O hai! Some guy from Minnesota...

[the_experience3006]

Well hello, people of tnttt! I'm going to do my best to introduce myself here.

How did I find this place?

-I am a member at skoolie.net and am even a team member there. I used to own a bus which got all kinds of use, but I sold it to buy an expensive of piece of carbon for a female friend of mine, Truth be told, the bus had become far FAR less practical in current years. However, I had started a thread of there expressing my desire to get back "into it." I was aware of teardrops before then, but a member referred me to this site and here I am...I'm obsessed with a teardrop or tiny travel trailer and everything about them,

How about the personal life? As of the posting of this I am a 28 year old resident of Minnesota. As of June 29, 2013 I will be married to the woman of my dreams, also a Minnesota resident. We have a furkid in the form of a 1.5-2.0 year old rescue. His name is Drickx (after a friend of mine that died in a car accident) and he is a 40 lbs German Shorthaired Pointer mix Truthfully, he is like a 2/3 scale GSP. I'm not sure what he is mixed with...you'd have a hard time convincing me that he is mixed with anything but small size.

What do I do for a living? Well..I hold 3 degrees technically. I have a 2 year degree in engineering, a 2 year degree in Automotive Technology, and a 4 year degree of some sort of combined effort the amounts to a Bachelor's in Automotive Engineering Technology with a minor in manufacturing technology. I have worked for Ford Motor Company as a Service Engineer (we helped technicians diagnose problems) to my current position as a design engineer for an American-made metrology equipment company.

So...hobbies...obviously cars fit in the mix, I even enjoy diagnosing them (I'm good at that). Fixing them is slightly less enjoyable and doesn't fall as well into my qualifications. I am also a firearms enthusiast. I know that is a highly contentious point right now, but I'm used to that from the skoolie world where people land on all sides of all issues. Beyond that...call it guys stuff...I like my TV, my computer, hunting, fishing, and my garage.

So what am I looking to do? Well...I'd love to build a trailer for my fiance, dog, and me. This means a queen sized bed (5 foot wide) and air conditioning. Everything else is negotiable. However, my preferred tow vehicle is my 2002 Grand Am. It has an L61 2.2 Ecotect 4 cylinder...nothing special other than being the BEST 4 cylinder family GM has ever built. The transmission is backed (or sided?) by a Getrag F23 5 speed manual trans. This is a weird, somewhat rare combo, but it;s great. Unfortunately, it limits my towing capacity to 1000 lbs according to the manual. Unlike many towing limits, physics get involved in this case, not pesky ratings like tires or axles. It simply can't safely pull anything heavier than 1000 lbs. I own a nasty, grubby old pickup, but the Grand Am is the obvious limit on my towing...and so we have more restrictions on any trailer I make,

I have some experience with composites so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't focusing heavily on things like foamies or foam hybrids, especially given the weight of these trailers. However, I get obsessed with topic as a personality fault so I will continue to read and formulate in my head as things go on. I'm sure I am AT LEAST 6 mo from my first component purchase given my time restraints and financial restraints (weddings ain't cheap), but I look forward to integrating into this community.

So...here we go!

[Vedette]

Hi ????
Welcome to the Forum!
Well that was quite a mouthful for your first post.
Right down to your dog's name.
But you forgot the most important part of an introduction What is Your Name?
Yes, there is a lot of good information to be had here on the Forum, but it does take some reading.
I found the Electrical section quite valuable when I was planning my build and the purchases for my build!
The members here are also awsome at answering any questions you may have....so don't hold back.
Remember the old saying " you only get as much out of something as you are willing to put in" Well that is really the case here!
If you take the time to actively participate in this Forom you will gain a lot of knowledge.
Do your homework and have a definite plan when you start your build, and you will be out there camping a lot sooner!!!!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[the_experience3006]

My name is Andrew.

What has really been of interest to me thus far has been construction techniques and the finer points like sealing these suckers and making them otherwise weather resistant. I've also gathered A LOT of information on things like the trailers people have used as a foundation or different materials choices. Every new thread I read pulls me in a different direction.

Fortunately, many of the considerations that go into building a skoolie can be applied to a TD. 12vdc, 120 vac, plumbing, gas storage, etc are all about the same. The difference is on the bus I had 12,000 lbs of payload capacity to work with so I didn't need to be as careful about total weight or the placement of that weight. I also only managed 8 mpg and had to find a place to store 36 feet of metal along with the $130 annual registration, $200/yr insurance, yada yada.

[TPMcGinty]

Welcome from a fellow Minnesotan! I loved building my 5x8 Generic Benroy. It weighed 960# when it was done but I could have built it lighter. If you have any questions during your build, please ask. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes. We are planning a small gathering at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park the first weekend in May if you want to join us camping and see a few tears. . All the information is on the Tearjerkers web site under the St. Croix Chapter section. Hope to see you camping soon!

[Junkboy999]

Welcome Andrew.

I’m sure you can get one built under 1000. Take a look around, read through a few build thread a week
and don’t go crazy with option and you’ll do fine.

[the_experience3006]

We certainly will need to be careful as there are some necessities like the AC and the queen mattress, preferably 6+ inches thick. Fortunately, our galley need not be all that elaborate. A small propane cook stove, a sink, and the ability to haul around 5-6 gallons of water will do it for me. I don't want to build in a fridge or cooler because the size of those items can be tailored to the particular trip in question. During deer season or duck season a cooler often isn't even required in these parts. In a PERFECT world I would be able to add a roof rack to the trailer so I could lug around a small aluminum boat or canoe for fishing, but that might be asking too much, at least for my car to haul. I do have a beater pickup so that option is available. I've pulled as much as 1200 lbs behind the car, but it wasn't entirely pleasant. It is rated to 1000 lbs while the whole hitch assembly is rated to 3500 lbs.

[Roly Nelson]

Hi Andrew, welcome aboard. Building light, is right down my alley. My first woody tops out at about 500 lbs, and my little 6 footer weighs only 245 lbs. The key to building light, is all in the material you plan to use and some choices about adding the heavy stuff, like built-in coolers, stoves, sinks, water tanks, entertainment centers, etc. You are off to a good start with your HF trailer, as far as weight is concerned. Both of my TDs use that trailer, with the 12 inch wheels. I decided to use 1/4 inch plywood for the woody and 1/8th inch for the 6 footer.

Many builders use much heavier plywood, and if they have the beef to haul that weight, it works out just fine. Since you are limiting yourself to 1000 lbs, you should be within limits with thicker walls, if it isn't too long or too wide. Do try to get to the gatherings in your area, since chatting with TDers and checking out their rigs, is really worth the effort. Bear in mind, you won't find a more friendly bunch of campers than teardrop folks. Just you wait and see. Good luck on your build, and remember, ask questions and take pics as you go along, since you won't have another chance, (until you build the next one, since you can't build just one!)
Roly, the li'l ol' So Calif TD designer, builder and user, with #4 on the drawing board

[TPMcGinty]

We certainly will need to be careful as there are some necessities like the AC and the queen mattress, preferably 6+ inches thick. Fortunately, our galley need not be all that elaborate. A small propane cook stove, a sink, and the ability to haul around 5-6 gallons of water will do it for me. I don't want to build in a fridge or cooler because the size of those items can be tailored to the particular trip in question. During deer season or duck season a cooler often isn't even required in these parts. In a PERFECT world I would be able to add a roof rack to the trailer so I could lug around a small aluminum boat or canoe for fishing, but that might be asking too much, at least for my car to haul. I do have a beater pickup so that option is available. I've pulled as much as 1200 lbs behind the car, but it wasn't entirely pleasant. It is rated to 1000 lbs while the whole hitch assembly is rated to 3500 lbs.

Andrew, I am currently working on mounting an AC unit in my tear. I'm still working out the details. I have a 5.5 inch mattress that I got for $130 at Ikea. I have a small coleman propane stove. I don't have a sink (I use two cheap plastic wash basins for washing dishes). I carry 7 gallons of water in a container I got from Walmart. I don't have a fridge, but use a 5 day cooler. I re-enforced my roof so I could put a roof rack on later if I decided I needed one. My approach in my build was to keep it simple and as inexpensive as I could. I think I did a pretty good job but I did make mistakes and there are a few things I would have done differently, like using epoxy to seal it instead of marine varnish. Well good luck with your build. See you camping someday!

[the_experience3006]

That sounds about like the trailer I would like to build. My plans thus far, subject to change on a whim, are to use a HF 4x8 HD trailer for about $270 (on sale for $350, 20% off coupon). I have no issue with my floor cantilevering over the sides of the frame, but I have no intentions of making wheel wells. Instead, I will either cut the axle and widen it using the tubing bender to return the proper camber into it after the modification. Alternatively, it might be just as easy to order a custom axle through Redneck with the correct perch width and WMS. The downside is that probably means purchasing new hubs as I believe the HF axles use metric spindles, bearings, and seals.


I plan to use sandwich construction using VERY hollowed out 3/4 ply for the framing of the sidewalls based roughly on a benroy shape. Depending on my ambition when it comes to that point, I may do some FEA on the framing to verify its strength. I will then use extruded polystyrene as the sandwiched layer with 3/16 or 1/4 inch ply on the outside and 1/8 or 3/16 on the inside, all held together with large amounts of some yet to be determined adhesive. I'm thinking a wood appearance for the sides would be nice, but I will likely either fberglass the roof or use aluminum. I have access to relatively inexpensive metals as well as epoxies, polyester resin, and polyvinyl resin so I have some choices to make.