lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Let's protect our teardrops! Let's talk sunbrella, carports, sheds and garages..

lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby mikeschn » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:20 pm

Those of you that have seen my giant teardrop delaminating, know why I started this section. To make our teardrops last longer!!!

From a minimalist tarp covering the teardrop, to the dedicated heated teardrop alcove, and everything in-between, lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops out of the rain and lasting a long time!!!

Mike...
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby TENNJIM » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:40 pm

Our teardrop is kept in the garage when not in use. So, it only gets wet when camping in the rain, condensation on cool nights, and road-running in rain and vehicle spray. I have found that it doesn't leak in rain when camping if the seals are checked each year, proper venting takes care of condensation, and the fenders force a little backsplash water into the corners of the doors when running in vehicle spray. A trick to protect the edge of the bedding when running in spray is to double a black garbage bag, tuck the folded edge down between the cushions and the door opening and lay the remaining part back on the bedding. The length of the folded garbage bag is just right to fit the door opening on the inside and seal out any water. Others have said they do the same thing.
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby SteveW » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:10 pm

Park it in your living room?
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby CliffinGA » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:59 pm

My lil tear that I paid $600 for stays in the don't do anything to it. It has a lil water damage/stain at the back edgewhere the back panel meets the floor but that was from before we bought it. The new one will stay in the garage jist not in the middle like it is now while building it. The wife said it stays in there but she wants enough room to park her Juke in there when I'm done :lol:.

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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby glenpinpat » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:40 am

Mine is completely aluminum skinned and I have no leaks. In the winter we usually just throw a car cover over top of it. All summer it just stays out in the sun and rain.
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby Shadow Catcher » Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:55 am

Ours is Filon skinned and sitting out in the rain right now, but once I finish it, and the car stops eating substantial chunks of money I will have a Paha Que cover made for it.
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby mikeschn » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:26 pm

Shadow Catcher wrote:Ours is Filon skinned and sitting out in the rain right now, but once I finish it, and the car stops eating substantial chunks of money I will have a Paha Que cover made for it.


Does Paha Que make custom covers? I'll have to check into that!

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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby Jacquie » Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:00 pm

So sorry about the delamination problem! We have put a heavy duty tarp over our new Silver Shadow. We park it on the North side of the house where there is less severe sun in the spring and summer. Of course it sat out in the open air of the dealer lot for a few months with no apparent problems. The 2012 Silver Shadow seems to have really thick gaskets around the hatch. I'm now curious if there are any seams up top that could have similar problems. I'm starting to think that the all-aluminum exterior, like the Camp-Inns use may be the best approach. I had bought the plans for the Big Woody a year ago and we never started the build because of reservations about using the wood (despite how good it looks). Is it possible to put aluminum on the exterior?
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby mikeschn » Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:04 pm

Jacquie wrote:So sorry about the delamination problem! We have put a heavy duty tarp over our new Silver Shadow. We park it on the North side of the house where there is less severe sun in the spring and summer. Of course it sat out in the open air of the dealer lot for a few months with no apparent problems. The 2012 Silver Shadow seems to have really thick gaskets around the hatch. I'm now curious if there are any seams up top that could have similar problems. I'm starting to think that the all-aluminum exterior, like the Camp-Inns use may be the best approach. I had bought the plans for the Big Woody a year ago and we never started the build because of reservations about using the wood (despite how good it looks). Is it possible to put aluminum on the exterior?


Of course it's possible to put aluminum on the exterior. The key is to seal all the joints.

I'll start an aluminum thread. Okay, here is the aluminum thread... viewtopic.php?f=63&t=49339

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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby deceiver » Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:34 pm

My little guy sport 6 wide sits in the driveway in the summer after the first time I use it and in the winter here in maine it has it's own vinyl covered garage. You know, like the ones you buy that are curved with the metal pipes. As for using it and running in the rain. I bought it used. Fixed the leaks and since then it's always dry including the doors.
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby Martiangod » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:16 am

Be carefull about tarping.
If your going to tarp, make up a frame to create an air space so it can breath, I see so many moldy trailers.
When customers ask me about tarping my repley is...


" Did you not make it to grade 7 ?
Remember grade 7 science class putting a slice of bread in a baggy with a couple of drops of water.
Then checking daily on the growth of mold spores"

They look at me kinda wierd, but most get the jist of what I've said
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby deceiver » Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:00 am

Martiangod wrote:Be carefull about tarping.
If your going to tarp, make up a frame to create an air space so it can breath, I see so many moldy trailers.
When customers ask me about tarping my repley is...


" Did you not make it to grade 7 ?
Remember grade 7 science class putting a slice of bread in a baggy with a couple of drops of water.
Then checking daily on the growth of mold spores"

They look at me kinda wierd, but most get the jist of what I've said



That's true, even my covered vinyl garage will retain moisture unless it has a little ventilation
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby Oldragbaggers » Sat Mar 10, 2012 8:58 am

First of all, Mike, let me say that what happened to your teardrop is just heartbreaking. And it was disturbing to see. Was this the Baja Tear? I know how hard you work on your teardrops and how much they mean to you and it must have been so upsetting for you to see that. The only upside is the opportunity for learning that comes from situations like this. Hopefully it will encourage a lot of discussion and ideas and help others prevent this from happening to them. My personal feeling is that it wasn't the epoxy, for a lot of reasons, but I could have faulty thinking on it.

Moisture prevention has been a huge issue for me from the very beginning. I know we're not building boats, but after years of chasing leaks around in my boats, that were caused by water coming down from above, not up from below, I decided I didn't want to be faced with that in my teardrop. Plus, none of my boats had to go 65 miles an hour through the rain, so in my mind, potential leak problems in a tear were actually greater. So, my tear will be completely skinned in fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin and stored in the garage. And I am using Okoume marine grade ply for the skins (ouch, that hurt when it came time to pay....but now, after seeing what happened to you, I'm glad I did it.) I bought factory doors from Frank Bear so I am thinking leaks won't be a problem there. My biggest concern now is whether I will be able to get a good seal on the hatch, and since I am still debating what method I will use, that remains to be be seen. If I find my hatch seal to be less than perfect I am thinking that, while it won't be a problem while it sits in the garage, if it turns out to be a problem when traveling in the rain I will probably take the sissy way out and sew up a nice Sunbrella snap on cover for the back end which it will wear while on the road. (Years of boat canvas work has taught me, if all other methods fail to stop a leak, sew a canvas cover for it.) When camped, the back end will be under the pop-up shelter. There's more than one way to skin a cat. (Or a teardrop.)

All that said, we have kept small boats outdoors for years and our method has been canvas tarps in the summer (either the blue plastic variety or made from Sunbrella type material, with vents sewn into them and poles/props of various kinds to hold them off the boat somewhat for air circulation) and shrink wrap in the winter, again with vents installed in them.

I had toyed with the idea of sewing a custom tarp out of the heaviest plastic tarp material you can get for my teardrop, in the event it needs to spend some time outdoors. I thought I would sew some sleeves inside across the top (I really wish I knew how to use Sketch-Up here) where I could insert some PVC wrapped in foam rubber to hold the tarp off the roof a bit and then sew in a few plastic vents of the type they install in shrink wrap. I never took it to the stage of drawing it up or anything, it was just a passing idea when my husband was talking about using the garage to rebuild his Jeep.

Probably the easiest thing, if you can secure them well, is one of those plastic canvas garages. Pepboys has them on sale several times a year for less than $100, 10x20 size. The only problem with those here in my area is the wind. We bought one to cover our little fishing boat a couple of years ago, and despite our best efforts to secure it to the ground, a good wind took it apart and deposited it all over the yard. It's hard to get all the frame peices to stay together, even when you're assembling them. If you weld a bit, Maybe if you tack welded the frame together, then buried the feet in buckets of concrete and then planted the buckets in the ground or something.

Okay, so I rambled on too much. But now you've got me thinking. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad. :thinking: :thinking:

Anyway, spring is coming, things are starting to bloom around here already and yesterday I ordered epoxy and fiberglass cloth from Raka because I am definitely BEYOND ready to get back outside and get back to work on my teardrop.
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby mikeschn » Sat Mar 10, 2012 10:10 am

Becky,

Okoume marine grade plywood is very high on my list for my next plywood build.

So is sunbrella, or some other method of protection.

And I am researching the hatch hinge again too. Rayvillian built a Winter Warrior, and he's not having any problem with hinge leaks.

Mike...
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Re: lets talk about the best way to keep our teardrops dry

Postby Oldragbaggers » Sat Mar 10, 2012 10:20 am

mikeschn wrote:Becky,

Okoume marine grade plywood is very high on my list for my next plywood build.

So is sunbrella, or some other method of protection.

And I am researching the hatch hinge again too. Rayvillian built a Winter Warrior, and he's not having any problem with hinge leaks.

Mike...


Thanks Mike. I'll have to check out Rayvillian's hatch hinge. The two remaining aspects of my build that have me nervous are the hatch and the electrical. The electrical I can overcome with flashlights and an extension cord if need be. And I'm not above going primitive, believe me. The electrical scares the beejeezus out of me. The hatch I am going to have to face head on at some point, so any information I can get on that subject is appreciated.
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