Noobs Pre-build Journal

[taciturnvoice]

Hello all, I have been a lurker here for some time. and took the first steps today in ordered
Hopkins 11140495 Towing Solutions Wiring Kit
Curt Manufacturing 13707 Class III Receiver
By next week my car will be able to pull up to 2,000LB of Teardrop Awesome
Who Am I
Jeremiah
31
Central Iowa
Always been handy around the house but this is the biggest project I have ever done

What I know
I have wanted a teardrop since I saw a Silvershadow a few years ago.
I have a line on a slightly used HF 1750
I want to over bult to about 9x5 footprint
I want AC (humid in Iowa)
What I don't know
Weather i want a rounded profile or the more angular profile
Everything else

[Woodbutcher]

Welcome Jeremiah, Building was and is a big part of the fun. There are plenty of people here who can help so don't be afraid to ask.

Steve

[Vedette]

Welcome to the Forum
Lots of great information here!
And a lot of wonderful people willing to give advice and share knowledge!!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[Shadow Catcher]

Greetings Jeremiah and welcome to the community. I feel it is much better to learn from others mistakes, saves aggravation and money and then make some of your own.
I agree AC is necessary/ really desirable in the midwest and the one piece of advice/solution I can contribute is what I did and wrote up, in adapting a 5,000 BTU window shaker to ours.

[Rhino Ray]

Wow, you've been lurking for two years! Don't be afraid to jump in, it is easy once your feet are wet. The choice of making it curved or more angular is really up to you but it it is sometimes simpler to curve the metal over the top rather than make a seam. You don't really miss the space and curved looks really cool

Have fun!

[taciturnvoice]

The hitch arrived on Friday, and was promptly installed on Saturday without issue, Other that hot metal fragments, There’re HOT!!! No really!
Odd that the 48LB hitch came first then the 1 LB wiring kit will be here on Thursday.
Trouble with the Curves
I like the look of the Curves. But don’t have a study hand Or jig saw or to make them a reality. In truth Bending wood and Sheet metal scare me. On the other side fiberglass and epoxy I have worked with in the past. So the corner I’m stuck in is how far do I reach?

Durability
I see lots of comments about over building and strength but not any mention of durability.
Fiber glass VS Aluminum skin which will last longer? How hard to is it to make repairs on Aluminum
I was planning on foam sandwich wall construction, I was planning on using some recycled 2x4s and 2x6s for floor and wall framing, I have seen other builds hollow out whole sheets of ply wood, and others use 1x3s,
1 ½ foam insulation overkill?

[Rhino Ray]

Bending wood is a piece of cake if it's thin enough. All my stuff was 1/8 inch and naturally bent, I glued two layers for the ceiling. The metal was not too hard either. As far as creating the curves, well that's more of a challenge but very doable with a couple of nails, string and a pencil, or a template. I was lucky, I got Grant Whipp http://www.LilBear.teardrops.net to trace it out on my plywood side for me. Check him out, you'll be glad you did.

[rowerwet]

2x4 2x6 = the dreaded noob overbuilding problem. Unless you have a table saw and want to rip them all into 1x2's you have way to large lumber which equals overbuilt/overweight. I couldn't believe my plywood floor was strong enough to support that 6" overhang on each side so I made a floor support of 2x4" s, a total waste, very heavy, and they made my tear too high = drag.
I ended up ripping all the 2x4's off the bottom of the floor, which was a lot of work, wasted time and money.
1"x2" lumber is plenty for any framing you want to support the floor, unless you are building a standy, otherwise your wight will be spread over much more area sitting and lying down compared to the lbs per square inch where you are standing.
my tear is stick built, the walls are 1x4" ply, 1x2 on the flat way (really 3x4") and another skin of 1/4" ply. my roof is 1/4" ply, it bent easily with some ratcheting cargo straps to pull the back down. starting with the plywood glued and screwed at the front of the tear, I laid a bead of glue on the next spar. then cranked the ply down until it hit the glued spar, then drove a few screws through the roof into the spar to hold the glue until it set. lay another bead on the next spar and cranked the straps again. Once the glue was set, the screws were removed and the holes filled.
I went for the cheapest finish, while I build boats and use epoxy to seal the seams, I couldn't see going to the weight and expense of epoxy, porch paint, drop cloth canvas, and more porch paint to cover. three years outside and many trips with boats strapped to the roof using canoe blocks, with no issues.

[taciturnvoice]

Thank you both, for you info and links it is very help full.

rowerwet - Do you have a build journal, I would love to see your inexpensive durable roof

Think I’m set on the modernistic, just love the profile.

The next question is PLANS, Where do I get them? How do I make them? or is this just a learn everything you can an wing it time???

[rowerwet]

my www under the avatar, is about as much as I have of a build journal

[rowerwet]

there are two plans I hear about on here, http://www.kuffelcreek.com/teardrops.htm and steve fredrick, though the links on the resources list are both broken. Both plans will give you everything you need to build a tear (from what I've read, I don't have either) though maybe not the exact design you want. Don't waste your money on the plans CD on ebay, mostly they are just selling you stuff you can get for free (look under design resources at the top of every page here). There is a free set of plans drawn up by our fearless leader with input from others on the TnTTT http://www.mikenchell.com/images/GenericBenroyPlans.pdf I used them more or less, (actually I think I used one of the more preliminary stages of them) and ended up with an ok TD and an excellent step up from tent camping. The last two years my wife and I went camping in it for our anniversary it rained for a short while. If we had been tenting that may have ruined the trip, we just slept through the thunder storm one year and last year popped a DVD into my laptop and had a movie night while the tent campers got soaked. (they had stuff draped over all the trees the next morning)
I have no pictures of my canvasing viewtopic.php?f=21&t=45468&p=1061495#p1061495 for the same reason I don't have many of my build, I needed a place to stay at work NOW! I actually slept in it for a few weeks unpainted, and with no rear hatch, just the galley wall. For those few weeks it seemed to rain all the time, as soon as I got a free day with no rain I covered it, no time for pictures! (I had tarped it while parked, but my drive was an hour or more each way with no tarp)

[Vedette]

Modernistic!
They are my favorite design if I was ever to build a "Traditional" Tear Drop!
Good Luck with your build, and be sure to take the advice of the many skilled wood workers here on the Forum.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[taciturnvoice]

Wire harness arrived, The non splice kit does not fit though the grommets on my tail lights, so had to exchange it for the splice kit,
Then my TV stopped running, since it is my only transportation not powered by me, that's a bad thing. Leaked coolant from the intake manifold flooding spark plugs, Replacement Spark plugs, Spark plug boots, injector pigtail, intake manifold and serpentine belt we are mobile again.

Also have a line on a pop up Frame, But have to remove the attached pop up first. It has been left open to elements for 10 years guessing everything inside is a loss.
Going to try and salvage, cabinet hardware, sink, stove, hinges latches and thing else that will be useful.

Any other suggestion about what could be useful???

[tony.latham]

I can highly recommend Steve Frederick's Teardrop Shop Manual. I followed his building methods and am highly pleased with the results. Check out my build video on my so-called build thread.

[taciturnvoice]

I can highly recommend Steve Frederick's Teardrop Shop Manual. I followed his building methods and am highly pleased with the results. Check out my build video on my so-called build thread.

Is this the Manual you speak of???
http://www.campingclassics.com/shopman05.html