A Tennessee Teardrop - Updated 5/21/10

[thebruntons]

Hey all. My husband and I have decided to build our own teardrop. We are generally tent campers and backpackers, but we decided we wanted something a little more luxurious for road trips. After looking around at some campers we came to the conclusion that it would be more fun, and more affordable, to build our own. So here we are!
We are building a Benroy style teardrop on a 4x8 HF trailer. We're trying to do a fairly simple design with minimal cuts and wiring, but one that will still look nice and last for a while. So far it seems to be going pretty well.
Over the weekend we bought and assembled the trailer. Sunday we tarred the floor, but it still has not been bolted to the trailer. Yesterday we marked and cut out the walls and door, and marked where our galley shelves will be. I've been working on it some today while hubby's at work, cutting out a notch for the hatch and drawing the cabinets onto plywood to cut out.
Feel free to chime in if you have any good advice, since we've never done this before.
This website has already been very helpful. I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Liz

[planovet]

Welcome to the forum.

What part of Tenn. are you from?

[thebruntons]

What part of Tenn. are you from?

We live in Chattanooga.
Here are a few pictures from the last few days. Please forgive the messy garage.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Welcome to the forum! AND congrats on taking the leap and becoming a teardropper!

[parnold]

Looks like a great start!

Are you going with the solid walls, or composite?

I went solid for ease and speed, but my next tear will definately be composite walls.

[Ageless]

Welcome!

What messy garage? I can barely get into mine.

[glennsheila]

Welcome to all the fun. It looks great and you will be camping in no time.
The Tennessee Voluntears will be having our Fall Gathering very close to you. It will be in Pikeville. Hope to meet you sometime.

[grizz]

Welcome.

I agree, the road trip part of the purpose of the tear will be where it excells.
However, I suspect it will be a slippery slope once you get used to it.... the tents will stay at home.

[Rigsby]

Great start to the build


Remember we are not proffesional builder, so if it doesnt seem to go right, it hasnt gone wrong, It has just gone "different". The differences we can alter on build number 2!!

[Rarin2go]

Welcome to the fun.
Join us at a gathering soon.
We like to see new builds!!

[regis101]

I like the Benroy profile.

What wood is used for the side walls? Looks like it has a nice grain.

[thebruntons]

Thanks everyone! When we get it finished we'll try to make it to a gathering. The walls and floor are single sheets of 3/4 in. birch plywood. We haven't bought the 1/8 in. stuff for the roof yet. We're still not sure if we want to use birch or luan. Some folks seem to be using the luan with no problems but others suggest staying away from it. Any tips? We'll be covering it all with CPES before painting.

[thebruntons]

The teardrop is starting to come together, imperfections and all!
We had a pretty productive day since we both had the day off.

The notches for the hatch are cut.

The floor is bolted down (lining it up and drilling holes with the tar on turned out to be a real pain).

The walls are up.

And the cabinets have been cut out. The counter is glued/screwed in place and the upper cabinet is just propped up until we can cut the correct angle onto the top.
I'm pretty pleased with the progress. Although, it turns out the bottoms of the walls were not as straight as we thought they were, and now there is about a 1/8 inch gap on one side where the wall should be sitting on top of the floor. We're trying to figure out the best way to fill it in.
Stay tuned for more!

Liz

[grizz]

Hi Liz, that is progress indeed.

Impressed, and the weekend awaits.

[GregB]

Although, it turns out the bottoms of the walls were not as straight as we thought they were, and now there is about a 1/8 inch gap on one side where the wall should be sitting on top of the floor. We're trying to figure out the best way to fill it in.
Stay tuned for more!

Liz

Oh, let me sing the praises of wood filler, caulk and trim, that I might hide mine sins of construction from the world.

The Trailer Book of Greg 146:2