeds ranging for some beyond 40mph for thousands of hours each year.
JPK
Thse sportfishing boats run hundreds to thousands of HP and speeds ranging for some beyond 40mph for thousands of hours each year.
JPK
Sport fishing boats have a specific design to combat stuctural strength. They are not designed to bang against rock or trees, their high speed water impacts are spread over a wide are and angled to reduce the impact, nor are they designed to withstand the torque of an ouside source.
Also the fiber glass laminated to the outside of the lightweight wood is a major strengthening factor.
Boats are not normally twisted and pulled over hard barriers.
Undboutebly you can make wood very strong, but it does not stand up well to the flexing and twisting of off roading. It does offer a much lighter weight and that gives it some advantages in my oppinon.
Quality of build, attention to detail are the main ingredients to building any trailer. I know that building trailers off an on for over 25 years, I stopped building wood wall trailers with in the first six months of owning a franchise. I changed due to trailers being continually repaired due to use in the desert. Now these were 25-30 foot tag trailers that would have far more twist through compressions.
Your main off road trailers, Weekend Warrior, Eclipse, Tioga went away from wood walls nearly 13 years ago, but some of us went away from them 20 plus years ago. Many of my off road trailers designed in the mid 80's are still headed to the desert every weekend. None of the early wood walled trailers that I inherrited as a franchise owner are on the road that I am aware of.
Off road trailers, toy boxes due not see the stress we put on trailers fron the torque aspect, but do see considerably more weight loads. Dual and triple axles set ups are the worst for the ToyBox group. Generates tremendous torque to the main frame. I have actually seen 8 inch I beam cracked above the axles.
Weight is a major concern for them so Aluminum is their choice for upper wall construction with foam lamination and luan/fiber glass.
I am sure both have their place in the market. I just offer a different approach to long range survival when spending the amount of money these things cost. I wanted mine to have the best chance of being on line, 10 to 20 years down the road. From past experience I do not see that happening with a wood upper framed product.
Also the fiber glass laminated to the outside of the lightweight wood is a major strengthening factor.
Boats are not normally twisted and pulled over hard barriers.
Undboutebly you can make wood very strong, but it does not stand up well to the flexing and twisting of off roading. It does offer a much lighter weight and that gives it some advantages in my oppinon.
Quality of build, attention to detail are the main ingredients to building any trailer. I know that building trailers off an on for over 25 years, I stopped building wood wall trailers with in the first six months of owning a franchise. I changed due to trailers being continually repaired due to use in the desert. Now these were 25-30 foot tag trailers that would have far more twist through compressions.
Your main off road trailers, Weekend Warrior, Eclipse, Tioga went away from wood walls nearly 13 years ago, but some of us went away from them 20 plus years ago. Many of my off road trailers designed in the mid 80's are still headed to the desert every weekend. None of the early wood walled trailers that I inherrited as a franchise owner are on the road that I am aware of.
Off road trailers, toy boxes due not see the stress we put on trailers fron the torque aspect, but do see considerably more weight loads. Dual and triple axles set ups are the worst for the ToyBox group. Generates tremendous torque to the main frame. I have actually seen 8 inch I beam cracked above the axles.
Weight is a major concern for them so Aluminum is their choice for upper wall construction with foam lamination and luan/fiber glass.
I am sure both have their place in the market. I just offer a different approach to long range survival when spending the amount of money these things cost. I wanted mine to have the best chance of being on line, 10 to 20 years down the road. From past experience I do not see that happening with a wood upper framed product.
I will respect Gabe's wishes following this post, but I will first point out that your post is chock full of error.
1. Each wave not taken directly bow or stern on is an application of outside torque in three dimensions. Those tanken directly on the bow or stern - rare as hell - are a two dimensional application of outside torque. The twisting torque is everpresent.
2. Some portions of a hull are angled to provide ride comfort, but not all - and no one can predict every wave strike. For example chines are variously angled with an eye to smacking each wave full on to provide lift and to stop water from climbing the hull, to knock spray down.
3. The fiberglass skin applied to most wood boats is not structural and not intended to be structural or a stiffener just merely a waterproof skin, which is why expoxy resin is used. Though some boats do have structural glass, it is rarely in the skin. I'll refer you to West Epoxy's website on cold molded wood boat, trailer and other structure construction.
4. Boats are not inended to bounce off rocks, docks, navigation bouys or makers, just like trailers are not intended to bounce off trees, rocks or other vehicles, but boats hit their share of rocks, docks and aids to navigation, just like trailers hit their share of rocks and trees. In fact, smacking docks on landing is quite common, groundings are common and include mud, sand, rocks and coral reefs, striking aids to navigation less common. Off course, each grounding is also an outside application of toque.
5. Weight is a main concern of top end sportfishing builders as well, and that is why wood is the chosen material, along with it's superior stiffness, resistance to twist, superior strength and resistance to fatique. There are boats built of aluminum, fatique is an issue.
6. I won't bother with weight loading calculations, but I'll note that in a sportfish you can have two 3 ton engines 6.5' long and 4.5' wide sitting in the hull side by side a few feet apart. That and another 40 tons without hogging a hull. And that weight bearing capability is also relied upon each and every time a boat weighing from a few ton to maybe 50 tons comes down on a wave too. If you refuse to or can't recognize the immense force of water on a hull at speed, visualize the engines and all of the other equipment and gear accelerating with the hull as the boat drops, and then the hull absorbing all of the momentum from all of that weight as the hull stops as it hits the water, with any of the possibilities from an abrupt pounding to a reasonably soft entry, time and time and time again, hour after hour, year after year.
7. I couldn't find the torque numbers for a common diesel engine I had in mind, but 1650hp of Caterpillar diesel engine turning 2,300 rpm's sure produces a hell of a lot of toque. Multiply by two and the wood construction handles the torque without issue year over year for a couple of thousand hours a year in a typical wood built sportfish.
I could go on...
No one has to make wood strong, it is strong before man touches it. Want to see a ubiquitous example of wood's stength and absorbtion of outside torque as well as its resisance to fatique? Take a look out of a window toward your nearest ree next time the wind blows.
For more information, I'll again refer you and others to West Systems Expoxy's website, which might be found under Gudgeon Brothers.
JPK
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Our off road trailers are normally considered based off of military trailers I believe.
When the RV/trailer industry and the military go to wood wall trailers I will take a look at your reference, until then I will continue to build steel or aluminum framed trailers.
Thank you for your information, I appreciate you taking your time.
People are free to buy anything they want JPK.
When the RV/trailer industry and the military go to wood wall trailers I will take a look at your reference, until then I will continue to build steel or aluminum framed trailers.
Thank you for your information, I appreciate you taking your time.
People are free to buy anything they want JPK.
gabepari
Explorer
Yes they are bob. Which is a great thing, because we consistently have beautifully crafted trailers scheduled out at least 4 months. Apparently there are people out there who demand both FORM AND FUNCTION.
With over 300 trailers on and off road for the last 10 years, I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to build something that will last a lifetime. We had the privilege of seeing trailer #4 a few months ago (had a galley strut go soft, so we replaced it... for free, of course) it was beautiful. The owner still loves it and takes it out at least once a month.
Happy Mudslinging, I prefer not to partake....
Gabe
adventureduo
Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
Hey guys, do me a favor.. start a new thread on "WOOD" VS. "Whatever" instead of battling it out on this thread.
jim65wagon
Well-known member
Dave and Yosh, the "enhanced" version of your teardrop is looking good!