Matt in Minnesota

[Matt Krig]

Just wanted to introduce myself. I grew up in an old car family that had rv's but thought the teardrops that I saw at car shows looked cool and appeared to be less work to use and park. Now that I have my own family, I am looking for something between a tent and an RV, so I started doing some research a while back and ended up here, looked around a while and committed to a build. I downloaded the Kuffle Creek Comet plans and began welding up a trailer. The trailer frame is 58"x120" but it can always be cut down (it's a 2"x2" steel rectangle with corner gussets so far). The plan is to order a set of wheels and a torsion axle at the end of the week. I still have a lot to figure out, like the hub face dimensions, wheel size, select fenders and if I should do electric brakes?
So far I have to say this site looks like a very proactive positive group of people, I can't wait to bounce some ideas around.
Matt

[RandyG]

Welcome Matt, yes this site is full of very creative and encouraging people, I have enjoyed (maybe addicted) being a part of their build's and brainstorming. Good luck on the build, I'm just getting my frame together as well.

[Roly Nelson]

Hi Matt, welcome to the forum. Wow, a teardrop almost 6 ft wide and 10 ft long, not a problem if you have a hauler tough enough to tow it. Many of our builders have even built larger ones. What shape have you decided on, you know your can tweak the Cuffle Creek to any shape you want. Good luck on your build, take pics and post em, then come and visit me, when your one-of-a-kind hand-built teardrop trailer, the coffee is always on.
Roly, the li'l ol' So Calif woody TD builder......Me.

[Matt Krig]

So I have a 5'x10' rectangle welded up and am now thinking I might shorten it up to 9'. I like the idea of the width being close to a queen mattress. Initially, I thought an extra foot or two of length would allow for either a little extra bulkhead storage, or a small bunk for my three year old. I guess not having spent any time around a teardrops of consequence, I am looking for input on scale and proportion to avoid the proverbial albatross. I stopped at fleet-farm and looked at four by eight trailer, but i couldn't bring myself to lay down and roll around on it and see how it felt in terms of room.. As far as profile goes I am thinking generic Benroy or Great Lakes, but there's still time to change direction.
Tomorrow I am going to run up to Redneck trailer and see if I can get the axle-mounting hardware, wheels and fenders moving.
A few sheets of 10' plywood and some 1/8" birch plywood showed up at the cabinet shop today. It's going to below zero most of this weekend and the family will be out of town, so I am hoping to get it done in CAD and cut out (me time) We will see if I can get some major progress, or just putz around
Matt

[Junkboy999]

I suggest a mock up. The ATMA Traveler is a great build

viewtopic.php?t=35081&highlight=atma+travelear

The couple spent the time to make a small model and then a full size cardboard mock up of his camper.
Another build I read the guy laid masking tape on his carpet to see the size. I myself have a throw rug
that was 4x8 I tried out for a design. If you not good at a CAD program or Google Sketchup get you some
grid paper and lay out a plan.

[Matt Krig]

Thanks Terry, the Atma was the perfect build journal to get me to slow down and think this through a little rather than just get some sides cut and on the trailer only to stall out later. I was really planning to build from the outside in but am now thinking a little more thought on what is inside will create a better finished product. I am a cabinetmaker, so it was inspiring to see the the curved cabinet fronts and the overall fit-up. One idea that came up was to cut a grove for the headliner plywood and slide it in like tambour and them glue it to the spars. Needless to say I didn't make any sawdust, but rather worked in CAD, picked up wheels and tires, located stablizer jacks and drew in space for the vent. My axle should be here in two weeks, that should give me time to get the parts drawn, cutlisted sent to the CNC. My goal at this point is to take a camper to Oshkosh in July, hopefully that deadline doen't come and go. One other big thing I am trying to decide on is method or model for an air condtioning sytem. Right now it's so cold ouside it literally hurts, but it seems to always be in the 90's with high humidity when I go camping in the summer.
Matt

[Junkboy999]

Matt

Many people go camping with their TD before it is finished. So don’t go crazy and over do it for a deadline.

Hey where are you gonna park at Oshkosh when you go. If you use Google earth, The Oshkosh airport was
photographed in july 2011, during the Airshow. That looks like a mad house.

GL

[bobhenry]

I suggest a mock up. The ATMA Traveler is a great build

viewtopic.php?t=35081&highlight=atma+travelear

The couple spent the time to make a small model and then a full size cardboard mock up of his camper.Another build I read the guy laid masking tape on his carpet to see the size. I myself have a throw rug
that was 4x8 I tried out for a design. If you not good at a CAD program or Google Sketchup get you some
grid paper and lay out a plan.

Ah yes the original C.A.D.s ( cardboard aided design )

P.S. Two of my tiny trailers are 5x10 and I love camping in both of them.

[Kids and Kritters need some room too.]

[nevadatear]

Ours is 5 x 10 and feels perfect for us. Queen bed, fore and aftbbulkhead storage. Check our build thread.

[Matt Krig]

Thanks for the 5x10 encouragement. A lot of late nights this week pouring over build journals, and not much time actually working on anything. Regarding Oshkosh as a deadline, I just need something to have a goal in mind. If I make it I make it. I know there are places to camp near Oshkosh and shuttles, so cross that bridge when I get to it. Flying in is the way to go, but I have neither plane nor license. When I took flight instruction in college the instructor suggested one of us had better find a safer hobby...
I've got the fever though, for the first time I noticed a little guy tear around the corner in a neighbors driveway while walking the dog the other night. While specifying parts for customer jobs, I keep making notes of cabinet hardware that will work. There is an aluminum extruder that we buy parts from who also makes trim molding. Also, had shipment of cabinet doors come in with about 10 sheets of 3/4" expanded stryene sheet come in as packing material that I would normally just throw out = freebie! On top of that, I was dropping off some cabinets on a job site and started salivating over a bunch of 4x10 plywood i had not noticed previously. My wife caught me staring at the gas pistons on her minivan gate again. Lately, everything looks like some part of a teardrop.

[Roly Nelson]

Hi Matt, I've camped at Oskosh 3 times, and I wanted you to know that they have a campground right next to the airport grounds. They call it Camp Schoeler and has transportation available from your rig down to the airport action. When I was there, it was all dry camping, with some sites for handicap folks. Don't let the crowd of folks turn you away, there is plenty of room for everyone, and look as hard as you want, but you won't find even a gum wrapper on the ground, it is that clean. Flying in to the airport can really be a time-consuming process, as there are about 15,000 planes there, from all over the world. I hope to make it there again this year, will probably cross the country with my 6 ft Stacker TD. See you there!
Roly, the So Cal woody guy.

[Matt Krig]

Picked up the axle yesterday, bolted the wheels on and set the half completed frame on just to see... And it all looks good. Plenty of room for the sides to hang down between the swing arm and tire. Looks like I had better start a build journal and post some pictures. Still trying to decide if I should make or buy the doors? The hinges on the Atma door really grabbed my eye. There's an RV and camping show this weekend at the convention center I thought I'd go see how the pros do their thing.

[TPMcGinty]

Welcome from a fellow Minnesotan! I loved building my Generic Benroy. The free plans on this site are awesome! We are planning a small gathering at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park the first weekend in May if you want to join us camping. All the information is on the Tearjerkers web site under the St. Croix Chapter section. Hope to see you camping soon!

[Shadow Catcher]

We have a 6X10 Grasshopper with the largest tongue box I could find and it is none too big. I know a lot of folks that wish they had bigger and darn few that wish they had smaller, Oh and welcome to the forum

[nevadatear]

You might want to check out steve fredriks building manual http://www.campingclassics.com/index3.html

Both dave's atma trailer and ours relied heavily on the instructions in that manual.