hello From Denver

[jcricket]

Hey Folks,
I have been looking at building a tear drop for some time. I stumbled upon this site some weeks ago. I am not sure quite what I am going to do just yet, so for now just a hello.

A little about me. I am a stay at home dad with twin 17 year old boys. Both with autism. I love to fish and camp. I also build vacuum tube stereo amplifiers an speakers - music being my first love. My work history has been in mechanics, some industrial, some heavy equipment, some automotive. The idea of a tear drop is pretty exciting.

I'll post more questions and what not later.....................

[pchast]

Welcome!

[Thommyknocker]

Hi neighbor

[jcricket]

Hey back neighbor. Where be you?
I be Littleton.

till sooner, rather than later,
mark

[jcricket]

I had to drop out for awhile. Sorry folks.

I have been discussing the idea of building a tear drop this fall. My wife is on board

She thought it would be a great dad kid project too. I have been reading and I have all the tools I need. I have been a builder of sorts most of my life. So now it is time to start finding plans and making drawings. I am going to get the northern tool 5x8 trailer.

Sorry for the incoherent ramble

Any suggestions for good plans? I have found NUMEROUS free to low cost plans. THoughts?
mark

[kayakdlk]

I bought a few ebay and other plans but never used them. The best thing I bought was Steve Fredericks shop manual. http://www.campingclassics.com/shopman05.html.

His methods show you how to build with a template.

It was easy to make what I wanted using his construction methods

Good luck in your build

Dan

[Graniterich]

Got to love that sweet tube sound! What kinda speakers do you use? And welcome!

[jcricket]

Got to love that sweet tube sound! What kinda speakers do you use? And welcome!

Hey!
Yeah I love tubes. I just finished building out a Packard bell console pull. Bob Carver made it famous. I put some magic transformers on it and now it souns utterly amazing. My speakers? Well, I built them myself. I'll post some pics in a bit.

They consist of a jbl 15" woofer, a jbl horn, and the 2426 1" jbl compression driver for the top end. I used Zilch's Ewave design for the crossover and put it all into a Barzilay cabinet from the fifties. They are gorgeous and sound even better. I think I get about 36-20k flat at around 98db sensitivity. I have thought about incorporating a small tube amp into my tear drop too.

you use tubes??

[jcricket]

I bought a few ebay and other plans but never used them. The best thing I bought was Steve Fredericks shop manual. http://www.campingclassics.com/shopman05.html.

His methods show you how to build with a template.

It was easy to make what I wanted using his construction methods

Good luck in your build

Dan

Hey Dan,
Thanks for the link. This looks like exactly what I need to get the building methods down. That little yellow guy, did you build him using this manual? One of the requirements I have on my build is that it cannot exceed 66" tall overall height. I have to be able to put it behind my fence completely invisible to the outside world, otherwise my HOA goes into panic mode. The world will end as they know it.

[kayakdlk]

That little yellow guy, did you build him using this manual?

Yes I used the builders manual, but that picture is deceiving as I am not sure it is considered little. It is 5' wide and almost 12 feet long plus a 2" tongue box and just under 1500 lbs. The manual was well worth the money, and I read it twice before I started building. I especially liked the techniques on joining large thin panels for side and roof and the inside out building technique made finishing the inside easy. All of the techniques are scale-able and can apply to whatever your want to build

Good luck with your build.

Dan