Teardrop Trailer News:
1936 Uni-Wheel Teardrop Restoration Starts
(Source: "Tiny Tears") - Somewhere in Rhode Island --- The restoration of the 1936 Uni-Wheel teardrop trailer at the
"Tiny Tears" shop has started. This trailer was originally bought on an eBay auction sometime in the summer of 2003
and was shipped to Rhode Island in pieces. For the most part the teardrop was just the single wheel chassis and the
original aluminum. All the wood was too rotten to be bothered with and was not shipped from Coloroado to Rhode Island.
The story of the trailer can be seen at the links in the left column.
The "Tiny Tears" shop was temporarily operating out of Arlington, VA for one year so it was a good time to start the
restoration of the Uni. Well, it was kind of a good time. The teardrop trailer restoration was started in the basement
of the house where there was no big door that the finished trailer would fit out of. Because of this the major pieces were
built and then dry assembled in the basement. This dry assembly showed that all the pieces fit together. Once this
was done all the pieces were shipped back to Rhode Island to be assembled using epoxy to make for a strong, solid,
one piece teardrop trailer.
The final assembly will not have to replace the original aluminum since it is in very good condition and it will be nice
to have the restoration have as much of the original trailer as possible.
The first step that has been accomplished was to take apart the chassis and wheel. The chassis was cleaned with a
wire brush and then repainted
with a green that is as close to the original color. The chassis was in very good shape so it didn't need to be
stripped or rebuilt in any way.
The wheel assembly is also in very good condition, except for the tire. The tire is made by Schenuit Rubber Co, Baltimore,
MD. It is 5.00-8, 4 ply, 17" overall diameter. (I can't find an history of the company so if anyone can tell be about
it I would appreciate it.) The tire will need replacing. The rest of the assembly is in good condition. The bearings are
good and just need new grease, the fork and swivel just needed cleaning an repainting. I should mention that the
assembley is like the tail dragger wheel on an airplane. Pictures can be seen by clicking at the left.
The floor and the walls are a composite construction, sandwhich, made with a plywood internal frame, 3/4" foam filling
the voids in the frame, and 1/8" plywood on the outside. To make these panels all the pieces are cut then dry fit to verify
that everything fits correctly. Once convinced everything fits all the pieces are coated with epoxy and vacuum bagged
together. This process can be seen in the Technical Tips section and in the
Uni presentation. The beauty of this process
is that very light panels result. Each panel weighed in at about 28 pounds. Keep in mind that a 1/4" plywood sheet weighs
about 25 pounds. Most wall and floor panels in a typical teardrop construction are 3/4" plywood so a typical panel weighs
in at about 75 pounds, yet is probably not as stiff as the composite panels.
Well, if you remember earlier in this article I talked of doing a dry assembly of the Uni in the basement. I took this one
step further and took all the parts to the Mystic 2006 gathering. On Saturday morning, with the help of some other
teardroppers, the Uni was dry assembled. This was a worthwhile project because it showed that all the pieces fit
together and it also showed if the layout would work.
The crowd enjoyed the show too.
At the end of the gathering the Uni was disassembled and taken back to Rhode Island where it sat until I returned
to RI in March, 2007. And it sat even longer. However, in the winter of 2007/2008 I was able to start working on the
project again. At this time the side panels didn't have the doors or windows cut into them yet. They were structurally
framed because the internal frame in the panel included this. So, I cut out the door and window, made the frames and glued
them to the panels. The cut-outs from the side panels become the door and window. At this point the walls were completely
sealed in epoxy and urathaned. The floor was also completely coated with epoxy, the underside was coated with truck bed
lining, and then it was bolted to the steel frame. The main bulkheads and shelves, also composite panels, were also
epoxy coated and urathaned. Everything was coated in epoxy to seal the wood from rot.
Now, with all the panels sealed and urathaned it was time to assemble them. The wall panels were marked with the locations
of the bulkheads and shelves using the 1/8" luan pattern to assure that everything was located correctly and the final assembly
would be square. The edges of the mating surfaces were coated with epoxy and everything was assembled. Minimal screws were
used to hold things in place until the epoxy cures. After this step the teardrop almost looked like a teardrop. It even had a
finished look being that the parts are already urathaned.
At this time, May 2008, I am working on the cabinets. The primarily is putting togethe the cabinet faces and doors since
the sides were done in the previous step. This is kind of a slow process because I plan as I go along. I started out with
a conceptual sketch but I always change things as I go along, as my ideas develop.
So, the story will stop again here for awhile. In the meantime I will get the webpage updated to complete the Uni story
up to this point. Keep watching. I hope to have the Uni ready for Summer 2008 camping.
