Time frame?

[PaladinNH]

Hello there everyone. I am in the planning stages of building my TD. I have spent the past few months reading and learning from this forum. I have searched, read, re- searched and read some more lots of extremely through information in this forum...the one thing that I have not come across it Time...... no one has really covered about how much time it took them to build thier TD... I only have a limited amout of time available (weedends only) as I work 10+ hours a day during my "day job". I would greatly appreciate any advice that any and all could give... Again thanks to all for a great forum. Eric & Sandy

[toypusher]

Eric & Sandy,

There is no real answer to your question. So many variables, but if you work at a good pace (only on weekends), I would think that you could build a good teardrop in about 3months or so! Again, there are so many variables that it is impossible to guess. I don't remember specific amounts of time it took me to do different stages of my build, but hopefully some of the others do and can give you a better answer.

[angib]

I can be of little help to you, other than to welcome you, as I'm the designing type not the building type.

But I can't help mentioning what your title got me thinking - nearly everyone here has gone for a metal frame and one or two have gone for a wood frame, but you'll be the first that has proposed to use a time frame. I don't know how to calculate the strength of one of those.......

Andrew

[Miriam C.]

Eric and Sandy to the play ground. Time is one of those things that if you work at it time is your friend and if you are here on the playground all day,,,,,,,,,,,well

If you know how to use basic tools and stick to a daily work order and can get all the materials you need when you want them,,, you can build a nice TD in a short period of time.

The biggest limiter I saw, aside from my learning curve was glueing. On some things you need to wait for glue, varnish and paint to dry before you can move forward.

That is unless you plan it right and have more than one thing at a time going.

[grant whipp]

Yes, there are a lot avariables to consider, but generally speaking, and depending on your skill level and/or experience, I think an estimate of 300-500 hours for a well-constructed basic teardrop is a reasonable baseline. Don't be surprised if it's less, and don't get upset if it's more ... ... just enjoy the build ... it's a small investment for the return in years of satisfying use you'll get from it!

Good Luck with your upcoming build! As always ...

CHEERS!

Grant

[Randy77301]

I am not an expert here, but I work on mine every chance I get, Yep, tools, a place and time to work on one all have a bearing on the time to build one.

Mine is relatively a simple one, so I dont have near the time invested as some.

[tonyj]

But I can't help mentioning what your title got me thinking - nearly everyone here has gone for a metal frame and one or two have gone for a wood frame, but you'll be the first that has proposed to use a time frame. I don't know how to calculate the strength of one of those.......

Andrew

Would you use Quantum Physics to calculate that?

Let's see. It took me a little over two years working only on weekends, and probably only 2/3 of those weekends averaging about 8 hours a day. Rough estimate of 1000-1100 hours. That does not include the late night hours sitting in front of the computer reading this forum, the hours of daydream planning on the job or "the wake in the middle of the night and think about a design element." And from my weekend time, to be fair, you would have to subtract maybe 500-600 hours of sitting and staring at the project while drinking a beer. Then, you also have to factor in shop mishaps and the Murphy factor . . .

Just start building. Don't worry about how many hours it will take. You won't be finished as quickly as you think, but you will be camping soon enough. It's called Teardrop Time.

Oh, and Welcome to the Board! You're doomed!

[Nitetimes]

Well, lesss seee. It'll take about thissssssssss??????????????????????long.
That's a question more relevant to how you work and your skill level than to how long it should take. How soon you want it done usually works it's way in there at some point!
Mine took 2 weeks from a pile of steel to rolling down the road for a week's stay in N.C. but I wouldn't recommend trying to do one that quick, it was a lot of long days and longer nights and probably close to 150 hours!!

[PaladinNH]

Again Thank you all.... But a little more background on Sandy and myself. I am a Truck driver (local Downtown Boston M-F) by Trade and an experianced cabinet/ furniture, designer/ builder as a hobby. I have a full 28x18 Garage that has become my woodshop. Sandy (Wife) is very talented with a paintbrush. Some of the designs she comes up with... WOW!!!!
So, back to time.... I dont thing that I was off too much when I was figuering 9 months to 1 year from first order till rolling down the road heading to our first event.... Eric & Sandy

[48Rob]

Weekends only...I'd give it a couple years...

Rob

[jmtk]

Hi Eric and Sandy,

I thought I'd chime in here to give you a real number of hours for a build, because I actually kept track (I'm a data geek) 500 hours over 9 months. Note that this is just build time, not design time, and doesn't include standing around and looking at it. This time is only when I was actively involved in construction. I did pretty much the same thing you're planning, working on it primarily weekends and some evenings.

Some basic info about what was involved in my build: My whole trailer is built with sandwich construction. These hours do not include chassis build time since I had a professional weld mine. I have a minimal galley (just shelves, no cabinets).

As everyone says, though, the time it takes is highly variable. Have fun with yours.

Jeanette

[asianflava]

I work 12hr shifts so on the days I work, nothing gets done. My 3 goals are to get enough sleep, find food once I wake up, and to make it into work ontime.

It took me 18 months, but that involved several "breaks" some of which lasted a couple months. A few things that slowed me down, at first I was buying materials as I built. Not going by any plans, I didn't know what I would need until I got to that point. I also bought higher priced items (fan, battery, windows) as I needed them. To slow down my cash outlay. Another thing that slowed me down was having to do lots of experiments and practice runs before performing the actual thing.

If you remove those those setbacks, I probably would have been able to do it in 8-10 months. If you have the experience and a fully equiped shop, you could probably get it done quicker.

[Sam I am]

I built mine in ten weeks from July to September, 2006. This gave me warm weather and lots of daylight. I was working a part-time job which got me home every weekday at about 3:00pm. I worked on it nearly every afternoon/evening for 3 or 4 hours (sometimes more), and a few 12 hour Saturdays.
I recommend making up a bill of materials, and get as much of your materials, especially hardware, as you can BEFORE you start building. Fortunately, I have a well stocked hardware store only a mile from home, so running for screws, bolts, etc. was quick, but was still a pain in the butt!
good luck, and HAVE FUN!
Sam

[hemi43]

I started mine at the beginning of December, and should be done in 2 weeks. I think I will have between 250-300 hours in on it. I built everything, so you will be able to shave time by getting a pre-built frame, and fenders etc.. The biggest tip I can give you is PLAN EVERYTHING AHEAD OF TIME . I can't stress this enough!! Make all you mistakes on paper first so that you don't take 3 steps forward and 4 back. This is where most time is wasted. If you look at my build pics, you'll notice that even when I started on the sides, I knew exactly where the fenders were going to be bolted , so that I was able to press in T-nuts before finishing the interior. It's these little things that will get the job done quicker.Dan
www.flickr.com/dantechfab
www.geocities.com/dantechfab

[Lynn Coleman]

OUr build time (and we're still in process) was planned to be a year and that's basically allowing only one day a week to work. Now, it wasn't done on time due to surgery but it should be done by the end of March once I'm able to work on it again.

With all that said, hubby and I had very low skill levels when we started. We also purchased as we went along.

I believe that if you have all your materials purchased before you build, a detailed set of plans, and with your skill level, I think you could be looking at 3 to 6 months. It also depends on the design of the teardrop you decide to go with.

As many have said, it is an individual thing based on many variables. Also, even though ours isn't finished we used our trailer 7 times during the year. So, it's really up to you and your wife.

Good luck on your build.

Lynn