Dragonfly Trailers

Welcome to Dragonfly Trailers!

After years of residential design work we are pleased to be doing some actual building. Dragonfly Trailers aims to create small travel trailers along the lines of teardrops and gypsy vardos. We want you to be able to pull one of our trailers behind your family car.

The Dragonfly is a beautiful and nimble creature, the perfect motif for our company. We have always been fascinated by the Craftsmen design aesthetic. Many of our trailers will tend towards that style.

Some pictures of the final build:

The trailer was just weighed. Most of the trim is on. The only thing that might affect the weight any is the fenders. Tongue weight is 150#. Axle weight is 530#. Total weight 680#. The tongue is about twice as heavy as it should be. I could move the wheels forward a little bit but at these low weights, I don't think it will make a big difference for as small of a number as it is. Besides, when your cooler is loaded in the galley, that should redistribute the weight to a more ideal ratio. If it was a 300# tongue weight, then there would definitely be some modifications coming.

A plan is being hatched! Or is a hatch being planned? The biggest problem with this design is the hatch. In most teardrops the plywood will be continuous from the hinge all the way to the handle. In this case, there is a definite break between the roof and rear. Since this is a weak spot, a little reinforcement is needed. After some contemplation, the luaun that was cut from the top curves was perfect for tying both pieces together. I would have used the 3/8" plywood but that had already become a bike rack. I did have a few scraps left over from the windows to create curved spars from. The end spars are rather wide. Three thicknesses were needed to clear the frame and interior luaun. Then the luaun hatch sidewall was attached, then two more spars to hold the inside of the hatch. The last scraps of rigid foam were put to good use.

Windows were purchased from a local surplus RV parts warehouse. The cutouts from the doors were mounted on frames and then the interior and exterior plywood were routed for the windows. The door frames probably could have been solid but continuing to use the 1x2 meant there was room for rigid foam. Not wanting to miss an opportunity (and having plenty of foam scraps lying around), even the corners of the frames were filled with little scraps. Now I just need to remember where the frame is when I attach the door hardware.

The previous winter had been a struggle to keep the trailer from getting waterlogged and ruined. Rather than deal with these issues, a tarp shed was built over the trailer. While not entirely pretty, it did a very adequate job of keeping everything mostly dry. It was the wind blowing the rain that was less than welcome.

Nonetheless, as soon as temps were warm enough again, gluing and caulking could commence. The luaun ceiling was laid over the walls and the spars and insulation added. The hole for the vent was also added. Given the curve of the roof, a standoff similar to house skylights will be added. The vent came in all white plastic. A full dis-assembly and shot of hammered spray paint should help it to blend in with the trailer.

The next day, the remainder of the walls including the galley/bunk divider went up. The sides of the galley were not originally insulated. I ended up with a bunch of extra rigid foam so I filled those voids. It won't make a huge difference structurally but it might keep your dry goods a little cooler when summer camping.

The three voids in the top half are for the galley pantry. There will be an interior shelf towards the bunk and a divider wall on top of it.

That same day, walls went up. You can see how tightly the insulation fits within the frame. You can also see that I will have a challenge of attaching the outer skin of plywood. The reason I did not attach it to begin with is so that I could drive screws from the side walls into the front wall frame. This is the technique used throughout most of the trailer. If I were to pull out some of the rigid foam pieces, you could see that the walls are attached to the trailer floor through the bottom framing member. Plenty of caulk squished in between as well. The 1x4 scraps are temporary supports to keep the walls at the proper edge of the floor while I attach them. The exterior plywood will cover the side of the floor and extend all the way to the bottom edge of wood.

Finding replacement bolts and lugnuts for trailer wheels is not terribly easy. Most auto supply shops carry... automobile parts. But with a patient sales associate that let me come in the back, I was able to rustle through the drawers and find ten bolts and nuts that matched the dimensions needed to replace the rusted out ones. The nuts are a bit long, but I think it adds some character.

The floor is a sandwich of 3/8" plywood, 2x4's laid flat, and luaun plywood. Everything has been glued, screwed, and urethaned at least twice. Maybe three times on the bottom. Still, I think another layer of protection might be a good idea.

Framing progress has been made. The floor has been in place for a while. Some 2x4's on the flat were sandwiched with 1/2" ply below and 1/4" luaun above. All the space was filled with 1-1/2" rigid insulation. The whole thing was then coated with two thinned urethane coats and one full strength coat. A water test was positive. The floor was secured to the frame with 8 3/8" panhead bolts, 3 each side and 2 in the front.

Then the side walls were built. These consisted of 1x2 furring strips again on the flat. That is, the wall framing is 3/4" thick. The top curve consists of several 1x3 pieces fitted at angle and then trimmed. Interior luaun has been cut and glued in place. About 18 gravity clamps consisting of pavers, cinder blocks, and landscape rocks ensured a nice tight seal. The door will be cut, insulation installed, and then the exterior plywood attached.


Frames attached to check for perfect symmetry. Check!	Cutting the top curve.

The weather has finally complied enough to make some progress on the trailer! It was finally decided to chop the tongue instead of buying a new piece (see chopped piece on the right). The axle was removed and the frame was sanded and painted. A little lack of foresight means that the current dolly wheel will probably not work with the shorter tongue. Despite that progress will continue! The next step is to sand and repaint the axle and springs. And how did all the surface rust come off?

A 7" wire wheel does not normally fit onto a 4" rated angle grinder. One must remove the guard. What then happens is that the wire wheel shoots random wires into hands, pants and foreheads. A modified guard from a 9" plastic lid and a cardboard strip kept most shrapnel to a minimum. As could be expected the service life was short but exciting. The wire wheel is now a more reasonable diameter.

Typical 8' Teardrop

First Build Options

Some renderings of the previous cross sections. Obviously craftsman styling will be a key element. The fenders look a little wonky but this whole exercise is intended to be a sketch anyway, not a perfect rendition of the final product. This is half pre-thought, half design on the go, and half using what's available at the moment. Yes, it will be 150%.

First Build Options

First Build Cross Sections

A little freehand pen and paper sketch work yielded these design ideas. Both designs are essentially the same except for the location of the top arc's center (10" horizontally). The more voluminous cross section was immediately favored but the sleeker design is slowly winning us over.

First Build Cross Sections

The bottom of the hatch on the lower design is 6'-4", perfect for most folks to stand under. The pantry is a touch smaller. Once the hatch is open on either option, the same amount of workspace exists. The volume of the kitchenette is only hampered when the hatch is closed. Perhaps only important if you plan to strap cargo down to the top of the counter.

First Build

This boat trailer was rescued from a junkyard. The surface rust looks worse than the picture shows. Most of the bolts will need to be drilled out or broken off. Even though the bunks under the padding were creosoted they were still rotting. Those came off easy but the brackets and rollers are more difficult. The winch mast is bent up; not that it would be of any use here anyway. That will get scrapped but the winch will get thrown in the parts bin for who knows what... The 3"x3" tongue is 7' long and has a 2" hitch. That will need to be replaced with a 4' piece of 2"x3" rectangular tube tongue and a 1-7/8" hitch.

This trailer was chosen because of the abilities to modify it. The tongue slips into a receiver and is held in place with a bolt. The dolly wheel is in good shape and can be reused. The wheel bolt pattern is standard so they can be replaced with more substantial 14" wheels. The axle and springs can be moved along regularly spaced bolt holes in the frame. This will be handy for a teardrop, especially if the back hangs over the frame a bit. The wheels can move pretty close to the rear.

Given the openness of the frame it is tempting to build a vardo or some other type of "standy". As this is the first trailer, the current plan is for a 4'x8' floor with a basic teardrop shape. As cleaning and repainting the frame will take some time, there is still plenty of opportunity to decide otherwise.