The No Tears Teardrop Build

[Diemjoe]

Thanks Tony. Towards the end now. More heartburn than heart.

[Diemjoe]

Good news and Bad news. Making my way through the registration process. Passed the requirements and now I just need to pony up the $ for the plate. Pretty easy but time consuming process that I will post separately.

Now the bad news. The trailer has been sitting outside the past couple of weeks and we have been getting some rain. The water seems to be getting in under the aluminum trim and up into the walls. Not sure if it is impending doom or a big issue coming down the line. I used silicone caulk when I attached the trim to the walls but either not enough or it didn't work. I was going to pull the trim and epoxy the wall edges but now that I think about it, I used adhesive caulk and will probably damage the trim. Same problem on the tongue box.

Water is getting in around the seams

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I also misjudged how much spring travel there would be on the axle leafs. Went over a bump on one of Seattle's side streets and busted the fender right off. I noticed it when I got home from registration I immediately redrove my steps and luckily found it. I am glueing it back together now and will reattach higher up.

Ugh

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You can see where the tire hit.

TD-bFender2.jpg (31.52 KiB) Viewed 981 times

[3GKnight]

Dang. Sucks about the fender & water. I was a little worried about suspension myself but mine's the other way. I have almost no suspension travel, which can also be a problem.

[Diemjoe]

Yeah. The good thing is that now I have all the parts and wisdom to rebuild it pretty cheaply and much quicker than this took. In the back of my mind, I kind of new this was a prototype. I just don't like the ugly water damage.

[Diemjoe]

Done -ish

It is as ready for the road as it is going to be.

Thanks for all the help. Stay tuned at Trippinwithdon.com

Ready for the road

TD-License-Plate.jpg (65.27 KiB) Viewed 911 times

[S. Heisley]

Congratulations! You did it!

Now, get out there and enjoy it!

PS. Be sure to take a pencil and paper with you on your trips, to jot down the things to bring and things that you could do that might make it even better. There's always something....

[Nobes]

Congratulations! I hope you can easily resolve those last few little issues, and that you tremendously enjoy your camper. The look is great!

[Diemjoe]

Been on the road for 6 weeks now with almost 6000 miles on the trailer. The first two weeks were definitely shake out time. I wish a little bit that I had stuck to my original plan and did a 1 week run then go back to my house to make the fixes. As with most house sales, I was working on the house up until the Real Estate Agent was on my porch eager to get the key and ended up moving totally out of the house. So I am not running at 100% complete.

But it is towing well, I am getting used to reversing a trailer and I am seeing a lot.

The story and more are here at www.trippinwithdon.com.

I will write a review of the Teardrop Life Pros and Cons at about the 2 months mark.