Greetings from Middle Tennessee

[Andrew Cush]

Hello,

My name is Andrew, I live in Middle Tennessee, and I've been dreaming about building a teardrop for several years. I've been perusing the forum and squirreling away ideas for a future build. I am 32 and have 3 young children which means my time and $$ are limited. But I like to build things, and I think it would be a fun project to plan and include the children in the making of as well as the using once we've made it!

We tent camp, but I tire of the huge amount of setup. I love the idea of having a family adventure trailer that is ready to go for weekend excursions around Tennessee and beyond. I know the wife would appreciate a more comfortable sleeping arrangement then a tent. I don't mind putting my older 2 kids in a side tent, or regular tent nearby. I've thought about building a simple shelf bunk, or perhaps a canvas cot bunk to accommodate our son (2 years old). We like to bike as a family, so some sort of bike and/or canoe racks would be desirable. I've noticed that most people recommend transport of a canoe on the TV which makes sense.

We don't skimp on cooking when camping, between a dutch oven, and 2 burner stove, we love to eat well. Having a well equipped galley that doesn't require any setup or lugging coolers and gear from the car is VERY attractive.

Whatever I build, I want to stay true to a cute teardrop shape. I love to plan things out, so I am excited about soliciting the help of the TNTTT community to use your great ideas.

So, Hello. My appreciation in advance for your guidance, troubleshooting, feedback, and sharing of good ideas.

My first question. What feature in your Teardrop build are you most proud of and/or couldn't live without?
Second question. What feature is the most overrated?

Best,

Andrew Cush

[Graniterich]

Welcome Andrew!

Wow what a question! First off it is not so much features as the things I learned to build along the way to make at look nice . The smooth aluminum bent around the curves, and the wood work. I do love my pass through to the gallery, pull out shelf inside, pull out ice chest.

Good luck and have fun

Rich

[bobhenry]

My first question. What feature in your Teardrop build are you most proud of and/or couldn't live without?
Second question. What feature is the most overrated?

OVERRATED ..... wasting valuable galley space for cooler storage

Most proud..... Having 9 feet of counter space in a 5 wide teardrop

[daveesl77]

When we decided to build a tiny trailer we wanted two things - comfy bed and easy setup galley. We always bring a lot of stuff on our trips and since we had gone from large motorhome to travel trailer to side-in truck camper and ended up back at large tent with ezup canopies and tarps, the one constant thing was bed and food. Over half of the stuff we carried consisted of those two areas. So Conch Fritter had to carry those items with little or no setup needed.

Overrated - extreme small size. In my opinion the design should not be about how small you can make it (or light) but how to make it comfortable and easy to tow. Hence ours is 60" x 66" x 120" (exterior) plus trailer height. In our recent 2 week trip the size worked perfect.

1st most happy - does not leak a drop! Wiley windows work brilliantly.

2nd most happy - hide away, slideout galley. When extended and rotated it has 11' of countertop and 13 ft3 of cabinet space. Takes less than 5 minutes to have it completely set up or taken down. It essentially takes up no room inside, as it is under the bed frame. That said, I will be doing modifications on it to make it a bit shorter and some other things.

3nd most happy - very, very comfortable foam mattress set up.

4th most happy - my cheapo 12v -120v refrigerator installation worked like a charm! Way beyond expectations.

But the best thing of all - I have really, really enjoyed building this and will continue to do so. It has just been a real pleasure and I'd do it again (probably for my daughter and son-in-law) in the future.

dave

[tony.latham]

I've been 'dropping for eleven years. Started out with a 4 x 10 commercially built Hunter teardrop. In 2013 I built a 5 x 10.

Wouldn't live without?

- two doors with screened windows
- five-wide (for two average-sized adults)
- Fantastic vent fan
- an extremely comfortable mattress
- accessible slide-out water in the galley

I fall into the simple no-setup kitchen (Bob and I could argue head-to-toe in court over our galleys and we might end up with a hung jury, but whow knows, he might win.):



Slide the stove out, hit the piezo, and your cooking with gas (and a couple of aluminum D.O.s near the fire).



Pots and pans fit in the lower left drawer along with the hooked-up propane bottle. Silverware etc in the upper right drawer. Plates and extra paper towels behind the cooler. Two extra propane bottles behind the seven gallon water jug.

I like having not to lug a cooler back and forth from the truck. It lives in the kitchen.

Sink? There's an old saying about everything including the kitchen sink. I'll leave it at home. It' easy to heat up water in the largest pot for cleanup.

The interior is simple too. Hooks on the wall (added after this pic was taken) and a couple of lipped shelves in the back:



And slider-hidden storage at the head of the mattress for the shower tent etc along with a shelf for books, glasses or whatever:



I've've already lost track of how many nights we've 'dropped this summer. Fifteen? Dunno.


Tony

[Jdw2717]

Welcome Andrew,

First, do you know about Tearjerkers.net? The Tennessee chapter is having their fall gathering in Crossville. (Fall Follies Gathering--September 10-13, 2015, Cumberland Mountain State Park, Crossville, TN). Come check it out and ask all the questions you want. At this time we have 24 campers of which over half should be some sort of teardrop. If you really want to see some teardrops,go up to crossroads (CRA) next week in Indiana. There will be over 100 campers I believe. We went to the last one in 2013 and it was great.

Now for your actual questions.

Overrated for me is the sink in the galley. There are many debates on this but for me personally, it was not a good fit. It uses valuable counter space plus plumbing and storage tanks. I use the large blue jug with valve from Walmart on a picnic table or tailgate. I tend to make too much of a mess when washing so I didn't want to flood my camper. You have little kids so you know how water in a camper could turn out.

One thing that I really like after building it is the in floor storage. It is great for extra towels, sweatshirts, jeans, etc. anything big and bulky that doesn't get used much gets put under the floor. It also works as insulation so it does double duty. I have 16 square feet of 4" deep storage in the floor. Two 2' x 2' sections and one 2' x4' section. The the long section has tools, tarps, folding shovel, DVD player, solar panel for charging, etc.

Couldn't live without? That's a tough one. Maybe the cooler / refrigerator spot in the galley. I made the spot to fit the small 21" x 21" dorm refrigerator big enough to fit a standup cooler. If I have shore power, I will use the fridge. If no power I go with the cooler. Make your camper multi functional and you will use it more.

If you haven't seen one up close and would like to check one out and ask questions, let me know. I am over in Knoxville and would show you my teardrop and show you how I built it.

Good luck and post pictures. We all love pictures of builds.