From the Arabia

[Ali]

Hello from Saudi Arabia, I finally registered after few moths of reading and browsing in each topic of the forum.
I was searching the internet looking for teardrops pics just for fun, and then the idea came to my mind "Why don't to you build one?" well, It's a CHALANGE!! For some reasons like: I've never seen a teardrop physically in my live. The parts are not available at all in the kingdom. I've neither carpentry nor welding experience. Though I make my decision by collecting lot of information and pictures for at least one year from now before I start my project, with your help guys I'm sure I'll be able to build the first tear in my area

Looking forward to have your ideas and experiences to build my off-road teardrop trailer.

[Shadow Catcher]

Welcome to the madness!
One of the privileges of being part this forum is getting to know folks from other cultures.
What specifically attracted you to teardrops?
Tom

[Ali]

Thanks Tom.

What specifically attracted you to teardrops?

Well, I really like camping and fishing, but the whether here in Middle East is not the best!!
Speaking about camping, the most durable tent in my place is the Pakistani tents, made of spatial thick fabric; other material will be too hot inside. The Pakistani Tent looks like these:



During summer the temperature will reach 45C, believe me that's more than any one can take!! The tent is great for camping but it's not suitable to install an A/C in it, over and above the fatigue of installing it. I think the TD is the best solution for overnight camping!!

Thanks again, and I would love to meet deferent people from other cultures.

Cheers,
Ali

[Shadow Catcher]

Many years ago I participated in a field trip to Death Vally (one of the hottest place on earth) for a historical geology class and in March temps were approaching that, and yes tents in heat are an experience. Our tear has an AC that can be attached and works very well. I used a 5000BTU unit which works fine for us as we seldom get above 32C it could be easily scaled up to an 80000BTU which depending on the interior volume and insulation of the tear should be more than enough even for 45C. I did a write up on how I did it under hacking a Frigidaire. Where do you camp, mountains, Red Sea. Our view here in the US tends to be a bit skewed by what we see on TV which I know is not representative.

[Ali]

Many years ago I participated in a field trip to Death Vally (one of the hottest place on earth) for a historical geology class and in March temps were approaching that, and yes tents in heat are an experience.

GOD!! I saw in Wikipedia that Death Valley holds the record for the highest reliably reported temperature in the Western hemisphere, 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913!!! That's tough!!

I used a 5000BTU unit which works fine for us as we seldom get above 32C it could be easily scaled up to an 80000BTU which depending on the interior volume and insulation of the tear should be more than enough even for 45C.

I haven't decided about the A/C unit yet, but I think I will go for portable one so I can keep it in the tear or in the tent. Something like the pic.

I did a write up on how I did it under hacking a Frigidaire.

I must read it.

Where do you camp, mountains, Red Sea. Our view here in the US tends to be a bit skewed by what we see on TV which I know is not representative.

I'm from a town call Saihat in the east region of the Kingdom, that's 1600 KM away from the read sea, but I do visit it from time to time for business meetings, I haven't camp there before any ways. I camp all along the Arabian Gulf shore.

All the way from Ra's al Khafji to Al-Salwa.



I'm a visual, I like to see what people talking about, an I like to show them what I'm talking about too. Lol

Visit my facebook to see some of the camping pics, and my flickr too:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id ... =619395238
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alihamad/

[Shadow Catcher]

I understand they drive cars through Death Valley mid summer as part of a torture test to see what melts. My wife and I camped there mid winter in the higher elevations of the Panamint mountains and had snow.
My personal experience with the one hose AC units is that they work very poorly and are rather noisy. This on the other hand is virtually silent viewtopic.php?f=30&t=44561
Our trailer has 1.5" of foam insulation and if I were to build a trailer for your sort of situation (Really HOT) I would go with a reflective roof and perhaps a second "tropical" roof similar to what the old Land Rovers had.