A haircut and a free tent trailer.

[Esteban]

I've been offered an old tent trailer for free by my barber. It's taking up room in his yard that he wants to use to store his fishing boat. Haven't seen the camper yet. If the frame size and it's load capacity is ok I'll use the frame for my tear drop. If not I may remake it into a utility trailer to haul supplies for building my TD. The price seems right. Wonder what we can salvage from a tent camper?

Cardboard Aided Design...I got big pieces of cardboard from Costco to play/plan/dream with. I plan to build a 5' x 10' TD.

Miriam and MJ, pics will be posted soon.

Steve B.

[Miriam C.]

Miriam and MJ, pics will be posted soon.

Bless you. They will be greatly appreciated. One thing about a tent trailer is the frame it's self it heavy compared to HF and others. If it is as big as mine you will double your cost in materials (6'4" x 8') They do make greate frames for bigger builds though. I put the bed across and have a great bonus space.

Course you can always cut off the extra if you are able.

Enjoy

[JunkMan]

Wonder what we can salvage from a tent camper?

Depending on the camper, it could have a sink, water tank, stove top, water inlet, propane tank, various cabinet doors and drawers. I've got an old Apache pop up that is very basic, and all I could use was the tongue. The axel was too narrow, and there was no frame, just a X on the bottom that mounted the axel to the floor and tongue (I plan to make a kayak trailer out of that axel).

Several people on this site have used an old pop up camper as a base for their new trailer. Good luck on your build!

[Hamcan]

Esteban

I was given a tent trailer for my Tear project, it is a very light frame but required extensive modification that included welding.

One of the things about mine that I did not like was the original 8" wheels with 4 lugs. I was only able to find 12" wheel replacements although I could have bought new 5 lug hubs but that would have started to defeat the low cost aspect of a free trailer.

Another drawback was the labor involved in tearing the old trailer apart and disposing of the mountain of plywood, metal, carpet and rotten canvas. Although I was able to salvage a 2 burner stove, a sink and some other things from the tent trailer, none of that stuff was useful in building my Tear.

If I build another Tear I will buy an axle and build the frame to fit the project.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Regards, JG

[Esteban]

A short story about the free tent trailer my barber offered me yesterday.

At the end of my haircut we kept on talking about the tent trailer. I wrote my home phone number on the back of my business card and gave it to him. It was a beautiful sunny California afternoon. So we walked outside in front of the shop. He lit up a smoke and we chatted for another minute or so. I thanked him for his generosity and drove off to finish my day's errands.

In the late afternoon I visited my Mom. Told her about my good fortune today to get a free tent trailer. Maybe soon, with a free frame, I can begin building my TD and save a few bucks, too. A silent thought occurred to me... had I'd tipped my barber well? That led me to wonder, aloud to Mom, if I'd even paid for my hair cut.

In the evening when I came home the answering machine blinked with a new message. No. "Would I please come by the shop and pay for my haircut?"

In our mutual enthusiasm it slipped both of our minds to take care of business before stepping outside. A free trailer for me. Room freed up for my barber to store his fishing boat at home. Double Oops!

Today I went to the barber shop. Paid for the hair cut, had a laugh together, and gave him a good tip, too.

Back to the tent trailer. He'll call me this coming weekend to come over for a look. Thanks for your ideas to sharpen my thinking about what may be useable. I'll take my camera.

Hey, it's a free trailer I might salvage to get the building of my TD off to a good start. A year ago I fell off a tall ladder. Neighbors called 911. Lucky to be alive. And walking. I'm 58. Sometimes I forget things.

Is this an early warning sign of the onset of Tear Dropper's Dementia?

Steve B.

[bobhenry]

Sounds more like ladder climbers dropsy...

on another note glad to hear about your ner cad's program sound so simple an old fart can run it . CARDBOARD AIDED DESIGN

My slant on a free trailed is go for it. I just was offered a monster tandem tilt bed boat trailer. I am going to make a flat bed trailer out of it then put it on e-bay where some fool from new jersey will pay too much and drive to far to get his prize and I will invest the $$$ into my 5x10 teardrop build

[Outlaw]

Is this an early warning sign of the onset of Tear Dropper's Dementia?

Steve B.

Yes, and it only get's worse with time