Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I will preface this thread with a huge thank you to all of the posters here. I was set on building a teardrop when I realized that I can't afford a popup in good repair. Fast forward a few months into the planning stage, and I find the foamie forum...now here I am, with a plan, some pocket change, and a burning desire to camp already!

My wife and I plan to take month-long summer trips with our 9 year old daughter to see the beauty that the USA has to offer. We will camp-drive-camp our way across a.third of the country each summer (until the kiddo is too cool to hang with us anymore)! Hopefully, trip #1 will start next summer, with plans to head west from Albuquerque to the PCH and travel the west coast to Seattle, then back through Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore and the Rockies. Year 2 will be the Midwest and north east, and year 3 will include Nashville, DC, and the east cost colonial historical sites.

Our camper will be bare bones...just beds and some storage. I have estimated my cost to be between $1200 and $1500. I purchased a 5x8 northern tool heavy duty trailer, and I have assembled it, raised it 3 inches (for off-road clearance and to build over the wheels), and extended the toungue 24 inches. I built a frame for the floor with 2x3 pine, and attached 3/4 plywood for the floor. The floor dimensions are 75"x96" for an interior of 71x94 (2" foam side walls, 1" front, back, and roof). The front of the trailer will have a 24"x24" storage across the width, with the top extending to 32" to be a bunk for the kiddo. The bunk will have a custom foam mattress, and the main bed will be the tempurpedic full size matress from our extra bedroom (may as well camp in style, right?).

What is the best way to add pictures? I will include some when I figure it out.

Welcome to the dark side! For help with pictures, go here: viewtopic.php?p=911290#p911290 . Can't wait to see what you have going.

Also there is a video for picture posting in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=57265

Welcome to the foamie side of things!

Sounds like a great plan with lots of motivation.

I'm sure you have read already, but it bears repeating just in case you hadn't, you may find it difficult to share a mattress between house and TD. Many people report having trouble wrangling the foam mattresses in or out once they have let them out of their compressed shipping state. So either plan on nice big side doors, or build a trap door access from under the galley counter (like some people do for inner spring mattresses).

For pictures, I like to use the gallery space provided with your membership. That way your pics will always be associated with the forum and there will never be a problem with broken links.

While logged in, select the "Gallery" button on the right side of the header up there ^. A little way down that page you will see your personal album. Click that and it becomes pretty obvious how to load pics. There is a size limit on them; IIRC it is 800 x 600, so I just set my camera at that resolution (whatever it is) to avoid having to resize.

I like to label and load my pics with numerical prefixes in the order that I intend to post them. That way when I progress thru the individual picture url screens I don't have to hunt back and forth. When composing a post the way I like to do it is have the pics all loaded up and my gallery open. For big epic posts I will work off line in Word so as not to get booted out and lose my work. Select the first pic and double click to get to the single pic view screen. Copy the "Image-URL Code" under the pic and paste that into your composition. If composing here on the forums you can use the "Img" button to bracket the image url with the [img]your picture url code here[/img ] code (no spaces... I have left a space before the last bracket so that the code will show here). Highlight the image url first, or hit the Img tags first then paste it in the middle of the [img]tags here{/img ]. When working in Word, I just type out the img tags.

So here is a trick I have learned; by having my pictures in order, I can actually copy that whole img code picture url line, paste that in for the next image, and only have to bump the last number of the url up by one to equal the next picture.

If that doesn't make sense, select the "Forum Problems" pull down at the top header and select "Help with Photos".

If you use the "Gallery" button in the composition screen, or the "Image BBCode" under the individual pic, your image will come into the post as a smaller clickable image that enlarges to a separate screen. (Not my preference.)

One last thing, IMO it is annoying when the images land all over the page or at the end of a line of text. If you put the img code on its own line it will appear better and read easier in the post.

Again, welcome, and I hope this helps more than it confuses.

Ah hah! Thanks for the great instructions

And to clarify, I am not moving the mattress once in place, it will forever more be my camping pad. My spare bedroom is getting a makeover, and my future hunting trips just got a lot more comfortable!

Looks like you're off to a great start! Welcome to the Foamie side and keep posting those pics. don't forget about sealing or coating the underside of the floor It's easier to do before you secure it ti the frame...

Thanks for the reminder! I do plan to coat the whole wooden structure with 50/50 (chuck sauce?). And the under floor with a few coats of truck bed liner paint (leaving bare wood.to glue the foam to of course).

I have a couple questions to have the experts ponder...


The door will have plexiglass sandwiched between ply skins with either hardwood or foam channels to guide it. I plan to make weather stripping by covering the plexi, then temp-installing it into the door, then caulking (or some similar material) around the window opening (like you would to caulk a bath tub). What could I cover the plexi with that would not let silicone caulking stick to it while it cured (i thought maybe painters tape or parchment paper)? Also, what material would you recommend for the seal?

You might want to re-size your Pics so we can see all of it ... too big just gets lost ...

Yeah, sorry for that. I will try to figure that out soon. Computers are not really my thing...

Not sure I understand the part with the silicone. We generally try to stay away from that because it does not take paint well and is a PITA to get rid of once it is there.

If you are talking about molding your own window seals out of it, I would recommend that you use rubber lip seal material instead (available from RV suppliers). It will keep a positive "spring" pressure on the "glass" and will provide a much more compliant seal. If you screw the inner door panels onto the door frame without glue, you can disassemble later for service/replacement (and to muck out the rotten wood caused by the inevitable leaks).



The sliding window idea is kind of neat, but frankly, I see it as a big complication and a heck of a big chance for leaks. A hinged top/flip out bottom surface mounted (...or slightly recessed) with a flange seal on the outside of the door would be much easier to build and maintain.

Good point on my door design. I have yet to figure out how to make a flip-up window that you can adjust from the inside of the camper, and still have a screen on the inside. Any suggestions?

How about just using a Velcro stick on screen inside the window ... Lift it up for adjustments, stick it back to keep the skeeters' out.... just an idea

Other threads have also discussed prop rod mechanisms that extend out thru a separate, smaller hole below the screen perimeter (thru the bottom sill). The rod has a separate annular seal or wiper, even those frizzy eyelash style trims would keep bugs out. The rods can have notches in them to allow the window to be propped open different amounts, and can be hinged at the base of the pane so that when they are drawn in they can fold flat to the sill and act like a lock bar.

Have you seen any of the threads about the Wiley Windows?

I really like the Wiley windows. I think I may do those. Thanks for the idea!

Now for updates.










So, I framed out the storage compartment/bunk, added some square supports and the bunk supports, and purchased an orbital sander, and two trailer jacks (a wheeled one for up front and a footed one for this rear). I also drilled through the frame for the carriage bolts that will hold the tear to the trailer. I struggled to find much time this weekend, but I suppose the progress is acceptable. I also bought some mineral spirits and poly to coat all the wood. Hopefully, I will secure the bunk to the storage area (it is just sitting on top in the pics), and coat at least the bottom of the floor with the poly. Then, I wait for uncle Sam's check to get the rest of my supplies.

GPW wrote:You might want to re-size your Pics so we can see all of it ... too big just gets lost ...

There you go GPW, I figured out the pic size! Much easier to read nownow

Scuba, Cool !!!

That’s some strong framing inside .... You could lighten that a good bit using some aircraft techniques... and a jig saw...and still have the strength you need ... The basis of a foamie is : Every pound you save in the construction means an extra pound of your “stuff” you can carry along !!!