Greetings from Alabama

[depatty]

Hi, all!

New to the forum and wanted to introduce myself. The name is Dave and I live in Weaver which is close to Anniston, Alabama.

Just finished skinning my 'not a teardrop' round top 6 wide x 10 long x 6.5 high camper about the time I found this place. Been lurking, reading and hopefully learning a bit from some of the fine builders on here since then.

I've got the bug to build a teardrop now and have a boat trailer that I am planning on building it on. Just got to finish this one first.

For what it's worth, it's built from junk campers and camper shells, scrap lumber, salvaged parts, cast offs, and throw a ways. Cost so far has been just over $15.00 and that has been for screws and caulk. Donor trailer was a 1966/67 popup camper that had been rotting in a field since 1982. Some of the floor was still usable and some of the interior is being salvaged and made use of. Tires and tubes came from the boat trailer which I got for getting it out of the peoples yard. The skin is some kind of commercial construction plastic that was being thrown away that I managed to intercept and haul off to MY junk pile(s). Windows came from an old discarded camper shell. Door is from an old camper that has major water damage. Couch/bed is a futon frame that with a bit of shimming bolted between the walls.

Couple of pictures of what it looks like so far -


For more on the build up to now and more pictures see my blog and search on campers

I know it's not a teardrop and not really that tiny but if anyone is interested I'll post more pictures of it as I finish it up.

Dave

[Geron]

Hello depatty,

Wow! What can I say. Way to go! and Welcome to the board. I know you're going to get a resounding welcome from the members.

Just one question. How MUCH OVER $15.00 did you go????

[Mike C.]

Welcome depatty,

Looks like a tiny travel trailer ( TTT ) to me. Good job for spending so little. First question, do you have a first name, so we don't have to call you depatty? If not that's o.k. too.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the forum, and keep posting pictures because we like pictures.

See you around.

[Tcurr]

Welcome, I am pretty new myself, but I think you will find a super group of people here.

[depatty]

Welcome depatty,

Looks like a tiny travel trailer ( TTT ) to me. Good job for spending so little.

Thanks, when I started this project I decided to do as much with as little as possible. Will invest in paint and other things as I can/have time to finish things.

First question, do you have a first name, so we don't have to call you depatty? If not that's o.k. too.

Sure do. The name is Dave or David.

Thanks for the welcome!
Dave

[depatty]

Hello depatty,

Wow! What can I say. Way to go! and Welcome to the board. I know you're going to get a resounding welcome from the members.

Just one question. How MUCH OVER $15.00 did you go????

Well, let's see.

Screws $1.99 lb X 5 lbs = 9.95
Caulk $1.88 tube X 2 tubes = 3.76
Total materials $13.71
Tax is 8% $1.10
Total cash out of pocket for materials bought just for this project is $14.81
So total is actually under $15.00 but when fuel is factored in to get to the store (round trip about 12 miles) in truck that gets about 20 mpg in town that takes it over a bit.

Thanks for the welcome!
Dave

[b.bodemer]

Awesome!



Barb

[Mini Renegade]

welcome to the forum. I wish my trailer had only cost me $15!!!!!!!!!
The finished cost of mine was gonna be £300-£350. That has gone out of the window and so far it has cost near double that and I still need paint and varnish.

[neal b]

welcome aboard dave great job heck my spare tire cost twice as much as your hole trailer once again welcome an howdy from missouri

neal b

[sseaman]

do you have any idea what the plastic shell is, or is from?

[mikeschn]

Welcome to the forum...

If ever there was a contest to build the most affordable trailer, you would win for sure... Good job on the round top. Looks nice!

Mike...

[TomW]

Welcome to the madness.

The trailer is interesting, nice job. Glad to hear of more people from Alabama. I live in Albertville, not far from Weaver.

I am about 1/2 way done on my Benroy, I have been traveling for work the last few weeks so I have not had much time to work on it. Hope the last quarter of the year slows down so I can finish.

Once again,
Welcome to the world of sawdust!

[Rarin2go]

Now that is recycling at it's best. Good job!

[depatty]

do you have any idea what the plastic shell is, or is from?

The outside was flat plastic construction sheeting (siding or dividers I guess) about 1/8 inch thick. That on the sides is 50" x 72 1/4", on the top 50" x 96 1/2", and the red on back is about 2' x 3' panels. The red on the sides I ripped the panels into thirds so those pieces are about 8' x 36'.

A friend of mine was told, at the place he works, to get rid of a large pile of the stuff and knowing that I collect all kinds of junk called me. We hauled several truck loads of it out here. Have built several buildings for an airsoft war game group that plays on my land and used bits elsewhere and still have a pile of it. We tested it for fire resistance with a smoke grenade firing toward it and it just charred and smoldered and when the grenade went out so did the smoldering so is fairly fire resistant. It does expand a bit when it gets hot but tightens back up when it cools off.

Sometime in the future, I plan to try painting the top and maybe the sides as there is some discoloration that I don't like. Got to find something that will stick to it and not peel too quick.

Later,
Dave

[depatty]

Welcome to the forum...

If ever there was a contest to build the most affordable trailer, you would win for sure... Good job on the round top. Looks nice!

Mike...

Thanks!

I started out to build something entirely different but after I got the walls up about 4 feet got to looking at them and at some 10 foot sticks of 1/2 inch conduit (emt) and decided to try a curved top and this is what turned out. The body is made of plywood scraps. Guy that used to own a box company had a pile in his yard and wanted them gone so I hauled away 2 truck loads. Most of them are 26 1/2" x 29" x 1/2" so that's what it's made with. Walls and most of the top are two layers thick. I'm covering the inside walls with paneling scraps and adding spacers to the top (to space out past the emt) and covering it with some 44" x 48" x 1/4" plywood that was used for shipping house siding (again free, just had to haul it off).

Dave