The trailer is in...

[Guest]

Hey I like that!
Are you going to incorporate louvered vents somewhere in the galley, so the hatch can be closed at night?
I'd be more leary of bears than those little masked bandits... Bears can really get with the program! Your wonderful handcrafted trailer would just be something in the way that would need to be discarded to get to the food.
Just curious here... I know that a lighter tongue weight is a big objective for you but, if it wasn't... did you have room to move the AC unit a tad forward, so a multi vent similar to Cary's could be incorporated just in front of the hatch hinge?

[mikeschn]

Well the chop job I did last night was just my first attempt at positioning the a/c. I'm still open to all options. I really would like to run the a/c with the hatch closed. So I'll be reviewing the design(s) again today.

If a bear decides he wants into the galley, my thin plywood is not going to stop him.

Mike...

[Guest]

I had to bang two pots together once on a backpacking trip, to get a bear to leave my camp. (My grub was hanging from a tree on a long rope)
Every other time I've run into bear while backpacking or mountain biking, they couldn't get away from me fast enough. They made a bee line and stuck to it, didn't matter what was in the way!

[Arne]

Lower right pic shows camp-inn a/c exhaust... very neat installation.

http://poplarhillrv.com/550classicac.html

[D. Tillery]

Man those Camp Inn tears are nice! But $12K!!! Mr. DT the fabricator says:" Boy the teardrop I could build on a $12K budget." Mrs. DT the Boss says: "Boy the nice hotels we could stay in for $12K."
My overkill materials cost estimates for an all aluminum tear, including frame is well under $3K. Am I dreaming? That's one heck of a profit margin on those Camp Inns! D. TIllery

[mikeschn]

There's several things you have to figure in besides the cost of materials..

labor - 1 guy working 200 hours adds $4K to the cost of a teardrop.
tooling - as in dies and jigs, and other hard tooling. this cost has to be divided among the teardrops sold, and with a low volume teardrop, the cost goes up.
insurance - professionals have to have it

As a home builder you eliminate all of those costs.

MIke...

[McTeardrops]

I visited the Camp-Inn shop and was very much impressed with their design and craftsmanship. They do some things that the home builder couldn't duplicate. My guess is that the same amount of raw materials go into a VW as into a Porsche.

[Cary Winch]

Mr Tillery,

In our defense you are using very bad math. Mike has already alluded to alot of it but there is one even bigger point missed thus far. Generally with most products the material is about half the cost of a product. In our case it is more than half. A $12,000 teardrop will have over $6,000 worth of material in it. And that is at our volume buying/wholesale prices, not the retail prices that you are buying your material at. Keep in mind that a $12,000 teardrop has ALOT of goodies in it that one that is built with $3,000 worth of material can in no way have.

Please look at our model prices (we have 20 models) and also our compare chart showing our units versus other manufacturers. You will see that on a comparably featured unit our units are generally the least expensive unit on the market. All of this info is on our website tinycamper.com.

We created the compare chart on our website for this very reason. We would get phone calls every other day or so asking us why our units were so expensive (sometimes only just that question). What people do, understandably, is to look at our top of the line models and other manufacturers top ot the line models and wonder why the price difference. When in reality on a feature to feature comparision most other teardrops come in about where our 400 or 500 Special models are at which is 4 levels down from our top of the line models.

Our lower end models are built to the same high standard as the higher end models, just alot less stuff. That said you would find that a lower end model would probably be very close to what you are envisioning a teardrop to be and within the cost parameters you have indicated. Check it out and see if that makes sense.

I take no insult to your comment because it is a very common misunderstanding. I think you will find all of the manufacturers are a good sort and really are not in it for the money since there isn't that much to be had. You would be shocked at how little profit margin we all have to work with. As far as I can tell none of the manufacturers are gouging anyone and any manufacturered tear that you would buy is a good deal.

Let me know you thoughts and questions. I probably am stirring up the pot a bit but hopefully I am helping people understand some of the teardrop background info. You know the "man behind the curtain" kind of stuff.

Cary

[beverlyt]

Cary,
Nicely put.

We spent 6 MISERABLE MONTHS building our teardrop. And we worked on it ALOT!!! (can you tell we didn't find much enjoyment in the "building" stages

Your trailers are MUCH more beautiful, the craftsmanship is awesome and they have so many WONDERFUL perks! (air-conditioning and size selection being my favorites!)

How I wish we could have bought one!

Bev

[Cary Winch]

Bev,

Thanks.

I have indeed noticed from time to time that you have had some hair pulling during your construction. But, it was worth it though I bet.

Heck, you probably get out and use yours more than I do. And that is the best part.

Cary

[D. Tillery]

Cary,
Thank you for the information. Remember the first thing I said was "man those Camp-Inns are nice..." And they are. Stirring the pot a bit helps keep this site informative and fun.

I have a small metal fab shop here in SA. We do some production and custom work, mainly highly polished contemporary steel furniture. I compete in a niche similar to yours, based on quality and perfection so I can appreciate from the photos of the Camp-Inns that they are of quality craftsmanship.

I'm surprised that there is $6K worth of materials in the tear shown. I guess I'd best open my wallet a little wider when I start my tear in January. And up that 80 hour labor estimate an bit.

I am here to learn and so I will take my lumps until (and probably after) I build my own tear. D. Tillery

[Arne]

With the h/f trailer widened, I had to find some paint to match. ACE hardware red (label says 'safety color') is almost an exact match.

The deck is going on as I speak.... will post pics in my album later..

Used rust resistant ace primer and rust resistant red.... looks much better all one color.. now I can cover it up... also painted black fenders red to match.

[Cary Winch]

Mr. Tilllery,

Glad to see you appreciated my rambling. My wife says I take too long explaining things sometimes. You are right your business is very much in the same sort of catagory as teardrop building. The one thing I missed before was to thank you for the que to explain the costing thing a bit. That is something I have wanted to do for a long time anyways.

I am guessing you are have a pretty nice wish list of items that you want in a tear otherwise you would not be comparing a $12,000 unit. It is all the little things that add up not so much the basic teardrop shell. Remember we sell a nice basic teardrop for about $4,500. And then they go up in small increments from there as the gooodies get added. You could actually use our models and option pricing to help you price out what your tear might cost using the half material estimate.

I think Mike might have had it pretty close to right with the 200 hours for a homebuilt. He would know.

By the by we have a list of our parts available to sell. We like to sell the parts we use for our teardrop to homebuilders. Alot of our parts are unique to us so only we have them. Let me know if you are in the market for some stuff for yours.

OK, now I am rambling again, sorry.

Cary

[Guest]

My wife says I take too long explaining things sometimes.

Cary,
I didn't think you were rambling at all.
I've had people say something like this to me, "I just asked you what time it was, not how to build a watch."

I get the same sort of response from would be customers on the art glass stuff. They think the prices are outrageous. They don't relize that it is a labor of love. The only real good profit margin stuff in glasswork is commercial storefront.

Hey, I think your line of trailers are the benchmark for builders to shoot for. You get what you pay for.

[BufordT]

Cary,

Any thoughts on selling a kit?

Bet you guys could make a great kit to sell.

Bufordt