Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

With much sadness , I’m about two or three weeks away from being ready to put the Squidget up for sale. Although it has been camping only once, it needed be stripped of paint and sealed properly as I did not take the good advice to seal the wood with epoxy resin and the paint was cracking in places. I just completed the last of applying the epoxy resin and it's now ready for final light sanding, priming, and painting.

Why am I selling it? My wife’s health is such that she hasn't been able to go camping since our first trip and I shouldn’t be away from home overnight, so I’m not planning on using it any longer.

I’m about a week or maybe a little more from completing the refinishing of the Squidget’s exterior. I had already put aluminum trim on the corner joints where the top joined the sides, where the sides and end pieces joined, and on the fender joints. I plan to add more trim to protect the bottom edges. I’m also adding two drip edges at the front and rear “points” to keep rain from running down the back into the cargo box and down the front into the tongue box area…just more protection. After painting it, I will repaint the side stripes as in the photos.

The Squidget does not have a built-in stove or sink. It does have a galley cabinet and counter top, lots of storage, a potti cabinet and a very comfortable “nearly” queen sized bed with a custom fitted sheet that I sewed myself. I will leave my camp stove, microwave, porta-potti, corner jacks, kitchen utensils, and storage containers in it. The containers were purchased in sizes that fit neatly in the storage areas. In other words, all the buyer needs to add are supplies to go camping.

Pictures and some description is on my web site where I sell the plans (www.thesquidget.com). I stopped counting when the cost of building it reached $4585.28 and have receipts to prove it as well as a spreadsheet with the cost breakdown. That doesn’t include cost of lots of the items listed above that I'm leaving in it, or the cost of refinishing it. I also made a wind deflector “wing” that fits on the rear of my truck cap and I’ll give that away as well.

This trailer tows beautifully. There is absolutely no sway and the torsion suspension absorbs bumps nicely. It’s roomy for a TTT with plenty of stand-up space when the bed is converted to a couch. The peak height is over 6’ inside. It has two 12V interior lights, a single bulb fixture at the galley counter and a double bulb fixture over the bed/couch, as well as an outside light by the door, all controlled by a wall switch. It has a 25 amp AC/DC converter system, 12V deep cycle battery, 5000 BTU A/C, and a 3-speed, reversible roof vent/fan w/thermostat. The crank-out windows are from Lil Bear teardrops.

I am asking $5000 or best offer, $900 less than my original posting of the price. If anyone is interested, or knows someone who might be, just email me. The trailer is located in central Florida, between Orlando and Tampa. I can deliver it only within 250 miles of where I live, so out-of-staters would have to come get it. I do not plan on using E-Bay or any other online sales site unless I can't sellit by advertising locally first.

Sorry to hear that Dale...

Mike...

I too am sorry to hear that, Dale. I remember your first Tearjerker gathering and we all were admiring your wonderful work.

Ross

Dale,

I know selling the Squidget is just the first part of a bigger plan. I'm just glad we were there for Squidget's first outing and got to see it and meet you and your wife in person. Maybe sometime down the road we can do a little fishing together.

Also, I want to note for any interested buyers, Dale used materials of the highest quality and the quality of his workmanship is suburb.

It’s been over a month since I posted this, and I’m still working on the Squidget. I now have just about all of the exposed edges and joints protected by aluminum trim, either stock angle or custom formed, and caulking. The underside of the tongue box will get another coating of roof sealer. I want this TTT to be as perfect as possible before selling it. I’m about a couple of days from applying the final and 2nd coat to the sides, front and back, and 3rd coat to the roof. Then, after a week of letting that paint cure, applying the interlocking “Z” side stripes and recoating the tongue and bumper with a medium gray Rustoleum paint (over the RustBullet already there).

It really pains me to have to sell it, but sell I must. Craig’s list or Ebay won’t be used unless I don’t sell it by advertising locally and on my plans WEB site.

Just for fun, I’ve been working on some variations to my plans and may offer them as a bonus feature to give the builder some leeway on chassis size. Here are some of my ideas:

1. To fit on a standard 5’x8’ trailer chassis, the cabin can be widened to 76” and shortened by 12”. The bed would be across the cabin, leaving nearly about the same floor space with a 60” wide bed, and even more if the bed is only 54” wide. At the loss of a little floor space, it could have an enclosed potty room.

2. To fit on a standard 5’ x 10’ chassis, the cabin floor could be lengthened by 12”, changing the shape of the bottom half slightly, with the same width and overall length of 12'. Or, it could be widened to 76” as in number 1. This would even leave room for a small closet for clothers.

3. And finally, the any of the floor plans or sizes above, but with a rounded shape as seen in the image below. This one would be good for covering with a 1/8" ply and aluminum skin.



Even though I will probably never build another (but, you never know), I still love the designing part. I am thinking of building 1/8 scale models to test the designs. That’s almost as good as making the real thing. These will be larger and more accurate than my original model I made to test my first designs.

So, that’s were I am today.

Well, it looks like the Squidget has been sold.

A buyer sent a down payment and asked that hold it until November when he will come to Florida and get it as he has a winter home not far from where I live. At least I'll get to look at it for 4 more months before it's gone forever.

Should the sale not go though for some reason, I'll post it for sale again.

cracker39 wrote:I could not delete this post, but I did delete the later one about the Squidget being for sale again. It has been sold and will leave Florida to it's new home in Texas on Feb. 3, 2009.

You are supposed to put "Sold" in the original subject line. I will do that for you now.