Central Iowa Newbie

[Nelsonsrus]

Well, after staring at the ceiling and being unable to sleep, it dawned on me that it must be a sign to finally introduce myself and commit to building our first teardrop. My wife and I got interested in teardrops after running across a few pictures of them online a year+ ago. Since then the thought of owning our own has been lurking in the background and popping into our thoughts on an increasingly regular basis.

After finally seeing a teardrop in person, my wife was ready to plunk down some cash and buy one. While very appealing, it went against my do-it-yourself nature (maybe I'm just cheap!) and I offhandedly said something along the lines of "Yeh, but if we did it ourselves, we could get more for less and customize it exactly the way we want." To my surprise, she said, "You got one year." Motivation to say the least. So for the last month I've been reading (and rereading) multiple posts to get an idea of what we want, how to get started, etc.

While there are so many wonderful builds out there, we've (okay me) been particularly drawn to Dave's Travelear. So much so that I think that's what we'll base our build on. We'll make tweaks here and there based on our needs and esires and what we've seen on many of the other builds. I have yet to get in touch with Dave and ask his permission to "duplicate" his design, but based on his build thread, he seems more than accommodating and helpful.

My son is a welder and is going to help build the frame. Woodworking has been a hobby since junior high and also happens to be my avocation, so I'm comfortable with the build. With that said, I will certainly have more questions than I can answer especially when it comes to electrical, but everyone here seems more than willing to provide an answer or opinion.

This post is becoming more like a short story, so it's time to hit the Submit key and get the ball rolling.

Thanks in advance for all the inspiration and help.

Bryan

[Woodbutcher]

Welcome, and congrats on the decision to build your own. Have fun making sawdust and post some pictures along the way.

[bc toys]

Welcome to site and sounds like you have everything under control as for electrical just ask away if I see it i'll try to give you advice i've been doing it for 30+ yrs now Best advice I can give you is install 1 more then you think you might need. Wire the trailer separate from the TV thats my .02$

[Nelsonsrus]

Thanks for the welcome. Hope to start a build thread in the next couple of weeks. The fun begins.

[Kevin & Sandy]

Welcome, you've come to the right place place for info !!!

You're motivation sounds like mine, except when I would be standing there looking things over and trying to think through something, she would stick her head in the garage door and say,"Don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING !!"