Robbie's Benroy build- Now For Sale...

[Robbie]

Thanks Guys! The door assembly starts tonight so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they come out alright.

[kbuddy]

Looks great!

I live in Riverton... great to see some Utah tears!

I'm in the middle of my build.. about to stand up the walls and fit the spars.. I'm at the stage where I'm wondering where i can get some aluminum.

Did you get your aluminum around here?

[Robbie]

Kbuddy, yes I did! I called around to a TON of places to get prices and such before I bought mine. There are places like Affiliated Metals and Metal Supermarkets that sell sheets of aluminum but they didn't sell any that were 5' wide and the max length was only 10' so there would have been seams on the roof which I really wanted to avoid. I got my aluminum from Utility Trailer down off California Ave. and Bangerter. I think it was $14.59 per linear foot and it comes in a roll about 102" wide so you can skin with no seams. There's is .04. That was the cheapest roll material I found in the valley. Any semi trailer service center will sell the roll aluminum. Call around to a few different places before you buy as the prices will probably change and the cheapest price might be else where.

[kbuddy]

That's perfect! I work right out by the airport.. I drive right by there every night on my way home.. that's also a lot cheaper than i was afraid of.. I think i'll be looking at about $600 for the aluminum.. i was afraid it'd be >1000!

Thanks a ton for the info, and your aluminum looks incredible!

[Robbie]

WOW!!! I was out in the garage last night until 3:30 am trying to button everything up and I must say that my little benroy looks pretty damn good! Way better than I ever thought possible for me doing a project like this. I still need to mount the fenders and run the wiring for the brake lights and put in the door weather stripping but other than those things it is campable!!! FINALLY!!!! After a year of planning, building, stressing, cursing, and rejoicing I finally get to take my creation out on it's maiden voyage! It is supposed to rain all weekend here so it will really be put to the test, but with how much roofing sealant I used on this thing I highly doubt a leak will be possible. I picked up 2 silver tarps to use as awnings off each side of the trailer to keep the are outside the doors fairly dry.

It looks amazing with the doors on and the windows in. The only problem is the left side door latch is super sticky and hard to operate so we'll probably just be using the one door for this weekend. It appears the latch construction isn't aligned so the little cam inside is binding pretty bad. But it keeps the door shut tight so I will deal with it when we get home. And I am going to leave off the side marker lights and clearance lights for this trip since I will just be driving in the day time and I will just have to take them back off for the diamond plate rockers. I may throw on some reflectors for this trip just so it looks legit. But oh my gosh am I excited to take this thing out!!!!

Since my hands were covered in construction crap last night I don't have any pics right now but will get some up shortly!!! She's a real looker!!!

[Forrest747]

Rain

[Robbie]

Ya 60% chance of rain where we're going but I could care less now that I'm not sleeping in a crappy tent!

Here's the semi-finished pics!

[Oldragbaggers]

Oh my, that's so pretty and you did such a professional looking job. Aluminum skin is just classic and I really like the white cabinets against yellow walls. Congratulations on having it done, and bravo for a job very well done.

[kbuddy]

Looks amazing! I'm sure you're going to love it.

Also, thanks for the tip about the aluminum! I picked up an 8.5' x 45' piece today from Utility Trailer!

[S. Heisley]

Your trailer looks really great! Have a good maiden voyage!

[bonnie]

Oh my, that's so pretty and you did such a professional looking job. Aluminum skin is just classic and I really like the white cabinets against yellow walls. Congratulations on having it done, and bravo for a job very well done.

What Becky said!

[aggie79]

Oh my, that's so pretty and you did such a professional looking job. Aluminum skin is just classic and I really like the white cabinets against yellow walls. Congratulations on having it done, and bravo for a job very well done.

+1 on what Becky said. I can't believe how fast you knocked those doors! Have a great time on your maiden voyage.

[Robbie]

Thanks everyone for the kind words! This build has been a project I've been wanting to complete for a long time and now it is finally useable! The maiden voyage was a total success!!!! We were scrambling up until the very last minute trying to get the tail light wiring finished and the fenders mounted and they all turned out looking great! We towed it from Salt Lake City to Kamas, which is about an hour drive, and checked the hubs and the right side hub was pretty hot so we took a minute to back off the castle nut one notch and it was fine from there on out. That was really the only snag we encountered! I didn't have a lot of time to mess with the door handles before we left so we pretty much just threw them on there and called it good. I need to spend some time and get them adjusted so they aren't so hard to close. I had a hell of a time trying to close them from the inside all weekend. Also I want to rig up some way to lock them from the inside.

Aside from those couple things she towed great, kept water tight all over (which is good because it poured all weekend long!), and was very comfortable to sleep in! My wife has a really hard time camping usually as she scares herself about what animals are out there but she said she slept great and was very comfortable both nights. SCORE! Mission accomplished! The setup with this little thing is a breeze. I pulled into camp, unhooked the trailer and grabbed the tongue and just pulled it to where I wanted it and set her up. No difficult reversing or trying to back my truck up anywhere.

All I can say is having this teardrop will totally change the way we camp from here on out! In a good way of course! I am so excited to have it done and be able to say that I built it from scratch. We towed it to my father in law's house to show him last night and a couple walking by stopped us and asked all about it. They were very impressed and amazed that we built it ourselves and for such a small budget. Once the diamond plate is on and the tongue box is finalized the total build bill will be right around $1,400-1,500. More than I originally anticipated but totally worth it!













Here's my beautiful wife and our little boston Paisley hanging out while we wait out the rain storms.

[Forrest747]

[bc toys]

great job on your build and glad it was a success enjoy for a long time