Joe's Teardrop Build

[tony.latham]

That’s where I am today.

Tony

[JoeGrz]

Friday was a big day. It started walking through the process to register the drop. We went over to the TxDOT office and clarified the requirements for getting a VIN number which included getting three forms necessary to fill out. What's the Government without lots of paper. We also drove down to Palo Duro Canyon State Park and verified that I could park my teardrop in/at a tent site. The day finished with the cabin moving off the wood and on to the metal. First we jacked up the front and placed a couple of 1 inch PVC pipes under the front of the cabin. Once on the pipes, the cabin rolled along nicely. Here is the cabin moving along over the chassis.

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I'm not sure why but the wood build stand was a couple inches higher than the chassis. I don't know if it was an angle exaggeration or if something is dimensionally different. The fenders are covered with some practice scraps from when my wife started quilting to protect the cabin and especially the doors. The doors turned out to be a tight fit sliding past the fenders. If you have the ability to build the whole thing in a shop or garage, I would wait to add the manufactured doors until the cabin is on the chassis. Anyhow, the cabin pushed out over the chassis until it reached the balance point and tipped over. We had another piece of pipe to catch the cabin. It continued a little further when we needed to raise the nose to place another pipe under it. Everything continued along until we got to the end of the wood stand. My son realized that if we continued further, the cabin would fall the couple inches to the frame and possibly damage something. We jacked up the back end, rolled the stand out of the way and lowered the cabin down to the chassis. After that, it everything moved along quickly. Everything lined up easily and we lowered it in to place.

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The Pipe rollers worked very well the relocation went a lot faster and easier than we thought it would.
Today, I drilled the holes to bolt the cabin down and then put varnish on the holes as well as another coat on the floor of the galley. I also started assembling the stove shelf. Tomorrow, I will bolt the cabin and chassis together, Despite my best efforts, I think all the steel in the chassis is bowed. Some corners appear pretty significant so I get to see how many of the washers will be used between the cabin and the frame to take up the space. I will also wire up the brake light and drag it around the neighborhood. Hopefully, I will have diamond plate Monday for the front and everything is ready to go Wednesday morning. I have to register the trailer Wednesday since I reserved a camping spot at the park today for Thursday. Nothing like deadline

[tony.latham]

I reserved a camping spot at the park today for Thursday. Nothing like deadline

Tony

[GarthB]

Nice work Joe! It looks really great.

[western traveler]

Wow, that looks great Joe…
Looking forward to seeing you parked at that campground!

[JoeGrz]

As I posted earlier, I had given my self a deadline. I for the most part made it. I have one drawer to build since rain got in the way and I need to attach the diamond plate. It rained Sunday so I gave up on building the drawer that goes under the stove shelf. I concentrated on getting varnish on the galley drawers and shelf Monday and Tuesday. I reassembled the drawers Tuesday night before I ran out of light and hurried to install the shelf Wednesday morning. The diamond plate was 1/8 inch. Unfortunately, my supplier was not very helpful when I asked what was available so the 1/8 was as thin as I thought I could get. I brought it home and found it doesn't bend. At least not easily . I will have to find a shop to put a roll on the top edge to match the curve of the trailer.

Not to be deterred, I went to the facility outside of town where they make sure the trailer isn't stolen. Simple enough, I had the receipts for the steel and axle. Also, if I was going to steal a trailer, I would grab one where all the steel isn't bowed. Any how a quick look and $40 (money order or cashier's check only), I drove away with a completed form that said the trailer wasn't stolen. Step one down. The next step was to get the trailer weighed. I went to the DMV on Friday to make sure I had everything I needed when I got to that step. the representative at the counter warned me that truck stops may not be able to weigh the trailer so I would need two weights, the total of the trailer and the vehicle and the vehicle so I should go to a feed store. The one feed store I knew of, no one knew if they were still in operation. Everyone's recommendation was to go to the truck stops. I got both weights, did the math, and put that on the forms - 1,300 pounds. What the attendant failed to tell me is that the State of Texas is incapable of doing math. Nowhere on the two scale tickets did it say the empty weigh or trailer weight is 1300 pounds. Out of desperation, I called the shop that used to be the feed store and yes, there is a scale. They gave me the number of the operator and out I went to get the weight. The official trailer weight is 1260 pounds. I raced back to the DMV, got my paperwork complete and the attendant went to get the approval and the supervisor that had to approve my VIN started a conference call. I came back an hour later and the paperwork was approved except my name had to be corrected. Apparently he typed GRAZ instead of GRZ. Several computer malfunctions and coworker interventions later, I walked away with the VIN. Three steps down, one more to go. I thought about signing the form that said I stamped in the VIN and just run up to the Tax Office and apply for my title and get my plates but I was told that it would be a problem if I forgot to do it and a class three felony if I got caught. Felony translates to career limiting decision so I was done for the day. I went home and stamped the number and got ready for the first trip. The next morning, I teleworked for a couple hours, ran to the tax office, paid the appropriate fees, received my tag, came home and attached it to the back of the teardrop. A few meetings later and a couple email,I was done for the day, loaded up on my way to the park.

We spent the night at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. For those who are interested, it is the second largest canyon in the country. Second only to the Grand Canyon. We stayed in the Fortress Cliffs campground. Here are the cliffs as seen from the camp site

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[JoeGrz]

I really need to find out how everyone attaches more than three pictures to a post. I haven't figured it out so here is the continuation of the above post. First, here it is right after we arrived

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A nice sunny day after a rainy morning. I'm glad I asked about putting a teardrop in the tent sites because it all worked out fine. This site allowed me to pull around so I did not have to try to back it in. A good thing, since backing the trailer is a skill that needs to be developed further.
The purpose of this trip was to give it a check out prior to heading out for a weekend. Everything pretty much worked flawlessly, except for a couple things.

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Those that have read Tony's excellent book may be asking why the water jug is on the counter. It should be conveniently stowed beneath the stove, out of the way. When I pulled the stove shelf out, I also pulled the water jug out and on to the ground. What I think happened is stove shelf got installed with a slant. Since I installed it Wednesday morning, the cabin was on the chassis and not the stand. Hitch ball is pretty high on my vehicle so the trailer was at a slant with the tongue pointing up. I installed the shelf as level as I could but did not realize the trailer itself was not level. As a result, the shelf is slanted down toward the bulkhead resulting in the back side of the shelf cabinet being lower than the top of the water container. Tomorrow, I will level the trailer and try to reset the table and see how it works. Hopefully, I won't have to trim some of the sides and back off the shelf.
The shelf pointing up was actually a good thing since my stove, with the little green bottle attached, stuck off the end of the shelf far enough that the feet for that side were off the shelf. Since the shelf was pointing up, the stove was still fairly close to level. I will have to cut a piece of board to put under that section of the stove to keep it level after all the rework. One last picture of the galley in the morning after breakfast.

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We have had several inches of rain this week so the trailer has been proven rain tight. Because of the rain, the bugs were terrible after the sun went down. Other than the ones that slipped in when the doors were open, we slept bug free. Unlike the last time we camped, we each woke up happy campers with no aches or pains after a good night's sleep. Other than a few corrections, I think I can call this project done.
Before I sign off tonight, I would like to raise a glass to everyone who has offered encouragement and suggestions and especially to Tony for his outstanding book and guidance throughout this project Thanks everyone!

[GarthB]

Congrats on the completed build and your first night out Joe! It looks like you picked a beautiful spot for a first night out. With such a great looking trailer, I'm sure you'll be giving frequent teardrop tours to curious camping neighbors.

Here's to all of the great trips that lie ahead for you and your family.

[tony.latham]

and especially to Tony for his outstanding book and guidance throughout this project...

Back at ya!

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Good luck and safe travels!

Tom

[S. Heisley]

Looks good, Joe. Safe Travels!

[western traveler]

Good on you Joe! I am happy for you! It looks great!

It is a long road we trudge getting er done!
Also thank you for all the words of encouragement you have offered throughout my ongoing build.
Hopefully I will get to that camp-able place with mine soon.
Safe travels…
Ralph

[JoeGrz]

Thanks everyone for the well wishes! Since the last post I corrected the stove shelf water bottle clearance issue. Using the power planner, I ended up taking 3/16 of an inch off the bottom to get the shelf to clear the water jug. With that solved, I built a drawer to go under the shelf. The final addition is a paper towel holder. It is nice having things off the counter. This is the final configuration of the galley until I get some more camping under my belt to figure out what, if any, changes I want to make.

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Last weekend we took a little trip to further test and explore capabilities of the little teardrop. We took an 800 mile round trip (the Texas panhandle is close to nothing) up to Colorado and spent the night in a couple National Forests. The roads were everything from interstate highway to city streets to Forest Service wash boards. All and all everything went well.
The first night was a pretty little spot in the Pike Nat Forest outside Woodland Park. It was near 40 degrees when we went to bed that night and about the same when we got up. Going to bed, I was wishing I had that Propex heater installed. We opened the fan to vent some air and hopefully keep condensation down. When we woke in the morning, the trailer was warm and comfortable, 50's somewhere, and only a little condensation on the doors and door frames. The second night was in the San Isabel forest. Not quite as nice as the first nights location but what do I want for the side of the road. That is where the picture above was taken. Again, the night was cool, though not as cool as the night before and we slept comfortably and woke up warm. Everything went smoothly and we think we are ready for the next one.

A couple things to address. First, a lot of dust made its way in the galley from the wash boards. I'm thinking that I don't have a good seal at the bottom so I am mulling over two options. The first is to add a piece of 1/8 or 1/4 plywood to the bottom to further compress the seal. The other way would be to follow Garth's lead and place a 1 inch seal along the bottom there and remove the 1/2 inch I have. The second item is paper towels. Yes, they don't unroll on the holder but we found the wind is very effective at unrolling them. We have a rubber band holding them in place but I am going to work on something to hold the towel but allow me to pull one off the roll. Those are the little things. The third item has me really stumped. All my drawers opened just fine when I left. the drawer had to be pulled past the latch but they opened easily. We got to Colorado and by the second night, none of the drawers opened easily. I figured everything was settling into place with the bouncing and I would adjust the latches when I got home and everything would be fine. The problem is that I got home and now all the drawers work fine. We camped both nights above 9,000 ft but I have never heard of elevation expanding plastic and wood. Any ideas on this one would be appreciated. I'm afraid that if I trim or adjust the latches, the drawers won't stay closed on trips to the lower elevations.
The next task up is to build a tongue box. I want to be able to keep my solar panel in the box rather than on the bed. Unfortunately, I can't find one tall enough. If I come up with something, I will post it here to share with other.

One final note. I tallied up the cost and mine came in at about 7,600. Thankfully, I bought the bulk of my wood before the prices shot up. Unfortunately, I had a bit of rework that added a little bit to the cost.

[western traveler]

Sounds like you had a fun trip Joe.
As to the paper towels blowing in the wind. I was a merchant Mariner. A simple solution I used on the ocean was to attach a sinker to a piece of fishing line and to drape it over the roll. Looking at the angle of yours if you attached it forward of the roll then over the towels using an object heavy enough to hang in place. I realize a sinker may look unattractive and also you would surely want to remove it for travel. So something more attractive than a sinker and removable. Me, I can invision using a fishing snap swivel and eye screw at the top and some yarn or ribbon and a polished sinker at the bottom. It works.

I used the same type latches as in Tony’s book. My drawers worked smoothly when they were installed. About a week or two later with nights cooling off suddenly they started sticking. I wasn’t even driving rough roads. I sprayed some WD40 down between the latches and their housing on each one. They are working smoothly now. We will see if that continues.

I am so close to being campable. I completed my Propex install and fired it up yesterday. No regrets.

[Capebuild]

I enjoyed reading your about your first episodes out, Joe. Your'e trailer looks great. Thanks for sharing all that.
Although I was recently "only" tent camping, I am using one of those blue Reliance water jugs. I can see that maybe there needs
to be a catch basin below it, as it seems the run off from it can cause a muddy situation right where your'e cooking. At least that's what I'm thinking.


John