Fort Worth, Tx Newbie

[ckward]

Hi Everyone,

I am Kristie from Fort Worth, Texas. My husband and I have been dreaming about a teardrop for a few years and every year we talk ourselves out of it. This summer we spent 11 days camping in Yellowstone national park, a few in the back country. We were exhausted and pretty beat up even slept in the back of our Subaru Forester the last two nights. This last trip convinced us both it is time to build.

We built a full size mockup of the exterior and main bulkhead and then sketched in everything we thought we would need and how we would organize. I am currently drawing and detailing the 5 x 10 trailer (Atma inspired). I will start a build Journal and post details for review and comments once I develop drawings more. I do have a few initial questions I hope some of you will answer…..

1. Do any if you have a Subaru forester as a TV? Our Forester is 2010 4-cyl. My father law owns a automotive repair shop, he doesn’t think we’ll have a problem if we keep it at or under 1,000lbs and install breaks. I would love to keep it under 750lbs Thoughts?

2. I really want to use aluminum skin but I want to keep the trailer light. I have dreamed up 2 exterior wall system I would love comments on….
a) Aluminum Skin - 1/8” Hardwood PWD - ¾” Rigid Insulation – 1/8” Interior wood ( I like bamboo plywood as an interior finish)
b) Aluminum Skin – 1/8” Hardwood PWD – Interior ¾” MDF or PWD laser/CNC cut (similar to the Atma) with ¾” rigid insulation infill at voids – 1/8” Interior Wood

I prefer system ‘a’ because I am worried about weight and I do not want to give up any amenities or size. The architect in me thinks I can fasten it well and cross brace to keep the wall sturdy. I am sure you all have some advice.


My husband and I are both architects so we have a habit of OVER designing. We’ll probably need you all to reel us in every once in awhile!

Thanks in advance,

Kristie

[grantstew8]

Dear Kirsty

I've seen a Subaru pull a horsebox with two horses in it. I think it may have some bother stopping though. 1500 lbs or less should be a breeze.

My td will be around 1500lb and the tv is a rav 4 cyl diesel. There are loads of td in the uk being towed by vintage vw campers and the new minis all 4 cyl and less than 120 bhp

With regards racking resistance a twin wall is really rigid and strong - speak to your engineer about sips panels vs stick frame in normal house builds. Td has more wall than window and it is a small compact "box" with the galley partition providing additional racking.

Also search this forum for a "duck tear" made from PVC pipes, insulation and duct-tape. It may not be your cup of tea but it showed me my td is way over designed.

If you're looking at bamboo, I'd love to build another td using strip planking. It offers a boat like shape and exposed wood...

However I'm now rambling and I'll finish up by saying design something you can build, with your skills and tools in your shop.

Welcome and good luck!

[Mary C]

Welcome Kristie and the husband, sorry didn't catch the name. You might want to check out some of the foamie builds too. I am pulling mine with a little 4 cylinder 20 year old Mitsubishi eclipse. It pulls my TD just fine, it has been to IN, Houston and Grayford TX and back to GA. with no problems. I will be going back to Texas in the future hope we can meet . would love to see someone's build in progress. I hope I will get back in Feb or March. Good luck on your build.

Mary C.

[CowboyKell]

I have a 2001 Outback with the 4 cyl. that's worn out and been around. We had it in Houston. Took it to upstate New York for three hard winters. Pulled sailboats weighing a little over 1000 lbs. Then a year in Puerto Rico, another harsh environment, pulling the same. We drove it from Texas to southern California where it does duty as our camp and surf car. Still going strong. I never had brakes on the trailers I pulled and didn't seem to have a problem. The Outback is rather underbraked itself. Goes through front pads fairly quickly. Don't know about the Forester. My teardrop will not have brakes. Not sayin' that is going to be a good thing, but I'm not overly worried.

[drgrumpus]

My modified benroy on stretched 5 x8 nt will have solid 3/4 birch walls with full galley. My weight and balance calc's show final weight of 1250lb. I plan to tow behind my 2005 matrix or new forester. No brakes.

I regularly tow my mg midget on tow dolly with all-up weight of 1700lb. No problemo.

[aggie79]

Welcome Kristie,

Glad to see you joining the TD and TTT community. There are a bunch of us teardroppers in the DFW metroplex.

I haven't weighed our teardrop but I would guesstimate it to be 1200-1500#. I did not, however, pay attention to lightweight construction. Keeping a teardrop to around 1000# is certainly "do-able."

With your design capabilities, and your desire for insulated sidewalls, I would recommend that you consider using some type of minimal framing. I used 3/4" MDO plywood for my framing. The framing will give you "hardpoints" to attach your floor, roof, shelves/cabinets, bulkhead, lighting and other fixtures, etc. Without framing, you most likely would have to use epoxy and fiberglass to surface bond the different assemblies.

I'm assuming you're using CAD. If so, you could really minimize the amount of "framing" necessary to attach the assemblies. Also, with a .dxf file you could have your framing CNC cut for set-up minimal costs.

I look forward to your build.

Take care,
Tom

[Fishingtomatoseed]

Welcome. What software are you going to be using? Like aggie79 was talking you can eliminate a lot of weight drawing it out. Keep it simple and use glue. It will come out strong. I am planning on drawing one in Revit just because I use it a lot and would like to see how it would come out.

Good luck and have fun.

[ckward]

Wow! I love this forum!! Such a warm welcoming community. I have been lurking for a few years .Thanks!

I feel much better about towing with the subie. My father-in-law will insist on trailer breaks. He is building the chassis for us so I can't complain, plus he preforms all the maintenance on the subie.

I am all over the place with computer programs. I was goofing around in sketchup but the accuracy is a pain and I can't get real construction documents out of it. I am in ACAD now detailing working through the basics. Getting my laser/CNC routing set up, nesting and minimizing cutting. I am sure my husband, Collin, will move it into Revit soon. I have mixed emotions about Revit in general.

I think I'll build a mock up of the 'a' panel this weekend and see how it feels. I'll try and get my basic design documents finished up and posted in a build journal in the next week. We'll build at my FIL's shop on the evenings and weekends. The plan is to start about Christmas time. If you are local you're welcome to stop by on a weekend once we get started.

Thanks everyone!!!!

Thanks,
Kristie

[aggie79]

Wow! I love this forum!! Such a warm welcoming community. I have been lurking for a few years .Thanks!

This group is amazing. My wife and I are not outgoing at all and generally stay to ourselves, but at every gathering we've attended - teardrop or no teardrop - we were treated like we had been friends forever with everyone.

I think I'll build a mock up of the 'a' panel this weekend and see how it feels.

One of the challenges you'll have with your 'a' panel design is that rigid insulation is not very consistent in thickness. The extruded tends to vary more than the expanded polysyrene. I have seen on this forum that some have cut it into strips and run it through a thickness planar. On my build, I had the interior finish material applied to the plywood framing. I then installed the insulation and used a combination of a long sanding board and belt sander to lessen the thickness to be flush with my framing.

What type of adhesive are you considering?

Take care,
Tom

[bc toys]

Kristie welcome to this great site hope you get out and see all the nice tears in the FW-D area it will help you with your design and build. Tom and Linda are some really nice people as are all the other I got the pleasure of meeting. Hope to get back over that way and camp with you all some time.

[ckward]

Hi Tom,

I am looking at an FRP adhesive, a coworker told me it lists rigid insulation as useable surface. However, your advice on the thickness inconsistency is worrisome. My goal with the trailer is to utilize the laser cutting as much as possible to reduce build time. So having to do deal with the rigid inconsistency over a large panel sounds like a pain. That might push me towards the 3/4" MDF or PWD interior panel with rigid infill. I've inserted an image of the interior frame below. The frame would be laser cut with foam inserted in the voids.




Thanks,
Kristie

[Prem]

Kristie,

Welcome to the forums!

BTW, you've come to the right place because---collectively---we know just about everything about designing, making and using T&TTT, so research the various forums and personal galleries for the collective insights/wisdom/abnormal shortcuts and techniques.

I'm just a lowly (+ or -) 1/3,000th of this collective, but here's my two cents worth:

1) Metal = weight. Aluminum skin weighs a lot. The aluminum skin added hundreds of pounds to my Round Tail trailer. My 12' all-aluminum cargo conversion trailer weighs 1,800 to 2,000 lbs. depending on the planned duration of the trip. (See my ALBUM) If you really want to reduce the weight you could build a "foamie" or a single-skin teardrop---and carpet the inside walls and ceiling. I suggest 3/8th inch MDO plywood. It's smooth, Kraft paper faced (one or both sides), paintable with silver automotive paint to look like aluminum, and really tough...like on this one I built and will be using on my next build: http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=964&image_id=65437 (Only the diamond plate is metal, super thin and light aluminum.)
2) If you weld up your own chassis, how much chassis the trailer has determines a lot of the weight. See angib's minimalist design ideas in the MEMBER DESIGNS forum: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=34755.
3) You could start with a 5' x 10' aluminum utility trailer for both a big head start and weight savings. http://www.whitespruce.com/2012-mission-trailers-5-x-10-all-aluminum-snow-or-atv-trailer-new-snowmobile-ak-i256837
4) Too many ammenities become heavy. (Plumbing, microwave, refer. It's camping.)
5) Radical suggestions: Resist the temptation to go high tech, like using Catia, CNC, et al. Design it on the back of an envelope. (Ouu!) The brain of an architect is a super computer after all. You don't even need the envelope. Draw directly onto the trailer, but have an eraser handy. (http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=964&image_id=56531) Plus, all you need is a jigsaw, a Japanese back saw, Gorilla glue, bronze-silicone ring shank nails (every 4"-6") and a smooth-faced hammer. Use harder, clear-grain wood, not soft, knotty, warping lumber. Outside the box, varnished rawhide lacing is a joinery technique that we have yet to try. You could be the first. Zen boatbuilding is good. Personally, I like incorporating driftwood as shelf supports. No FabLab here. On the other hand, IF you are totally into aluminum, CAD-CAM, lasers, etc., you could try to top the Rosewell: http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image.php?image_id=64242...which is the Mt. Olympus of T&TTT, IMHO.
6) Trailer brakes for sure! Love them. Wouldn't leave home without them. Lifesavers
7) My wife drives a 4-cyl Forester too. I wouldn't tow more than 750 lbs behind it for the transmission's sake. (Assuming yours has an automatic. Clutch, not a problem.) The fan blades inside the torque converters of small automatic transmissions tend to come apart from the fluid back pressure when down shifting with a load on.
#8 Chemicals (including glues) off gas. You're sleeping in it. Careful.

Lastly, be sure to post photos of your progress (to keep us creatively stimulated) and use emoticons to convey your physical and/or emotional state (to make the text alive, as it were...gives us something to empathize with you about).


You're about to embark on a very fun project.

Prem

P.S. My son got his masters in architecture at UM last year.

[Rhino Ray]

Wow, how can you say anything after that. But; Kristie is 100% right on.

It looks like you are on the right track, read up on what to do do then use your best judgment. I don't think you can go wrong with most of the advice you get on this forum, there is no real wrong way. Most of all, have fun because that is what it is all about. Enjoy the journey!

[Prem]

Kristie & hubby,

Hope to see photos of your teardrop design and building project.

Best wishes,

Prem

[Junkboy999]

Welcome Kristie & mystery hubby,

Keep you eye on this build He has built so many it is not funny. His process make it looks so simple.
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=57828

Remember the K.I.S.S method is the best.

Jane pulles her’s TD with a Forester and there more here that do a well. Where are you Jane

Oh and welcome to the forums.