DandiCamper Build Journal

...ask your questions in the appropriate forums BUT document your build here...preferably in a single thread...dates for updates, are appreciated....

DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby DandiCamper » Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:25 am

My build is well underway. I see this teardrop as not only cute but a practical way of getting to camp more on weekends near home. Have all my stuff in it. It can be a real chore gathering everything to camp when it is 100 degrees outside and that cuts into river time! Somewhere to sleep is nice and most of all that I can pull with my 6 cylinder car. No borrowing my husbands truck and having to clean out the bed/removjng tools etc...want power mainly because the fantastic fan made it worth doing. Camp riverside mostly and one longer trip(5 days to a week)in a campground in July. My preferred spot does not have shore power.Will have a fantastic fan, 2 12V recepticles, 2 110 outlets, 2 galley lights LED, cabin light LED and incandescent porch light. One door (bought a premade one with window)Tongue box. Need to haul 2 lightweight kayaks (less than 30 lbs each) somewhere.. cartop or teardrop ??? Tall order??? :shock: :lol:
Bought a used trailer last summer. Stripped the wood sides and floor off. Ended up replacing wheels and tires. Repainted. Put away until February. Back in garage and installed new wire to trailer lights. Son welded on jack and the sides so it no longer is a folding trailer. If I had it to over again I would buy a new one. 128858
Floor insulated and sealed and wood sealed and coated with bedliner paint. Walls cut and up with door cut out and checked for fit.128861
bulkhead dividers in. Taking shape! Very excited at this point because there is finally a teardroo under construction in my garage.128862
Dog goes everywhere with me so she had to get in when I laid down for a test of bed space. Husband fits too in case he goes with me :D 128863
Spars in. Framed out for fan and fan fits. Predrilled holes in spars before installation for wiring. Stabilizers arrived and installed.128864
128865128866
Ceiling installed. 8 foot luan. Just stopped ceiling where 8 foot sheet ended which is a small overhang to galley which worked out perfect.(so far) Spars installed to help with bend. One on galley side (end of luan) and one cabin side of bulkhead. Slid it in and secured under these 2 spars and around fan opening.128867
Insulation cut and inserted. We used a piece of luan laid flat on top of spars to simulate the luan top as we installed them. 128868
Converter will be in cabin in cabinet that is up against bulkhead wall. I had doors and drawers I got from an RV that a friend was demolishing. Cut out openings for Converter and doors in plywood and installed. Porch light hole positioned so interior wire is concealed by cabinet. Also so it can be reached from door when inside and also should light tabe that will mount on side. Not a great picture...128869
Galley. The counter top is waist level to me (Im 5'7") and comes as far out as possible and allow hatch to close (I hope!) The countertop sits on top of lower divider wall and extends into cabin about a foot. The top divider wall sits on top of counter. The height of that divider is shorter than sidewall by depth of spar and luan..hope that makes sense. The walls were routed before their installation for these dividers.
128871
I had 2 drawers that I cut down to12 inch depth that I was determined to use. Had some shelf brackets already so placed a shelf up high. The plastic Folgers can fit here and they are RED...so that works for me :D :) Will put a lip across front to help prevent things sliding off.Can store a lot of stuff in those cans. Back to drawers.. these were a pain but in the end I have 2 drawers with partitions below for 4 1/2 gallon water containers. Wanted containers smaller so I could carry them when full and on floor of galley so I wont have to lift high onto counter. They are 9x9x13 containers. More on the hand pump when it comes in but left room for tube of pump to run behind drawers from counter. Also have shore power coming in in the very back corner behind left drawer and drawer clears it. Ill try to get a pic of that when we get to wiring. The area to right of drawers is for cooler and camp stove will sit on top of cooler for travel.128870

Ok..so here is wiring I have pulled. I know there is a lot to consider when choosing wire size etc. I have options available so I'll read more and post questions and welcome input in another thread. Before connecting any wire.
So here is the pic of some wire wth insulation in place. Hole in ceiling drops wire into cabin cabinet.128872
no pic but fender placement has been determined and marked on wall.
more to come. Thanks for looking. Please be gentle :D
Kim
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby 39Ratrod » Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:28 am

Looks good, moving right along!
The biggest difference between a dreamer and a doer is the follow through.
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby ratrod71 » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:54 pm

Impressive! Looking forward to seeing more pictures. :thumbsup:
Alaskan Benroy build journal: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=61738
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby Gold5one » Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:25 pm

You're lucky to have a nice workshop you can use in the winter-- I think you will be able to use your teardrop this summer. Nice going!
"the slow road has the most adventure"
Mark

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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby RAYVILLIAN » Sun Feb 22, 2015 6:01 pm

Heck Kim no need to be gentle it's looking great so far. Only fault I would find is with a 4x8 your gona miss having a door on each side. Midnight necessary calls aren't much fun when you gotta crawl over each other to get out.

Gary
Where ever we raise the hatch is home.
Darn blank states keep getting further away and we keep traveling slower ain't never gona get this map full.
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby rebapuck » Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:37 am

You're having fun, aren't you? :)
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby teddy » Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:47 am

Looking great! Will it be a woody or aluminium?
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby DandiCamper » Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:58 am

Hi all
it will be white aluminum. Wanted a woody but husband vetoed that. Got aluminum from my brother at his cost before he sold his sign shop.
I am having a blast! When I'm not working on it Im thinking about it, looking at it or reading about teardrops. I even dream about it. LOL
I cant decide if I need a window or door on driver side. I will be in there by myself mostly. Me and the dog. Maybe my son or niece. Hopefully my husband will go a few times but he isn't big on camping. My son suggested putting a funnel from inside to the outside too pee in for him :lol: :shock:
Thought that was clever of him. Lazy but clever.
Being snowed in and having heat in garage has helped to get the project moving. Weather keeps husband from working in winter much so it has been a good opportunity to build. I cleaned garage yesterday so more building and pics soon. Brother in law checked out the build yesterday and he is ready to build my sister one if she wants one. He is coming back to hook up wiring for me. :D
Kim
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby bc toys » Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:01 am

door trust me on this one like your work on the trailer
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby S. Heisley » Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:18 am

If you add a door on each side, it is very, very doubtful that you'll be sorry. But, if you don't add it, you will most likely be sorry.
Having someone crawl over you in the middle of the night, to get out, is not pleasant.
Also, if you have two windowed doors, you can get cross ventilation. These tiny trailers can get pretty warm and stuffy.
Last edited by S. Heisley on Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby tony.latham » Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:25 pm

S. Heisley wrote:If you add a door on each side, it is very, very doubtful that you'll be sorry. But, if you don't add it, you will most likely be sorry.
Having someone craw over you in the middle of the night, to get out, is not pleasant.
Also, if you have two windowed doors, you can get cross ventilation. These tiny trailers can get pretty warm and stuffy.


:thumbsup: Absolutely.

T
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby DandiCamper » Mon Feb 23, 2015 6:57 pm

Got to work on the hatch today. It fits in there. We will see later if its going to work out. Also got the water containers today. Had to have son bring them up with his 4WD truck from the UPS driver at the county road. Cant get out yet in the car. Our drive is a mess. The containers fit. :thumbsup:
I did some constructing all by myself today also. Made a box front that outlet and recepticle fit into/ mount on. Think it will go in the middle of the top shelf.
Im thinking I need another exterior light above the tongue box so I can see into it. As soon as I settle on spots in galley for lights and recepticles wiring can be hooked up.128900
Thanks for looking and as always input is welcome. Please stop me now if im messing up :? :frightened:
128901128902
still contemplating a door or window on driver side :thinking:
Kim
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby KCStudly » Mon Feb 23, 2015 9:31 pm

You might have a screw up or two in the course of your build (I think everyone must have... I certainly have), but my theory is, "If it can be built, it can be fixed". So don't worry so much, just look ahead to be sure you are ready for the next step, that you are done with the last step, before you move on.

There is a thread on here somewhere that asks what people would have done different. The two biggest answers are that they would have built 5 wide from the start, and they would have added the second door during the build. Much easier now.
KC
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby DandiCamper » Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:43 pm

Working on Galley because I think I need to know where all the stuff in there will go before I can place the lights and outlets. Constructed the hatch. Insulated with two layers of 3/4 inch foam. Used one piece of luan on the outside of hatch, cut two pieces for underside. We have pieces of this and that so opted for two pieces rather than cut into full sheet I plan to use for roof. Using two pieces under there wasn't hard. The top went on fine once we got everything positioned and started. Relief :phew: Was worried this step would drive my husband over the edge! I think he actually liked seeing it come together and fit. Still need to trim off the edge of luan underneath that is sticking out, we cut it long for some wiggle room. Will trim it when we get around to skinning it and the rest. Should I cover the sides with aluminum too? I will use molding on the top that overhangs the sides of teardrop, but that trim doesn't go down on the sides very much.
I moved the top shelf up, then down then back up a little.... :? and added another shelf below it. There is room under lower shelf for stove and wash pan (and cast iron?) to be stored. Put Lips on the edges of shelves. Playing around with two bottom mount drawer slides... thinking of putting cooler on sliding shelf. After the drawer install I'll hold off on mentioning that to hubby for a bit LOL.
Cant see it in these pictures, but ran 10 gauge wire to converter from shore power (30 amp). Not the greatest pictures but not a lot of room to move around out there.
Still pondering the wiring. (procrastinating) as soon as I think I have it figured out then I think of or read something that makes me think again. I'm going to get all the lights and stuff where they go and let my brother in law hook it all up! We might get more ice here on Saturday. Just got out with my car the last couple days. I slid down my frozen lane and went out to work today... Hope he makes it over before we get snowed or iced in again. :worship: Here are pictures of Hatch and Galley. The hatch is upside down here. 128934128935
128936
Until next time- kim
Kim
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Re: DandiCamper Build Journal

Postby Vedette » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:02 pm

Your Galley looks great!
Sorry I did not get back to you with pictures of ours.......But, you are making great progress on your own.
I do have a galley light that I love in Miss Piggy, that I repeated in Kermit. Bought it on ebay.
Good roads
Brian & Sandi
Good Roads
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Here is a link to my Build Journal
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=50912
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