Birchcampers.com teardrop build

[Dan [Sac]]

Beautiful kit and work.

[dabend]

Thanks Dan, It's been a fun build and I wish I could have finished it before it got cold but now the project has to wait until spring. I still need to finish the galley and electric and hope to get that done by next June.

[dabend]

I just spotted a fuzzy photo of the window...

What holds the windows open? Could you snap a photo? Thanks.

Tony

Tony, I'll get a photo this weekend. The window just basically folds down on the hinge so it's completely open or completely closed. There's no way to just crack it open. I'm not wild about how the thumb screws hold it closed and may print some hold-downs but I figure I give it a try and see what works. I followed Capebuild's cross country trip and found it interesting that he said he found several things that he wanted to change on his camper, so I figure they're always just a work in progress.

[tony.latham]

so I figure they're always just a work in progress.

True words.

Thanks,

Tony

[dabend]

I just spotted a fuzzy photo of the window...

What holds the windows open? Could you snap a photo? Thanks.

Tony

Here are the photos of the windows. I think the screen will work fine but as you can see there are no thumbscrews at the bottom and when I was taking the photos I noticed a slight gap at the bottom because the hinge holds the plastic away from the seal. I'll have to take it apart and plane off the hinge standoff but I'm still not convinced it will seal very well with only 3 thumbscrews. Hopefully I won't be camping anywhere where it rains for days like here in Missouri (Monsoon-like in the spring - out of the West). I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but I think I'll be scheming on how to improve or replace the windows later on. And having to find a place to store the screen when not in use kind of irritates me.

[tony.latham]

I think the screen will work fine but...

But you'll get them to work. :thumbs-up:

Tony

[dabend]

It was -8 deg. F. here in Missouri last week but we did get a little snow for Christmas. My wife surprised me by getting me new Tongue box for the teardrop for Christmas. Now I really have cabin fever waiting for it to warm up some so I can finish phase one of the build. Phase one just meaning good enough for a test trip I've been trying to decide what I wanted for a tongue box and was mulling around making one out of a whiskey or wine barrel. The old buy versus build argument.. (Plastic is cheap but weather proof; a wine barrel would look cool with the wood trailer etc..) But, she went a different direction and bought an aluminum diamond plate box. It will actually match the current trailer fenders, so I think it will be great for now. But, I'm still keeping a barrel and fiberglass fenders on the table for a future phase. Come on spring!

[S. Heisley]

This is quite an innovative kit and it looks like you are doing a very proper job with it.

[dabend]

This is quite an innovative kit and it looks like you are doing a very proper job with it.

Thanks Sharon! I took a look at your teardrop links and WOW, talk about innovative. I really like the craft paper and leaves flooring! The folks on this forum have a crazy amount of creativity and DIY skill. I learn something new every time I browse around.

[S. Heisley]

This is quite an innovative kit and it looks like you are doing a very proper job with it.

Thanks Sharon! I took a look at your teardrop links and WOW, talk about innovative. I really like the craft paper and leaves flooring! The folks on this forum have a crazy amount of creativity and DIY skill. I learn something new every time I browse around.

Thanks! You'll find that not only are the people on this site very creative but also some of the best people you will ever meet. Once you are ready to camp in your creation, try going to one of the camp gatherings. You just might be blown away by all you see and hear.

[dabend]

After the Winter break and a spring project, I've had a nice couple of weekends to work on the camper. First, I have to give a big shout out to danlott for his Hatch Gas Spring/Strut Calculator (https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=58263#p1052800). I've been stewing all winter trying to figure out how to do the Galley struts. My first and second attempts using the stock wood struts failed due to the modifications I made for the cooler. I liked the idea of gas struts but didn't want to put 40 holes in the camper trying to figure out how to mount them so I had resigned myself to using hinged poles somehow. Then this spring while browsing struts once again, I stumbled on the answer here on TNTTT. I ran the calculations per Dan's instructions and ordered the struts. I mounted the struts in just a few hours using the calculators dimensions and they worked perfectly the first time and cost less that the other solutions I was trying to cobble together. THANKS Dan and if you have a https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ account, let me know because you deserve it.

Following the struts, I've been working on the Galley shelving and I'm getting close putting the finish on. I trimmed everything to help strengthen it and support the shelves. The scalloped fronts are made using some of the 1/8" scrap that came with the kit and I doubled it up for strength and stained the front piece walnut to match the walnut trim on the counter and side table. I still need to figure out what to do for the side table leg and have more sanding to do, but it's good to be making progress again.

[tearful_se]

Hi I am also building this trailer and have been a bit stuck along the way. I'm not a carpenter but always dreamed of building a teardrop.

For the floor: when Jed lists "galley" is that piece the floor of the galley section? Thank so much for your help on this! Also where are Jed's videos? He hasn't sent them to me yet.

[dabend]

For the floor: when Jed lists "galley" is that piece the floor of the galley section? Thank so much for your help on this! Also where are Jed's videos? He hasn't sent them to me yet.

I'm not 100% sure to what you are referring but there are two pieces of 1/2" birch that make up the floor. The larger one with a square edge on both sides would be the galley end. The shorter one with the angle would be the front side. I had issues with understanding how that worked also and ask the following question. I've also sent you a private message regarding the videos.

Here's his answer to my question:

On Sat, May 28, 2022 at 3:24 PM Darrin Abend wrote:

I have a question about the floor panels. I'm struggling to figure out where the end with the 45 deg. angle goes. I'm guessing it goes on the front (hitch end) of the trailer and the bevel is up? So the longer flat side is on the trailer and the slightly shorter side is up?

Jed's Response:

Correct, bevel up- referencing the notch in the 1/4” sidewall.

Thanks,Jed

So, when he says bevel up it's to match the the bevel on the bottom beveled cross support. I took the following photo to show how the wall panel is cut to match the cross support.

[dabend]

Well, life intervened and I had to take a break on the teardrop project but I finally got back to it this August. It was a productive week and I mostly have the galley finished now. I finished the shims that space the aluminum edge strips so that the galley now seals evenly all of the way down the side. And I added a 1/2" aluminum strip on the camper side so that the silicone seal would stick better and be easier to remove and replace later.



The last part of the galley to finish was the rubber jeep style hold down latches. There were no instructions on how to add the latch and the right angle catch that came with the hardware would not work, so I fabricated some aluminum catches out of the leftover 1-1/2" angle aluminum I used for the cooler slide.



Then all of the remaining silicone work was finished for the front seal strip, and the bottom galley strip. I hate working with silicone, so I was glad to be done with that.

Moving on to the teardrop doors, I found that I had mounted one slightly crooked and it wasn't going to seal properly, so I removed the door, birch doweled the holes and mounted it correctly. Once that was done, I put the door seal on and mounted the interior barrel bolts. I didn't like the cheap ones that came with the kit and changed them to loop style which has the added benefit of a pull handle.



And finally added clear seal coat on the interior floor to help the floor tiles adhere, and finished mounting the tongue box. Next, I'll need to purchase some more Baltic birch plywood to finish the interior shelving.

[dabend]

Made a little more progress today and finished the Galley lock. I've also started building a wood bumper because I want the license plate centered and not so low to the ground. I don't like the plastic license plate holder that came with the trailer (It goes under the tail lights and I've already bent the plate once by lifting the trailer a little to high when I was moving it).

I didn't really plan well (or at all) for the lock and got lucky by having a good place to put the catch right in front of the cooler base that I added for the cooler slide. The lock isn't quite centered in the Galley door which makes my eye twitch, but it was a good location that keeps the catch out of the way for the most part. I spent quite a bit of time researching locks on TNTTT and decided I liked the T-handle garage door lock best. I had a hard time to finding the cam for the lock since I didn't really know what I was looking for, but I finally found one and picked up the lock and cam on Amazon.



To mount the cam, I screwed and epoxied a block of hard maple to the Galley door. It's good and solid and I'll have to put some finish on it.



For the catch, I went back to my leftover 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 aluminum angle that I had left over from the cooler slide and riveted two pieces together with some aircraft rivets.



Next week will be wiring and/or interior shelves.