Jim's teardrop

[KCStudly]

Looks really good!

[pohukai]

Galley completed. Doors made of luan and framed with routered 1.5 x 3/4 fairing strips; the same stuff I used as spars. Cheap and with 2 coats of varnish seem to be fine.

Next week I plan to finish the electrical interior stuff.

galley.JPG (41.68 KiB) Viewed 3079 times

[pohukai]

Well, since the tail lights can not hang below 15" from the ground and saving my shins while walking around the trailer at night is a priority, I decided to embed them into the hatch. Due to the unusual shape of the HF lights, embedding them was a little challenge. Here's what I did.

hatch.JPG (74.03 KiB) Viewed 3035 times

I also got a 12v fuse block and have most of the wiring completed. I can run on 12V drill batteries or the computer power supply. I have 2 120mm computer case fans for roof ventilation that I'll frame and mount so that it can be flipped to provide intake or exhaust.

[Woodbutcher]

Great Job, you have a beautiful teardrop there! Thanks for all the pictures, cause we like to follow along.

[pohukai]

Great Job, you have a beautiful teardrop there! Thanks for all the pictures, cause we like to follow along.

Thank you, Woodbutcher for your kind words. I'm happy with the results so far, but I'm still a long way from your craftsmanship.

[pohukai]

I had a brief delay with making my Halloween costume from the leftover styrofoam I used for insulating my ceiling which was scavenged from a dumpster. I had about 6 different "Jack" expressions I changed through out the day. The blocks of styrofoam are glued together with left over exterior latex house paint cause that's all I had. It worked great.

I finished the wiring of the front air inlet. I use 120mm computer case fans with a hole in the shelf. The air holes on the bulk head open up to the bottom of the 2x4 frame under the camper floor. I may place some screens underneath to keep little fury friends from visiting. Tonight, I'm planning to skin the last section of the teardrop.

Air into teardrop

air in.JPG (51.94 KiB) Viewed 2965 times

Halloween

halloweeen.JPG (26.06 KiB) Viewed 2965 times

[pohukai]

I've glassed the hatch and roof using 6oz fabric (18ft x 5ft wide). The excess I had in length I used to make 6" strips for the going over the edge of the roof. I used polyester resin which smells horrible; a lot worse than epoxy and doesn't wet the glass out as well/easily; but will be fine since I'm going to paint over it. It took almost a full 24 hours for the fumes to be almost 100% gone.

The lower portion of the front curve of the teardrop was the most difficult to glass due to gravity, but it worked out fine and I got good bonding of the glass to the wood.

Next up... more bondo and sanding. There are more pictures on my google link.

glass.jpg (47.1 KiB) Viewed 2862 times

[veetors]

I am really liking your build! What are the dimensions of the sleeping area? I think I will be stealing some ideas from this build. I've been kicking around ideas to sleep the wife, son and I without building a bunk....

[pohukai]

Thank you. The interior sleeping area is 60" x 80" and I have LOTS of head room. I haven't built the rear interior cabinets yet so it is seems very spacious right now. I'm not sure I need or want those cabinets yet and might just build a wide shelf, which you could use as a bunk.

If you have google sketch-up or choose to install it, check out the Sketch-up area of this forum since I have the full size model you can download to get all the dimensions on this teardrop. My build is almost exactly to these dimensions, but made design changes to the interior cabinets and galley cabinets in the real thing not reflected in the model.

[Martiangod]

Your woodworking skills look masterful. Trailer is looking awesome
Build On !!!

[_Ryan_]

This build looks great! I love all the pictures, keep them coming!

By the way SketchUp is a great program. It really saved me a lot of time and problems in my build so far as I could make all my mistakes virtually and fix them. I will post my design on the SketchUp section as soon as it's 100% complete.

[pohukai]

Did a lot this weekend.

• 3rd coat of white rustoleum paint
• mounted bumper
• attached hatch with living hinge
• mounted tail lights
• mounted letterings for 'dawg haus' - passenger side only
• remounted doors and hardware
• mounted hatch handle

update.jpg (42.49 KiB) Viewed 2634 times

[Junkboy999]

Looking good. I’m checking out your Google photos now.

[pohukai]

With an all white teardrop, I felt I needed something more. The verdict is still out (aka, the wife) with the painted lines on the side. Thinking of yellow lines. Also, out of a 2x4, I carved a dog nose for part of the license plate light.

I made the hatch props from some 1/2" stainless steel rods that I found in the neighbors garbage can about 5 years ago. I plan to use 1/2" kwik clips to hold them in the stored position as well as in the 'open' position.

I slept in the the teardrop for the past 4 nights although only parked in the garage. With a thermarest and sleeping bag, I really slept well. (Although I rarely have difficulty sleeping).

teardrop.JPG (78.81 KiB) Viewed 2580 times

[DMcCam]

That's one sweeet build Jim!!! Well done Sir!

Thank you for including us in your journey.

Dave