Hey everybody, I know this is my first post, but I thought now would be a good time to speak up because all of a sudden I noticed a major inflow of traffic to my company's website. When I checked out the source on Google analytics, I realized it was from "that one forum I signed up for a little while back that I forgot about."
To introduce myself, my name is Alex, and yes I am the founding partner, if you will, of "The Teardroppers." We are relatively new to the TD business, most likely the reason no one has heard of us, we just recently "opened" our doors this past November 2012. There seemed to be a lot of questions on here, I'd love to answer them while doing my best not to make this forum into an advertisement, as I realize that's not what the forum is for.
However, yes, the kit fits a 5x8 trailer. If someone has a narrower or wider trailer, we could work out a custom order to only ship the sidewalls (as the hatch is a set width) The sidewalls are 3/4" thick pre-finished (on one side, the inside) White Birch. The Hatch kit is made from Baltic Birch (only the best

). All of the kits are CnC'ed and have channels for the ceiling, all spars, and dividing walls/counter top.
To answer the curiosities, the kit was specifically designed to not include all the pieces for a few reasons. 1. As mentioned, to allow the builder to truly build and customize their TD. The more we include and design ourselves, the more our TDs become cookie cutters. 2. The other pieces of wood, such as the spars, floor pieces, etc. are general pieces of wood that you can pick up at your local hardware store. If we include those basic pieces of wood, it only adds to weight of the package, therefore cost. So, for more than $150 worth of wood (baltic birch isn't cheap down here) you're paying $150 and the cheapest freight shipping you'll find for two sidewalls to be pre-cut and the hatch kit, which fits together nicely.
SO, we include a parts/shopping list with every kit that includes the complete rundown of all the necessary parts and accessories you'll need to complete your TD with average prices right next to them. That way you can price it out exactly how you want to build it. Also we have a basic step by step guide to building your TD. It's no page turner, but we included as many pictures as possible and did our best. Plus it's free with the kit.
Oh, and someone asked about a galley hinge, we use "The Hurricane Hinge" to attach ours, but you could use a variety of hinges as the top of the hatch is the flat.
If anybody has any questions or what not, or just to verify we're real people

, you can always email us at "
[email protected]" or call us, the number is on the website. I'll probably be the one to answer. Or just ask it here, this is as good a place as any to chat about teardrop trailers lol. And yes, we are located in Southern California, so if anyone lives in the general so cal area, we're happy to deliver for free, otherwise $99 flat rate for freight shipping is a steal, trust me. Freight shipping is not cheap, because we pay for dimensional weight because of the odd shape (4ftx8ftx3in), so we eat a lot of the shipping cost to keep the prices down.
SORRY if that was too "advertisey," (

) I just wanted to answer all the questions and curiosities (you know, good customer service and all that jazz). If it was, just let me know, I'll try to tone down the "marketer" in me next time haha.