6' x 9' Teardrop Build

[OCD]

I've been reading the board for a few months now and have finally started my build. I really wanted to build a 5' wide but couldn't find a decent trailer in my price range.

Here's my 'diamond in the rough', "more old junk" says my wife.




Getting things cleaned up. There was numerous pieces of angle iron hanging down underneath waiting to be trimmed off. Wire wheeled everything and gave it a couple of good coats of rust paint.


Added three receivers at the rear/sides: left for stove, middle for bike rack and right for a table/umbrella holder.


Today welded on the mount for the front wheel/jack and have 4 levelling jacks for the corners to install next, soon to be followed by fenders.

[S. Heisley]

Off with the old wood and on with the new paint! You've officially started!

Best wishes for a successful build!

[jdarkoregon]

YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE IT!!!!

Keep up the good work, what's your profile going to look like

John

[Deryk the Pirate]

Interesting idea with the 3 recievers.. I like the idea for umbrella holders.

[OCD]

Most of the ideas will likely come from the creative solutions that I've seen here, recycled and done my way. I've seen the receiver idea for stoves, bike racks, cooler racks, and tables, I think it will open options for later. The angle iron was already welded in place, it didn't take much to finish the side mounts.


I am planning on using 2 sheets of 5'x5' 1/4" baltic birch butted together to give me a 10' side profile. I'd like a fairly rounded front section with an overall side height around 4' 8" to cover the frame and give a little more head room inside. I think the tail will be less rounded to reduce the rear overhang of the frame. I'll have to draw out some profiles on the floor to get some ideas.

Scaled up a bit in size but I think mine will borrow a lot of influences from these two examples:

[OCD]

Installed and painted my leveling jacks. Fenders and propane tank mount to come.

[OCD]

Here's where we are now: propane mount done (minus hold downs), slide in/on mount for the stove and bike rack test fit, building the work-surface/table and umbrella holder for the other side but ran out of gas for the mig welder. I cut a couple of sheets of 3/8 ply down to 5' and epoxy/fibre glassed them together to make the pattern for the side profile.

[OCD]

Using epoxy and fibreglass I joined up enough 3/8" plywood to make a template for the side walls. It still needs a bit of touching up and smoothing, but should save time later as a guide for the router when the birch sheets are glued up.



Here it is after I spent some time cleaning it up with a file and sanding block to smooth out the jigsaw cuts.

[OCD]

Rolled it outside so I could stand back and see the scale of it, so far so good. Picked up my birch plywood, 1x2" spars and 1/2" ply for the floor today. I'll have to notch it in the rear to clear the hatch.

[OCD]

I now have the 1/2" panels for my floor cut out and primed. Planning to epoxy them together and spray the bottom side with rocker guard before screwing them down to the frame.


Using the plywood pattern and a router with a flush trim bit, I cut out the two sides.


First coat of epoxy on one of the outside panels. It's near freezing here now, I'll have to keep the woodstove fired up while working with epoxy from here on...

[terryf]

Look Great Keep it up

[Deryk the Pirate]

Looking Great!

[DMcCam]

You're in the fun zone now! Enjoy the ride. You're doing a great job.

All the best,

Dave

[OCD]

Thanks for the encouragement, unfortunately things (like work) keep getting in the way of the fun stuff and I'm on a bit of race against the temperatures out/inside. Even fast cure epoxy isn't that fast this time of year. I'm planning to go with a single 30" door curbside and fabricate my own tilt-out windows for each side. Does anyone have plans/suggestions how to make them hinge out & adjustable, but remain water tight?

[Woodbutcher]

Looking good. You seem to have everything well thought out. Keep us posted....