New old guy

[Billy C.]

Hi I'm new to this forum. I'm a retired heavy equipment mechanic that worked in the pipeline construction business for 40 years. It would be easier to tell you where I haven't worked than where I have. I've worked in every state in the United States, and in the Middle East, the Far East. Europe, including Russia, South America, and so forth. To say that I'm well traveled is the understatement of the century. In those years I had and used just about every rv known to man. We would travel to these locations to build pipelines and the easiest way to live far from home was the rv. So my experience with rv's is plentiful. But because we would work so many hours (the average was a 100 + hours a week. I didn't get to see much. For instance I worked 6 times in Arizona before I got to see the Grand Canyon. So for my retirement I want to go see a lot of the places that I worked right next to or they were just down the road. One of my favorite things to do is to surf fish. And I have thought long a hard about this and what I have come up with is this. I want to build a off-road type teardrop that will be as self contained as I can get it. Because if I haven't learned anything else in my years as a pipeliner I learned that campgrounds are not always fun. But sometimes they are a godsend. I'm not going to live year round in the camper but use it on extended trips. It's my intention to pull it behind a new jeep rubicon that I haven't bought yet. So the light weight and off road capability or the teardrop are the way to go. I am now deciding on how big it should be and what to build it from. I have decided on about a 5x 10 for size with a large battery bank and solar panels and gen. ( probably a honda eu2000). And maybe even a small wind turbine. The former would come in real handy say on the southeast Texas seashore where I like to go surf fishing. Now onto the materials to build it with. I have built wooden boats with the stitch and glue method using epoxy and plywood. That makes for a very tough and durable boat and I think it would make a very good off road teardrop. And yes I know that marine epoxy has very poor uv resistant abilitys and has to be coated. The other method I'm thinking about is a aluminum frame with aluminum siding. Aluminum is a very viable consideration for me because of my access to cheap aluminum. And if I was to use 5086 grade it would be very resistant to corrosion even salt water. But that has it's drawbacks as aluminum transfers heat really well and I want to have air conditioning and heat. I am thinking of using a dog house heat and ac unit built in. So any info or opinions you might want to share will be appreciated. Thanks Bill C

[pchast]

Welcome Bill!

[noseoil]

Welcome new old guy, from the baked apple (Tucson). Sounds like quite a build you have planned. Aluminum for durability, wood for ease of construction. Not sure which way you should go, but take a look at the build types & narrow it down from there. Perhaps a foamie with epoxy & glass, or just PMF is a better way to go. Looking forward to your build.

[Billy C.]

Thanks for the howdys. I'm still in the planning stage. And have been reading on here and trying to make the desicion as to what to build. I want something that is fairly off-road capable yet has good road manners. And could spend two weeks off grid on occasion. This is a tall order I know but still be able to be pulled by a jeep. From what I've read here I think I should go with something in the 5 x 10 size and build it as strong and light as I can. With real good suspension. Probably a four bar with small air bags. I'm going to go to the off road section here and ask some questions thanks for the welcome Billy

[AZ_Desert_Rat]

Hi Billy,
Welcome to the Forum and to the world of retirement...

Our backgrounds are similar in the traveling part anyway, I traveled around the world and the America for some 40 years... first in construction and finally teaching mechanics... I saw a lot of airports and hotels; now retired, I am traveling as much as my wallet and wife let me...

With your background and access to aluminum, an aluminum build sounds like a great way to go, especially if you insulate it..

Aggie79 did a real sweet job of installing a Petcool AC in his TD's tongue box:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=66135&p=1171653&hilit=PetCool+ac#p1171653
He did mention that the blower was limited... Hmm, maybe an inline booster fan would help...

If you haven't checked it out already, check the Design Thread and the Hall of Fame Thread at the top of the page... there are some nice plans and designs ideas there and you can find lots of plans that can be altered easily for size and amenities. There are several Aluminum TD's, e.g, the Northern Lite Traveler was a nice build and may give you some ideas.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=51991


Good luck on your build and looking forward in seeing what you come up with...

[3GKnight]

Welcome!