Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[eaglesdare]

wow, i haven't been notified of new post.

thanks ratkitty, i like the color.

no gpw, i did not iron. and yes, i plan to hide those seams. i said it wasn't pretty yet, but working on it.

tbuilder, no haven't weighed it yet, but do plan on it. but i bet it doesn't weight too much. the frame weighs in at 265lbs. 4 gallons of t2, 1 gallon of paint, 1/2 gallon primer. 2 4x8 sheet of 2" foam, maybe 1 4x8 sheet of 1" foam. there is about a sheet of 3/4" birch ply size is approx 5x2'. and a few spars, maybe 6 of them?. oh and then the canvas.

i took today off from all work on the tear. but i am headed up to walmart now, need to pick up a couple of items to continue working on it tomorrow.

[GPW]

Four gallons of T2 ...
Eagle ,you've done a Great job !!! Really , starting from just an idea ... That's remarkable !!! Now you have a camp-able TD that should last a Loooong time ... Your Grand kids will be camping in it !!!

[eaglesdare]

thanks gpw. you know you are the one that started this!

my main puter just crashed. i am on a barely working spare now. so until i get another puter, or the main one fixed there will be no more pics. and if you don't hear from me, it just means my puters have all crashed. i just wanna cry over this.

just finished my doors also.

hubby just put the fenders on, now hopefully he will do the hanging of the doors, plates and lights, and finish the hitch. then we just might take a small road trip.

[GPW]

... yes , I know I started this and I feel real Guilty not to be making any more progress yet ...
Last week I tried to give away the 1500# Letterpress blocking my Garage door ... No Luck , This week I might try to sell it ... It's blocking Everything !!!
I've yet to propose to the wife that I could build it in the Laundry room ... It has a garage door , that I could get it out of ... Just would have to tidy up a bit in there to make room ... She, er, really doesn't "know" much about this project , but I think she's beginning to suspect something ...

I know what her first question will be ... " What , another Trailer ??? " She already thinks I'm possessed by some evil trailer building spirit ... Perhaps !!!

Just when the "good stuff" starts to happen the puter' shuts down ..... grrrrrrr!!!!!!!

[eaglesdare]

fenders are on, doors are hung, latches on and the lights. he's done for the day. but hopefully tomorrow we can finish doing the hitch, hook up the lights to the car and take a small trip out on the road.

the only really bad part is the doors. there are some huge gaps in there. i bought some weather stripping stuff, foam of course. i can only hope that works til we can make up some new doors that fit better.

[GPW]

Didja' make some kind of drip rail for over the doors ???

[eaglesdare]

no we haven't done that yet. but its on the list.

and don't feel guilty, just take your time with yours, do it right. not that mine is wrong, but i rushed a bit.

hubby took it for a spin around the yard yesterday.

[GPW]

How'd it tow ??? I'll bet it looks COOL eh , matching and all !!! Pics! Pics! You know we "live" for the pics !!!

Well , the wife nixed the idea of building in the Laundry room .... grrr! (I kinda' suspected that , but it was worth a shot . ) Guess I'll just have to wait for a good day , get some help and do it outside ..

Have been playing with an idea to better cut off the excess fabric ... Hot gluing a block of wood to one side a pair of scissors that sets the cut at a pre determined depth ... Trying this out today .. will report back once we see if it works ... or not ....

[eaglesdare]

oh sorry that the wife just doesn't get this. tell her i started mine inside the house and i am the wife.

hubby said it was a little rattling. but he thinks it had to the tongue.

would love to post those pics. as you know i did take some. but this computer i am on now, well lets just say i am lucky i can get to the internet at all. can't load pics to this one.

but if hubby takes all the hints that i have been giving, he will take my good computer down and get it fixed for me for my birthday. i would rather have my puter than the dutch oven or the new bike.

well he is back from jogging now, so we are going to get the plates on it, and get in the shed for the camping gear. gotta figure out what is going on this maiden voyage.

we are going to be redueing the door frame and the doors, but not right now. those gaps are just too much to deal with. hubby said he will make a frame for the door cut out and then make a better door. i think the door willl end up being wood. i think that is going to work better. but that will be after our first trip. don't have the time now. so for now i have the weather stripping, foam or course and will stick that on the door for now.

sorry about the pics, but until i have a computer that will handle them i can't do anything about it.

[Wolfgang92025]

eaglesdare,

Congratulations on the teardrop built. It has me thinking..........

About the rattle, I had one only when towing the trailer, nothing real bad and only at highway speed. Real annoying and that was going on for about 8 months. Went camping with my brother a month ago and stopped to take pictures and see again if I could find that @#$%& rattle.
No luck, little brother taps the license plate frame, and that's the sound.
Best guess is the air movement across the rear of the TV changes with the trailer and causes the lic. frame to rattle. Small piece of double sided tape took care of that.

[GPW]

Being so Light , you may want to check the tongue weight too ... see if it's balanced .... may have to throw some gear in the front of the TD .. Or a nice brick patio floor ...

[eaglesdare]

thanks everyone. hubby says its not the tag frame, he did not have that on yesterday.

we put the tags on this afternoon and lights all work. took it on the actual road down to the corner mart and back. yup it rattles. but i got the speed up to 40 mph. i have to say i was scared out of my mind! i have never towed anything in my life. and i can't see using my rearview mirrow.

i do have my gear stowed in the back now, so i will adjust the weight and take it again on the road. see if that makes a difference.

now the bad news: i have mud on my teardrop now!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh and hubby did not put a latch on the passenger side door, so well do i have to tell you that it blew opened? and he only used eye hooks on the hatch and you can guess what happened there can't you? yup it blew open. so i have to get down to lowes and pick up a couple more latches for the old man to put on.

but the good news is, it did not fall apart and it is campable. still lots of detailed crap to do. and i have given up on making it pretty. as long as it serves it purpose, well i'll be good to go.

this coming friday we take our first trip of the year. it will be towed approx 5 hours from here and hopefully back.

[GPW]

MUD !!! Gotta' find the rattle ... it ain't the foam for sure...Did hubby check the ball is the right size

Plenty of time to make it Pretty... Camping now !!!

[vreihen]

Could the rattle be the safety chains dragging on the ground or hitting the trailer tongue?

If the rattle turns out to be at the hitch ball, there's an adjuster nut under the coupler that you can use to tighten the mechanism up to take out the slop. Just be careful not to tighten it too much, since the coupler does need to rotate freely. I've had to adjust that nut on two different trailers of mine when I bought/built them.....

[GPW]

Vhen , Thanks for that !!! I never knew about the adjustment ...