Lady Tear Droppers, drop in and say "Hello"!

[peggyearlchris]

Thanks Kevin for the help. I'm having a hard time with this computer stuff. I'm a you show me person. I'll get it sooner or later. Thanks Peg

[peggyearlchris]

ok I hope I did it this time. Peg Yes Yes I did it. Great. I'm happy. Thanks guys and girls. These are my dogs and husband.

[Miriam C.]

You go girl. It is amazing how much non building learning that goes on here.

Beautiful puppies.

[Joanne]

Hi Chris,

I'm glad you took time to come over and say hello! I'm sure you will provide plenty of good ideas for your kitchen remodel. We'd love to see some before and after pictures.

Joanne

Now that I know that you don't have to have built your own teardrop to be a Lady Teardropper, I'm posting. I am teardrop obsessed! My husband and I and our 5 month puppy just returned from Perris Lake gathering that had 110 other teardrops to get ideas from. We are planning to completely remodel our kitchen and my carpenter husband promises to let me help. I'm so impressed with the work and abilities other Lady Teardroppers have displayed!----Chris

[martha24]

Here's a couple of pics hot off the press. Plan to post in a regular thread on the build in near future, but you ladies get the first preview.
In the phyical parts of the build I play helper to my husband.


Actually starting to look like something. I prefinished the walls and ceiling before we put them up, much easier that way. Stained the birch with Golden Pecan and finished with Minwax Polycrylic as didn't want stain any darker.
Martha

[savano]

Joanne, I live in Prescott. I am going to try to get to Dead Horse and Robbers Roost gatherings this spring.

Here are the pics of the Daisy I promised:

This shows the inside door seal and trim. I painted the walls and trim. The floor and shelves I kept the wood showing:


This is my galley with the Ikea drawers and fold down counter. The height of the counter and the open hatch were measured for my height 5'6". I still need to work on the fenders and back bumper and are not attached, they are just sitting there for the pic. I am going to put some black rubber corner molding on the lower edge bumpers. I figure I need all the protection I can get because I will be manuevering the Daisy by myself in the campgrounds(':o') You can also see the doggy door framed by a picture frame in the lower left galley. This is a pass thru between cabin and galley.:


This is the Daisy's profile and shows how I latch the hatch with pull latches on each side. I used RotDoc's Uniflex 255 on top of CPES. This leaves a tough exterior shell on the ply, however it is very difficult to apply. The finish is very rough and uneven. I am disappointed with the result. I will just tell everyone that I wanted it look this way(':)'):


I bought my huge tongue box online. Only weighs 12lb+. I bought it before MaryK built hers. My next tongue box will be similar to hers:


Sally

[KA]

Hi,
I have a few pictures in my album of my tear in progress. I'm still waiting for good weather to paint the chassis. It has been sitting under a tarp all winter. I did tow it home from the welder's with no problems. Hope to have more pictures up in my album as things progress.
My husband and I are in the process of getting our house ready to put on the market so teardrop contstruction time over the next few months is, alas, limited.
I'm living vicariously through the progress being made by all of the other builders out there and hope to finish mine some day in the next year.
Kris

[mjg444]

It is great to see all the teardrops the ladies are building. I doubt I will ever build one, but hope to have one some day - maybe I could make some modifications on it myself.

I usually tent camp with a few friends in a big tent, but seriously thought about a teardrop when a few years ago it was windy and cold and I slept in the back of my Yukon and thought it was quite cozy. A few other people slept in their SUV's and agreed that maybe we are starting to get too old for sleeping on the ground. But not old enough for a huge RV!

I love following everbody's progress. I had run across Joanne's web page before finding this group, and was impressed with her building skills.

Keep up the good work!

Michele

[Mary K]

Bump!!!

C'mon Ladies!!

I know there are more of ya out there!!

Mk

[LittleCritter]

MK - I'm glad you bump this thread.

I'm a lady teardropper doing my first build. My husband just shuttered when I made the statement that I was going to build a TD. Our son who is a freshman in high school took a welding class and has been welding up a storm since. He is in the process of building a Mini-chopper. Our daughter who is 10 is interested in the TD process. I cut out a 1/2th size cardstock profile of the TD in my head so everyone in the family knows generally what it's going to look like.

I'm building a 5 x 10 on a 5 x 8 trailer. The floor space is 5 x 9. Got the trailer and the wood. But from the many suggestions from my father, friends, and father-in-law, they think I should be building the floor with treated lumber. I'm not sure what to do to. I think I will go with that suggestion and go to town tomorrow morning and purchase the treated and take back the regular.

My father has taken great interest in this project and is cheering me on. He called around to several of the lumbar yards to see if I could special order 4 x 10 3/4 inch plywood for the sides. Yep, I can.

I hope to have it campable in a couple months - we'll see. I don't have a good handle on the timeline that it will really take - just want to camp with it before the snow flies this year.

Tomorrow I hope to make progress on the floor of the TD


And the trailer it's going on

[Lynn Coleman]

But from the many suggestions from my father, friends, and father-in-law, they think I should be building the floor with treated lumber. I'm not sure what to do to.

First Welcome Little Critter!

Your statement caught my eye and I thought I should share what little I know about treated lumber. You can't paint it for six months. I don't know if that means you can't put fiberglass over it for that time or not. The other thing I know is that treated wood shrinks big time.

I would use caution about using treated wood but I'm not an expert. You might want to take that question over to the Teardrop Construction & Techniques area. There are a lot of helpful people on this forum and I had great success and encouragment from that area of the forum.

Enjoy the build!

Lynn

[LittleCritter]

Lynn

Thank you so much for your input. After reading a little bit about treated lumber and marine grade with inputs from others here, I think I am sticking with exterior grade plywood with the roof tar seal.

[Miriam C.]

Lynn

Thank you so much for your input. After reading a little bit about treated lumber and marine grade with inputs from others here, I think I am sticking with exterior grade plywood with the roof tar seal.

Yea! The evil smelling black goo wins another. GLOVES girl. Lots of gloves!
Oh, tie your hair up and out of harms way.
GitRdun

[Lynn Coleman]

I think I am sticking with exterior grade plywood with the roof tar seal.

Hi LittleCritter,

Hmm, I decided not to use tar. I used fiberglass and will paint once I've totally finished with the fiberglassing. To me it is a clearer finish and I personally am not crazy about tar. I'm thinking heat, melting black stuff oozing down the sides of the trailer...yuck

Okay, I'm sure there is a way to avoid that but fiberglassing has been relatively easy to learn. Of course, next year, providing we've got the money, we're putting solar panels on the roof and fiberglass gives you more strength.

Just a little input on tar. I know others use it. I just like glass more.

Lynn

[Miriam C.]

I think I am sticking with exterior grade plywood with the roof tar seal.

Hi LittleCritter,

Hmm, I decided not to use tar. I used fiberglass and will paint once I've totally finished with the fiberglassing. To me it is a clearer finish and I personally am not crazy about tar. I'm thinking heat, melting black stuff oozing down the sides of the trailer...yuck

Okay, I'm sure there is a way to avoid that but fiberglassing has been relatively easy to learn. Of course, next year, providing we've got the money, we're putting solar panels on the roof and fiberglass gives you more strength.

Just a little input on tar. I know others use it. I just like glass more.

Lynn

the fibered roof coating goes on the underneath part of the floor so in most of the country it won't get hot enough to drip. It really only smells bad for a day or two. I just got it in my hair and on my hands. So it is now evil smelling black goo.