New member and wifey from Florida

[daveesl77]

Hello all! Dave here with my wife, Regina, signing in.

We are a retired couple in our 60s with decades of camping/sailing/building experience. We did the opposite route of many people as we got up to the stupid size 34' motor home, which I absolutely hated. Dropped down to a 25' TT, which was nice, but a pain to drive. We then did the pop-up truck camper route, which would be great for a younger person, but for me it just hurt. :-) We then realized the constant to everything except the behemoth was that we always set up a tent and canopy, so we chucked everything and went to the old stand-by, tent. We love it. However, since I am not one to go bare bones, it takes me about 2 hours to setup and take down a complete campsite. That works fine if we are somewhere for 3-5 days, but doesn't work so well for an overnight stop. (we go on really long trips).

I initially saw some small teardrops several years ago and they piqued my interest but not enough to jump in at that time. I looked all over yout*be, websites and then I saw the "Ruby Sue" build and loved the design. So we have begun. Got the HF 4x8 trailer and built it today, took about 3 hours. Still need to square the frame and then paint it black, not a big fan of bright red, but some love it.

So for all of you that have gone before, thank you SOOOO MUCH for your knowledge, experience and super valuable lessons. I'm an avid reader and love forums.

Dave

[mikeschn]

Hey Dave,

Welcome to the forum. Besure to take pictures of your build and share with us as you go.

Here's some help with that! viewtopic.php?p=911290#p911290

Mike...

[daveesl77]

Thank you Mike for the welcome!

Yes, I'll definitely keep everyone updated as we go. I like criticism, so for anyone please tell me when (not if) I do something dumb/wrong.

dave

[Roly Nelson]

Hi Dave, at last....welcome to the forum. Reading your post, was kind of like what I experienced during my tent camping, slide-in truck-camper, fifth wheel, motorhome, vintage trailer and finally, at last, and I finally discovered the wonderful teardrop world. Your camping will be amazingly effortless and trouble-free. Just back into a site, level her up, throw down a rug, open the door and climb in bed. Well, perhaps I left out a few steps, but you'll see how simple it is.

The big-boys will wander on over and want to check out your rig, and you are going to love showing them what you have built, and how easy camping has become. Your fellow teardroppers will come over and check out the new trailer, invite you over to their campfire and perhaps share a glass of wine, if you like. That never happened when I was on the road for 8 years with my 28 foot Class A motor home. Bask in the new teardrop glow, you have no idea what is to be. Do take pics of your build, get in contact with other teardrop and vintage trailer folks there in Florida. Check out the Tearjerker group, they will have you over to one of their gatherings and give you some pointers. (Right Tearjerkers??) Enjoy your build.
Roly, the So Calif woody TD guy.

[kayakdlk]

Welcome and good luck with your build. Looking forward to seeing the progress in pictures

Dan

[pchast]

Welcome!

[Gold5one]

Welcome, I live in SW Florida- retired. I am ready to start finishing my camper on the inside- it's mounted on a HF trailer, just like you are using. Good luck. I went with 5ft high, not 4ft. Believe me, the extra height is worth it. It weights 760 lbs.

[daveesl77]

Mark and everyone, thank you for the gracious welcome. For Mark, I think I agree with the 5' height, but I'm not 100% yet. We spend most of our time outside, as we bring a couple of pop-up canopies and I modified them to have roll down walls and/or screens. The way I set everything up (the old sailor in me comes out) our weird little setups can handle almost any weather conditions. Last December in the Keys, using the tent/canopies setup, we withstood over 8 hours of constant 40+ with gusts over 70. No kidding, the storm pretty much destroyed every other tent and/or popup in the campground, but our "hobo village" was still standing without a drop. Guy next to me had a really expensive REI tent and it was just trashed. My big 14x8 wally-world special didn't even leak. Actually, I had to lend him some of my emergency poles as his alloy poles were broken. That had to be really embarrassing for him.

I want the teardrop so that the bedroom and kitchen are pretty much set up. It would be nice to have it where we can sit up and play cards or whatever if it is really crappy outside. I love the look of the 4' height, but 5 foot gives the sitting up option. I'm also considering doing a sort of "raise top" option, but I want to keep the weight down. My wife can drive a pop-up type trailer, she just refused to drive the big TT. That's why she is excited about the teardrop. Easy to tow and setup, without the hassles of a pop-up. And actually the teardrop was her idea.

:-)
dave

[Gold5one]

Dave, know your needs and likes, then build to fit.
30 some years ago I owned a travel trailer and my wife and I were full timers ( w/ 2 preschool kids). Lots of people told us they wanted to be full timers, too ( but they had never owned an RV) I told them you can try it out without buying a camper. First: Move a sleeper sofa into your living room and eat off a small table. 2- Take the door off your bathroom and hang a curtain over the door opening. Then see if you like having less room and less privacy. Everyone I gave that test to, declined to try it out. Small campers are for only the adventurous.

[flbikejunkie]

Tearjerkers event Thursday to Sunday 2/5 to 2/8 Tomoka State Park outside Daytona. http://www.floridastateparks.org/tomoka/default.cfm. There will be about 25 teardrops in attendance if you want to come over and get some ideas for your build. More info on the Tearjerkers web site.

[Rlowell]

Welcome to what I call the "madness" of teardroping. I love this thing!
I built a five wide by 9.5 ft. The idea was a queen size mattress so that I could sleep wife, daughter and myself. They refuse to go with me so I now have a great space for me and the dog. Lots of room and still easy to tow. I will look forward to watching your build.

Rod

p.s. I am in Orlando if I can assist in any way.

[daveesl77]

Thank you all for the welcome and yes, we will do our best to do the Tearjerker event this weekend! Just looked to see if any sites were available, but all booked up. We'll come anyway as it is only about a 90 minute drive for us.

I agree completely with the "build to fit" concept. I lived on sailboats for 12 years. Our camping has gone from tents to popup trailer to big RV to mid size trailer to pop-up trailer to pop-up truck camper back to tent. The theme that always follows us is "tent", as in almost every case we bring a tent and love it. With living on boats people would ask "how can you live in such a small place?" My answer was - Well, you have a bedroom and so do I. You have a bathroom and so do I. I have a very small galley, but I can make 5 course meals for movie stars in it. Your living room in your house is a set size, my living room is my cockpit and thus it is all outdoors. Big advantage is that if my neighbor is a jerk, I just pull the lines and move my house.

The idea with the TD is to have something that I will enjoy building and will act as more of a permanent bedroom/galley for us when camping, since that stuff takes up over half of all the junk I bring. My kids are grown and have their own families. When they camp with us they have to bring their own stuff. My old dog is the one that sets the standard for what is needed and he likes his comfort. My requirement is that he isn't sleeping in my bed because he takes up all the room. I think my wife would prefer the dog though. :-) Oh, and we are by no means "full timers", we have our house and like it. We just like to camp usually around 3-4 months out of the year and love going to all kinds of different locations.

dave

[Henery Hawk]

Welcome from Brooksville Fl.