Building The Atma Travelear Teardrop

[DMcCam]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Atma Travelear in the wild! We camped over Memorial Day weekend at William Kent campground. Everything worked well. We stayed warm as the nights dipped between 34-27 degrees. Lisa, Bob and I had fun although I don't recommend the campground; sites are very poorly laid out.





All the Best,

Dave

[S. Heisley]

That teardrop sure is a beauty, Dave. It looks so good, it makes the rough Wild West look even rougher!
Glad you had a fun time. Thanks for sharing the pics.

[pelonmelon]

Hi Dave,
Wow! I've been lurking and following your build since day one and have to say it is as much a work of art as it is a teardrop trailer. Bravo, what an inspiration, you set the bar very high! My question though is about your tow vehicle. I have a 2009 Honda CRV AWD which I think has the same drivetrain as your Element. How does your vehicle handle the Travelear? Hills? MPG when towing? I hope to see your rig in person someday.
Thanks in advance!
Earl

[DMcCam]

That teardrop sure is a beauty, Dave. It looks so good, it makes the rough Wild West look even rougher!
Glad you had a fun time. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Thank you so much Sharron!!! Hope so camp with you again soon; maybe Twain and Tears?

Hi Dave,
Wow! I've been lurking and following your build since day one and have to say it is as much a work of art as it is a teardrop trailer. Bravo, what an inspiration, you set the bar very high! My question though is about your tow vehicle. I have a 2009 Honda CRV AWD which I think has the same drivetrain as your Element. How does your vehicle handle the Travelear? Hills? MPG when towing? I hope to see your rig in person someday.
Thanks in advance!
Earl

Hiya Earl, Thank you for your kind compliments Sir! So far the Element/Travelear combo has been exceptional. With the trailer brakes and torsion axle I don't really notice the AT affecting the Element though it does take a bit more effort for the Element to get up to speed. The trailer tows straight and true. I'm a slow tow guy so 55-60 mph is fine with me; I'm on vacation after all. I watch the tachometer while towing to see how much effort the Element is putting out. On average we don't tach more than about a grand higher than without the AT unless over a serious pass. If it's taching over 5k then I'll slow down under 55. I'm going to have a transmission cooler installed after Twain and Tears just as a precaution to keep it happy. We seem to be loosing about 2-5 mpg while towing on the highway depending on how many hills we have to climb.

All the Best,

Dave

[wagondude]

Dave, your trailer is at the top of my list of favorites. Right up there with the LT, the Silver Beetle and pretty much anything touched by Doug Hodder. Nice work.

[shropshire]

Hi Dave.

I have been following (studying) your build from day one and have been excited for each new post you have made as well as all the questions raised by other members along the way. Watching the whole process of your build has been captivating. I so much appreciate your generosity to all of us by posting such detailed pictures and documenting the whole process. Your skill with the computer and your drawings have answered many questions. Thank you so much for sharing your Atma Travelear with us. My wife and I have been planning on our own build for some time and you have given me courage to jump in.

I recently retired from a career in firefighting and we are ready to start our own project. I tend to be one who reads as much about a subject as I can before I begin any task and plan so much in my own mind. As I have been studying your build, and before I start cutting metal, I have ran across an area I have couple questions.

Way back in your thread on the chassis build there was some discussion between yourself and aggie79 about clearances between the sidewall of the trailer and the tire. Dealing specifically with the "outside frame to hub face" dimensions.
The chassis plan shows a 57" wide frame and you state that you ordered an axle for a 56" frame. Was this correct? I am assuming your frame is actually 56"? It seems that the pictures you posted of the completed chassis shows that the axle crosspiece is about 1/2" wider than the frame. In subsequent posts I can find no mention of the final clearances. Also, you mentioned wanting to use wheels with a 2mm offset but it sounded as if you may have gone with a 0 offset wheel. Did adding the brake drum affect things? Now that everything is together I am curious how it all panned out.

My second concern is with the derating of the axle. With the AT weighing in at around 1600# were you happy with the axle derated to 1400# on your maiden voyages? I intend on ordering my axle before welding the frame up and am just a little hesitant. I guess I am just having a few jitters about jumping in the water!

Thanks again Dave for all the time and energy you have put into helping newbies like myself. Your trailer is spectacular!

Allen

[DMcCam]

Hi Allen,

Thank you, I'm glad my little thread has been helpful to you Sir. I did the same thing by reading everything I could before starting.

My axle is 56" and the width of the trailer body is 57". The axle shafts extend enough to move the cranks out for clearance. I did go with regular non-offset wheels. Everything clears perfectly with plenty of room. The axle is a 2,000 pound axle. My buddy who built the chassis forgot to add the 'de-rated' to the order. I've done some research and it seems like the de-rating is on paper anyway. For this design, a 2,000 lb axle works fine. The trailer is a little over 1,400 lbs dry and we are packing very light. With the trailer brakes towing has been very easy, smooth and she tracks beautifully. I saw another Honda Element with a transmission cooler at the Dam Gathering that was towing a Camp Inn. Looked like a great idea so we added one too as a precaution.

A few things I would do differently to save weight. I would use lighter 2" steal for the frame than we did. You could easily shave 100 lbs off and still have a strong chassis. The tongue box would be made of 1/2" plywood sides and 1/4" everywhere else; maybe even 1/8". I'd use .040 aluminum for the roof and use seems instead of the .063. For the side walls I'd stick frame instead of the 3/4" MDO. My guess is that you could shave about 2-300 lbs off and still be way strong enough.

I hope this all makes sense. What I've taken away from building our teardrop is if you take your time and ask for help here on the forum when you get stuck, eventually, you will be the proud owner of a wonderful little trailer. You can do it!!!

All the Best,

Dave

[jhtitan]

Hello Dave,
I wanted to say this was a very informative build thread of a beautiful teardrop. I have been browsing around looking for a style i liked and have dubbed your build "The One."

I am going to check out a 6x9 pop up camper trailer frame this weekend and hope to start building on mine shortly after. I have been inspired by and fallen in love with the Travelear and hope you don't mind me using the profile but changing the interior to fit my wants.

You wouldn't have a dxf or dwg file of the profile would you? It would help me a ton with my design (I design in Solidworks so I could import that type of file)

I plan to stay with the 5x10 size. from the looks of similar trailers I should be able to narrow the trailer frame easily enough, and length shouldn't be a problem to adjust with just the sub floor size I would think.

again, thank you for the build thread, she is beautiful!

Jon

[shropshire]

My axle is 56" and the width of the trailer body is 57". The axle shafts extend enough to move the cranks out for clearance. I did go with regular non-offset wheels. Everything clears perfectly with plenty of room. The axle is a 2,000 pound axle. My buddy who built the chassis forgot to add the 'de-rated' to the order. I've done some research and it seems like the de-rating is on paper anyway. For this design, a 2,000 lb axle works fine

Thanks for the reply Dave.
I ordered my wheels and tires today. I think I will wait till I have them in hand so there will be no question about the cross section dimensions and what the distance from hub face to hub face will need to be. I visualize best with a tape measure in hand!
Also, in studying the Flexiride site, it seems they are only offering the electric over hydraulic disk brakes with the 2000# axle which I am not interested in. Did you order the 7" electric drums separately or did they accommodate you on the brakes? I would think the 7" drums would slow the trailer just fine and feel the 10" that they offer on the 3500# axles is overkill. I have never had brakes on my single axle utility trailer and did fine, even loaded heavy. But if a smaller tow vehicle is in our future I'm sure they would give some peace of mind.

Gratefully,
Allen

[DMcCam]

You wouldn't have a dxf or dwg file of the profile would you? It would help me a ton with my design (I design in Solidworks so I could import that type of file)

Hi Jon, Thank you for the kudos good Sir and yes I do have the profile as a dxf! Actually I have the profile for a 5x10 too. Please let me know where to send it via a pm.

Hey Allen, I went with the electric 7" brakes and boy was that a good idea. They really make the trailer move with the TV and not push it around. You hardly notice the trailer while stopping. I personally would not have a trailer without brakes.

All the Best,

Dave

[Via]

Dave

I am interested in how you constructed what appear to be 3 vents, the hatch door and outlet on the tongue box. I have a tongue box with hatch to access the battery but no vents and the hatch door may have to be replaced. Is that an AC outlet for a battery tender?

Also where did you get your porch lights?

Thank you for your help.

[DMcCam]

Dave

I am interested in how you constructed what appear to be 3 vents, the hatch door and outlet on the tongue box. I have a tongue box with hatch to access the battery but no vents and the hatch door may have to be replaced. Is that an AC outlet for a battery tender?

Also where did you get your porch lights?

Thank you for your help.

Hi Via,

The three little vents are just that, 3 - 1" aluminum vents I found at True Value hardware store.You just drill a 1" hole and bang them into place with a mallet (I sealed them with RV silicon sealer too). The outlet is indeed an outdoor male 110 fixture. I wired it to an extension cord to my Battery Tender inside the battery compartment. It was an easy way to connect to the land power when at home. When you say 'hatch door' are you talking about my curved hatch lid or the little plastic doors? The plastic doors are pre-made hatches I found at a local RV parts store. The curved hatch lid was made with ribs of 3/4" plywood covered with 1/8" Baltic Birch ply then covered with anodized aluminum.

All my LED lights are Novalux fixtures from Luminautix.

All the Best,

Dave

[drewh1]

This is one of my favorite builds too, a real piece of art. You are some craftsman! -

Hope you don't mind but I am going to have to imitate it. Do you have any design drawings posted on the forum? I would love to get a real feel for the outline.

[DMcCam]

This is one of my favorite builds too, a real piece of art. You are some craftsman! -

Hope you don't mind but I am going to have to imitate it. Do you have any design drawings posted on the forum? I would love to get a real feel for the outline.

Hi Drewh1,

Thank you for your kind compliments. You are welcome to use my profile for your personal build. I did post a couple of plans in this thread. Please take a look and see if they will work for you. Please let me know if I can help you further.

Cheers,

Dave

[DMcCam]

Howdy Everyone, The good news is that the AT has been a gas to camp in this season. The bad news is my hatch is too heavy for my wife to lift. With the current gas strut setup the struts actually add weight at bottom of the stroke increasing the 48 pounds to about 55 pounds. Even with 150 pound struts, it doesn't start to really lift until the last 10 inches. Sooo I'm looking at using the other method utilizing a longer spring.

Here's the plan based on Mr. Andrew's thread and design.


Will you good engineers and kind folks please take a gander and let me know if it looks right to you? I really, really, really don't want to do this wrong.

Gratefully yours,

Dave