Beyond the End teardrop (Tony Latham-style build)

[twisted lines]

I liked mine sprayed

[orourkmw]

Only one beer can in sight because the recycle bin was filled! Tony, I'm going to keep saying it...I never would have been able to tackle this without your book. This project has been very satisfying! I've learned a lot...
Mike

[tony.latham]

I never would have been able to tackle this without your book.

Hey, thanks a bunch for writing that. :thumbs-up:

Tony

[orourkmw]

Trailer painted and wired (ran out of black flex conduit along the way!). Plan to install the diamond plate on the front of the cabin, roll the cabin onto the chassis next week, and apply Herculiner to the bottom.....then only have to build the hatch!

[orourkmw]

Got the cabin loaded on the chassis!


My floor must be bowed some, so I'll let it sit for a day or two before I bolt it down. It's sitting flat on the middle of the trailer, but up on the ends:



I am so glad to get the camper out of my shop, and my workbench back in. I have pushed that thing back and forth so many times to get from one side to the other. This is the hardware I recovered from the rolling stand that cabin had been sitting on....I forgot how much work went into it way back when...I had double sets of rollers because of the slope coming out of my shop.


Finally, I have started working on the hatch. I did have to notch out the gusset to clear the counter. I still have 2.5" at that point, and you can see the shape on the template.


All the tasks I have left fit on a single post-it note! Targeting the end of the year for completion!

[orourkmw]

Happy New Year, everyone! It's been a month since I posted, so I thought I'd give an update. I did not make my deadline of end of year for completion....family at the holidays and freezing weather. I'll shoot again for the end of this month, but we are taking a trip, so we'll see.

I had reported earlier that I had a little bow down on my trailer corners, which I fixed with by tethering my cross beam in the middle and pushing up the ends with hydraulic jacks. It took 4 or 5 tries, as I didn't want to go too far, but finally got it:


I've been working on the hatch. I know the problems that several had with the struts deforming their brackets, so I purchased the heavier-duty ones. The lower bracket is actually L-shaped, so I notched out space for it to fit under the supporting block, and through-bolted it through the counter:



Like GarthB, I have beveled the interior and exterior bottom of the hatch frame so that the 1/8" Baltic will lay down properly. These aren't great views, but it shows both sides, and you can see the blocking (with the round hole) for the NOCO charger plug. The orange cord is a short extension cord so that I have plenty to work with when I go fishing for it. I ordered the NOCO plug with a 16" cable, but wish I had ordered the 6' one to avoid the ext cord. I notched out a spot in the bottom of each spar so that the cord would lay flat without having to pass the larger plug through the spar, like I will do with the license plate light and galley light. Anyway, here is a view of the bottom of the hatch, viewed from the bottom and sitting on my workbench, followed by a view back the other way:



Finishing the hatch and covering the bottom with truck bed liner are my last major tasks (though cleaning up the paint, putty, epoxy, scratches etc will take a day or more....it's hard to work on something for a year without creating more work for yourself!)

Finally, I bought a cover for $150 from Amazon which I have used since I've had the camper outside, and it works very well and seems to be good quality:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09PQM46Z5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
and I bought this mattress which also seems great:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JK ... =UTF8&th=1

If you remember back from a way early post, I raised the door in Tony's plan by 1/2", to make sure I would clear whatever it was I was going to do with the fenders. I wish I hadn't done that now, because if you sit at the door for about 30 secs or so you sink enough to feel the door frame on the back of your thighs. I may put a little foam board there and see how it works.

[tony.latham]

I wish I hadn't done that now...

You won't be parking your butt there for long.

Tony

[orourkmw]

I am getting very close to the end of my project, and will post pics in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I have been keeping a detailed spreadsheet of all my receipts. And I’m done spending money!

On my “Beyond the End” teardrop camper, I actually spent $11,623 in out-of-pocket costs…without counting any labor at all (and I’m sure it was more than 1000 hours over 18 months, not counting the time I was thinking and planning!). This does not include the Paulk workbench I built (which is great! I don’t know how I would have done this without it), the tools I bought (e.g., Harbor Freight welding machine, battery-operated palm router (invaluable), etc)…my total spend was right at $14,500. And my friends and I welded the trailer up ourselves. Of course, I bought at the peak of Covid pricing. Here is a breakdown of the costs by broad category:
Cabin materials - $8371
Trailer materials - $2654
Consumables - $728 (I didn’t even count the case of paper towels I went through….this is glue, sandpaper, drop cloths, disposable brushes, tape, gloves, mineral spirits, etc)

I had gone in expecting to spend in the range of $8000, but some costs were outrageous. For instance, I paid $63 per sheet for 1/8” 5’x5’ Baltic Birch. Here is my spend on major raw materials:
Structural wood and foam – $1125
Baltic Birch – $699
Decorative wood – $204
Epoxy and fiberglass – $603
Steel - $330
Axle - $408
Tires, rims, coupler, jack – $816
Doors - $804
Aluminum sheet, trim, hurricane hinge- $622
Solar panel - $180
MaxxAir fan & shade - $404
Truck bed liner (Monstaliner on roof and Herculiner on undercarriage) - $212
Tongue box - $290
Stansport stove - $111
Varnish - $409
Mattress - $249
RTIC cooler - $252
Teardrop cover - $164
Battery - $0 (I had reclaimed a battery from a truck camper I recently modified)

Those items (incl consumables) total ~$8600, so that’s ~75% of the total spend. There are more than 220 items on my spreadsheet, and I didn’t subtotal all the fasteners or electrical items, but I’m sure both of those categories were fairly substantial (stainless fasteners, pure copper wire, etc ain’t cheap).

I had a lot of fun facing the challenges, and think I will be happy with my result. And I am ready to be done! We’ve got a good weather window at the moment so I am finishing fiberglassing and varnishing the hatch…the last step!

[orourkmw]

I've run into a problem getting my Third Brake Light to operate properly. I posted it over in the "Trailer Secrets" forum, but I wanted to see if anyone here has any ideas. Here's the link:
https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=73897&p=1298202#p1298186

Any ideas are appreciated.
Mike

[orourkmw]

Good news and bad news. I did fix my Third Brake Light problem....it turns out the issue was with the tow vehicle, not the trailer. Apparently newer vehicles use more "PWM" wiring. See the thread in "Trailer Secrets" if you're interested.

On the other hand, I've managed to have three screw-ups in the last few weeks, as I'm rounding third and heading for home. First, I turned my hatch over after I thought the epoxy had cured enough. It hadn't. Even though it was only contacting my workbench on the bottom edge, after a couple more days of curing, it was stuck. I was able to get it apart with minimal damage, but I'll have a reminder on my work bench.

Next, I failed to immediately remove my blue chalk line I used on the hatch interior to line up my staples. Now it won't come off. I never had a problem with it before, but on the other hand I always removed it right away. In this case, I had flipped over the hatch before cleaning it up, and it stayed that way for a week. I tried denatured alcohol, mineral spirits, and acetone, without effect. I sanded as much as I dared on the thin Baltic Birch, and the ghost lines are still there. So this morning I ripped some 1/2" wide strips of 1/4" thick oak I had on hand, and will cover both the blue line and the staples.

But my big screwup was varnishing the hatch exterior. I had been using a high gloss varnish, and I needed an extra ($50) quart. I didn't realize I ordered matte finish instead of high gloss, until after I finished 6 coats of varnish, and even mounting my trim! The finish doesn't match my sidewalls at all. So I've sanded it all off, and have another quart coming tomorrow. Incredible....so I'm hoping for clear sailing from this point and to finish by the end of the month. So it goes.

[tony.latham]

...my hatch over after I thought the epoxy had cured enough.

Well... look at it this way; I think that glue mess put you in the Teardrop Builders History Book that I ain't gonna write.

The chalk line's an odd one. That, too, might make the unwritten book.

Tony

[Onajourney]

Remember that it's not about how bad you make a mistake but about how well you recover. Some days all I do is fix yesterday's screw up.

[orourkmw]

I know just what you mean...we're all onajourney....

[orourkmw]

ok, I have friends coming over tomorrow and should get the hatch on....will post pics. I finished with the proper varnish, and spent a pretty good amount of time getting the tape off the trim.

In the meantime, I wanted to comment on two items I used. The first is 3M Black Weatherstrip Adhesive https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00063X38M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I had a terrible time using this stuff. It creates these strings when you pull the nozzle away that just keep going....I had it everywhere. I won't use it again.

The second item is the covering I used for my counter. I took a risk and tried this vinyl laminate: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LW5I3DH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I'm not sure how well it will hold up, as I've already got a small nick in it. I figured that worse-comes-to-worst I can go with a galvanized sheet over the counter.
Mike

[Capebuild]

In the meantime, I wanted to comment on two items I used. The first is 3M Black Weatherstrip Adhesive

I had also used the 3M product.....However I actually had a positive experience with with it. I had used it to adhere neoprene gaskets to the aluminum siding. These gaskets sealed the aluminum where it met a cut out for the 2 pop open vents. There's a few educational YouTube videos (one I remember by Steele Rubber Products) that explains how to use that adhesive. If you need to use more of it, you may want to watch those videos. I found them very helpful.

John