New member from Hawaii

[KauaiSean]

Aloha everyone,

I currently live in Hawaii on the beautiful garden island of Kauai. My wife and I are traveling the US for a couple of months and recently bought a teardrop to travel and camp in along the way. All was good until I looked a bit more closely and found a lot of wet and dry rot on the teardrop and then the trouble began. I ended up with a 4k project teardrop that I have stripped off the siding and stripped the trailer to the frame. I feel angry and foolish because I didn't see the problems before paying for the teardrop and bringing it to my brother's house in northern MN.

The project is under way to a total rebuild or shall I say I will have to make a new teardrop and hopefully be able to reuse the old Filon I took off the teardrop today. I have a lot of work to do but I am happy with my progress so far. I have the frame ready for a new floor and walls. I will make a template from the Filon but make the template a bit smaller than the Filon so I can clean up the crappy workmanship from the manufacturer and make my teardrop with nice clean lines. I do have challenges such as figuring out the waterproofing but I know there is a lot of information on this site. I wish I could afford new siding but the cost of the teardrop prohibits this.

Wish me luck and a speedy build,
Sean

[asianflava]

Wow Minnesota, isn't that the total opposite of Hawaii?

I've been seeing quite a few threads on trailers with water damage, so you are not alone.

Good Luck!

[KauaiSean]

I was born and raised in MN and have been several places since and Hawaii is home now.

I too have been seeing a lot of the wet teardrops here on the site and saw another in person. Buying materials today.

I think everything will go well with the new trailer.

Thanks for the luck, I'll need a bit.

[WhitneyK]

Pics, Pics, We Like Pics

[KauaiSean]

This is the ad for my teardrop

This is after the siding was removed

This is what I removed with light finger pressure

This is light finger pressure removal under the passenger door

Not the best unused never slept in camper in the world!

Don't know if this is the kind of pics you were looking for.

[KauaiSean]

Now about 3 weeks into the rebuild and the 'Low Down Dirty Rotten Little Guy', it's just about ready for a test camping trip. See my website at http://www.slightlyout.com and go to the Little Guy tab and see what I have done. I need to update the site with some more recent pictures of the newly rebuilt teardrop with only Little Guy in its name. I have enjoyed the rebuild but wasn't really wanting a $4k camper rotted out and in need of a total rebuild. Yes, there are some mistakes in the rebuild but not bad for a first attempt at teardrop building. Tomorrow is going to be wallpaper day and finishing the underside or bottom edges of the camper. Then I have to make a countertop and put in some 1.5 inch styrofoam on the floor to level then lay down the linoleum. The doors will be soon to follow. The the fun will begin.

I also needed new brakes and tires on my Honda Element as well as 110,000 mile maintenance done. Thank god I have a brother whom is a mechanic. Also I have to thank my other brother and his wife for giving up their 2 stall garage for three weeks and counting for the rebuilding project, not to mention being able to stay with them all this time unexpectedly. I really treasure my family and owe them big time.

Aloha for now,
Sean

[danlott]

Your progress is amazing. Glad to see you are able to bring it back to life, but sorry you had to go through this process.

Dan

[asianflava]

Never Before Used- NEW CONDITION! <----- Famous last words. Never used because it had a rot problem?

[halfdome, Danny]

Nice job Sean of rebuilding that "Little Rotten Guy". You seem to have taken it well and just did what had to be done.
Looks like someone backed it into a lake or crossed a river with it. Carpet can hide moisture really well.
Don't know if it's possible on your rebuild but you need to protect the plywood end grain from moisture.
I put a piece of channel aluminum on the bottom of the walls with sealant and SS screws. No moisture can get into the plys that way.
Welcome to the forum. Danny

[KauaiSean]

Nice job Sean of rebuilding that "Little Rotten Guy". You seem to have taken it well and just did what had to be done.
Looks like someone backed it into a lake or crossed a river with it. Carpet can hide moisture really well.
Don't know if it's possible on your rebuild but you need to protect the plywood end grain from moisture.
I put a piece of channel aluminum on the bottom of the walls with sealant and SS screws. No moisture can get into the plys that way.
Welcome to the forum. Danny

Hey Danny, I did take to project at hand and jumped in with both feet. Ready to finish today and then get camping tomorrow or Thursday depends upon timing of the caulking and the rain in the forecast if any. Thanks for the complements on the rebuild. There are some flaws from the tear down of the moldings and the Filon looks to be 7 years old but that is the age of the Little Guy so what the heck. Will post more photos on my website www.slightlyout.com . Look for the tab for Little Guy Camper and then there are some links to follow on the left sidebar of the Camper page to show the progress. I will have the completed photos tonight or tomorrow if all goes well.

As for the bottom edge of the plywood I used Red-Gard, a shower pan waterproofing liner polyurethane coating and 2 thick coats. Then I put on the white channel trim with butyl tape and lots of silicone caulking over the bottom and in the nooks and crannies. Should last very well and make the camper float. LOL!

[KauaiSean]

Well, the Little Guy was rebuilt and is now in storage for the winter in Duluth, MN because shipping to Hawaii was tooooooooo much. The rebuild went well except when I got to the hatch and found the gaps left by LG were anywhere between 1/4 and 3/4 inches. I made new inner side rounded hatch parts and everything went fine in torrential rains too.

Went from MN to ND to Toronto and on to NYC and back and the Little Guy pulled like a dream. I did forget a couple of times that it was behind me. Hahahahaha! Anyhow, I tried to sell the Little Guy before heading back to Hawaii but who in there right mind would buy it when winter is coming along!

Oh yeah, I posted more pictures on my website. www.slightlyout.com

One more project the day before leaving Duluth, MN. My 2 brothers and I tore out and made new stairway to the basement for my mom's house. She was pleased as were we since it was my first strair-building project over 2 steps high. We changed the angle to a more workable angle of decent and also made them level which was not the case for the originals. I will try to post a picture of this as well sometime soon. Time to finish making chicken adobo now.

Aloha,
Sean