How long does it take?

[Willys11]

I started in June 2007. I work on it most weekends, but I don't let it stop me from going fishing. This is my first and I knew little to nothing about building a trailer. I built the frame from scratchy and I am not using a set of plans, rather just asking a lot of questions and design on the fly. I have two cabinets left to build, the back hatch to build, the doors to finish and the skin to put on. Every thing else is pretty much done. I gave myself a year and unless I run into something I hadn't considered, I believe I will finish on or ahead of schedule.

John

[bobhenry]

We were here before and there was a general consensus that it was approximatly 140 hours to campable.

Then there is the next 2 years retrofitting all the bells and whistles.

[Kens]

Three to Four months. Every weekend and most days for an hour or two. Worth every minute.

[crankshaft]

How long did it take for me to build my trailer?

It took me the same amount of time for me to build my trailer as it did for me to build two experimental airplanes.

In each case, when I thought I was 75% finished, I still had 75% to go.

Crankshaft in San Diego

[creekslick]

I will have about 225 hours in mine when I and finished.

[kirkman]

It took me 30 or so days!

[asianflava]

Took me 18 months to get it campable. There were several breaks where I didn't touch it. I'd work on it for a couple months, get sick of it, take a break for a couple months, renew my motivation and work on it, get sick of it and take a break. If I'd worked on it straight thru, I could have finished in about 10months.

[Mr. & Mrs. Rabbit]

Thanks everybody! My husband is very much a handy man and he is very determined at times when he really wants something done. I would say he would be the one to work on it everyday and weekends till it's completed enough to take out to the lake. Then probably slow down a bit while adding the details. Just wondering if we started now if by June it's possible we will have a sleepable one for the lake. Lake weather around here hits end of May early June. He's the handy one and I'm the painter, decorater and love to cook. Although he thinks he should always work the grill ha ha I'm not going to complain!

Thanks so much!
Kristi

[Miriam C.]

Kristi, it isn't the building that takes so long. That is if you know what you are doing and have some tools. What takes so long is making sure you don't miss something on here. Oh and the glue drying, the varnish drying, the cutting.............

If you can plan ahead and keep a list it won't take so long to go to the lake. First step it to get a trailer.

[Mini Renegade]

been at it 12 months next month I believe, but in reality actual build time has been about 2 weeks full time. Due to the lack of space it takes 40mins to get everything out of the garage so I can get started, then theres about an hour packing up, what i need is 2 to 3 weeks supply of caffeine and somebody to kindly give my mini a nice holiday in their garage, I cant sell it to make space as its so rare!

[CAJUN LADY]

Mine took 4 months...but I didn't build it. I bought it from a guy who had just finished building it about 2 months before I bought it. I wasn't even looking to buy a Teardrop but when I saw it I just knew we would become best friends. Before you build, be sure and look at both the 4'x8' and the 5'x10 because it does make a difference in sleep comfort. I have a 5'x10' and a queen mattress fits perfectly in it with room to spare at the foot or head. Mine doesn't have built in cabinets in the galley but I bought some Sterlite storage drawers from Wal-Mart, painted them with plastic spray paint (to hide all my junk) and they fit in the galley like they were made for it.

If I would ever have the time, money or patience to build my own, I would put the AC in a different location. I have to leave the galley open when I use it and I don't like that. The raccoons love it! I would also wire it for 12v as an alternative. But, I do love my Cajun Casa.

[Mr. & Mrs. Rabbit]

Thanks for all the advice.
Thanks Cajun Lady for the tip on the AC unit. I love your kitchen I think it's going to be a start to designing mine. Thanks for sharing your pics.

Yes Miriam we have a trailor so guess we have already started! Last night however my husband said he thinks we should buy a bigger trailor I think he wants more room and I'm not going to complain. My husband thinks we will be able to start this week or early next. We are both really excited. He is going to look for parts after work tonight. He has been researching for awhile about how they are made on the forum and other sites. He is a very handy!

[MrBuzz]

Mine is loosely based on the Generic Benroy plans. I started it the second week in April last year and had it "campable" on Memorial Day weekend. It was (more or less) finished for a bike trip I had planned the second week in June...roughly about 7 weeks from start to finish. Of course I spent the rest of the summer putting finishing touches and additions on it as I thought of them.
I took a few days off from work and spent a lot of my weekend time on it. It was fun but I really had to make lists, do my material shopping and plan ahead to get it finished on time. From the start I had decided to build my TD as a 4X8 so that I could use standard size materials and keep the build time to a minimum. I'm know a larger floorplan would have taken me longer to complete.

[Mr. & Mrs. Rabbit]

We started our project on March 7th... lets see how long it takes for it to be campable.

[CAJUN LADY]

Your furbabies are beautiful. I have a 15 month old Maltese/Havanese fur-monster. My husband adores her...I change my opinion of her daily. Seriously, she is a cutie and has a great personality. Her potty training needs fine tuning.