New Member from Utah

[PSBreen]

Hi,

I've been bouncing around the net, checking out differant teardrop forums for a while. This one seems to be filled with lots of friendly people and very active, so I registered.

My wife Cynthia is the one that was first interested in Teardrop Trailers. She had seen a show on TV and mentioned how cool they looked. She also figured since we've been tent campers for a while that a teardrop would be a big step up. No long tent setup in the dark, etc. Plus we both are getting pretty tired of sleeping on the ground, just can't get comfortable any more. We started out looking at commercially available teardrops in our area. That was a bit of a shock $$$$. So now we are considering building our own. Not sure when we'll get started but we are thinking that there is no reason that we couldn't do some research and maybe make some new friends along the way.

Steve

[Shadow Catcher]

Welcome to the group!
A good number of us first encountered teardrops on RV Crazy and tent to tear is the same progression we made in thinking. I spent three years in Mt Pleasant at Wasatch academy and Utah is one of our eventual goals as a destination.

[bc toys]

welcome to the group and your right no reason you cant build your own and there is lots of peps in your area that can give you advise and sure some would even give a hand.

[TheBizMan]

Welcome...there are a lot of teardroppers in Utah. They have gatherings several times a year around the state. Go even if you don't have a trailer yet and meet some great people.

[TENNJIM]

Welcome from just a few miles north of you. Once that teardrop fever hits there is no shaking it. You will enjoy teardropping and the people you meet tremendously. Have Fun!

Jim B / Utah

[PSBreen]

Thanks for the warm welcome. We've pretty much decided that we want to go with a 5x8 trailer with an empty weight of under 750 lbs. I'll look around and see if anyone has done that yet and ask them a few questions. Thanks again for the welcome.

Steve

[PSBreen]

A New Adventure

We've been lurking around here for a while. In the last few weeks we've taken some big steps by buying parts/pieces so it looks like we're really committed to building a teardrop.

We ordered the frame 2 weeks ago and picked it up today. The cost with tax and paperwork was $700, so only a little more than a heavy duty bolt together. It's a 5 x 8 with 15" wheels, 3" x 1" frame rails, gussets (corners and middle) and 3" square tube tongue. Interesting note....the paperwork has the weight at 600 lbs. I weighed it at each wheel (65 + 142.5 + 142.5) and came up with 350 lbs. I little heavy but all things considered not bad. I'm doubtful that the empty weight will stay under 750 lbs once the cab is built. Guess we'll find out when we're done.

The pile of bits, pieces and tools is getting bigger. The hinges and windows are ordered and should ship soon. We've got most of our lumber (3/4" ACX ply and 1/8" luan) picked up. Still need some 1 x 2 or 2 x 2 for spars and lots of screws and glue. I made sure to pick up a thin sheet of ply for my template. I'm hoping to cut the outside edge tomorrow afternoon so we can get a better idea of the room we have to work with. That should make it a lot easier to finalize the door and galley components. Hoping to start the build soon with journal to follow.

[hazelc]

Good luck and have fun.
Hazel