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

[teardrop_focus]

mandy
Hey Chris I hope your having fun at the IRG.

We had to abort the mission... we have cancelled the two-days' drive north to get there...:-(

After days of delays due to the Can of Worms Principle inherent in, I supose, most first efforts, we took off last night w/ a planned local stop for dinner... only to have the curved, rearmost panel pop out of it's mounting. It was being held in place w/ stainless screws and washers, but it was the only piece that wasn't glued... I needed to do more work on it when we got back.

(I now realize that I should have used, but didn't have handy at the time, metal strips rather than washers... and put a cap on each upper corner to keep it from "walking" upward over from the body torsion from road bumps)

By the time we got back home w/ an idea to fix it is was getting dark. The combination of last week's physical and mental effort and the lack of proper sleep had left me exhausted. The time and additional effort involved to do the fix right then would have done me in. Reason took over and we had to abort.

Needless to say, I am crushed... we had wanted to go to the IRG since we reg'd for it in January! (not to mention boning those on the event's waiting list!) and were going to tent camp there, but when I began chassis fabrication weeks ago, the snowball effect took over and this, ultimately, is the result: a 95%-roadworthy trailer that needs another 4 or 5 hours' work before I can subject it to 14 hours of highway travel and bump abuse. ...and we wouldn't get there until Sunday?! We could have stayed Sunday night, but...

There just isn't the time... and because of that I am just gutted.



Progress was made, however...

Pics of the half-teardrop "wagon"s' progress up until the time we tried to leave...



redwashed the exterior




dog door in bulkhead is for battery




trailer lighting jacketed 7-wire electrical cable passes through tongue




soldering marker light splices




marker light wiring




wiring car from it's battery back to hatch interior for trailer lighting relay module




rear panel fastened but not properly - wanted to be able to remove it for later work but it proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back, time-wise, for the deadline for making the 14-hour trip...







So the push to make the IRG has come to an end; as a result I got 8 hours' sleep last night. I'm going to fix the rear panel mounting, add a few more interior tie-downs for the gear travelling in the galley then take my darling wife for a local evening at the seashore... something to salvage what remains of a savage effort.

[mandy]

I'm so sorry Chris. I know how you feel, I missed going to the last IRG. Things came up and I didn't have the funds anymore to go. Well heres hoping we can make it to the next one.

[2bits]

Wow Chris, I can completely understand. I think you made the right call though. So what is plan after the maiden voyage? Immediate teardown to build the full version, or leave it up while you build other parts of the big body?

I am truly sorry you had to call it off though. I missed a few good ones, but once I started camping, then it was all OK....

[Billy K]

C'mon man....we gotta see the bright side...sometimes

You got a good night's sleep. You get a beach evening with a lovely lady.
You know what won't work. You're still on this side of the daisies!!

Sorry, you didn't make it. We're pullin' for you on your the next objective though!!

or, look at it this way....even Ron Cey had a few bad days!

[mark6mueller]

I like everything about this trailer! Great work!

[grizz]

Hey Chris, Gutted for you.

However, Kudos for the restitution action taking your wife out anyway.

Girls put up with a lot when we get sucked into our hobbies.

My ex girlfried used to say a Mistress was easy to deal with, but bikes, cars and woodwork was less so.


I did not in the background of this pic an interesting bike.

Please do tell me more, and if you have the time and inclination, show us more please.

[S. Heisley]

Applause for your effort:
I think IRG should send you a prize for trying so hard to make it!

Please know that you were missed.

Whether you realize it or not, you probably got more done than you would have if you hadn't set a deadline.

Now, maybe you can take it easy for a few days. The good days of life are too short.

[mandy]

Hey Chris, Gutted for you.

However, Kudos for the restitution action taking your wife out anyway.

Girls put up with a lot when we get sucked into our hobbies.

My ex girlfried used to say a Mistress was easy to deal with, but bikes, cars and woodwork was less so.


I did not in the background of this pic an interesting bike.

Please do tell me more, and if you have the time and inclination, show us more please.

Thats Chris' motorized bike.

[teardrop_focus]

Thanks for the support.

We took the trailer out for an afternoon's 120-mile loop up the coast and back with a visit to my stepbrother in Ventura Co. Towed like a dream w/ an added 80 lbs of water stashed over the axle. Lost one of the cheap steel wheel baby moon hubcaps, though. I have a spare and will see if that one doesn't fit any better. Everything else worked well, including my rear panel fix and the tarp tie down setup.

Sharon, I most definately achieved more; much more than if I'd just tinkered away at it in my usual, relaxed style... I have a camping trailer!

But I've cheated myself... it's only half a teardrop. So, work will begin perhaps this week (depending on work schedule) to build a top for this; I might as well have fun with what I've already made... it was and remains a "practice body".



Rian, the Schwinn is motorized w/ the now-typical, Chinese 2-stroke bicycle engine kit. I added a cheap re-pop chrome springer fork (junk) and a mechanically-actuated front disc brake. I should post some current photos in a T&TTT Bicycle forum thread. Give me a few days.

Thanks again, everyone, for the reinforcement! It means a lot to see your posts here in my thread.

[High Desert]

Good to hear you've remedied the issue Chris (knew you would)

Now Onward! Glyphs maybe?

Maybe some arched roof bows for a semi-covered wagon look sort of a hot rod/old west theme...

[S. Heisley]

Maybe a modern Conestoga Wagon?

[teardrop_focus]

I want a teardrop... I only did the wagon 'cause I thought it'd be a quick way to get our camping gear up to the IRG. Heh.

We've tossed around the idea of fabric-over-framework in several different threads here on T&TTT... so it's something I've already visualized, for sure, and as much as I like vardos, I'm not going circular like a Conestoga or a vardo might look.

In order to keep what I've done so far and not have to build another new floor/walls superstructure, I might do my tear's upper-half profile in framework and cover that in Sunbrella; the whole thing might look like a Carson top that you'd see on a kustom car. Might even do a fabric hatch...



Wood bottom; tent top. Problem is keeping it from "billowing" out when going down the road. Needs to be stitched to the spars (both side-to-side as well as fore-to-aft spars) like an older fabric aircraft might have been.



We'll see. As I might have said earlier, why not have some more fun with this practice body before it sees the scrap pile.

[S. Heisley]

Teardropfocus wrote:

Wood bottom; tent top. Problem is keeping it from "billowing" out when going down the road. Needs to be stitched to the spars (both side-to-side as well as fore-to-aft spars) like an older fabric aircraft might have been.

We'll see. As I might have said earlier, why not have some more fun with this practice body before it sees the scrap pile.

...Sounds like a plan. You're right about the billowing. I've seen convertibles do that. You could have sides that fold over your belongings and then lift at camp, along with the fabric top. That way, the Sunbrella fabric could be down for travel and lifted when you get there and you'd have an efficient, low profile trailer for traveling. ...Might take some thought, but you've gotten this far. Whatever you do, you'll get there.

[teardrop_focus]

You could have sides that fold over your belongings and then lift at camp, along with the fabric top. That way, the Sunbrella fabric could be down for travel and lifted when you get there and you'd have an efficient, low profile trailer for traveling.

That's a great idea! But... it'd be even more work than building a tear-shaped framework and then simply adding ply or fabric covering or a combo of both. Designing something like that to have it hinge and fold away is beyond scope of what it is I'd like to achieve, however.

Ultimately, I want a proper teardrop profile; with my trailer's 9-inch ride height it's 48-inch cabin height will match the car's roofline height exactly, making for that efficient travelling configuration. (the wagon's sidewall profile is taken directly from my full teardrop profile).

I like the way you think, milady. Please keep the ideas coming.

[Steve_Cox]

Chris,

Really saddened by the turn of events. I know how you must feel with all the efforts and desire to attend the IRG. I hope to be there myself next time. Maybe it will be a first time for both of us. Hope to see you there.