Hello from Flat Rock NC

[dhracer3]

I've been dreaming about a teardrop for about 2 years or more.

I'm in the South East and my wife and I are avid adventurists (or aspiring) and we have always done mostly car camping in my 2000 Toyota 4runner.

I think the first time I decided I wanted one was when I saw one at a small local car show in Tryon NC and a guy had built his own one and was a beautiful classic tear.
I thought that maybe that had one with a bit more travel and could go "Overlanding".
Sure enough I saw plenty of picture outs there with lifted Teardrops and that's what got the creative juices going.

I'm getting started in the design phase at the moment and have been researching heavily for the last 4-5 months now.
It got started when I found a perfect trailer base locally here from a guy who had started to build one but life got in the way and decided to sell the rolling chassis.

My design is going to be simple and minimalist. I don't want a lot of stuff and I want to feel like we are still "camping" and roughing it out as we like to find primitive camp sites in the woods.
This would require being able to take the trailer offroad.

Inspiration was taken from Oregon trailer who have been very helpful and have answered all my questions on the building technique.!!
Also deign input from Timberleaf trailers.

I'm also an Engineering student and plan to use this build as a project for the finals capstone. Unfortunately it makes me have to slow down and not just jump into the build as I need to plan and document everything.

So far I have been using Autodesk Inventor for the design work.
Great program as I can build every part and then assembly them.

Here is my current design so far.


Very excited about this build and there is loads of info on this forum which is a big help so far.
I'll be starting a build journal pretty soon once I get closer to finishing up the designs a bit.
Also I work full time so in between work and school I'll be working slowly on it.
My hopes is to have it close to being finished by next year but that may be asking a lot.

Cheers for now.

[YuGun]

Hello from Turkey.
Your project is very well.
Good jobs.

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[Ottsville]

Nice design! However you end up documenting it, let us in on it.

[KTM_Guy]

When I started my off road build I was thinking I wanted an all out off road teardrop small light weight and minimalist . But as I started to build reality set in. We are not big 4 wheelers but more overlanders. We started adding stuff for to make extended trips easier and more comfortable, like water storage, hot water for showers, bigger batteries, a little longer for more storage, a little higher cabin for more head room, etc. Also added some nerf bars for protection for the cabin on tougher trails.

What we learned is it is all trade off's, add this and that and loose something over here or there. Ideally you want the trailer tires to match the width of the TV's width, but to do that you need a narrow bed. We did not want too small of bed, we went with a full XL mattress. A lot of people go with a queen.

I think our trailer will go everywhere we like to take the Jeep. The problem might be tight switchback with the trailer.

I have been working on ours for about 10 month now. Had a few set backs but it seems like any free time is spent working on it. I'm hoping in another 4-6 weeks to get out and do a few shakedown weekend trips before I finish out the galley. We can't wait to use it.

Todd

[dhracer3]

Your trailer is coming along very nice!
There is so much I would like to put on it.
Im a firm believer in keeping things simple. Hopefully that will work out.
My shower is a homemade 4inch black pipe that is connected to a small tire inflator.
Usually if it sits in the sun for the day it can be very hot to about warm depending on clouds. so far we have been content with our setup.
I will leave some room for improvements though.