From northern Wisconsin

[Hillmann]

Hi,
I have been interested in teardrops for five or six years now, aways thought they would be too heavy to tow with the cars I have(small, worn out, four cylinder, 5 speed hatchbacks). I have built a couple skin on frame boats, that is where a frame is built out of thin strips of wood (1/8" x 1/2") which are all tied together then fabric is stretched over it tightly and painted or epoxied. Which ends up giving you a very lightweight yet enterprisingly strong boat. I am wondering if this technique "skin on frame" would possibly work for a teardrop. One thing about using skin on frame building is that you can build almost any shape you can imagine except concave. Let me know what you think.

[gregp136]

Welcome from Southeast Wisconsin. I am still a bit of a rookie here, but I have completed my teardrop and my two 4 cyl. vehicles tow it fine. I do not know if your skin on frame teardrop would work, but it sounds interesting. I would be interested in learning how to do it for a boat myself.

Anyway, welcome and enjoy the party.

Greg(and Laurie)

[mikeschn]

I'll bet it would work.

Got any pictures of those boats you built to see the technique?

Mike...

[Hillmann]

No pictures of the boats. The first one I made was meant to be a small canoe for the kids to play with, but when I tested it I figured if I made it a little wider and added a top I could have a kayak, which is what I did. so that one turned into an 8 foot kayak that weighs about thirty lbs. For the second one I took a Coleman rollex canoe, removed everything from it so it was just the shell and built the frame of the skin on frame inside of it, pulled it out , added bracing and put a skin on it. It is a very quick way to build things, if you don't count the time I spent waiting for the oil to dry, it is possible to put in three dimensional curves instead of just two dimensional, it's cheap, it's easy and it will be for sure waterproof.

And to Greg, how much does your teardrop weigh and what do you tow it with?

[gregp136]

We have two different tow vehicles, depending on who is coming with us.

The first is a 2003 Ford Ranger, manual Transmision.



The other tow vehicle is a 2003 Honda CRV.



As far as weight, I went to a local truck stop and their scale would not work. They said it did not weigh enough. I can wheel it around with no problem, so I am guessing 700 to 900 lbs.

Greg (and Laurie)

[tearhead]

Welcome from another Wisconsinite! We pull ours with a Subaru Forester (8 foot Lil Traveler).

[Hillmann]

My car at the moment is a Mazda 323 so I need the camper to be as light a possible. I am thinking, not including the trailer, that I could build it as skin on frame and have it weighing under 100 lbs dry. And if I go with a cheap harbor freight trailer it could be under 300 lbs easily. And once it is built if I decide I need insulation I would sew up a quilt that I would Velcro or tie to the exposed frame inside. To keep weight even lower I would put the water tank and battery on the passenger side front floor of the car and also have the cooler in the car until ready to camp. The only thing I am having a hard time figuring out is how to make the rear hatch water tight or at least resistant. and how will I mount the hinges on it because in order for skin on frame to be strong it either requires stiff support or all surfaces have to curve in all directions so a hinge can't be easily mounted. If anyone has any ideas on how to mount the hatch hinge on a curved surface let me know. I am also thinking about the possibility of fitting my motorcycle in it as well( an sp 250