Looking for advice

[Kristina]

Cliffmeister2000 I'm sorry you had a similar experience. It's disappointing but hopefully I'll be able to turn this negative into a positive once again like you did.

[2bits]

Hi Kristina,

I remember that trailer, it was nice looking. I had a couple of close calls with water damage on mine and luckily caught it in time and pulled my trim off and resealed my end grain better. People sometimes forget that because it is not seen, but is the most important thing to seal.

You might try and source some of that black aluminum and that way your rebuild will be the same color all over. Another problem is storing outdoors. Even covered, that is the harshest environment. My trailer will last me for years and years because it is garage kept. It would be in sad shape after even one season if I stored it outdoors. Maybe think about one of those portable carports or mini sheds. I got a shed from a friend and cut the end wall in two and made bay doors out of it to roll the teardrop in and out of. This isn't mine, (Mine is much uglier) but this one of Roly's is what I was thinking of.





Now you're thinking great, first build a trailer, now build a garage for it!!!

[GPW]

On the other hand , you could make a Foamie ' and not have to worry about Rot, expense or weight .... Easy to do , no special skills or tools involved ... Just another idea !!! You already have the door and windows , and the trailer ..

[Woodbutcher]

Just a thought for the rebuild. I glued a 3/8" strip of solid wood to the bottom of all my plywood ends at the bottom. Plywood is harder to get a good seal because half the plys are end grain. So It acts kind of like a wick. I even did the wheel wells. Then I sealed it all with Minwax Helmsman. Before I put the metal sides on I wrapped all the edges with a tar like seal tape that is used when installing windows. Sorry I don't remember what it's called but it's 4" wide and runs about 9 bucks a roll at the big box stores. Then I finish off with my aluminum edge molding and butyl tape. May be over kill but what happened here is what I am trying to avoid.

Good luck with your rebuild. When finished you will love this trailer way more then the first one. Seeing as you did the work yourself you will also be better prepared to fix anything that comes along.

Have fun and keep us posted, we love to follow along.

[wagondude]

You could sell the AC unit if you think you don't need it. That thing is way overkill for a TD and a power hog. You could put together a portable system using a cheap window unit that you could take on the few campouts that you think would require it. The money from the sale of that rooftop unit should buy most of your plywood.

Bill

[Trackstriper]

Funny how this forum works...been thinking about this for the past several hours....finally post it. Wagondude beats my thought by 2 minutes....great minds think alike, so unedited here's what I was going to add to the thread....

Things I guess I'll work on changing this go around......

3. The roof A/C which needed a 3,000 Watt generator to run. Although most of the time the insulation in the trailer when combined with a fan was actually sufficient. So maybe the A/C is a nice to have item. Can an A/C unit run off a little Honda 1000 watt generator? I don't want to have to get anything bigger than that.

Sorry to hear about your dilemma. I don't want to get off on too much of a tangent here but your air conditioning is something to think about living in Colorado. I don't know how far you may take the tear, here in the South some sort of AC is pretty much necessary due to humidity. Your unit has a roof-mounted RV type AC unit. If I'm not mistaken, even the smallest of these would likely be overkill for a teardrop....about 9000btu/hr. Many folks on the forum have felt that even a 5000btu window unit can be too much if not tuned down a little as the unit will not cycle on long enough to remove moisture. Many threads about this subject.

So....you might be able to sell your roof mounted AC, it probably is in good shape with few hours on it, might bring some money on Craigslist. You could purchase a nice Fantastic Fan that would fit in the same cut out that the AC currently occupies. You may find that decent air movement in the dry environs of Colorado might get the job done without AC. If you did need AC, a 5000btu window unit hack like Shadow Catcher just put together should get the job done for you. That decision could wait until after you renovated the teardrop. http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=44561&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

------Thoughts on AC and generator for you, if you need one. A couple of years ago I took a 5000btu window unit down to a local RV show where a Honda dealer had some generators operating in demo mode. We ran the AC on both the EU1000i and the EU2000i and I didn't notice any real difference in the perceived engine load for either unit. The 1000 operating in the ECO throttle mode would be at moderate idle, then sort of "blip" and increase rpm as the compressor cycled in....then would return to moderate rpm as the AC was in cooling mode. Didn't seem like much of a load for it to pull at all. A 5K window unit will pull about 500-550 watts in cooling mode, there should be plenty of headroom with the 900 watts the generator can put out. The conventional wisdom on this forum is to buy the EU2000i....which I did....but I use it for all kinds of other things too. The 1000 is considerably lighter than the 2000. If my wife Suzan was going to be the one moving the generator in and out of the tow vehicle and around the campsite I'd have looked a lot harder at the smaller unit. You'll have to do you own homework on this but it's something to consider.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming....

[Kristina]

We'll the old tear is officially disassembled now (except for the floor). Here's the last shot I have before I dropped the last wall. Those walls sure are heavy.



The other wall just about killed me trying to lift it off by myself. This wall I just dropped on the floor. I'll have to get help to lift it off so I can start ripping the floor off which also is suffering from rot.

So I guessing when you do the walls on the tears it take at least 2 people to put them up.

Thanks for the link to Shadow Masters A/C mod. That's nice.

A garage. Yes that's been on my list of wants for my house for 10 years now. Building one would definitely be out of my skill level.

[2bits]

A garage. Yes that's been on my list of wants for my house for 10 years now. Building one would definitely be out of my skill level.

Hmm might not be after this job! It's all framing and trim, just like the teardrop!

Yes walls are usually done by yourself, I did mine by myself and it was difficult because one wall is fine, but then you have to set up the other wall while holding the first wall!

[dh]

Look at the pic of Thomas' tear in his sig line, right in front of the tear, see it, the secrete to hanging walls by yourself.
























The cherrypicker. I COULDN'T run a one man shop without one.

[2bits]

Look at the pic of Thomas' tear in his sig line, right in front of the tear, see it, the secrete to hanging walls by yourself.

The cherrypicker. I COULDN'T run a one man shop without one.

Hehe good guess, but nope! I use the cherry picker for my automotive work, but it never touched the teardrop. I did it all by hand. Not only did I stand the two walls up and get a spar in place BUT I have to also get ALL the dadoes filled with the upright wall, the galley counter, and the interior cabinet base all at the same time while it came together! OOH RAH!

[Kristina]

Thanks again for all the advice folks. But given the original size of this tear ~11 feet long and 5 feet high there's no way I can handle the weight of trying to make and install the walls by myself. I stopped by the hardware store tonight to get a feel for the weight of a 4x8 sheet of plywood and that was heavy enough on it's own.

When I add in the fact of no garage it just does make sense for me to attempt to do this. I've come to the hard conclusion that I just need to walk away from this and just let someone else take it on. I'll take what little I'll get from this and put it in the bank and start saving for my next trailer. It will be hard going back to a tent though

Once I put the wheels and tool box back on it. I'll take some pictures and put it up for sale on the forum sometime this weekend. Should I save the walls, would anyone want them? I made a pattern of one side but truthfully with the aluminum cutout it doesn't seem like it's necessary.

[2bits]

I am sorry Kristina, we tend to get a little off topic here while having fun. I think it is smart to assess what you are capable of, and I really hope I did not detract you. I do everything by myself because all my friends live too far or are too lame to come over and help. I have just gotten good at it. I use leverage and creative thinking. (Put one corner up and then put the other one up. Alot of time you have to wrangle but it can be done. If you really feel that it is too big of a task, then you should definitely proceed as you say, but if you have the spirit then please give yourself the chance. I am not trying to convince either way, but only support both choices!

My personal bent is that you are making the right call and I would post the original photos and you might get more than you expect for it! Check eBay and craigslist, you might not get as sweet as looking one, but you could come across a production little guy or another home built that would do the trick. Just keep up the TD love!

[dh]

At least you are making this decision now, and not after you dumped a bunch of cash into it.

No garage can be a major set back, but not a deal breaker. Larwin built one in a mubhole

Considering the dificult work is done, door and hatch alright, cabinets should be intact, frame is built .. You should be able to get something for it.

[rbeemer]

Thanks again for all the advice folks. But given the original size of this tear ~11 feet long and 5 feet high there's no way I can handle the weight of trying to make and install the walls by myself. I stopped by the hardware store tonight to get a feel for the weight of a 4x8 sheet of plywood and that was heavy enough on it's own.

When I add in the fact of no garage it just does make sense for me to attempt to do this. I've come to the hard conclusion that I just need to walk away from this and just let someone else take it on. I'll take what little I'll get from this and put it in the bank and start saving for my next trailer. It will be hard going back to a tent though

Once I put the wheels and tool box back on it. I'll take some pictures and put it up for sale on the forum sometime this weekend. Should I save the walls, would anyone want them? I made a pattern of one side but truthfully with the aluminum cutout it doesn't seem like it's necessary.

Kristina,

Stop and plan your walls, if you are going to cover the outside in Aluminum and you are insulating the walls, then your plywood needs to only be 1/4" thick and nothing says the wall has to be complete before installing. If you build the frame then screw the sides on in a couple of places while it is on the ground you can take it apart and install it up in pieces. or put on the exterior wall to the frame then put the wall then install the inside wall.
Just my 2 cents

[Kristina]

Not at all Thomas. Your guys suggestions and encouragement have been great. I really just appreciate everyone input. It's the reason why I love little communities like this. There full of helpfulness and encouragement.

There's a part of me that really wants to just give it a shot and do it. Rick suggestion of putting the panel up in pieces certainly does open up that possibility. Especially if I could move to 1/4" plywood.

Of course the down pour of rain today is reminding me of the difficulties of working without a garage. But a car port from Cosco could help elivate some of that.

My gut is still telling me I'd be in over my head if I attempt this. So I'll probably stick to it. Going to hang out with some friends tonight, maybe I can talk one of them into building a teardrop