Building The Atma Travelear Teardrop

[nevadatear]

This an amazing build. We have been lucky enough to see in person. But before wallow too much in despair about your own build, remember the great thing about your own build is that is yours, what you want. Dave's is perfect for them, but not for us in how we camp. And remember Dave is a professional artist. It my be his first tear but not his first graphic design. The guy does this for a living and he is good. Plus he has friends with benefits! A Cnc machine for perfect cookie cut. A professional welder for his frame and a professional cabinet maker in his brother and works at his brothers shop! So we can surely envy and appreciate his skills. But your trailer is Yours and perfect for you. I bet Dave can't sail a boat. Or for see a quilt like I can. But I too am looking forward to the finished product. I expect this to but one of the prettiest home builds ever.

[DMcCam]

Hi Everyone, I cannot thank all of you for your kind compliments on my build.

remember the great thing about your own build is that is yours, what you want.

Boy Debbie, you are so right! I marvel at every build I see. These little trailers are not as easy to build as it looks in the threads. Every one is a prototype, an original! Every member has the right to do a huge happy dance every time they see their trailer whether it's in progress or at the campsite. Digital pictures make everything look so perfect and great but when you actually see things up close, there's a lot of 'home built' in my work, it's far from perfect. We're heading out to do more today...pictures to come.

All the best,

Dave

[DMcCam]

Hi Everyone, this last week we got few things done.


Here we're readying the tongue box hatch to trim the sides.


The sides need to be 1/8" wider to clear the edge trim below. Somehow we missed taking a finish shot. I'll post it next time.

WE GOT THE HATCH HUNG!!!


The hurricane hinge is installed and holding the hatch in place ready to trim the sides to fit.


Here I am trimming the hatch edge at the bottom of the driver's side. The alumi-dust is hot and flying! Ouch!


I'm just starting routing the passenger side hatch edge and thinking, 'yep, left the long sleeve shirt at home, good place for it Dave.'


OW, OW, OW, DARNIT, OUCH!!!


OK, I GOT THE MESSAGE, LONG SLEEVE SHIRT!!!


After routing the edges, we had to remove the hatch and hinge to clean up the top edge. You can see me hesitating receiving more hot bits of aluminum up my sleeve and burning my arms...yes, that's right, I don't like pain.


All cleaned up and ready for trim...almost.


It fits pretty well but the gap is uneven...


On both sides. After careful consideration we figured it out, the bottom bent edge of the aluminum is too long preventing the hatch from finishing its arc. We'll have to trim it off and come up with a new solution.


At least it opens well.

All the best,

Dave

[danlott]

Looking good as always Dave. Looking forward to see the tongue box completed and inplace.

Dan

[aggie79]

Looking fantastic as usual Dave!

Love the use of the blue painters tape too!

[KCStudly]

Is it too early to start the drum roll? This thing is getting close.

[S. Heisley]

It's so pretty and clean looking...nice lines.
I suspect that many of us will see it "live" this coming spring. Woohoo!

[TRP]

The image of the person holding the hatch open gives it perspective to the size of the trailer. Wow, that's a monster hatch. What does that sucker weigh?

T

[DMcCam]

Hey Everybody, We got a few things done today. The tongue box is ready to trim and install, and the door 'T' molding is permanently installed ready to hang.

Looking good as always Dave. Looking forward to see the tongue box completed and inplace.
Dan

Hi Dan, Thank you Sir! We fitted then bed-lined the bottom and back of the tongue box today! It's getting closer.

:applause: Looking fantastic as usual Dave!
Love the use of the blue painters tape too!

Thank you Buddy! That blue tape is...indispensable! It's saved many a gouge so far.

Looking good! I like the way you made your hatch!

Hi Biziedizie, Thank you Sir! The hatch was much harder than I anticipated. If I were to do it again, I'd opt to cement a layer of 0.63 aluminum to the outside spars before skinning.

Is it too early to start the drum roll? This thing is getting close.

Thanks for the great enthusiasm there KC! So far, the finish is the most exciting part.

It's so pretty and clean looking...nice lines.
I suspect that many of us will see it "live" this coming spring. Woohoo!

Thank you kind Lady Sharon! This spring...OH, YEAH, CAN YOU SAY, TEARDROPPIN' !!!

The image of the person holding the hatch open gives it perspective to the size of the trailer. Wow, that's a monster hatch. What does that sucker weigh?

T

Hi T, That's little ol' me holding up the hatch and she's a good size to be sure. The iPhone image is a bit deceiving with that wide lens. The hatch is basically a square and weighs in at around 60-70 lbs I think.

Thank you all for hanging in there with me on this journey.

All the Best,

Dave

[DMcCam]

I took a couple of pictures yesterday of the tongue box freshly bed-lined. I sprayed it standing on end.


This view shows the box from the top.


Here you can see the back and bottom.

More to come,

Dave

[TRP]

Hey Everybody, We got a few things done today. The tongue box is ready to trim and install, and the door 'T' molding is permanently installed ready to hang.
...

The image of the person holding the hatch open gives it perspective to the size of the trailer. Wow, that's a monster hatch. What does that sucker weigh?

T

Hi T, That's little ol' me holding up the hatch and she's a good size to be sure. The iPhone image is a bit deceiving with that wide lens. The hatch is basically a square and weighs in at around 60-70 lbs I think.
...

Dave

Wow! For some perspective, my hatch is 45" wide x 48" long, and it weighs maybe 20lbs?... maybe 30? I'll have to get a similar shot of me holding my hatch up.

Looks fantastic,
Ted

[DMcCam]

Hi Ted, thank you sir. Yeah, the hatch is heavier than I wanted, the .063 aluminum added at least 25-30 lbs to it.

Hi Everyone, We haven't made too much progress but we did get windows installed and the doors hung...and they actually swing!


Here's the passenger's door.


I needed to offset both the wall side and the door side of the hinge for clearance. We may have to add a bit more space on the door side (I hope not). The spacers are aluminum.


This is the driver's side looking aft.


The same door open. The hinges are very smooth swinging and handle the weight well.


Here's the passenger's door with its handle.

All the best,

Dave

[225]

What material did you use to skin it? Just regular aluminum?

[TRP]

What material did you use to skin it? Just regular aluminum?

That there is .063 2024 Aluminum. With a PVC coating applied to one side. I opted for the .040 2024. It was $44.00 for the 4x8's and $73.00 for the 4" x 12".

Hope that helps,
Ted

[DMcCam]

Hi Gents,

We did used anodized aluminum (2024 Ted?). We used 2 sheets of .063, a 5'x10' for the hatch and a 5'x12 for the roof with the cutoffs used for the tongue box. The sides are 4' x 10' .040. If I could have found 5' wide .040 I'd have use it instead. The .063 is very difficult to work with and is almost twice as heavy.

Cheers,

Dave