Greetings

[the_real_jaykay]

Hello one and all.

I found this forum and a similar forum here in the UK.

I just become interested in building a Teardrop after seeing one locally. I have a background in fitting yachts so I have a plethora of boaty bits: sinks, cooker, panels, batteries, vents etc I can use in my project. I have worked with ply, nidacore/nidaplast and fibreglass so hope I'll be able to build a leak proof tear drop. Looking to build a budget teardrop/small multi-purpose trailer to tow behind my car. This looks like an another ideal place to track down relevant sources and information.

I guess the place to start would be the bottom and work up. I read a lot on the US sites about the Northern Tool folding trailer; but I can not find one here easily in the UK. No experience with a MIG at the moment; I am willing to learn but the cost of set up would be prohibitive. I have approached a local trailer company to build me rolling frame but they wanted £500.

At the moment my design criteria includes basic accommodation for two, with a rear removable galley (boatie speak for kitchen) so that when not been used for Glamping (Glamorous camping) I can use it as a box trailer for moving my lively hood about i.e. sheets of ply, engines on small pallets, materials etc when required.

My current vehicle has a Curbside weight of 1200kg so looking to keep the whole build simple and UK legal with my license when loaded i.e. Unbraked and under 600kg

Chassis Considerations:
1) Newly built simple 8x4 frame with wheels and drawbar by local trailer fabricator would be £500 ($764) - Bit pricey
2) Learn Mig and do it myself - Equipment investment and trusting that I'd done a decent job. I have a good workshop full of any other tools I think I would need.
3) Wilstow Folding trailer - Good, off the shelf, could build in a day est £350 ($534) and includes some electric components.
4) Old 8x4 Flatbed/box trailer - can remove the bed and anything I don't need - may need servicing/repairs est £200 + extras
5) Salvaged Caravan/Chassis may need a lot of work to modify so I would rather avoid.

Design Considerations:
1) Unbraked <= 600kg gross mass when loaded to suit current car, but would be designed for 750kg should I upgrade my car later.
2) Suitable for two adults, later a awning could be added for other friends/later kids and to provide shelter.
3a) Chassis and shell <=400kg as I would want to use the trailer perhaps for other uses such as collecting a pallet/materials for my other work (not all at same time) i.e. a small marine engine est 150kg, soda-blasting media bags 25kg each, a 5'l x 4'h x 2'w cart, tools.
3aa) This would mean I would want a removable galley/kitchen area than can be stored externally whilst retaining structural strength. Internal accommodation cubby's/storage would be built at the fore end of the sleeping space. Any gas bottle/battery compartments would be on the A-frame; this would maximize internal volume whilst in 'cargo-mode'. Correx sheets cut to fit would be used to protect the interior in cargo mode.
3b) OR has anyone ever come across a Teardrop that could easily be removed from the chassis and stored, so the the chassis could then have a tray/box attached back onto it.
4) If observing 3a. the rear door should open flush to the floor so a light pallet could be loaded by forklift; a solution for making the door removable may be needed for forklift access.

Hope I have the terminology correct and some of my objectives make sense. I welcome any ideas, comments, suggestions, links that might help me. I am asking the world as a new member; but fellow engineers and tinkerers may have input on matters which I may have overlooked. I may be over complicating it but a trailer which I could use for pleasure and occasional moving big things would be the best of both worlds and more justifiable.

I look forward to getting to know you all and any suggestions that you may have.

Kind Regards.

[Dean in Ct.]

Welcome! These are almost exactly the same as a very small yacht except you don't have to worry about sinking! All the same space concerns and finish and fit etc. etc. etc. I too am in the marine industry and in fact I built mine on a used boat trailer, so that's what I recommend if it's a possibility. Good luck, sounds like you have all the skills and you will find lots of help here!

[mezmo]

Hi JayKay,

Welcome to the forum ! With your background, building a TD
should be a very straightforward. Dean's suggestion of a using
a boat trailer is a good alternative.

Your fellow forum member and countryman, jackdaw, has built
a few TDs so far. I don't recall him having any great problems
with re-purposing 'expired' caravan frames. Check out his builds
in the Build Journal section.

Here is his latest:
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=54055

Happy planning and building.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[Roly Nelson]

Welcome to the forum, Jay Kay. So, you plan to build a multi-use teardrop and/or utility hauler for ocasional loading and unloading of work-related stuff. A good plan, and the mention you made of removing the camping trailer from the trailer frame sounds like a good plan. Sliding a TD off of a trailer platform is not very difficult, and the work trailer can then be used, without any consideration of damaging the interior of a rig that you might sleep and cook in. I wonder if you can obtain a Harbor Freight trailer over there. They can be had over here for about 250 dollars, which I am sure is cheaper than you can have one built over there. Check it out, it might save you some time and a bunch of bucks. (By the way, our kitchens in our teardrops are also called Galleys). Good luck on your build. Now, when it is complete, load it onto a tramp steamer, go through the Panama Canal, cruise on up to Calif. and swing on by my place, the coffee (or tea) is always on, and we can swap lies about camping trailers in our different countries.
Roly, the li'l ol' woody guy in So Calif.....(USA) :-)

[pchast]

This is the kind of thing you are talking about?
http://www.microlitetrailer.com/MLThome5.htm

A Wazat Pod and Utility Trailer.

[the_real_jaykay]

Welcome to the forum, Jay Kay. So, you plan to build a multi-use teardrop and/or utility hauler for ocasional loading and unloading of work-related stuff. A good plan, and the mention you made of removing the camping trailer from the trailer frame sounds like a good plan. Sliding a TD off of a trailer platform is not very difficult, and the work trailer can then be used, without any consideration of damaging the interior of a rig that you might sleep and cook in. I wonder if you can obtain a Harbor Freight trailer over there. They can be had over here for about 250 dollars, which I am sure is cheaper than you can have one built over there. Check it out, it might save you some time and a bunch of bucks. (By the way, our kitchens in our teardrops are also called Galleys). Good luck on your build. Now, when it is complete, load it onto a tramp steamer, go through the Panama Canal, cruise on up to Calif. and swing on by my place, the coffee (or tea) is always on, and we can swap lies about camping trailers in our different countries.
Roly, the li'l ol' woody guy in So Calif.....(USA) :-)

I have found the equivalent of the 8x4 folding Harbor Freight trailer over here which works out at about $535. I wish I could get one for that price then I would have no worries! Is the folding version any good for our intended use?

I'd have to come up with something clever so that it would detached from the trailer, maybe something with feet so that the trailer could be pulled out from under it. I don't think that it would be impossible but makes my brain ache thinking about it. Either that or a removable galley, and some mounting points inside so that I can put temp sheets of thin ply or other barrier.

[the_real_jaykay]

This is the kind of thing you are talking about?
http://www.microlitetrailer.com/MLThome5.htm

A Wazat Pod and Utility Trailer.

This is genius! If I could come up with a good mounting system to hold it all together; but I am more inclined now I think to have a removable galley and a way of a protective interior.

[AlgoDan]

Hello and welcome aboard, good luck on your build and post pics as you build.