Hello! We are Teresa (writing now in 1st person) and Ted. We live in Cary, NC, which is in the Raleigh area. We are at the very beginning of our teardrop build adventure. So far, all we have is Tony Latham's book, the Generic Benroy plans, and hope!
I (Teresa) grew up in Texas. My family had a pop-up camper, and we went camping almost every summer in Colorado. Once, we spent 3 weeks going all the way to Oregon and back to visit my dad's relatives. We went in a station wagon with my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and 4 of us kids!! Yep! Four adults and 4 kids in a station wagon and a pop-up for 3 full weeks! I think that trip pushed my dear aunt to her limits... Those were the best times we spent together as a family. Ted's family went "camping" in cabins by a lake in upstate NY.
When we got married, we bought a tent. We went tent camping with our daughters until the oldest was a senior in high school. By that time, we were tired of sleeping on the ground and it was steaming hot and stormy every time. And the last time we went camping, we got attacked by some crazy big European hornets in the mountains of NC. I don't think we've been camping since then, but we have missed it.
Last year my sister bought a NuCamp TAG teardrop. I had never seen one before. She pulls it by herself in a Subaru and has been camping for weeks at a time in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. I was immediately intrigued and envious. I started researching and watching way too many YouTube videos. (Cosmo Weems - your videos about the Vistabule were some of the first I watched.) I quickly discovered that people build these! We can't afford to buy one, but Ted has the tools and the skills. (He used to work in construction, and he might again very, very soon. He's helped build houses from the ground up, and he's worked as an electrician and in plumbing. Pretty much the only thing he hasn't done is HVAC and welding.) I set about trying to convince him that he wanted to build one.
He wasn't interested at first (and honestly didn't have the time because of his job), but then we saw one when we drove through the campground at the Grand Canyon last year. It was a simple DIY build. He said, "That's really cute!" and in his voice, I heard, "Well, I can do THAT!" He started half paying attention to videos over my shoulder. He was really impressed with Michael Foster's Camp EZ. So now he has some time on his hands thanks to COVID killing his job and the entire industry (aviation), and he said, "If you bring me plans, I will build one." (I will be the helper though. I want to be part of it.)
I immediately ordered Tony Latham's book, and Ted sat down and read half of it the first day it came in. Now, I have to hold him back! He's ready to start tomorrow, but we have so many decisions to make! The more we read, the more we realize there's so much that we don't know. Every question seems to lead to a dozen more questions. Just reading that we have to plan the galley before we do anything else led to several hours of research on ice chest vs refrigerator. (We decided to wire it for a fridge, use the cooler we have, and build the space to accommodate either, if that's an option. We still don't really know!)
We WILL be asking lots of questions in this wonderful forum, and are very grateful for what we can already see is a wonderful community of experts helping everyone. Thank you in advance!
Our biggest restriction besides a tight budget is the tow vehicle. We've been wanting a truck for awhile, but we have the most basic Ford Escape out there. It's the 2.5L 2WD. It has a max trailer weight of 1500 pounds, and a max GCWR of 5,374 pounds. We can't seem to find a formula for how to know exactly how much we can actually tow safely (loaded). Is it possible to build a trailer that we can tow with the vehicle we own? If so, what are we going to have to do without? How do we keep the weight down but the sturdiness up? I recently read on this forum about foamies. I had never heard of them before! Is that the way we should go, or can we do ok with a more standard build?
So, that's our introduction. We're really excited about this project. It's something we can do together now and enjoy together after it's built. It's giving us so much to look forward to during this gloomy time. Thanks for reading, and we look forward to learning from all of you!
Newbies from Cary, NC
11 posts
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Newbies from Cary, NC
by Ted+Teresa » Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:39 pm
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Ted+Teresa - Teardrop Inspector
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- Location: North Carolina
Re: Newbies from Cary, NC
by tony.latham » Sat Aug 15, 2020 6:58 pm
I don’t know if I added the finished weight in my book but it’s 1325 pounds. You could shave a few pounds by building the bulkheads using sandwiched construction. But it won’t be much.
Please holler if I can answer any questions.
It’s really great to sense your enthusiasm.
Tony
Please holler if I can answer any questions.
It’s really great to sense your enthusiasm.
Tony
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tony.latham - Gold Donating Member
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