IA High Schooler

[hpuckett4]

Hey teardrop world! My name is Hank, I'm just a high school student with little to no experience in mechanics, electric, or welding, but I love woodworking and always have to be working on a project. This week I went to harbor freight and bought my 4x8 utility trailer and began putting it together. I have taken every woods class our school has and then some, so they told me I couldn't take it again this year:(. I don't think I could make it through a whole school day without spending some time in the woods room Thankfully, all our woods teacher is super cool and this year I finagled two periods of a "supervised study" to work on my teardrop, and they even gave me an entire room to myself so that nobody will really get to see it or mess with it till I'm done. Anyways, I have my trailer put together, now I just have to do the wiring and go to the lumber yard to begin the build.

I plan on building a non-electric woody teardrop with a traditional shape and an insulated roof. My biggest weaknesses in this are going to be figuring our how to waterproof the door/window/hinges and also finding a good roof vent/window to use. It was only about three weeks ago that I started thinking about building a teardrop, so I'm kinda treading into the unknown here, so advise will be very appreciated! Looking forward to doing this project with your guys' help

I am going to be documenting my build on my blog http://www.hankpuckett.wordpress.com just click on the teardrop trailer build tab at the top.

[KennethW]

Is this a build for highway use? Is it the super heave duty trailer? If so you may want to put the axle over the spring to lower the tear. Also if it is a light build remove the center leaf from the springs. Put a piece of pipe over the back spring bolt so it does not rattle. Run ground wires from the front ground to the tail lights for a better ground. Grounding thru the trailer is iffy at best. Are you planning to build willys window they work great. Glue and canvas paint is a good low cost outside finish(works inside too). Just a few hints. Good luck with the build.

[RAYVILLIAN]

Hi Hank welcome to our world. I've done some work with the paint and canvas, or in my case bed sheet I'm cheap, and if you use this be sure to seal all loose ends down good. I've had some rot problems that I've had to repair, and be sure to pull your screws back out and put in some kind of sealer. these are the two places I've had rot problems down the road. Be sure to take pics and share on the forum as you go. I'm looking forward to watching you build.

Gary

[Vedette]

Welcome to the Forum Hank
You are going to have so much fun with this build.
But, don't get stuck in one mode.......you are young and can learn so much.
The harbour Freight trailer might workout for your first build and your budget.
You might want to take another shop class while still in school (Metal Shop) and learn to weld.
Then your next TD will have a far superior chassis & suspension.
Another word of advice though is to learn a little bit about wiring (it is so easy!!!) and make sure you wire your teardrop.
You will be surprised how important it is to have electrical options while teardrop camping.
Shore line power for A/C outlets, Deep Cell battery for 12V outlets and lights, Converter to run both, Charge wire from Tow Vehicle to recharge your Battery while traveling down the hwy, (that inlet wire can double as your plug for a Solar Panel down the road when you are camping off the grid)
Trust me.....Electrical is probably the "most" important part of your build! and the most FUN!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[dales133]

How awsum you've been given the opertunity to do thiz at school.
Youll learn so much and be the envey of everyone when its done.
You should run a duild thread here as you will get far more help and advice than running it externaly.
Good luck and i look forward to watching and helping if i can

[Woodbutcher]

Welcome Hank. I have built 2 woody teardrops and keep them in Galena. I don't know where in IA you live, but if you are near Galena you are welcome to see mine. I am a Cabinet Maker by trade and can offer some help with how to do things if you need advise. You will not regret making a trailer of your own.

[hpuckett4]

Wow, thanks everyone for the advice and warm greeting!

I have actually had several people tell me how much fun wiring it will be, but I feel I am stretching my limits at it is, but if this preliminary build goes as well as I hope it will, the next one will definitely be electric! I've been picking up tidbits of welding and electric throughout the past year, but don't have the time yet to commit to fully learning it.

I live in the urbandale area right outside Des Moines and I'm glad to see that there will potentially be local interest somewhere because I will probably be looking to sell this in the spring.

I am running an external blog just because I will have other stuff on there too, but would love to keep an update on my build log on this site too! I just haven't learned how yet. I know how to upload pictures updating my build, but don't know how to keep a "thread" of the build where people can comment.