Hoosier Honeymooners, Here!

[ssroelfs]

Well, we're not quite honeymooners any more (we've been married a year and a half), but I thought the alliteration was alluring! Seeing as how we are still in the beginning years of marriage, we are still poor. We live in an apartment in northwest Indiana and we love to camp at the Indiana State Dunes! (Because it's cheap and close for us poor people!) Anywho, we have just fallen in love with these teardrop campers!! We want to build one so bad! We've done the tent camping (the two of us and a dog and a cat). I don't really enjoy setting up a tent and setting up a kitchen on a table yadda yadda yadda. My husband and I would like to build a teardrop! He's very handy and loves to figure things out. BUUT, like I said, we live in an apartment (no garage) and we're poor. So we'd like to complete this project as frugal as possible.
There are a few things that my husband won't be able to do (for instance, weld--anything for that matter--but specifically a new hitch to our Taurus X). So we thought we'd try (we haven't done this yet, just talked about it) to exchange labor for service at a local shop. Barter. Like they did in the olden days. Do you think anybody would take us up on that offer? We've also been scouring craigslist and yards and whathaveyou for parts. We're not in a REAL hurry to build this, we intended to take all summer to attempt to acquire all our necessary parts to begin the build. We've tossed the idea around of building at my parents house a couple hours south of us, but that's just about a $25 drive each way!
Anyways, any thoughts and suggestions to us newbies in Northwest Indiana? We don't really have a budget in mind, just as frugal as possible. We welcome any and all comments and suggestions!

[Junkboy999]

Welcome to the forums

One guy on the forums rented a garage at a storage place and did his work in there. I suggest you keep
a lookout for a used one, but you’ll still need a place to park it. THe lottle woody one in my avator I got 1,000 used.

I remember rebuilding a Motorcycle while I was living on the dorms at Mildenhall England. If you build
it, and test fit it all together in the apartment I guess you can do the final assembly outside. GL.

[WhitneyK]

Well, we're not quite honeymooners any more (we've been married a year and a half), but I thought the alliteration was alluring! Seeing as how we are still in the beginning years of marriage, we are still poor.

Ahhh, I remember those days,...... we tried to live on love,....... like to have starved to death!
Welcome to the forum from a fellow Hoosier. Building on a budget I understand quite well. Check out my build thread and you'll see what I mean. Ended up with around $1400 in mine, and after saving motel costs on a 2 week vacation last fall, I figure it's now paid for. (& no bed bugs)

So you're from NW IN, kinda like the Chi-town area? hmmm Northern IN is where they build the big boys, I've heard there are good sources for "used" or scratch & dent camper material within a reasonable drive from you.

Nowhere to build? Not sure what your parking arrangements are but on builder on the site - Kinto, from St Louis - built his while living in an apartment. Wasn't able to make noise after dark if I remember correctly, but still got 'er done.

Good luck on the build, beat the bushes for bargains, and don't hesitate to ask questions.

[ssroelfs]

Whitney--Thanks for the welcome! We're still about an hour drive from Chicago, but only 25 minutes from the Indiana Dunes State Park! Where we do most of our camping, because we can camp and still go to work!

I cannot even imagine building a camper in our apartment! I don't think my husband would be too apt for that. I also conduct business out of my apartment--piano lessons. But we might have to get creative! I'll definitely have to look that other builder up that did this!

Do you by chance have a budget or sources from where you got your materials? I have been over to the RV building mega district (my parents purchased a 5th wheel, and we toured the Jayco plant with them--that was astounding! They let us walk in the factory among the workers, like, stepping over sharp knives and materials and such, no ropes to stand behind! So cool!) But I never thought of used/ damaged/ scratched materials from places like that! I'll have to give that a shot!

I love the decorating and design of your interior! I'll definitely have to show my husband your build!

Thanks for the input! Hopefully we can get started on this soon!

[WhitneyK]

My wife has mentioned going to Indiana Dunes a time or two.
Didn't really find my bargains at any particular place. Just picked them up where I could, including donations from my fellow pack rat neighbor.
The material for the interior is luan; $10 a sheet. I think it looks just fine with a coat of poly on it. Cabinet material came from my wife's aunt's friend who has a cabinet factory. A lot of the "interior decorations" came from Goodwill and Hobby Lobby half price sale.
My biggest score came from a "used camper supply" person at a flea market (he was from the Elkart area). Keep an eye out and good luck.
Keep in touch.

[Desert-rat]

Welcome!

I am recently married too... okay 8 years ago but for some that is still recent

I'm not familiar with what the climate for barter would be like where you are and what you have to offer in exchange.

if you don't have the weld skills a lot of the folks here picked up the Harbor Freight trailer as a base, if your local store does their parking lot sale like they do at mine you can nab one for less than usual. its not free but it is something.

Craigslist and the PennySaver are where I would start poking, as well as Habitat for Humanity outlet stores if you have one nearby.

maybe you will get lucky and can work out renting some yard space or something from a neighbor.

I know at a local burger joint every wednesday several classic car clubs show off their toys, if theres something like that going on you might find someone with time on their hands and enough knowhow to get you going.


i'm rambling but I know what its like to live on Ramen and Mac N Cheese

Happy Hunting Hoosier Honeymooners!

[Mary C]

Welcome to the forum !! well you sound like you really want to build. I am glad. first there is so much info on here just read and read. a lot of people have built and found all the information here without ever registering, So the information is here. I know you are on a budget so scrounging materials is necessary . I do understand. The wood on base on my trailer is all recycled. I am building out of Foam and canvas, I paid $300 for my Harbor freight trailer and put it almost together in my family room. then I took the pieces out to my driveway and put the pieces together in a day. So far the top part has cost $225. thats for foam, gripper , glue and canvas hinge and other little stuff. I am a widow living on Social Security. You can do it. You may find an outlet for wood but I couldn't. I went by a metal shop and told the man I needed a piece of scrap and what it was for and he even drilled a hole in it and didn't charge me anything. Perhaps there is a way you can build it in a storage place. I cut out my foam with a knife but I still had to cut the wood for the base. Just think outside the box so to speak. You will do fine. Make it a fun project and you will laugh about it from now on. Make plenty of Good Luck!!!


Mary C.

[Roly Nelson]

To build on the cheap, Harbor Freight trailers are the answer. I have built 3 TDs on that trailer, and they work just fine for me, no welding required, just some bolt up. Keep in mind that you want to make it as light as possible and you will save a bunch of money. Check out if someone has a single car garage for rent, you can build it in that confined area, without any major problems. Good luck, take pics, ask questions and enjoy our TD life style, it can be more than you ever imagined.
Roly, the li'l ol' So Calif woody TD guy...... ~~

[ssroelfs]

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions and advice! We might be able to build on our back porch/ yard/ street... we'll see.
Desert-rat: I have never heard of PennySaver or an outlet store for Habitat for Humanity. I will definitely have to look into both of those!
We'd like to use aluminium for the siding, or at least that's what we think we'd like to use. Any suggestions on that? Where do you buy it? Etc.
We think we found a hitch for our Taurus X for a good deal. That's our first step: without that, we can't haul anything!
I'm checking craigslist and deals every day! Is there a list anywhere of essential items we'll need for a basic TD?
Thanks everybody! We'll keep you all updated!

[ssroelfs]

Hi all! I see my wife has been busy meeting you all and getting a lot of good advice. I should clarify a few things though. I do have some welding skills, though they are with a stick welder. I don't know of any welding machines I would have access to off the top of my head but growing up in farm town Demotte I'm sure I could find a friend indeed. So if you have any advice that requires welding we'd love to hear it! As for a place to build we have friends nearby willing to shelter us for a winter build so that's one problem solved now. My real concerns are in materials. What have you found makes good materials for building the camper. Should we stay away from certain types of wood, is aluminum good for the skin of the teardrop or is galvanized steel better for the price. Is wood the most cost effective material? Any good places to look for the electrical components or just fun facts some amateur's should know about the electrical work? Im buying a hitch off Amazon this week and installing it so we're definitely hoping to get serious about searching for a trailer. We figure if we look all summer and can't find something cheaper we'll resort to spending the cash on a HF trailer, but what are some of the other big ticket items we should be worried about? Any suggestions or just fun stories of ways you've saved money building a teardrop? Also I love of the pictures and examples everyone has what a great community!

[Junkboy999]

The trailer is one of the biggest expense. Other that might be worth saving up for:

Manufactured doors ( saves time instead of building ones, but $200 - $400 each )
RV style circuit breaker panel $60 - $350 depending on the size.
Deep Cycle batteries
The exterior covering, Aluminum cover, fiberglass reinforced panels, even Marine epoxy paint.
Water Tanks (RV style, not ones that set on the galley)
Better tires.

If you just go out and buy everything you need for a camper today you'll spend a bunch. If you take your time and search the net you might be able to save $$ on parts here and there as you can find them even if you're not ready to use that part.

As for the martials use for constructing the camper, it is all down to what you can get a hold of, what you are comfortable working with. Some are all nice wood, other are cheap play and covered or painted. Other are all metal.

Take a month and look through as many build logs as you can handle a week. You don’t need to read every post in their thread just the post the builder to help you skim through them.

[Desert-rat]

aluminum. see if there are any local trailer building shops nearby (the kind that build enclosed trailers) they might let you buy what you need from them, or point you in the right direction. I think you would rather deal locally than to pay for shipping which can get painful.

[ssroelfs]

Junkboy: thanks for the starter list. I never imagined doors being so expensive! Maybe we can thrift those. We don't really plan on building until winter time or so, so we've got time to hunt and gather all our necessities.

desert-rat: that's a good point about the aluminum. There is actually a shop in town that builds enclosed trailers. I'll definitely have to check them out, thanks!

Thanks for all the input everyone!

[dan galvin]

going to chime in here just saw a teardrop on craigs list 550$ it is in st charles il
i pm you if you need help on the build i be glad to help
Dan

[ssroelfs]

Dan
Thanks for the offer to help! Can you find a link to that trailer on craigslist?!? I've searched but can't seem to find it! Unless it's already gone.