Lisa in West Virginia

[justlisawv]

Hi to all
Time to introduce myself. I live in WV and have managed to convince my husband what a wonderful idea it is for us to build a teardrop camper. He has been working on a jeep and it is getting close to finished, so the time for my teardrop keeps getting closer! I have been visiting and reading this forum for a long time, made a user account a few months ago and decided it is time to jump on in and introduce myself. I have began collecting parts (and money) for my teardrop who I already call "Lucille". I am starting with the generic Benroy plans because I love that particular body style. Please in the next few months keep an eye out for me to start a build thread and stop in there and share all your knowledge and advice! We are going to need it.

[mikeschn]

Welcome to the forum. Keep us informed of your plans. Pics would help too!

Mike...

[Junkboy999]

Welcome to the forum you two.

When you said your hubby is finishing a Jeep, i pictured a Teardrop all jacked up on 4X4 tires, boat rack
and all sort of attachment points for hunting and fishing supplies. But with the name Lucille I’m picturing
a pink or light pastel color pallet, little white picket fence with flamingos and flower boxes.

That is the good thing about building your own. You can have a Pink one set up on 4x4 tires with hunting
rack to hold your pink flamingos.
Ha Ha hahah

GL on whatever you guys choice to build. I like the Benroys profile my self.

[justlisawv]

Yeah I think the husband is picturing the 4x4 while I am picturing the flower boxes. We are going to have to try to find a happy middle ground somewhere. I will absolutely put pics when we begin Mike, for now I will just keep on planning and gathering.

[Vedette]

welcome to the Forum.
We call ours "Miss Piggy" but my wife would not let me pait it Pink???
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[pappaw]

We get down your way some, camping and stuff, last was to Williamson, guess you guys had a hot time yesterday.

We need to get to Cass and Hawks Nest again. Maybe we will cross paths someday. Good luck on your build, glad you signed up.

Cheers

[John T. Hodgen]

Hey Lisa and Hubby,
Welcome to T&TTT. My wife Linda and I live in Summersville, Wv. I'm the Chapter Director of the Mountaineers of West Virginia Chapter over on TearJerkers. Every year we put on a Fall Foliage Gathering at Mountain Lake Campground here in Summersville, the weekend after Bridge Day. For 2013 I'm thinking of moving it to the weekend before BD. We usually have 20-30 campers come. This yr we did two benefits and tried to have a carshow but the weather kept them from coming.
We also have a Jeep Cherokee, mostly used on our farm/winter now. We have a 1947 KenSkill as our main camper and a homebuilt 4x8 that I built and we use it as a guest camper mostly. Building is such an awarding job. If you should come by Summersville and want to visit and see our campers let me know @ [email protected]. Also e-mail me for our phone # to talk about your build and some pointers.
We like to camp up on Cranberry out of Richwood or at the free camp under the Summersville Dam, or Mountain Lake campground.
Hope to hear from you guys soon, as I usually sign off....
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda

[Roly Nelson]

Welcome aboard, Lisa. I suggest you get a CD of the song, "You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille", just in case the tongue unhooks from the ball and the safety chains fail. You can play the song, as Lucille continues down the road without you. I want to chime in about the benifits about building your own teardrop trailer. Good choice, a Ben Roy style. I feel it has nice lines and probably has the best layout for storage, than any other trailer. It's nice to belly right up the the counter without banging your shins on a protruding rear bumper and still be under the cover of the hatch lid.

I modified mine a bit, just to conform to my own design ideas. The building of the tear is 1/2 of the fun, and once completed, you will have to beat off on-lookers with a stick, especially when you are gasing up. Don't open the hatch lid, because that can add another 20 minutes to the attack. Do take pics, ask any question you want and you will get lots of answers along with some experienced building advice. By all means, do visit to some of the gatherings in your area, as we TD folks love to share our little gems as often as we can. Walk-ins are always welcome.
Good luck on your build......Roly, the li'l ol' So Calif woody guy, ME!

[bc toys]

welcome to this great site you can both have your way here he can have 4x4 while you have the flower boxes

[Steve 70]

Hey Lisa. Welcome to the forum. I to am a newbie somewhat to this site even though I have actually been browsing the many build journals that have been posted for the last 3 months. It is amazing the amount of information that you will gather from looking at and reading these journals. Just seeing some of teardrops that have been built is what inspired me to build my own. I am leaning towards the Benroy style. I am building mine on a 5 x 8 NT trailer but will end up with a 5 x 10 footprint. Look froward to seeing pics of your build. I am from eastern Kentucky. There doesn't seem to be a lot of teardrop builders this side of the Mississippi. Where are you from in West Virginia?

[John T. Hodgen]

Hey Steve,
Kentucky has a great chapter on TJ'ers. There are alot of gatherings in your area. Check out their Chapter and the directors have a really nice camper for sale in the Tj's classifies. If you get that benroy built by Oct you should come to our Fall Foliage Gathering next yr. If your done by July or just want to see a ton of campers you should go to Spencer, In. for the Crossroads of America Gathering. In 2011 we had something like 145 campers, and over 300 for POT LUCK Supper. It was a sight to behold and I could never imagine it would be that big for the first one. We're trying for a bigger on this yr. Details on TJ in the Gathering section. Hope to meet you this coming yr, winter is building time, get to flying sawdust
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda

[Steve 70]

Thanks for the info Lisa. I guess I have spent most of my time trying to gather info on building the Benroy. Obviously I need to start looking at the social side also as I would really like to go to a gathering and have the opportunity to meet people and see their builds in person. I hope to get the Benroy ready by Spring. My wife seems to be getting a little more excited about it with the exception of the money......

[John T. Hodgen]

Hey Steve,
???Lisa??? hasn't answered you, it was me John T. I'm wondering where she's from too. I have 2 campers, a 1947 KenSkill and a homebuilt that I built in 4 months. I could have done it quicker with Help. I had no plans, just took pieces of different campers and put them together or modified them to suit me. It doesn't have to cost alot of money, I have only $1900.00 in the Costta Lotta, our homebuilt. I started with a @ the time TSC no-floor frame $299.00 and $300.00 in wood.
As I used that up I'd buy more as I was on unemployment at the time. Many ways of building a td, I did the sandwich style, stick frame, insulation and inner/outer skin. It work out but I spent the most time doing the stick frame. The floor was quick. Since it has made many miles and we enjoyed it it was alot of maintainace. It keep us warm on the cold nights with a little heater, BUT, our '47 is single sheet of 3/8 (?) with just aluminum siding and a Candle will drive you out on cold nights. I think it's easier to do it with the single sheet and Faster. Just don't build it like a house due to the weight. Sdes, cross braces for ceiling/roof and your cabinets will stiff it up more than you can imagine.
If you want to travel to Wv., I don't know how close you are, you can check out both of ours in depth. And WHERE IS LISA?? I as you would like to hear from her too PM me for my # and we can talk more. Any help that I can give to help I will.
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda
ps. if you look at my album link here at the bottom of the avatar you can see some of the build, it seems photobucket has deleted most of my pics and I'll have to re-enter them all

[justlisawv]

Thanks everyone for making me feel so welcome. We live in Saint Albans, about ten miles out of Charleston. We are both excited to get the teardrop started but this jeep feels like it is taking FOREVER. In the meantime I am keeping an eye out for parts, etc. He has a trailer to use and I have found a perfect counter top for the galley at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I am also filling up the piggie bank. ( Piggy Smalls I call him) Shane, my husband, is a certified welder and I am an IT technician. I am a semi handy do it yourselfer, which is probably the most dangerous kind, but I am good about research before I grab a saw! Unfortunately we will be building under a 20 x 20 metal carport instead of in a garage so weather will be somewhat of an issue. I love to camp but in my 40's have decided the tent is just not cutting it any more. John, thanks for your offer to see your campers, I think it would probably be a great help to see something other than pictures! Maybe some time after the holidays we can plan a trip to take you up on that offer!

[John T. Hodgen]

Hey Lisa and Shane,
Sounds good, sometime after the first of the yr. Continue to save those pennies, nickels, dimes and especially Quarters Oh, you guys don't know it yet, but I already have a Mountaineers of WV Chapter sticker for you St. Albans isn't that far away either.
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda
PS,,, do you guys know Kenneth Glover from Milton?