who has the best plan to build my tear drop?

[rped1]

I am new to this site - I am looking for a good set of plans to build a tear drop - I do not know much yet about these trailers but want to build one to pull behind my 46 ford for rod runs etc. So retro and old is what i am looking to do - Any input will be appreciated

[Endo]

http://www.kuffelcreek.com

Kuffel creek is a good starting point plus all the info this forum has to offer!

[WarPony]

Click on the "Hall of Fame" link that has the big picture at the upper left hand corner. There's a bunch of different ideas........... it'll drive you crazy looking at all of them. When you're done, you still won't know how to start!!

[emiller]

The best plan is usaully your own.

[Erik-the-red]

10-4! I bought plans from Kevin, and they are great plans. But I built a steel-framed teardrop trailer, which is greatly different than the Kuffle Creek Plans.

[Toolie]

If you're an experienced craftsman you could study this forum and build one. Its easier to buy the Kuffle Creek plans and change them to suit your needs.

[Rob]

I purchased a Hunter, but if you are going to build your own I have to second Miller's sentiment. The best seems to be your own. There are SO many ideas out there. Visit a teardrop gathering if you can, or visit two or three. Ask questions. These builders are a talkative bunch and love to show you what they did and why. They'll tell you what they would do differently next time. If you ask a hundred TD builders you'll get a hundred different answers.

Rob

[IraRat]

The Kuffel plans are good to give you a basic introduction to the skeletal design of the TD, but I agree with the the above sentiment:

So spend the 50 bucks or so on the Cubby plans to give you something to read while you're in the bathroom, look at those build details, then look to see what people here did, and why they did it.

And then ignore 90% of those plans.

Still worth the money though for the broad overview.

[Mightydog]

We purchased a set of plans from Kuffel Creek to mainly get the process in one place. If someone invented the wheel, might as well use their ideas rather than having to invent our own.

One suggestion though, cut out the profile of the trailer you want to build and put together a working prototype so you can see what you're making!

This is ours:



As you can see, we're not using the Kuffel Cubbie profile. We ended up melding two profiles together (thanks to Photoshop) and projecting this one on to the cardboard, cutting it out and putting it together. Ours is a Kuffel Cubbie front (up to about the front door) and, uhhhhh, something else. Then we took the entire image and pushed it around in Photoshop. This process gives you a chance to see in real scale how big (or not) everything is and where it goes. Best of all, it's not as expensive as doing the whole thing in plywood to realize that you don't like the finished shape of the trailer.

We got the cardboard from a warehouse down the way in my office complex. They are pallet blankets that are taped to gether with a lot of shipping tape (thanks to Costco).

The proto now lives in the garage while we're working on the real thing. It's a great tool to look at as you scratch your head over how you're going to resolve a problem.