Hi all, I have been lurking for about two months now, believe it or not, since my wife showed my some teardrops on pintrest!
Anyways, I currently live near Tacoma, WA and am looking to build a teardrop style tt for many reasons.
A. I move a lot, and have always liked the idea of towing a motel behind my car that I pay for once rather than 100 a night, also useful for roadtrips and such.
B. I grew up camping a lot (Eagle Scout) . But because of where I have lived recently (Europe, and Alaska) I haven't made it out camping much in years. The biggest reason against camping in alaska was the wife's fear of needing a solid wall between her and the (rather large) wildlife. We made it to Denali a few times but even then, the weather made the trips chilly and wet.
C. I just welcomed my daughter into the world and due to some complications she is not going to be able to tent camp as early as many new babys. I figure modified teardrop will give us the "indoors" and temperature control, ext that she will need for the next few years and still let us all experience the outdoors!
D. Setting up the tent and kitchen is the biggest headache of camping, especially of you are trying to camp while traveling or if you are otherwise limited in free time. A chuck box or patrol box would solve half of that problem but I worry about interior storage in my "adventuremobile" (Subaru outback)
E. I'm only in my late 20s but am tired of sleeping on the ground.
So attached (i think) are two photos, one showing the modified 5x10 foot weekender profile that is inspired by my wife's subi. That size seems the perfect blend of small enough to fit behind TV, small enough to be relatively easy/cheap to build, and large enough to comfortably fit 2.5 people. I love the profile of a traditional tear but between desiring a more squared rear (for the additional space required by the fold down) , and the ease of construction afforded by straight panels and straight cuts, this seems like a better fit. I took a lot of inspiration from the 4-day-weekender and the hopper designs. I am thinking sandwich construction with 3/4 or 1 in foam as a good balance between insulation and wall width. I also love the idea of SIP in general. Looking around it seems that many freely admit that they way over built. I'm sure I will too, especially if my dad helps out like he says he will, but it looks like SIP construction gives you an immensely strong build for the weight, IF you can get good bonds. Part of that search will be exploring non-plywood laminates, as in, what materials are as strong or lighter but strong enough, or maybe skip straight to the finished surface and skip the ply base layer. If a 3/4 inch ply with 2x4 is one end, and foamy is the other, I'm thinking I will land closer to the foamy side. I don't know, should be fun!
Also shown is a profile of the interior, it includes a fold down 3x5 bed for my daughter and planned baby #2. I figure once they outgrow the fold down they will be big enough for a kiddie tent leaving mom and dad on a comfy mattress. I would love to incorporate a folding main bed with a small table for those rainy days, but I'm not sure how complicated I want to me this build, or how much ground clearance I want to loose with a drop floor. I won't be rock climbing but I would like to be able to take it anywhere my subi can go, which can surprisingly, is a lot.
Glad to come out of the shadows and hope to start my build over the winter so it is ready by spring.