T-49 - Temporary .5 Teardrop Wagon - Camping Pics - Pg 8

[Billy K]

Glad to see you back at the plate and ready to swing...

just a thought to add with the cloth ideas for temporary use....
a sunbrella skinned,conduit frame, "Pac-Man " ..???.... you could bend it to your profile and create sleeves for the frame rails....

Just kickin' a thought out of my brain. I understand wanting the conceived TD.

[teardrop_focus]

Thanks, Billy. When I do the top half of the tear (I've never seen anyone do it this way. Why would they?) it will be made from ply framing and ply spars. I've got some interesting ideas... and I want to make this a full teardrop.

Meanwhile, my son's in town for a brief, last-minute visit from school in Colorado... We're going camping tomorrow and I wanted to pitch the temporary, flat-four connector wiring into the trash. I finished the RV-style 7-pin (blade) connector wiring on the car late Sunday night and got the trailer pigtail done this afternoon. It was WAY easier than working w/ 7 14 ga wires under the back of the car where there was only 1.25 inches of cable to work with...

[2bits]

Hey Chris, I like the length of your tongue. (you don't hear that every day LOL) but I see in your pics that it looks about the right length, it will make it easier to maneuver.

[Gage]

Hey Chris, I like the length of your tongue. (you don't hear that every day LOL) but I see in your pics that it looks about the right length, it will make it easier to maneuver.

Some people just don't get it. It's not the length of the tongue that matters, it's the distance from the tongue to the axle. The longer the distance the slower the trailer will act. Think about it.

[teardrop_focus]

Thanks, Thomas; thanks, Gage. I think what Thomas meant to say was that the longer tongue added to the typical teardrop floorplan's axle placement makes the distance from the hitch to the axle longer overall... and therefore easier to manuver when backing. Father Gage The High Priest Of The Teardrop Unseen just has that gentle way of putting it, that's all.



One of the reasons that the tongue is longer than 3 feet (it's 42 inches from the coupler's ball center back to the three framerails' union) was to make the necessary rise (while keeping a shallow bend) to the tow vehicle's hitch height.

[2bits]

Yeah I get it Gage, you ole charmer...

Thanks for saying that Chris, that is pretty close to what I was thinking. My thought process came from being the selfish bastard that I am, I was comparing it to my own teardrop

[teardrop_focus]

My son Ian had a last-minute-scheduled week off of work and flew out to CA to visit me, then is off to see his mom 2 hours south. We decided to go camping!

I threw a few more items into the half-tear wagon and we took off to look for a spot in the region for one mid-week overnight:






I really don't know what I'm doing, but pulled off some delicious breaded chicken breast... thanks to some new, pre-seasoned Lodge cast iron over white gas and some steamed broccoli from water boiled over iso-butane:



It was great!


Heated some water, had an after-dinner cup-O-joe and did the dishes...




Kitchen's closed; time for bed...






Breakfast was yummay, too; we had scrambled eggs, some real sharp cheddar and real toast! Gotta get pics next time of our $10 hand-held-over-the-stove toaster!

Here's another shot as we were leaving; nothing fell out or fell off of the trailer on the way there or on the way home... it was a good time.




Next on the list is to draw out the plan for the upper half teardrop structure.

[grizz]

Cool stuff Chris, though I did not realise just how old you were....

Vegetables... hmmm, camping and vegetables. You are way too sensible.

If I want to eat vegetables, I BBQ a chicken.

[2bits]

Hey! I guess this is the inauguration of the trailer in any fashion! Congrats of the successful first trip!

I love the way the wheels look against the body too!

[teardrop_focus]

grizz

Cool stuff Chris, though I did not realise just how old you were....

Quiet, you old fart.

Vegetables... hmmm, camping and vegetables. You are way too sensible.

I promise you it won't happen too often...

If I want to eat vegetables, I BBQ a chicken.

2bits

Hey! I guess this is the inauguration of the trailer in any fashion!

Yes! it was... I suppose the "christening" would involve the lil' lady and I...

[2bits]

[Russ B]

RS2s as trailer tires--niiice.

[doug hodder]

Congrats Chris....it's a roller and you went camping! Doug

[Ratkity]

I'm so impressed two dewds ate such a sensible and healthful meal!

I'm ready to see the top part of your build!

Hugs,
Ratkity

[teardrop_focus]

I am a weird guy. Even my son thinks so, but he knows how to eat right.

I don't know how sensible the meal was without a starch, though. Some steamed brown rice would've been the shizznit.



And so would have been some canned chili-N-beans. (but I gotta watch my sodium intake. There: that makes me old)

Thanks for your replies and your ideas.


Russ: the tires had been on the car for a little while; although outclassed in autocorssing only a short while after their introduction a few years ago, they're still a great street tire (replaced now by the RS-3) They were laying in the garage so I put em' on the trailer.

Ultimately the tires on the car (BFG g-Force Super Sport A/S) will be replaced before another year goes by and become the trailer tires plus two spares. A new set of of the BFG g-Force Super Sport A/S will go onto the car.


Doug... it tows really well. There's a ton of work left to do, though.


Ratkity, thanks!