Amazon plans

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Amazon plans

Postby Builderofstuff » Thu Jun 25, 2020 9:09 pm

Has anyone purchased these plans?

18' Extra Tall Teardrop Camper plans DIY Tear Drop Trailer RV Build Your Own https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TWNR15B/re ... 9EbKDV9MC2

Just curious if they are well done plans or something that was just thrown together for a quick buck.

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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Modstock » Thu Jun 25, 2020 9:34 pm

You can find much more info on here. Why waste the $.


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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Florida Native » Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:02 am

I don't have any experience with any of them, but based on info from this site, when I get serious about building I will likely end up with one or both of these...

Building a Teardrop Trailer: Plans and Methods for Crafting an Heirloom Camper https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083XVH9XQ/re ... 9EbWC95KES

http://www.campingclassics.com/shopman05.html

-Mike


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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Builderofstuff » Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:25 am

I just ordered that book last night.

I was just curious if anyone had seen those other plans.

I do have a set of the Glen-L juniper trailer plans. But its definitely not a teardrop.
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Re: Amazon plans

Postby noseoil » Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:33 am

Just buy Tony's book & use his plans & techniques. If you want to scale it up for a bigger build, go ahead, but a "big teardrop" is sort of backwards IMO...
Build log: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=60248
The time you spend planning is more important than the time you spend building.........

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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Tom&Shelly » Fri Jun 26, 2020 8:03 am

Florida Native wrote:I don't have any experience with any of them, but based on info from this site, when I get serious about building I will likely end up with one or both of these...

Building a Teardrop Trailer: Plans and Methods for Crafting an Heirloom Camper https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083XVH9XQ/re ... 9EbWC95KES

http://www.campingclassics.com/shopman05.html

-Mike


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Those are the two we've used. Most of our build was complete before Tony published his book or we would have used it a lot more.

Tony's is geared to his teardrop design, while Steve's is more of a general "shop manual" with techniques for building a teardrop or small camper. (Steve also has one specifically for building his 'Rondack Lodge, which we don't have.) Steve goes into some detail on the "inside out" method of construction that (I believe) he invented, and Tony (and we) used.

I really studied Steve's book at first, particularly his epoxy/glassing techniques, as we'd never done that before. Eventually, we "graduated" away from the book as we built some confidence in our own methods.

One thing I wish I didn't copy was Steve's glassing the thin outer shell of the walls before attaching them to the skeleton. Steve did that because he was building a woodie and used several different woods to build an impressive design. However, we found the 1/8 inch Baltic birch shell lifted at the seams despite a lot of weight on the seam. We started that part over, gluing the BB to the skeleton, then laying down the epoxy and glass.

Here are my comments on Tony's book (from my Amazon review):

"This is a well written step by step guide to building a teardrop. The reader starting with this book will, with jig saw, router, and other tools commonly available to us hobbyists, be able to build a teardrop trailer just as shown on the cover. I believe the descriptions and instructions are clear, but if the reader is confused by anything, all they have to do is join the (free) forum above and ask Tony directly. This is the next best thing to having an experienced teardrop builder right there in your shop!

If you've only seen teardrops in campgrounds (as we had) and are curious, this book is a great low-cost investment to decide if a home built model should be in your future. If you've already decided to build one, materials and supplies do cost around $4000 (much less than almost any commercially built camper), and so the cost of this book is a drop in the bucket. It will more than pay for itself (in both money and time) in avoiding mistakes we first time builders are likely to make.

Tony covers the entire build, from fabricating the trailer chassis, building the (insulated) walls, floor, ceiling and roof (also insulated), and attaching them all together. His build includes cabin shelves and a headboard cabinet with sliders, which he describes in detail. He chose to build doors (rather than buy commercially made doors) and describes his design. He gives a very detailed description of the galley hatch--including the design of the hatch sides, so important for keeping the galley dry and dust free. He has chapters both on a fiberglass/epoxy exterior and aluminum. He also has chapters on the electrical system, a propane heating system, galley cabinets, and even some tips on camping. These are all from Tony's personal experience, and are written in a conversational manner that is easy to understand."

Overall, for the price of the materials and amount of labor going into a teardrop, I'd recommend buying and reading both books as a very small investment to help stir ideas and to see some good build techniques in practice.

Tom
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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Builderofstuff » Fri Jun 26, 2020 2:52 pm

Building a larger teardrop might be backwards, but I thought this group was also for tiny travel trailers, not just teardrops.

As I said I ordered both books, I was just curious if anyone had looked at those plans.

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Re: Amazon plans

Postby OP827 » Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:24 pm

Builderofstuff wrote:Building a larger teardrop might be backwards, but I thought this group was also for tiny travel trailers, not just teardrops.

As I said I ordered both books, I was just curious if anyone had looked at those plans.

Chris


I looked at the trailer frame drawing picture under that link and 3"H x 1.5"W x 1/4"" thick C-channel seemed heavy to me. I have 1/8" thick 3"x1.5" box on my donor tent trailer main frame of similar size. I wonder what kind of structure and skin is that trailer design.
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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Builderofstuff » Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:58 pm

So I ended up getting those plans from amazon just out of curiosity.

For anyone interested the quality of the plans were actually really good, to my surprise. I do computer aided design for a living so I tend to be a little more critical of plans, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised. The 18' model says that it comes in at a certified weight of 2160 pounds. The two main frame pieces are 3"x1-1/2"x 1/4" channel, or C-3 for those who are familiar with structural steel. The cross pieces are 2"x2"x3/16" angle. Wall studs and rafters are 1"x1-5/8" made by sawing a 2x4 into 3 equal pieces. The inside wall is 1/8" ply and the exterior is 1/4" ply. One disappointing thing, in the plans they call for a Linco level-load axle, which isn't made anymore so a suitable replacement would have to be found. As I said though, the plans are really well drawn and the documentation is pretty good compared to a lot of plans that I've seen over the years. If I had to guess I would say that while the plans are obviously done in CAD the illustrations are dated, it looks like someone took an old design, redrew it in CAD and put the plans out there for sale.

For the 15' trailer the construction is a bit different with the wall studs being either 2x2 or 2x4, the interior of the wall is 1/4" ply and the exterior is aluminum siding just like that found on commercial trailers. Interestingly the bill of materials contains nothing for the frame and axle, which there are drawings to build, but I would have at least expected some axle specifications. The frame appears to be made from the same materials as the 18' model, but with nothing mentioned in the bill of materials you would have to go through and figure up the quantities yourself. I would say the 15' design is built in an even more traditional manner.

Just thought I'd post this just on the off chance someone might actually be interested.
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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Tomterrific » Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:45 am

Have you considered getting a small camping trailer and tearing it down and rebuilding using the usable pieces? I have seen a few of those and they can be really cute. There is something really special about a vintage camper.

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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Builderofstuff » Tue Jun 30, 2020 1:47 pm

I actually have considered that. I havent come across any good donor trailers to start with though. I do love the older trailers so unless it was completely trashed I would have a hard time deciding between tearing it apart or just trying to restore it.

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Re: Amazon plans

Postby OP827 » Wed Jul 01, 2020 7:21 pm

I recall a complete vintage camper restoration build thread maybe somewhere on this board. The trailer was in pretty bad shape structurally, wood and plywood was mostly destroyed by rot. What they did they took all measurements (plans) and templates from the walls etc., rebuilt all the structures and only reused frame and aluminium skin siding. Thanks for sharing the info for these plans, I learned something.
Have you considered building with foam sandwich to reduce weight?
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Re: Amazon plans

Postby Builderofstuff » Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:15 pm

At one point I had considered building with foam and fiberglass, using techniques I learned working on airplanes. But I think I want to stick to traditional methods.

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Re: Amazon plans

Postby John61CT » Sun Jul 12, 2020 8:40 pm

BUTANE tank?

very odd. . .
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