Building The Atma Travelear Teardrop

[Forrest747]

WOW

[StandUpGuy]

What modeling software do you use?

[nevadatear]

Great Dave! Tell grant hi from us! You never know, maybe we can caravan up to irg with you two.

[Heifer Boy]

No wonder you have such a beautiful eye for detail and construction in your tear. That Nautilus model is fantastic. I really admire the talent some people have.

[DMcCam]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for your kind compliments, they keep the motivation level up! I'm currently using Blender 3D software instead of 3DS Max. I don't do much 3D professionally anymore and can't justify the single user price Autodesk wants for Max. Blender is free open source software that is amazingly close the the high end packages. They ask for donations if you make money using the software which I'm very happy to do.

Hey Debbie, We'd love to caravan with you two! Hopefully I'll get 'er done in time.

Yesterday we got all the aluminum for the Travelear!!! A huge THANK YOU to Grant at L'il Bear!!! Grant is the go-to man for your supplies!

Back to the build,

Dave

[DMcCam]

Hi Everyone, we got a few things done this last weekend though I forgot to take my camera the last day. I'll snap some shots next time out. We skinned the tongue box hatch and the inner one on the galley hatch. We actually got the blocking done on the back side of the hatch, fit the first layer of insulation and cleaned up a few things.


Here's the tongue box lid all glued up.


We had to take a whole ply off the back of the 1/8" and use hot towels to make the bend. It had to dry overnight before assembly.


The first plywood layer is on the hatch!


Lots of clamps.


The plywood ribs are much more flexible than I imagined. With the hatch just clamped in place it sagged almost 1/4" thus flattening out the 3/8" wall seal to about a 1/8" on the tighter curve area. To counteract this we used a 2x4 clamp on that area of the curve pulling it to the bench about 3/8". It should end up about right after we attach the outside ply.

More to come,

Dave

[S. Heisley]

Your work is beautiful, Dave. I look forward to seeing your teardrop at a camp gathering in the future.

[Vedette]

After seeing that much wood.....I would like to know what the anticipated weight might be??
My worry with my build is weight, and I have almost given in to "What will be will be".
Just don't know what to expect until I cross the scales????

[DMcCam]

Hi Sharon, Thank you dear lady. I'm looking forward to showing her off!

After seeing that much wood.....I would like to know what the anticipated weight might be??
My worry with my build is weight, and I have almost given in to "What will be will be".
Just don't know what to expect until I cross the scales????

Hi Brain, All of my cabinetry is 1/2" birch plywood with 3/4" signboard walls and the 1/8" ply doesn't weigh that much. I think the wood construction including the trailer chassis will come in about 400-450 lbs. The aluminum sheeting and trim weighs about 300-350. So my best guess is 800-850 lbs empty. With battery, bed and gear she should come in at about 1,000-1,200 lbs (I hope). The insulation and glue are the wild cards regarding additional weight. It's amazing how much glue you use on these little guys. I think we've used over 2 gal. of Titebond2 and a case and a half of PL Premium so far. Your way cool design is all steel so I have no idea how much she'll weigh. I don't think it will be too much for your beautiful truck to pull though.

Thanks for following my progress campers,

Dave

[pappaw]

wow, what a kewl job and talent you have.

That's going to be one great camper.

Like your Element too.

course, have to show you my "Ellie":

[nevadatear]

Sharon, you may see Dave and Lisa's trailer sooner than you think. They are registered for irg. It's crunch time Dave!

[kinto]

looking great dave!

everything is so precise it's amazing... mine is about 10% wood filler!


kent

[S. Heisley]

Oops...posted twice in error....deleted one.

[S. Heisley]

Sharon, you may see Dave and Lisa's trailer sooner than you think. They are registered for irg. It's crunch time Dave!

Oh, WOW!!!!! 'Crunch Time' is right!

[DMcCam]

looking great dave!
everything is so precise it's amazing... mine is about 10% wood filler!
kent

Hi Everyone,
Wow, it's been two weeks since my last update! We've been working like crazy to make IRG 4! Back to the build!








We insulated the hatch with the first layer of 3/4", finished the wiring and then added the second layer.

My new fenders arrived from Grant and I needed to see how they'll work!






These images show them clamped in place.

Last week my brother had a couple of days off so I took full advantage of his help. We disassembled the interior and the galley to ready them for varnishing. I can't believe how many screws and such I had used.


Here's the galley all prepped for the first sealer coat.

Next up was to fur out the door jams with 1/8" ply strips. The CNC used a 1/2" bit so we had to take up the extra space on both the jams and the doors. I've always thought a double seal was the way to go with my doors but the costs of an aluminum solution proved way too expensive. We went with 1/4" birch ply panels. These had to be shaped by hand since they were not CNC'd.




These two images show them glued in place and the interior all sanded, ready for the first seal coat.


That's my brother Dan spraying the second sealer coat! Between the first and second coat we ended up with almost two full days of sanding.




These two shots show how nice the interior is looking and that's just the sealer!

It was then finally time to address the doors. They were thankfully still dead flat and straight after sitting for many months. We added the 1/8" furring strips to the outside edge then cut the holes for the windows.


I had to see them in place! Here's the divers door all sanded up in the opening.


This is the passengers side.


You can see all the doors and drawers here, double sealed, sanded and ready for varnishing!

More to come soon!

Dave