Greetings from Down Under

[Lynton]

G'day everyone,

I've gone and built my own teardrop and have taken her out for her maiden voyage over the Easter break.
I've spent HOURS reading through this forum before and during the build and must say many thanks to the selfless experts out there who've unknowingly helped another tool with his tools. Cheers.

As the post suggests, I'm based in Australia. Adelaide, in fact.
So far I've seen a total of 4 TD's here - including mine. The other 3 were at a show with some classic campers and cars. The head turns we got at Easter were bloody fantastic and made all the hard yards pay off. Especially on the frosty mornings when we made our coffees...

I'm married with 3 girls and although we love camping it was taking bloody ages to set up and break down our camp site and we were looking for alternatives.
The wife wanted to get a caravan so we had all our gear ready to roll, a kitchen, fridges and so on. With 3 kids that put us in a fairly high price bracket though - over AUD$25,000 for an old banger. I also spent a year in a van travelling around Oz as a kid and didn't want the stuffiness of it.
Camper Trailers for 5 require annexes. We can set up our tent/beds quicker than others we watch with trailers when they need to fumble about with annexes. Trailers are great for couples - no need for those extra annexes. Flip open and done.
A TD certainly wouldn't fit all 5 of us in either - we're not that small.
So I built a compromise instead. A TD with storage for all of our camping gear and a fully equiped kitchen with a couple of fridges - one for food and one for beer. The kitchen has a microwave, full sized BBQ and an espresso machine as well as plenty of storage space.

The whole build process can be seen on my facebook album here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003724&id=1362090661&l=b97ad5f7fa

It really has provided us the best of both worlds at a very reasonable price with some real style on the road. Including the donor van I got the whole thing together (including fridges/BBQ/etc) for under AUD$5000. Camper Trailers here start at that price for just a 6x4 trailer and topper.

Here she is on her first trip out... (the trailer, not the missus)

The BBQ slides out ALL the way, the middle section has 120L fridges on either side and the rest is storage. Of course, there are countless things I would do differently now but overall I'm fairly happy with the whole lot.

[Wolfgang92025]

Welcome to the club,

Nice looking tear. I really like the way the back opens up for storage. Very nice........
Now you have me thinking.

Wolfgang

[jdarkoregon]

Lynton,

Great storage, how's it hold up in the rain? Above the left wheel, the door, is that how you get in, or more storage,

Welcome, keep sharing

John

[Downunder Dave]

Welcome to the forum, it is great to hear from another Aussie. Your tear looks great, someone once said to me when looking at mine the only thing your missing is a barbie, and i said I will give that some thought. Bugga beaten by a crow eater.

Or well at least the CATS are still kicken ARS....

Hope to see you out on the road somewhere.

Cheers Dave ( the mexican)

[PaulC]

Hi Lynton, Welcome to the club Mate What suburb are you in? I'm in Hillcrest. So far I've built 3 TD's and am about to start my 4th. Touch base and we'll try to catch up.
Cheers
Paul

PS Don't believe those Victorians when they say they hope to see you anywhere

[magilla]

Nice work mate, she looks the goods.
Good to see that the priorities are in order, with the dedicated beer fridge.

[drewbtaylor]

All you could ever need. Now that's a "chuck wagon" Beer fridge, espresso machine, storage and a heck of a Bar B Que.

Well Done, you should be proud, and I hope you will enjoy those great ideas being "repurposed" here in the states. I for one am taking a few things from your build.

All you are missing are the girls fanning you with palm fronds and feeding you peeled grapes.

[Roly Nelson]

Hi Lyton, looks like you have a "one-off" teardrop trailer. Way to go, thinking out of the box. I am sure it is a one of a kind. Good luck on your future camping adventures and touching bases with other folks down under.
Roly

[Senior Ninja]

Hi Lynton,

Got another one!
There's no cure for the madness. You're doing well with the virus. lol
What a truly unique and inventive TD! The kids will never forget the wonderful family memories you're making. Enjoy.

Steve

[Miriam C.]

to the playground Lynton. Very nice kitchen. I can see you are younger since the thing is dedicated to eating and feeding the kidos. Now when you get older you give the kids the tent and sleep on a proper bed. I guess if it never rained here I might not mind the tent too much.

Enjoy the site and share the adventures

[Lynton]

Thanks all for your welcome!

Couple of points, now I've taken her out a bit...

1. The door over the wheel arch - that's for one of the bar fridges. One on each side. The "front" door (closest to the A frame) is access to storage. She's not a sleeper!

2. Have had a few issues with water on those hinges at the back. All I need to do is take 3mm off the side of the doors and should be fine. There is already weather seal in there but I made the doors to fit perfect BEFORE adding the seals which meant that when the seals got stuck on it pushed out the bottom.

3. I would NOT recommend the side storage doors opening at the back!
Had one catch a gust of wind and rip a hinge off. PLUS it was a LOT of mucking about with those extra curved bits and trying to get 3 curved doors to close together.

4. I DO recommend a slide out pantry instead. A set of rails like those on the BBQ are about $25 here. Much cheaper and EASIER option.

5. Not happy with the masonite roof and paint finish. Some water has got under it on the joints and warping it a little. Not sure if it is the products, tools or the builder... Would love to do an aluminium with baked finish...

The side doors came out of 'necessity'. The ply sheets are 2400mm long and the chassis was 3000mm...

[Lynton]

Hi Lynton, Welcome to the club Mate What suburb are you in? I'm in Hillcrest. So far I've built 3 TD's and am about to start my 4th. Touch base and we'll try to catch up.
Cheers
Paul

PS Don't believe those Victorians when they say they hope to see you anywhere

G'day Paul. Actually pretty bloody close. Norwood. So certainly close enough to catch up for a beer and check out your build!

As for those Victorians... Married a Geelong girl and crows are having another bad year. Her family are SA but now run a caravan park in Wangaratta (North Cedars if you are up that way). So, I get over to victoria a few times a year.

[Downunder Dave]

Hi Lynton, Another alternatve to Aluminum is colorbond steel. It is good to work with, it is a little heavier than Aluminum, comes is a range of colors. You can glue it with a good contruction adhesive straight on to you top sheet. My build was 2400x1500 and widest sheet I could find at that time was 1200 so I had to run the roof sheets east/west. I used a good amount of stickerflex on the joints and just butt them together. The one at the front I trimed it with an Aluminum strip as it was on a curve.



http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo ... directlink

I spent 6 years in the Goulburn Valley and often travel back up to Beachworth, Bright, Millawa areas camping so now I know another good spot to stay
It would seem that the Cats only the only good thing to come from Geelong Heh!!!!

Cheers Dave

[mikeschn]

Hi Lynton,

Welcome to the forum. Very impressive looking teardrop you got there. I can only imagine the fun you had getting it water tight, even if only for a moment!!!

Mike...

[Roly Nelson]

Lyton, welcome to the forum, we are here to help, as you already know. I have found, that since I was building on the cheap, my hatch lid piano hinge fails to hold out a driving rain storm. To solve this problem, I alway carry a roll of red duct tape and stick it over the hinge whenever I am in a rainy condition. Works for me, and the galley is always dry. Good luck.
Roly