My first try

[Richard Miller]

Well here goes.

I bought a Harbor Freight welder and have been learning to weld with this build. The frame is 11 gage 2" square tubing on a 0º offset Dexter torque flex axle, my buddy said, just turn the welder up until it burns through, then back off a little ha ha, well it's looking pretty good.

Trailer is 4'x9' with Dave McCam profile. I just took some pex tubing and bent it into the approx profile and taped it to a sheet of MDO plywood and traced it out several times until I got the look I wanted. I know you like pictures so I've taken a few.


the walls and floor are made using ¾" MDO plywood, I covered the bottom of the floor with the Peel N Stick flashing fixxer stuff that is basically thick foil backed tar !

More pictures,




May cut off a piece of the first fender and weld it to this one and make a chariot style fender, any opinions one way or the other?


I never was one for following instructions so I'm kinda winging it, I'm sure it will change many times before I'm finished.

Here's a picture of my tow vehicle,


Richard

[jbyrd]

Looks very good, and I like the idea of the chariot fender, think it will fit well with the style your after.

[CliffinGA]

Nice star on your tear, and I like Dave's profile also! Think I will do it on tear#2 this fall ir next spring. You'll recognize the clor scheme on my tear from one of the 2 sources I picked it out for , small world it looks like your not far from where my mom lives in Lubbock off of 47th and Slide Rd! Well welcome to the forum and great TV and a great start to you tear!

Cliff

[danlott]

The Travelear is my favorite profile. It is a combination of all the shapes of the other profiles that I like. Thank you to Dave McCam for creating it.

By the way your trailer is looking good.

Dan

[Elizabeth C.]

Awesome tow vehicle dude!

Nice build! I'll be watchin'.

Dr. C-Dawg

[Captain Monkeyshines]

57 T-Bird! Black with flames! American Racing Salt Flat wheels! My vote for the most awesome tow vehicle yet! Extra points if the mill is the supercharged variety!

and the teardrop is looking sweet too!

[kinto]

Nice!

i'm not even a 'car person' but dig the looks of the black/ flames tv.

make it happen!

kent

[Richard Miller]

Thanks guys for the compliments, I've still got a long ways to go.

I'm still looking at all the different galleys and I might just go without a galley for awhile until I actually figure out what I'll need.
Has anyone used the pebble textured FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) for inner ceiling, is it very flexible? I'm planning on luan inner walls and aluminum skin, small HF gen. with small AC and microwave and 12 DC for lighting.
As of a couple days ago, weight was 180# at each wheel and 80# at the tongue, hopefully I'll total around 800# when finished and loaded.

Sorry Captain but no supercharger,It's a 1955 T-bird with a .060 over 292 but it has been breathed on pretty good with ported heads, Holman moody cam and forged pistons.
I was running 2-4's but I've swapped that out for single 4bbl and will be changing to an Isky cam also to make it more highway friendly, I've also got a 5spd, disc brakes and r&p steering. Here's a pic when I had the 2-4's on it


Cliff, I've probably been by your mom's place many times, I was raised in Slaton but I had a girlfriend going to Coronado and she lived west of Slide on 47th.
I'm out on 92nd just west of Slide.

Thanks again for the comments, Richard

[Richard Miller]

Hi again, well I've gotten alittle more done to the tear.

I got the FRP headliner cut and installed and the hole cut for the vent/fan, I also decided to cut the hatch down some and now the bottom half will stay in the fixed position. The counter top is hinged to allow access/storage for the air conditioner, portable generator, and battery box. I'll also have some additional storage space there.
Counter height is 31" and and the surface is 19" deep. I think I'll probably cover it with peel and stick vinyl tiles with the old reliable gear heads black and white checkerboard pattern.

I used luan ply on the interior walls and I'm still working on the cabinets with ½" hardwood ply from HD.
on the exterior I've added Atwood stabilizer jacks in back and a tongue box from HF up front.

I know you guys like pictures but i just haven't taken any lately, here are a couple I took about 3 weeks ago with it mocked up behind the t-bird, I've been building the drawbar hitch to go under the car but not to show when the trailer isn't hooked up.



Maybe I'll get some pictures when i get the cabinets/cubbyholes all installed.

Richard

[Richard Miller]

Has anyone here ever used something other that a hurricaine hinge or piano hinge for the galley hinge?

I found some conveyor belt remnants at a belt and hose supply house and I think it is going to make a dandy hinge.
here are a few pictures of what I'm talking about



It is a PVC inpregnated canvas belt that is 1/8th inch thick and pretty flexible, alsothe guy at the counter said it was for outdoor use so I'm assuming it has UV protection in the PVC.
I picked up a 10' x 4" strip for $5 off the remnant shelf.

Next I went to Home Depot and picked up a 1" oval carpet bar, this is a 6' long aluminum strip used to transition from carpet to bare floor I assume.
anyway it looks like it would work perfect to go over the conveyor belt and be part of the hinge.

here you can see the belt after I trimmed it down to 3" wide on my band saw

The second part of the hinge will be an awning bar thingie like this

This way I'll also be able to secure a nice size canvas awning over my work area.

I got lucky and picked up the 12' awning rail and 2 20' pieces of edge molding for $15 at an RV place here.

The plan is to use a silicone bead between the aluminum skin and the belt then then the aluminum strip over that with screws placed abt every 3½".

So what do you think, will it work ok ?

[Richard Miller]

Here's another question,

has anyone ever built a door opening without using the suggested T molding, and if you have how did you seal it and are there any pro's or con's,. and what is the gap between the door and the door opening?
Thanks, Richard

[KCStudly]

I think the trick to the "floppy" hinge is to keep the clamped portions as close to each other as possible, otherwise the top of the hatch will try to flop down by however much sag is available in the rag hinge.

I seem to recall reading of an attempt to do this that did not end well due to lack of rigidity. That being said, conveyor material is generally very robust with lots of imbedded fibers, so if you make your backing bars as close together as possible, while still allowing for the swing that you need, it might work.

A small test piece seems to be in order before committing to full scale.

[Richard Miller]

Thanks KC

I took 2 small pieces abt. 3" wide and did a trial run, looks like I had the hold down backer bars alittle far apart but it did work fairly well.
I am planning on moving the backer bars closer together.

I'll also be using this type of seal that might actually self adjust with a little flexability at the hinge


I figure I could always put a bump stop on the inside side walls if i see excessive drop in the hinge area.

Thanks again for the input KC, any constructive criticism only helps to find problems and find fixes before a plan is put into motion.

Richard

[DMcCam]

Hi Richard, Great start on your Teardrop Sir!!! It's very gratifying to see so many members using my profile for their builds, I'll be a following yours for sure! I hope you can get some 5' wide .040 aluminum for the roof. The .063 I had to use was way overkill and hard to work with. About the hatch hinge, I used Lil' Bear Tag-a-Long's Better that Hurricane hinge. To me, using a time tested hinge is well worth the money and piece of mind. Of course innovation has its merits too.

All the best,

Dave

[KCStudly]

Yeah, the next problem might not be the hatch settling down, but the seal holding it up, maybe even enough to keep from forming a good seal at the outside walls.