Greetings from Harper Woods, MI

[Bob Hammond]

Hello, I've been ruminating about building a teardrop or a boat, or maybe chimera of them! This may sound weird, but has anybody ever done that by making a body that will detach from the trailer chassis and float? The body would be built using stitch&glue or taped epoxy/fiberglass seams.

[Cliffmeister2000]

Welcome, Bob Hammond!

There is a trailer boat, where the top pops off and is a rowboat. Never saw a Tear-boat, however...

[Shadow Catcher]

No reason you could not but it might be a bit difficult using a rear galley:) Seriously I was thinking more in terms of using pontoons, Nancy has nixed the idea and we will content ourselves with taking the canoe (longer than the trailer).
Oh and BTW welcome to the group and check out TearJerkers.

[Bob Hammond]

Thanks for the hello.

Hmm, pontoons? There's an idea. I wonder if there are inflatable pontoons, reliable ones.... But pontoons might be very big.

How about attachable duckboard rafts, styrofoam skinned with something.

[Shadow Catcher]

http://www.justpontoons.ca/boat-custom. ... creational
My thought was to store the pontoons on top and mount when I wanted to launch.
You might be able to use salvage pontoons/airbags http://www.qingdaoyongtai.com/en/cp/cpxx.asp?id2=12

[mikeschn]

How about something like this...





This is DanL's design... you can see more here...

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... =boat#4206

Mike...

[Bob Hammond]

AquaTear looks interesting but kinda complicated. Maybe the extensions could be self-buoyant rather than deadweight.

Maybe a look at shantyboats would be informative.

[mezmo]

Re: Bob Hammond's post on detachable floating TD

Coincidentally, I was looking at some boat building sites last night
and came across these that might be useful to you:

http://marina.fortunecity.com/breakwate ... #HARMONICA
Look down about halfway down the page to get to the 'Harmonicaâ€

[Cliffmeister2000]

That casacat loooks like it would fit the bill!

[Bob Hammond]

Hmm, maybe this would be straying too far from the concept. A teardrop is a teardrop, and a boat is a boat


But I think that many of the techniques described in the boatbuilding literature would be very useful for teardrop construction. Look around here, for instance:

http://www.bateau.com/products.php?cat=27

[Ageless]

If you built the Aquatear with foam core; the whole thing is bouyant

[Bob Hammond]

There's a separate site for building tutorials and techniquies. Whether I build a TD or a boat, I think there's very useful knowledge here, and this may likely be a good source for materials as well :

http://bateau2.com/

[Bob Hammond]

Here's something of interest from far side of the pond:

http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear52.htm

[mezmo]

Hi Bob,

Here's something I came across tonight from Australia. It's a sale ad
for an 'Aqua Camper' on e-bay.com.au.

Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Swimming-Camper- ... 1144wt_958

'Hope it is still a viable link.

[Bob Hammond]

mezmo, that's along the lines of what I was thinking. I wonder how useful the solar panel electrical system is. HOw does the stern attach, and is it watertight or just a little sloshy?

It's too bad that Woolgoolga NSW is halfway around the world. It'd be interesting to see it up close.