The 2nd teardrop,,,,,,,,, or more

[gene so]

Hello,

I am in the design and accumulation of components phase of my custom teardrop meant for both civilized and off road use. After Cancer and a heart attack I'm retired and can spend time building one of these camper correctly for me, the first time.

I would like to hear from those who have built more than one of these teardrops as to what you did the first time and how your second attempt was different .

Thank you in advance,

Gene So

[KCStudly]

There's a thread for that. http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=550

Looks like the most popular option is people who built 4 wide wished they had done 5.

Welcome to the forum. The best advice I can give is to read a lot here. Learn from other people's mistakes and decide what configuration and build methods will work for you. The other thing I see is people who think they need all of the whistles and bells on their first build. Works for some, but can hold you back getting 'er done. So maybe it would be better to leave some things as optional with provision to add later.

Read the stickies in Build Journals and construction secrets, and if you need to build light weight, consider checking out the Foamie section.

Any thoughts on what profile you might build, and what type of construction appeals to you (plywood, stick built, skeleton, foamie)?

[tony.latham]

Gene:

I owned a factory built (Hunter) teardrop for about ten years. It was a 4-wide. I got a tour of a So-Cal 5-wide a few years back and I was building one a month later. My second build was a 4-wide for my sister and her husband (they're skinny little people and tow with a CRV ) and am working on another 5-wide for a friend. I'm a believer in 5x10' teardrops unless you have limitations on tow weight. (I think you can do damn near the same with a 5 x 9) You can expect a 5x10' sized teardrop using traditional construction methods to hit about 1300 to 1400 pounds.

I think you need to answer this question first: What type of wall construction do you want? Plywood, Sandwiched, Foam, or Hybrid foam? I'm a sandwich-wall guy and you'll have a hard time getting me to change. I think all the factory built tears are made from plywood, there's a reason for that; time and money. Sandwiched walls are more expensive, more labor intensive but they are stronger (in my opinion) and don't sweat if insulated unlike straight plywood walls.

Before my first build, I bought Steve Fredrick's teardrop Shop Manual – http://www.campingclassics.com/shopman05.html - It's a couple hundred pages with lots of how-to photographs and discusssion. I highly recommend it. I think his hatch building method is significantly superior to others that I've seen, certainly much better than my factory built hatch.



I've built sandwich walls using 3/4" pine, 1/2" AC plywood and 3/4" plywood for the internal structure. The plywood is faster, the pine is cheaper. Both work fine. If I ever build another, I'll use plywood internally again and may go back to 1/2" but I'd have to think about that choice. (I'd never use CDX, too many voids, too few plys).



However you choose to build, I'd recommend the first thing you do is construct a 1/4" wall template and lay everything out on it first. It'll be your full size plan, router template, and pattern for cutting your aluminum (if you are sheathing with it or another material). I route mortises into my walls for bulkheads and use cutouts in my template for router guides on the mortises.

My first build was done on the trailer chassis that I welded up. My second one was done on a wheeled dolly since my bro-in-law was welding up the chassis. My third build? It's being done on the dolly even though the trailer chassis is sitting outside ready to go.

Obviously I didn't build my first teardrop. But what I learned was this:
1. The extra foot with a 5-wide is huge both in the galley but especially in the cabin with the wife. I do miss my 4-wide a bit when solo. It's footprint was great.
2. Water eats teardrops. Both of my personal teardrops have been aluminum sheathed. All of my builds are constructed that way. The exterior of my builds are all sealed with epoxy prior to sheathing. I wish they had sealed my first tear with something. Several coats of thinned polyurethane would be my minimum standard but you can't beat epoxy.
3. My first teardrop had a linoleum floor in the galley. A great place for water to sneak in on the edges and sit. Can you guess what my galley floors are sealed with?
4. My first teardrop had one computer fan to ventilate the cabin. It wasn't enough. (some people seem to make these work) I swear by my Fantastic Vent Fan. (I'm a 12V guy and that won't change) Teardrops need ventilation beyond a couple of screened door windows. (I don't need AC in Idaho. Elevation is a good thing in the summer.)
5. On my first teardrop, I stretched my outside and interior skins (1/4" subflooring plywood) from 8' to 10' using 2" routed-lapped joinery. I don't do that anymore. I butt glue it over my interior structure. It's plenty strong and the joints are unseen in the galley area (right at the lower bulkhead). Less labor. I join my internal wall plywood (inside the wall, not the interior of the cabin) using a spline joint that I place ahead of the doors so the interior and outside skins act as gussets.
6. And what didn't I change from my first teardrop? I still copy Hunter's galley and simplistic but functional storage areas inside the cabin. But that's a whole 'nuther thread.



Have a good build!

Tony

p.s. Here's my "build video" from my first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I8uM_U54p4