Howdy from Arizona

[Joe Staller]

I'm way late on introducing myself. I've been lurking and soaking up your advice since last summer.

I've lived in Tempe, Arizona since 1980 and work in semiconductors. I'm a pretty fair woodworker, and even though I own and use a table saw, band saw, and a drawer full of routers I also have a good collection of antique Stanley hand planes that are sharpened and ready to go. I'm also into woodturning (bowls, hollow vessels, boxes) although the teardrop compulsion has kept me away from the lathe for a while.

I'm well on my way to completing my "first" teardrop, the basic, generic Benroy. Mine is a 5X9 on a HF frame. I insulated the floor, and put insulation in the walls as well. (In my case, it's mostly to keep the heat out!) I've skinned the Benroy with painted white aluminum, and once I attach the hatch this weekend I should be weather tight.

Nice touches: I opted for two doors with slider windows, and will have an AC window shaker mounted on full extension slides that resides behind a door on the curb side. (Mounted where the curb side cabin cabinet would normally be located if that makes any sense.) I installed a 10" deep storage box the width of the trailer over the axle, accessed by a split hatch from inside the cabin. I put diamond plate aluminum as a stone guard on the lower front of the trailer. I spent the extra $$ for a Fantastic vent.

I still need to build the cabinets. I kind of saved that for last, since that is the one thing I actually knew how to do before I started.

The only real major mistake (err...I mean learning opportunity) I made was trying to extend the HF axle so that cabin space would not be eaten up by wheel wells. I know this has been done by some folks to acoomodate larger wheels, but I've learned you can't add 20 inches of width this way. My wheels bow in 3/4" from top to bottom. I still need to order a replacement 3500# axle.

My main use for this trailer will be for camping/flyfishing in the mountain west (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah) as well as for my frequent trips to Rocky Point, Mexico where I go flyfishing for the triggers, cabrilla, pompano, and corvina out of my kick boat. I mostly catch and release, but I gotta keep a few for the fish tacos!

I've actually been diligent about taking pictures and keeping a build log, although I have not yet taken the time to figure out how to resize and load them into the album. I know where the instructions are though......

So after that lengthy intro....howdy!

Joe

[Dean_A]

Welcome, and can't wait to see the pics! There's a great tutorial up top under "Help with photos".

--Dean

[urbanironaz]

welcome joe! I am also from the valley in the middle of a build(cave creek).It sounds like you are much further along than I though. I like the sound of your a/c solution...have you considered a torsion axle or even independent torsion axles to get the width you want and a good ride?

[Miriam C.]

to the playground Joe. Pictures keep the bubble oil level and you know what happens if the oil gets unlevel right?????????? Well we got some MadOnes and.............

For Pictures see Steve's "announcement" at the top of this forum. There are some instructions on resizing.

[Mike C.]

Hi Joe,


Welcome to the forum. Look forward to seeing pictures. Sounds like you have quite a woodworking shop. Just remember mistakes,er...learning experiences will help you when you build the second one.


See you around.

[Joe Staller]

Urbanironaz,

I was under the impression that torsion axles couldn't be real long. Since I'm still using the HF 4X8 frame, my trailer floor hangs over the frame 6". Would this solution still work for me? Is there a good tutorial somewhere that I could go read up on this subject?

thanks,
Joe

[Joe Staller]

Auntie M,

Yup, I'll get some pictures posted. I've seen some of the mild rants about newbies with out introductions and pictures.....at least I've got the introduction completed!

[urbanironaz]

my frame is 5'wide and I wanted some room between the inside of th tire and the frame...The guys at the axle place did this no problem...I also had them decrease the load rateing to 1500Lbs for a better ride....I used etrailerparts.com or southwest wheel(same company I think)The best is to call them and talk to the guy that will build your axle.I think they use torsion axles to move trailer homes so width shouldn't be a problem..a custom made axle delivered with hubs for 258.00 if you have any other questions or want to come see mine to see if it would work for you let me know...I live near the 51 fwy and greenway........Brock