An Ohioan in your mix

[Snide61]

Hello all . . . my name is Scott from Central Ohio and I desire to be a builder/owner of my own teardrop soon. First saw these on the travel channel a few years back. Recently I've been doing some research on a few websites for a few weeks now, so I'm still very uninformed about the whole process. One thing I do have going for me is that I am a Do-it Yourselfer. Why give someone else my hardearned money when I can save a lot of it and have something nice to show for it in the end.

My desire to pursue this avenue came from being tired of the tent camping. I have a truck to pull a camper but it gets 10mpg so I'm looking for something lighter weight I can pull with the 4cylinder cars we own, expanding our camping range. My wife and I probably camp 5-8 times/year depending on the year and our work loads. I work in front of a computer all day long so when I get home I value projects that allow me to work with my hands and build something.

My original idea was to make one to pull with my 58 Edsel . . . which is still a possibility, but the car needs more work than I am capable of completing at this point. As far as syle I have been admiring the original trailer for two for style, but am assuming I will alter everything to my liking.

I honestly don't know when I would start and/or finish such a project. So for right now I plan on doing a lot of lurking on here to see what it will take for me to build my camper. Then I'm just going to start slow and work at my own pace.

Scott Snider

[John T. Hodgen]

Hey Scott,
Welcome the best teardrop building forum on the web! But I maybe bias as so much info got me started and finished my 4x8. I started out with a TSC no-floor frame($349.00now) and about 300.00 worth of wood/ply. Having studied this site, I felt knowledgeable enough to build my own. I, too am like you--why give someone else my hard earned money? It took almost 2000.00(now) and about 4 months build time. Build photos are here;
http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc145/panheadjohn60/
Hope that it will inspire you to start making SAWDUST. The floor and walls were up and done by 2 weeks work, its the roof and details that will SLOW you up. Having someone to help would have made it faster but you know how it is getting help
Til later by the fire--John T.

[Roly Nelson]

Hi Scott, welcome aboard. Good for you, wanting to build your own teardrop from scratch. I can relate to that. Once you camp in a teardrop, and you can sleep inside where it is dry and cozy, cook bacon and eggs under the raised hatch lid and meet and greet all of the neighboring on-lookers...........well you'll never tent camp again.

Now, the sooner you get started, the better. Since you are a bit of a do-it-yourselfer, slapping together a usable tear should be a minor project. You can actually do it with a minimal amount of funds, if you leave off all of the bells and whistles, such as: memory foam mattress, electric heat and AC, TV,video and sound system, built-in sink, water tank, stove, etc. I don't think I have over 1500 bucks invested in my 4x8 woody, (the most expensive material outlay was the 50 bucks a gallon for the varnish)and it seems to be holding up quite well.

So, get that trailer frame and slap some 2by stringers on it, add a plywood floor and all you lack is 2 walls, a roof and the galley hatch. Well, perhaps there is a bit more involved than that, but once you are that far, it won't be long before you are camping with the rest of us.

Good luck on your build, remember, ask questions, take pics and post em.
Roly

[BillandMarijo]

Scott,
Welcome to the forum . I agree 100% about doing stuff yourself and not paying someone. Lived by that rule my whole life. Take your time planning cause its as much fun as the building.
Have a blast.
Bill and Marijo

[Snide61]

@everyone: Thanks for all of the warm welcomes!!!

@ Roly: Yeah I'm so used to tent camping that bare bones is going to be my method. I'm thinking a futon mattress, a hatch vent with a fan and some LED kitchen lights is all of the fancier I'm going to get. Will most likely mount my Coleman stove in the kitchenette and put the old microfridge from college in it and rig it all to be plugged into an electrical hookup. I also have a small 3500 watt generator I can take along for electric when camping more primitavely.

As far as help goes I have a guy that works for me who builds cabinets with his dad on the side . . . so I've got expert advice going for me! I build a 24x32 pole garage last year and did all of the concrete with the help of only 4 people total and did the electrical by myself so I hope that gives me a good base for this project. I'm going into this fairly confident (even though I have a hard time keeping stuff square sometimes).

[Roly Nelson]

Oh boy, Scott, a 32x24 pole garage plus pouring and finishing over 10 yards of concrete, good for you. I would love to have over 700 square feet to use as a teardrop carpenter-shop. Building a teardrop should be a snap for you, with all that help available. I am a firm believer that it is better to cook on a coleman stove on a picnic table or the galley counter-top, than have a built in stove in the galley. After all, I hate to get bacon grease splattered all over my wooden cabinet doors and washing dishes outside sure helps keep water out of my galley.

So, get that trailer, slap on some wood and before you know it, you will have a campable, proud-to-say, "built it myself" teardrop trailer that will be the envy of the campground. Good luck on your build.
Roly, offering a few words of encouragement, like I got in the past.

[b.bodemer]

Hello from the Cleveland Ohio area!

Barb