Well I'm Hooked!

[switterstx]

After seeing a teardrop up close and personal at this years Kerrville Folk Festival and finding out the guy built it I had to check into this thing called Teardrops.

So after a few dozen hours drooling, contemplating, etc. I know I want to build one. None of the plans I saw matched what I wanted specifically so since I happen to have a copy of autocad I started playing. I saw someone's minibago design and thought it looked cool so I started with that. I'm going to attach it if possible.

But after reading a few hundred posts and such I'm still left with a few questions:

1. I want some way to see the stars at night, possibly even have just a screened opening. I haven't seen any designs with this type of option. I know it is going to mess up the sleek profile to a degree but I can only come up with a hatch of some sort to cover it in transport and during a sunny day. Beyond that I've though of putting in a large louvered window or something. Any ideas?

2. Any home brewers out here? I think I've got a plan for a keg system but I'm curious if anyone has done this already.

3. Alternatives to wood for structural members in the sandwich? i.e. something like small metal studs? I'm a great welder but I'm not too confident with my wood butcher skills.

4. What's the best way to transfer these designs on to the wood. Has anyone tried getting them printed at full size? How about ellipses? I should have the data for the ellipse in the drawing but how to transfer that info into full size?



Here's the design so far:


Comments, critiques, suggestions, jokes, etc. welcomed.

[Ira]

Welcome! (Name?)

Pretty funky design there. and pretty big, right?

I'm sure that a few guys here HAVE done the star gazing thing. Just install some sort of solid moon roof.

But I can't figure out your galley design as far as the hatch goes. Also, do you want to install air?

[Guy]

Dear Switterstx,

Welcome to this forum.

One button you must get familiar with is the search button or use google site search which is an even better way to search this forum.

As for your questions, Yes the are plenty of members who have either designed and/or place opening/fixed skylights or moonroofs in the tears. It is not so rare.

There are quite a few threads about metal fabricated tears. Others with your skills have walked that path before and will be quite helpful.

ANGIP (real name: Andrew) has spent quite some time educating all of us on the drafting and pattern transfer process. Full sized patterns are available from Grant Whipp.

Check out Andrew's design Library This is a topic at top of every page of the forum.

Very Important. Make yourself familiar with the links at the very top of all pages. They lead you to the answer to many questions you have now and will have soon.

[switterstx]

Thank Ira, Tom is my name.

Well I don't know how big it is really. 5'x9' frame I'm thinking. I think my little truck will manage it. The height should be 4' or thereabouts. I shortened the design from this one:


I looked all over the site for moon roof threads and came up with a few mentions but little in details. Maybe I should look for sunroof?

No air, granted, Texas can get hot but so far we're fine without it in a tent.

Hatch will hinge just above that door looking thing where it says "storage..."
The storage will be for a corny keg (homebrewer's 5 gallon keg). The other side I figure will be some sort of storage or electrical area. None of that is set yet. I could probably pull a foot out of the length easily.

Hi Guy,

You caught me. I didn't look for metal studs. did a search for the moon roof but maybe "skylight" is a better term, I'll try that.

As for ANGIP, I couldn't find anything related to that. I did find angib, Andrew, somewhere in the UK. Fascinating guy it seems. Found this:
http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/teardrop/tear80.htm Is that what you are referring to? Thanks for the lead.

From what I did find in searching for that little chunk of info is aluminum frame may not be the best for structure. I"m wondering if I can talk my friend into cutting some stuff on his cnc rig at the office


thanks for the help folks!

Tom in Drippin'
SwittersTX

[Guy]

Dear Tom,

That link in the UK is the same as the Design Library Link I posted in my message and the Link at the top of each page.

You can also search for links on "Fantastic Fan". The Fantastic fan is a very popular roof vent fan for teardrops and RVs in general.

If youy just put one in without a fan, putting in clear glass or lexan, you would just have a skylight. There are plenty of links on these. I someone has put one in there would generally be a construction pic in their personal album or, if they had one, their website.

[madjack]

...try here for your sun/moon roof http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/sunconkit.html
madjack

[BrwBier]

Hello, yes their are some home brewers here. I had thought of traveling with a corny, but making a place tall enough to keep it cold will be a problem. I have also thought of the 2.5 gal corny's with the paintball co2 tank but the cost is just out of my league. I will be putting in my sun/moon roof in the next couple of weeks so just watch and see if it goes alright. I know Camp-Inn teardrops have sun roof's, maybe they could be of some help. I like the shape you have drawen, very interesting. Good luck
Brwbier

[angib]

One way of getting the pattern transferred to full-size, if you don't want to do it by hand, is to convert your drawing into a DXF file and take that to a poster printing shop - they should be able to print it out at full scale. Check with them for any other file formats they can handle that will print at exactly full scale (most graphics formats aren't suitable as you can't control the scale precisely).

One possible glitch is that they may use paper that could stretch or shrink if the humidity changes. One way round this is to include on the drawing a known check length - if this is say 6 feet long, you can measure the printed length to see if it's shrunk or stretched.

Andrew

[Ira]

Tom, does your moon roof have to open? If not, maybe there's an inexpensive, structurally sound way to make a BIG one just by using Lexan.

And you can install a standard roof vent elsewhere for venitlation.

[switterstx]

Ira and anyone else, what is considered big? After your comment I was afraid I was being too ambitious. Is the height the issue or is it the length? Seriously, I have a hard time visualizing what this will look like full size. I'm figuring, based on previous posts, that 48" in the cabin will be plenty but is that too much?

And regarding the moon roof I'm figuring that in the Texas heat we'll want some way to keep cool in marginal weather. So my logic is opening is better. Madjacks link may fit the bill. Do you think it will keep the rain out in transit?

I kinda figured that no matter what I'd have to have a normal vent. I was just hoping to keep the tentlike open top if I could.

BB my plan is to install one of the two cold plates I have in the icebox, run the line from the keg into the cold plate and out the side or back for a tap. I think I have the height and width (that's the little door towards the back). The advantage is I don't have to keep the keg COLD, just out of the sun. I have collected a complete draft rig with a 10# co2 tank, regulator, etc. Are you familiar with cold plates? That may be a solution. I'll look into Camp-Inn.

So is a rubber gasket (like for a door) squished with some plexiglass/lexan a possible solution for a seal on a sky light? I'm thinking of putting a piano hinge on the leading edge, gasket all around with some sort of screw system to bind it all down. Any thing like that out there? does it sound feasible?

Thanks for all the input folks. I'm already looking at possible junk yards for parts (windows, etc) and saw a tiny trailer someone had abandoned in a field this morning on an install. I would have never had noticed it a week ago.

Take care,
Tom in Drippin'

[madjack]

Tom, those units I linked to look pretty good and are designed for cars/trucks, so I assume(dangerous) that they will not leak when new and installed properly...HOWEVER...I have seriously thought about one myself(still not ruled out) but I keep thinking that I have never seen an aftermarket unit that did not leak eventually...this also includes older factory installed automotive models.....
madjack

[rbeemer]

Tom,

Lets say you are building a 5' wide trailer and you want your moon/sun window - I do not think a movable roof is a good idea for this one- to be 36 inches long and 24inches wide.

I would build a box just like the one for the vent(in a separate location) but with a rabbet so the window can sit flush with the top of your spars, put some of the automotive black window sealer in the rabbet and install the window.

Now when you go to skin your roof you are going to want to secure and seal the skin around the window - you might be able to accomplish both with epoxy or use screws and more autotive window sealant. You can cover the screws by gluing trim around the window

Just my 2 cents

[BrwBier]

switterstx, I never thought of a cold plate, now my wife will have a fit when I have to cut a hole in the counter top for the keg to stick through. Really though, when I travel I take very little of my own beer because I search out brew pubs to stop at and usually take a growler along. As for the sun/moon roof, I got mine from a salvage yard for $25, its just like the one in my 93 jimmy and it has never leaked. Also, back in the 80s and early 90s I put sunroofs in at the dealership I worked at, I put in about 200 and only 2 ever leaked. I guess as they get older and if not taken care of most any could start to leak. If you keep the gaskets clean and lubed so they don't crack they should not leak. The links MJ sent look mighty interesting, if open is what you want, that will do it. I remember many cars long ago had roofs like that. In Wisconsin you could not sleep with a completely open top because of bugs, maybe in some other parts of the country you could get away with that. I remember when my parents lived in Tempe there were never any screens on windows or doors. One last thing, if you are ever traveling through Wisconsin and find that you need some hops, just stop by, I have more than I will ever use.
Brwbier

[Ira]

I wish I was technically more adept to offer better ideas, but I was thinking along Rick's (Rbeemer's) lines:

Frame like you're framing for a vent, but install a window.

The thing you have to consider is that you would have to place it over your heads where you'll be sleeping, right? If you can find an affordable "openable" moonroof and you'll take the leaking risk, I don't think if its big that its size will structurally be a problem as long as you frame well, but you gotta remember that your roof ply really holds the whole thing together.

And I don't think you wanna cut THAT big a hole into it.

For a 5' wide, I envisioned a fixed glass (lexan) window maybe 36" long by 18" wide--that's it. Right above your sleeping heads.

You also gotta keep in mind how this is gonna cut into your insulation factor--which is a LOT. (PLEASE reconsider an AC, and definitely start thinking insulation.)

Finally, until you get under the blankets of your finished TD, it's hard to envision how small it is in there--even yours, which is bigger than mine. If building in an accommodation for stargazing is gonna cause major obstacles or expense, you gotta decide whether you really NEED it:

Or whether you'll be better off just looking at the stars outside.

Me--I have no soul or spirit. If you've seen one star, you've seen them all.

[Duane King]

My sister bought a funky round house in the coastal foothills of California. There was a round skylight in every bedroom right below where the beds go. I slept there and it was nice looking up at the stars How about installing a skylight the sameway they do in a house? I think they build a box frame, stand it up taller than the roof, flash around it, add some kind of lexan flat or bubble shape and then pray it doesn't leak. Texas is big sky country. If it'll work anywhere, it'll work there.