Hello from Minnesota!

[JamesR]

Hello all!

My name is James, and I'm a youth pastor in Minnesota.

I discovered teardrop trailers after watching a video on facebook of the Gidget Retro. The more I learned about them, the more I thought it might be really cool to get one, until I looked into the price. Long story short, I started wondering if I could build one and discovered that's a pretty common thing to do, and here I am!

My hope is to build a light and affordable teardrop that I can pull with my little four-banger. Because my job doesn't pay much (and college debt), I can't afford vacations, and so the last couple years I've just let my paid time off slip past me. This year, I'm thinking if I invested in a tiny trailer, I could take some very inexpensive vacations with my little car... maybe even make it to the ocean like I've been dying to for a few years! I'd love to be able to easily go camping.. just hitch it and go.

So, as I've been reading and looking around, I've been trying to decide what to invest in and what to hold out on. It's important to me that the bed size be queen sized... I easily feel cooped up if I can't stretch out and flop around a little, haha. I'm interested in one with a gally, but I'm going to keep it pretty simple for now. Eventually, I'd like to add a stove, an AC unit, and possibly a small fridge, but to save money, I'm just going to hold off on those. I love the idea of having a skylight for night, so I'm thinking of doing something like Chubby (hope I've got the name right? was it Cubby?), but only a couple panels... and I'm thinking I'll use one of those car visor things to reflect the sun out during the day time.

Anyway, that's my story! If anyone has any design suggestions for cheap, light, queen sized builds that leave room for upgrades later, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks for all the advice and information you guys share... I'm pretty excited to get started!
James

[Woodbutcher]

Welcome James. In 2006 I stumbled on Teardrop trailers and decided to build my own. Once I found this site I did some simple planning and started making sawdust. Took me about a year in my spare time to complete. But every bit of info and help I needed came from this site and the people here. So when you need help just holler. Someone will have the answers. If you are building on a budget, maybe search for a free old popup that can be stripped for the frame and other parts. There are more of them then you might think. Have fun!

[JamesR]

Ohh, that's a good tip. I'll start hunting!

[lthomas987]

Hi James!

I'm in the NW corner of the Twin Cities and am almost done with a foamy trailer. I haven't weighed it due to lack of a bathroom scale, but 3 adults can lift it and my best guess is sub 600lbs. Handy for my 4 banger. Let me know if you want to meet up some time.

Laura

[PKCSPT]

Hi James, South East of the Twin Cities here. Mine is a Little Guy.

[steve in mn]

Hey James! I am new here too! I live in SE mn south of rochester about a half an hour. I am just getting started in the teardrop camper mode. I have a prius and want to travel the country with one. It would be great to hear about your build. Some junkyards have campers you can get RV parts out of for pretty cheap.

[AZ_Desert_Rat]

Hi James... Welcome to the Forum!!!

Like Woodbutcher said, you came to the right place to learn what and how to build your trailer!!

You are already getting ideas and folks to help... Check out the TearJerkers (Link at top of page) Forum and go to a gathering and talk to folks there. They will be glad to show you what they have and built; in addition, they will be happy to give advice and the How-To's behind their ideas...

Good luck on your build and keep us posted...