Hi, I'm Heather. It has been 2 hours since...

[OurSquishy]

... my last daydream of being a teardrop builder.

I found this site while shopping for a used teardrop. I have wanted one for a long time and having owned tents and TTs of various sizes I wanted to scale down all the CRAP that I had begun to schlep all over the place to "get away from it all". However, tents were a bit too far IMHO. I made the leap to building because I was just not finding an existing one to suit my tastes and still in my budget. So, why not try my hand at building and make it an ongoing project of tweaking and learning? My 17 year old son will be helping me on the way and Im really excited to get started.

I have just rec'd my Northern Tool 5x8 trailer yesterday!!!! I have been lurking for a while and finally decided to be brave and jump in. Thanks for a great site and all the info. I hope to be able to pick your brains, collectively and end up with a great project to be proud of and get lots of use from.

Thanks again!

Heather

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Welcome to the forum! Congrats on diving right in with the trailer purchase!

[Woodbutcher]

The first step is the hardest. Admitting your addicted comes next. The only way to be completely healed is to finish your trailer and go to regular meetings. We call them gatherings and you can find them all over the country. Enjoy the building process, it is a big part of the fun.

[lee senn]

Heather Welcome to the forum. You are at about the same stage as my wife and I. We just received our Northern Tool trailer about two weeks ago. It is now assembled and awaiting the money to move on to flooring and walls. I suggest that you consider, or maybe even sign up for a couple of gatherings that will be near you : they are Falling Tears at Davis Creek ( near Reno ) and Twain and Tears ( near Winnemucca, Nevada ) check southwest gatherings on the forum. If your tear isn't quite done you can stay at a nearby motel, visit the gatherings, meet some really nice folks and get some good ideas and instruction. I am sure there are plenty of places to stay near Reno but for sure there is a really nice Bed and Breakfast near the Twain and Tears gathering. My wife and I stayed there last year and visited the gathering. Places to stay are probably irrelevant as hopefully your tear will be done in time for the gatherings. Norma ( my wife ) and I will be at both if we have to sleep in a tent on the trailer floor. Lee and Norma

[Junkboy999]

Day dreaming... must be nice to Day Dream about building one. I lay awake at night weirded from caffeine
planning of how I’m gonna do this and how I’m gonna to that.


Ha hahah Don’t drive yourself too crazy and just have fun. I was lucky to find a little used teardrop I can use
for a year or two, while I plan my build my dream TD.

Oh and welcome to the forum.

[OurSquishy]

Thanks for the welcome, all!

I suggest that you consider, or maybe even sign up for a couple of gatherings that will be near you. Norma ( my wife ) and I will be at both if we have to sleep in a tent on the trailer floor. Lee and Norma

Hello, Lee!
Yeah, I actually thought about attending but then I considered the possibility that I may look like a teardrop groupie or even worse, a teardrop stalker by showing up without a tear.

Day dreaming... must be nice to Day Dream about building one. I lay awake at night weirded from caffeine planning of how I’m gonna do this and how I’m gonna to that. Don’t drive yourself too crazy and just have fun.

JB: I was not ready to volunteer that I stay up too late trolling the internet for ideas, making numerous plans and scrapping them all when I admonish myself for not following the KISS method. My my how those thoughts can really run away with you!

Heather

[nevadatear]

Oh heather you must be kidding. I found out about our first gathering close to us in austin as we were nearing completion! But not campable. Best decision we ever made was to go to that one. Met some fabulous people we now call friends, like doug and randy and john. And got some great ideas you really need to see some in person. Nothing like camping in the back of your car in the snow to bond you with teardroppers. Of course you should come! Its not about the trailer, its about the culture and you sound like you will fit right in! Are you in the northern NV or idaho area? There are getting to be a nice group of us who have recently built are are building.

The first one in the west is the dam gathering, and it is a special one. In june is twain and tears, which we are organizing, and then falling tears in september.

[nevadatear]

Ok, now i see you are in sac. My ipad on tapatalk doesnt give the location stuff. You must do the dam gather for sure! I is not just terdrops, but any small triler or tent. Heck, back of the car will work. Be this is the bigget this year on the west coast. find a way to be there, you wont regret it! This year there will even be a wedding!
http://damgatheringofthetears.weebly.com/

[Wolfgang92025]

Hi Heather,

This was our first gathering at Shasta in 2009. Notice our tent in the background.



Had fun and learned a punch of stuff on building my tear.

[suckerpunched]

Heather,,,,beware,,, it is addicting,,,,I started a couple years ago building mine and while it has been campable for two seasons,,,I still working on it..I've been riding Harleys all my life, all the rallies and events,,,,but it has been in storage for over two years...when the weather is fair I either camp or work on the teardrop,,,,this forum has corrupted me....but I'm happy with it.....
TC

[KevinC]

Congrats for jumping in with both feet. Keep us up to date.

And as far as the kiss method.... I'm bad about that too. I start drawing and before I know it.... It is way to complicated.

[Vedette]

Welcome Heather
Yes, they say the building is just the beginning of the "Fun".
And yes, I have had a great time here on the Forum while building our Teardrop.
We did get to drop in on a Tear Jerkers crawl accross the UP of Michigan without our teardrop this past summer.
We met a wonderful group of people.
Now we are just waiting for the camping season to begin so we can get out there and meet even more wonderful campers and make many more new friends.
Hope we get a chance to meet you down the road somewhere!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[S. Heisley]

Heather, Welcome!!! Absolutely, you should attend the May 1st through 5th Dam Gathering at Shasta Lake, Antlers RV Resort and Campground. This will be THE event of the year, here, on the west coast. You will get many ideas for your build and get to talk to hundreds of teardroppers. There will be a wedding on Saturday and there is even a group of men who will be building a teardrop during the five day event. If your teardrop isn't camp-able, you can camp in your own tent or rent a cabin or an RV from the resort. There is no better way to get ideas and information than by talking to other teardroppers; so, don't think of it as being a teardrop groupie. Think of it as going to an outdoor seminar!
If you can't stay, come for Saturday. Sacramento is only about a 3 hour drive away from Antlers, CA. Put your cursor,up above, in the blue area, TD Friendly Websites, and a pull-down menu will appear. Click on Destinations and you'll find more information on the Dam Gathering and many other gatherings. As the camping season nears, more gatherings will appear there. Never, ever feel funny about coming to a gathering, with or without a teardrop. Come!

[atahoekid]

Welcome Heather, by the way if you're looking for used RV parts in Sac,there's a place called the RV Doctor. It's basically a warehouse and a storage yard of everything you'd ever want for an RV. It's off of I-50 and Arden. Some of the prices are good, some of the prices are a bit high but if you need parts, it's a good place to start. I bought my windows and my double sink from them. I would have bought more, but I don't get out to Sac often enough. Good Luck and Have fun with the build. I think it's the most fun I've had with a project. It took me just about a year, but mine is a pretty big build and it's well equipped. The finished trailer is 7 feet wide, 12 feet long and 6 foot tall from ground to roof. We love , so start a build thread and keep us posted!!

[OurSquishy]

Thanks, all for the warm welcome! I am totally going now! I am going to be working on the build but probably won't be done in time and you're right it will be a good opportunity to gather thoughts, ideas and the like. My auntie is going to let me use her TTT, she has an 80s model Casita fiberglass TTT. I'm so excited!

Heather,,,,beware,,, it is addicting,,,,I started a couple years ago building mine and while it has been campable for two seasons,,,I still working on it. when the weather is fair I either camp or work on the teardrop,,,,this forum has corrupted me....TC

TC: I can imagine! I sometimes feel overwhelmed with the possibilities and have begun to DREAM about the tear and what to do with it!

by the way if you're looking for used RV parts in Sac,there's a place called the RV Doctor. We love , so start a build thread and keep us posted!!

Kid: I did stumble accross the RV doctor and was FLOORED when I went in. All the visit did was serve to plant more ideas in my head though!!

Heather