Lady Tear Droppers, drop in and say "Hello"!

[Joanne-TNT]

Hi Ladies!

I just wanted to start a thread where we could all "check in" and say Hi to each other.

So all you teardrop ladies, drop a note and say hello. Post a picture of your tear if you have one. If not, tell us a little about your dream tear.

Here's a few pics of the soon-to-be-finished Desert Dawg.

I am really impressed at the number of ladies building their own trailers, or participating in the design and construction process to the extent of their abilities.

Teardrops aren't just for boys!


Joanne

 

[asianflava]

Hey Joanne, is the Dawg gonna be ready to bring out to Robber's Roost?

 

[Miriam C.]

Hello, my aspiration is to get to mess up some trim. It rained on my saw.

My XL teardrop is getting her make up right now and looks like she did months ago. I did take out the tiny cabinets so I can put in real cabinets.

And all the mess is gone. Put back in order, sorta.

This is her quilt. Red Swans to grace a duckling.

Right now she is 6'4" by 10' and about to get another coat of varnish if the humidity gets below 80%.

Have fun girls. I have a second one planned.

 

[catrinka]

Mine is an overgrown teardrop. I don't have the skills and didn't have the space for building. I bought a cargo trailer and my dad did the converting. I have my trailer. Its not exactly as planned but it does the trick, so now I just want to get out camping more.

 

[Pam Wright]

Hello Ladies,

Here's my "Cherry Drop"... My brother and I built her last year. I've decorated her in black, white and "Cherries" using Mary Engelbriet fabric and accessories.

She is definately a 'girl' and as tough as any of the 'guys'!!!! I'm planning on Shasta, Robber's Roost and Minden and hope to see many of you at any of them!!!

Pam

PS I can help build the Teardrop but I'm still not sure on 'posting pictures'....

Auntie M, I tried... but if the picture doesn't come across, look at my album...

 

[Lynn Coleman]

Hi JoAnne & all,

Well, we're not building a TD but a TTT so it is a wee bit bigger. Paul and I are both building it. I designed it and continue to redesign as we go along. Paul is great with certain tools, that I'm terrified of, for example a circular saw gives me the willies.

Here's a picture of the Inkwell a few days ago.

As for my dream, well I'd love satellite hook-up but way out of my reach. I want an environment where I can rest and also work easily. Since I'll be using the Inkwell while on book tours or research trips for my novels.

Lynn

 

[clkelley564]

Howdy there from Alabama

I'm still using a "soft-sided" tear, but dreaming and looking right now.

I have decided mine will be the "Mouseke-Tear"

We are Disney World nuts and I'm a Sorceror Mickey nut, so I know at least the interior will have Mickey Mouse stuff in it and I'm hoping to add some design features to the exterior to add to the theme.

Still going back and forth about building, buying premade (Yoder Toter), or having one custom made.

Of course, it mainly has to do with right now.

Carol

 

[NutmegJoe]

I'm in the process of building my teardrop...the TearScape One. (I'm a huge FarScape fan...that's where the name comes from)

I bought Steve Frederick's Build Manual and have been following his techniques for the most part. It's been really fun building it on my own. My plan is to be done in time for Shasta...so, only 32 days left to get the roof on and the hatch built. I probably won't have cabinets installed and all the trim finished...but, it will be campable and that'll be good enough to get on the road.

It's been an exciting process and seeing it actually look like a teardrop is awesome! I'm loving every bit of it.

JoAnne, your Desert Dawg is beautiful. You've done an awesome job.

Go Girls! You can all do it!

 

[oklahomajewel]

Okay, gals..... I'm the Oklahoma Jewel and not afraid of power tools, but my woodworking/building skills were not honed when I started this project, so with some help from a good friend/neighbor and a former boyfriend, I learned a HECK of a lot from this !!!! Which is a good thing - hence my signature line. haha

and my Jewel Box took it's first campable trip last Oct with just primer on it

but now has a cream color where the silver is on this one, and garnet red on the fenders and will get the same garnet red where the red is on this example

oh.... and jigsaws, and routers, and staple guns, and men friends are handy but DIAMONDS are a girls best friend!!!!

 

[oklahomajewel]

and Pam ~~ great theme for the Cherry Drop!!! I bet it's just as cute as a ... well , bowl of Cherries!!! haha .... I have something for ya, I'll try my best to remember to bring it to Minden!

Us gals need to get a good group picture there at Minden !!!!

And the Mickey theme !!! Very good! Kajamelu4 (Karol) has a Minnie Mouse theme for her Camp Inn, you could swap ideas with her.

GO GIRLS!!!

 

[Todah Tear]

Hi Tear-Ladies,

I'm Todah Tear. I built my tear (Todah) from scratch; I did not use a kit, but I made my own plans. It doubles as a utility trailer because it hauls equipment to my ministry's outdoor functions.

The one thing that I want to add is a window in the back....some day...some day.

Todah is on a 5'x8' frame, but I extended the flooring to 9'.
Floor 58" X 108"
Ceiling Height: 61'

It will sleep 3 confortably, 4 creatively.

Hope to meet you all some day! :

Todah

 

[Et Cetera]

Another one of the girls checking in.
No good pics yet....it's still under construction, well...in storage until our garage is finished, then we'll continue with the rehab of the 1948 teardrop we picked up last summer.

 

[oklahomajewel]

Well, Teri... that still counts!!! I guess you could say your building in your head, or maybe like me -- you've got a notebook started with lists and sketches, or been saving pictures etc...

 

[savano]

Hi Joanne, the Desert Dawg is looking great. When do we get to see it in person? And cheers and congrats to all the other ladies.
I don't have a recent picture of Daisy T (will post some soon) but it is ready for a test drive!!! and then the maiden voyage. I had very little experience and some tools left behind by an ex (his rejects, he took the best of course). I did all the planning and work by myself, including the lifting, and several embaressing trips to Home Depot.

I used CPES (which is a great product and easy to use) and Uniflex from the Rotdoc (which is a great product and NOT so easy to use) on the exterior. Since I live in the SW and I plan to do most camping in the SW I am very concerned about reflecting the heat away from the inside, so I used sandwich construction sidewalls insulated with bubblewrap that is wrapped in foil (don't know the product name) facing towards the outside then a layer of that rigid pink foam stuff. Bubblewrap stuff in the ceiling plus 2" closed cell foam. The floor is also insulated.

One of my goals was to have a simple, organized kitchen so I wanted drawers which I knew I could not construct. So I bought Ikea's box of drawers for $10. Will post pics soon.

Now I need to drag out the sewing machine to make a mattress, curtains, wall pockets, pillow shams, throw cover, etc. These will be a piece of cake compared to what I have just been through.

My dream Tear: I really like that side tent above attached to the T@B trailer. I have tent poles from a 10x10 Eureka tent that I could use to make a similar side tent for the Daisy, maybe next year. I love the SW's short but beautiful wildflower season (hence the name "Daisy") so I would like to stencil some flowers and vines around the inside window frames and maybe some in the kitchen. We gals need to make these TDs our own after all.

Hope to hear from all the other gals! Sally

 

[whisper-TNT]

You women are so inspiring! Your tears are all so unique and wonderful!



I am still day-dreaming about owning a teardrop. I do quite a bit of camping - either a small tent (on motorcycle trips) or truck camping with my husband but I come to this site regularly to dream. I built a nice wood kitchen box (Scout Patrol style) and have done some other simple woodworking but my skills are not up to building a tear by myself. Either the man will have to get as interested as I am or I will consider buying a manufactured one. We are in Western Canada and there are a couple of builders in the area. So many great ideas and photographs - I spend hours here.

 

[Et Cetera]

Well, Teri... that still counts!!! I guess you could say your building in your head, or maybe like me -- you've got a notebook started with lists and sketches, or been saving pictures etc...

Here's a pic of me so everyone knows what I look like:

My husband, Steve, is doing all of the re-construction. I'm just doing the easy stuff like taking out screws, sanding, painting, coming up with ideas that create more work for Steve, etc.
There's been some rot to remove, but Steve did an excellent job. The trailer wasn't constructed as water tight as we'd like, so there's going to be some work ahead to make sure it's all sealed up right.

 

[kiacker]

Howdy all!

Greetings fellow teardrop builders from another gal here working on her teardrop. Just getting started so it may not look like much, but looking forward to getting it done. Am planning on taking it camping and kayaking with the "mutt". My hope is to finish it as a woodie since it has some wonderful red oak grain. Made it a 5x8 on a 4x8 Harbor Freight frame. I've really enjoyed the design and build process so far and have been able to use a lot of my woodworking skills my grandfather taught me. Now I'll always thing of him when I use it!

If it hadn't been for this forum and for all the excellent woman builders on here I might not have attempted this on my own!

 

[Miriam C.]

Wow we rock!

Wisper---a box is a box, is a box, is a box...Try it in cardboard and remember that wood is the same but heaver. And the power tools are so much better.

 

[jmtk]

Hi ladies!

My husband and I have always been tent campers, but really enjoyed our “luxury” camping years when we used to sleep in the back of our old Isuzu Trooper with the rear seat removed. No tent to set up or take down and we didn’t care what the weather threw at us. One child changes everything.

I searched for ways to get back to those easy camping days, but realized quickly that it’s much harder when dealing with three people. We looked at pop-up trailers, pop-up campers and T@Bs, but didn’t want to buy a gas-guzzling, expensive, special vehicle to haul a trailer or accommodate a camper. Then I found teardrops and the obsession began.

The teardrop concept was perfect for us – no camp setup/takedown, build it light and it could be towed with our little Subaru, it could sleep the three of us, and it could hold a comfortable bed to appease my arthritic back.

Countless hours reading, planning and designing, followed by almost 500 hours of build-time, my trailer is essentially complete! It was camp-able by last Thanksgiving, and we’ve enjoyed two trips in it so far. It’s a real rush when we’re camping and my husband proudly tells admiring visitors, “My wife built it!”

I look forward to meeting you all some day!

Jeanette

 

[oklahomajewel]

Lisa, that's cool! about your grandfather's skills he passed on.
I built mine in the shop that my carpenter dad had built, and used some of the wood he had left behind and his level, and such... he passed away five years ago.
I am hoping that I have some of those good carpenter genes in me! haha

I definitely know what I would different if another one is built, but I want to just enjoy mine for a while.... we'll see if I build another!

Hope all you chicks will be at Minden in June !!!!!!! I'll bring the wine!!!