2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

...ask your questions in the appropriate forums BUT document your build here...preferably in a single thread...dates for updates, are appreciated....

2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:39 pm

Ok, about 4 years ago I built my first camper, which is detailed here: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=66456. I was really unhappy with the Plastex skin, and also decided I needed a Standy next time around. That time has come.

Here are the requirements:
Economical - very little build budget!
Sleeping room for 2 adults and 3 boys, the oldest being almost adult sized now.
Bathroom (portable, self contained toilet) and minimalist shower.
A cargo space for carrying small antique engines to the shows.
Light as possible to allow towing with smaller vehicles.
Teardrop shape for good aesthetics and decent aero.
I am not worried about a full-on galley and don’t want one in the back.

Since building the first one I have 3D modeled a whole bunch different designs to see how much I could fit in a small space. The design I went with was the final evolution. Here are some of the details:
It’s a fairly classic tear shape, with a 75” maximum height in the middle and 11’10” overall length.
It’s 72” wide at the front, but only 60” wide in the back (more on this later).
It’s going to be framed with 3/4” x 16ga square tube all welded together.
The front of the space will hold 3 bunk beds crosswise, one for each kid.
The back area will have benches in a U shape with a table that drops down to fill the U in to make a bed.
The adult bed will be 60” wide at the very back (head end), but will taper in at the foot due to bathroom. It’s 75” long.
A section on the left side of the will be the bathroom.
There will be a hatch on the back to access expandable cargo space under the large bed.
It will have corrugated steel for the roof, and rough cut planks for the sides to achieve a rustic look.

I was originally going to build a trailer frame from scratch out of square tubing, but then decided to look for an old boat trailer as a donor for the axle, wheels, hubs, coupler, ext. I live next to the largest lake in the southeast - should have been a good plan. But, everything started at $500 and up - which didn’t seem cheap enough to warrant the labor to convert it to what I needed. I finally found a single axle boat trailer not far away for $100 with a bad wheel bearing. I gathered up tools to fix the bearing and went to buy it, but it turned out to be a 6-lug, 5000lb axle with really big and really rusty surge brakes. The frame was also heavier than I wanted. I explained this, then he said he had another option. It was a Pace American 5’ x 8’ v-nose enclosed trailer that had been wrecked in the top front and roof. He had already stripped all the skin off, but it still had the ramp gate and was towable. It had 15” 5 lug wheels and a drop axle, all in great shape. Same price - $100.00. Sold! The trailer was almost the perfect size - though I had planned for the whole camper to be 6’ wide and this one was only 5’. I was going to widen the trailer, but then devised a plan to get around it - make it wider at the front where the width was most needed, and have it step in to the 5’ width before the wheels. Saves a lot of work, and adds some interesting design detail.

The donor trailer:
F7007CBE-768C-4988-AE7C-F2E418044CEF.jpeg
F7007CBE-768C-4988-AE7C-F2E418044CEF.jpeg (155.91 KiB) Viewed 2305 times


The donor trailer with a tear template in place:
9F53E573-96B0-4B9D-A800-76D39963EBFA.jpeg
9F53E573-96B0-4B9D-A800-76D39963EBFA.jpeg (95.3 KiB) Viewed 2305 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:52 pm

Here is a simple drawing of the floor plan and side view.

A312F1D7-8F93-4007-8DC1-B69E7F2A4AE1.png
A312F1D7-8F93-4007-8DC1-B69E7F2A4AE1.png (614.26 KiB) Viewed 2301 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:02 pm

Progress over the last week. Making good progress on the framing.

F675A60B-1693-44E0-84A4-D6F00087953D.jpeg
F675A60B-1693-44E0-84A4-D6F00087953D.jpeg (82.49 KiB) Viewed 2296 times


AC6A203A-32F7-4E9F-B78B-7C2F29A928D1.jpeg
AC6A203A-32F7-4E9F-B78B-7C2F29A928D1.jpeg (114.04 KiB) Viewed 2296 times


The biggest kid proving out the bunk space:
FB97CE18-8884-4C3C-9D25-990131F13AD9.jpeg
FB97CE18-8884-4C3C-9D25-990131F13AD9.jpeg (132.61 KiB) Viewed 2296 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:05 pm

F44496FF-8553-4D74-8408-B0C1260882BB.jpeg
F44496FF-8553-4D74-8408-B0C1260882BB.jpeg (122.55 KiB) Viewed 2295 times


24035B99-7BA1-49AE-ABD3-D2D52FA37787.jpeg
24035B99-7BA1-49AE-ABD3-D2D52FA37787.jpeg (99.42 KiB) Viewed 2295 times


671374BA-5BDD-4D51-90E7-A538FAC7DE69.jpeg
671374BA-5BDD-4D51-90E7-A538FAC7DE69.jpeg (113.34 KiB) Viewed 2295 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby John61CT » Sat Jul 18, 2020 10:27 am

looking good!
John61CT
1000 Club
1000 Club
 
Posts: 1958
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 4:36 pm
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:39 pm

I got a few more tubes tacked into place, and then decided to see how it looked hitched to my smallest tow vehicle. The old Mercedes diesel will be used to tow it most of the time, but it will also be pulled by my dually at times, and also a Honda Odyssey.

F532CD4A-281A-43C9-B3D1-29107641E7F3.jpeg
F532CD4A-281A-43C9-B3D1-29107641E7F3.jpeg (98.33 KiB) Viewed 2195 times


I have a couple more bracing tubes to add, finish weld it all, and then I’m ready for paint.
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby hossesdad » Thu Jul 30, 2020 2:45 pm

Hello. I like your frame and the build method that goes with it, I’ll be watching with interest. I’m guessing you roll those curves with a commercial machine. :thumbsup: Is that right?

I like the idea of fitting five in such a small space, people shrug but I have seen five climbers in a three man tent and it seems part of the adventure to me, besides smaller being cheaper and easier to build and much easier to tow. We take our van off-road, which I wouldn’t dare do if it was full size. I like headroom however, even if a tiny space, putting on trousers while lying down is for young folk. :D
User avatar
hossesdad
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 70
Images: 178
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2016 5:19 am
Location: New Zealand
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby hossesdad » Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:07 pm

Just a point about fitting people in, if one has parallel single beds with a walkway between, and enough width in the trailer, then filling between the single beds at night will allow quite a lot of people to sleep acrossways. :) They need to be friends. One could fit three easily, or two adults and two kids topping and tailing. :thumbsup: Just depends how snuggly you want to be. The department of conservation here (nz) uses platform beds in its backcountry huts as standard and as each new person arrives, everyone is supposed to just shift over :o they call them Maori bunks I believe.

Your design image won’t completely show in my iPad Pro ( can’t slide it) so I cannot quite see your plan.

Good luck
User avatar
hossesdad
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 70
Images: 178
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2016 5:19 am
Location: New Zealand
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:02 pm

So, my last post was July 20 of last year. That was the same week that my boss said it was time to switch from “work at home” back to normal work. And, I discovered quickly that after 5 months of not making a 55 mile commute into the center of Atlanta I wasn’t really looking forward to restart the daily traffic nightmare. Also this same week a local high school reached out to me needing an Engineering teacher for the program they had spent the spring and summer building all new labs for. This would be a 14 mile drive on rural roads with no traffic. And, summers off to travel!! (I should admit that I really wanted to get back to a teaching job as well, besides the other perks I focused on!). So, I changed jobs and quickly had to start spending a lot of time building curriculum for the program. As a result my shop time took a big hit, and consisted primarily of paying jobs!

But, I did get the wood paneling (yes, technically flooring) on the roof right before starting the new job. I just never posted pics:
DE75E88F-C324-4961-A6AA-E0CD7A6DA1A1.jpeg
DE75E88F-C324-4961-A6AA-E0CD7A6DA1A1.jpeg (64.97 KiB) Viewed 1318 times


212FAB8D-2B28-4830-A6A9-655DBABC97F3.jpeg
212FAB8D-2B28-4830-A6A9-655DBABC97F3.jpeg (73.7 KiB) Viewed 1318 times


2E904F6C-D716-4D68-B6E6-F4979F024B83.jpeg
2E904F6C-D716-4D68-B6E6-F4979F024B83.jpeg (92.71 KiB) Viewed 1318 times


I like the outside appearance except for the batch coding that is inked in under the polyurethane and simply won’t come off. But, the outside is going to be covered with insulation and roofing anyway, so no big deal.

To answer the question above - yes, I used a cool tube rolling machine to get the frame tubes formed. It was a pro machine, but could have been done on an entry level hand cranked one from harbor freight as well.

I have also upgraded my tow vehicle recently - I now have a BMW X5 diesel to pull this with. That makes the wind resistance and weight a hole less sensitive than when I was planning to tow with the old Mercedes sedan.

Now that my first 2 month summer break is coming up I need to get back on this project! Hopefully I’ll be posting some progress soon!
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:15 pm

II made a little more progress, and it made its first trip!
First, I decided to enlarge the ramp gate and make it vertical:
34308246-D9E5-4CD2-BE8D-020DB05F215F.jpeg
34308246-D9E5-4CD2-BE8D-020DB05F215F.jpeg (289.09 KiB) Viewed 791 times


Pulled it outside:
9A100D4A-DB53-4729-A5C2-746FE4F18C3A.jpeg
9A100D4A-DB53-4729-A5C2-746FE4F18C3A.jpeg (314.21 KiB) Viewed 791 times


Added siding - letting the back side of the flooring panels to be exposed:
4B40A55E-F29B-4B75-8785-9597FB584FA2.jpeg
4B40A55E-F29B-4B75-8785-9597FB584FA2.jpeg (365.25 KiB) Viewed 791 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:20 pm

More:
BA9B5F1B-1DB1-465D-8427-D1455A348B71.jpeg
BA9B5F1B-1DB1-465D-8427-D1455A348B71.jpeg (87.88 KiB) Viewed 794 times


The front bunks:
F9C6030F-457D-4579-88DF-D7338D1E6F98.jpeg
F9C6030F-457D-4579-88DF-D7338D1E6F98.jpeg (101.17 KiB) Viewed 794 times


Whole box coated with rubberized coating to waterproof it:
46E0DFF9-E571-4143-BE33-663BD43139FB.jpeg
46E0DFF9-E571-4143-BE33-663BD43139FB.jpeg (104.04 KiB) Viewed 794 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:25 pm

Siding (fence pickets) installed:
77522DF6-3EA5-472B-BF6F-B744C0799F06.jpeg
77522DF6-3EA5-472B-BF6F-B744C0799F06.jpeg (107.46 KiB) Viewed 793 times


93768402-D06A-443B-98B3-43308E1978CB.jpeg
93768402-D06A-443B-98B3-43308E1978CB.jpeg (111.76 KiB) Viewed 793 times


Started the roofing:
DED0DC40-64B3-4F9C-B4FC-6D9E379EAA69.jpeg
DED0DC40-64B3-4F9C-B4FC-6D9E379EAA69.jpeg (113.69 KiB) Viewed 793 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:36 pm

I needed the camper to go on a trip, so I had to stop building it here for now. We packed it full of stuff, including an antique hit-n-miss engine, then started a 2000 mile trip. It gave us no issues and towed well. I did not get the main bed built, and we nor the shower / bathroom so we did not camp in it. It was used to haul all or stuff and as a home base at the engine show.

As done as it would have to be for the first trip:
04601678-E7DF-43EA-B6FB-6366A4259F59.jpeg
04601678-E7DF-43EA-B6FB-6366A4259F59.jpeg (96.46 KiB) Viewed 791 times


On the road!
1F21F743-9F30-40EE-8B91-9E2806F8114A.jpeg
1F21F743-9F30-40EE-8B91-9E2806F8114A.jpeg (165.03 KiB) Viewed 791 times


After the trip - showing the engine I hauled to the show.
A72E1723-C8F1-4235-B735-D1F118DF41D6.jpeg
A72E1723-C8F1-4235-B735-D1F118DF41D6.jpeg (109.25 KiB) Viewed 791 times
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby rjgimp » Mon Jun 21, 2021 9:49 pm

Outstanding! I really like the individual windows for each of the three bunks. I'm curious why you chose to have a narrower cabin behind the bunks. Aero-wise you already are clearing a wide path through the airstream, it would make more sense to me to keep the same width all the way back and enjoy a bit more square footage in the cabin. Having a ramp in the rear to load engines and such you could consider a lifting bed mechanism and maybe use a folding table and chairs for dining.
-Rob


I hope to make it to a Procrastinators Anonymous meeting someday...
just as soon as the steering committee gets around to scheduling one!
User avatar
rjgimp
500 Club
 
Posts: 782
Images: 7
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:59 am
Location: Saint Paul MN
Top

Re: 2nd Build - Rustic Standy Teardrop for Five

Postby tubularfab » Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:45 pm

Yes - I had conflicting ideas on the width for sure. I used a 5’ x 8’ enclosed trailer frame and axle, which is the width of the back half. I bumped the front out so I could have 6’ long bunks. I considered widening the whole thing but didn’t want to have to deal with the axle. So, this was the compromise…

Also, it provides protection for both the door and the A/C…
tubularfab
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Atlanta
Top

Next

Return to Build Journals

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests