Self Introduction

[ewdove]

Greetings, all. My name is Emmitt Dove and I live in Connecticut. I am a bit more than midway through building my own Teardrop; you can see much, much more at the blog address below.

My other interests are woodworking in general, bourbon, photography, bourbon, fishing, bourbon, and did I mention - aw, nevermind. When the weather is good, I'll also drag out my tricycle (see http://www.terratrike.com) and go riding. I used to like going for short hikes in the woods until my knees started giving me more trouble than my ankles. Still, on occasion, I can't resist the call of the woods.

I like to photograph birds, and upon completion of my TD, hope to travel around the country doing more landscape photography as well as finding locations of interest, such as old buildings, items of some humor like the city limits sign in Georgia that simply reads "Between" and the falling down garage advertising garage builders, and any Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. His Fallingwater is one of my favorite places on the planet.

I retired a bit over a year ago from a career in systems that support manufacturing processes. I do not miss working at all!

Glad to be here ... and hope to learn!

Emmitt Dove
http://www.emmittsteardropadventures.net

[Junkboy999]

Super nice Hatch build Emmitt.

And love the pictures of the Eagles. We get eagles nesting by our RC flying field every year here in
Wichita, KS, Nice blog, Please keep up on the great photos of the build.

Oh and Welcome to the forums.

[mkitchen]

Trikes and Tears go together very well. We took both trikes and the TD to Idaho for the TaterTot in 2011 and had a blast. It was so nice to be in the tear instead of a motel. I must admit the folks at the Tot would make staying in a motel a lot easier. Hope the build goes well for you and when you get tired of bourbon and are ready to move up to a real whiskey (that would be a scotch whiskey) feel free to come by our camp for a bit of a nip.
Mikey

[annsailor]

Welcome. Love your blog and photography.
Ann

[ewdove]

How do you carry your trike and haul a trailer? I'm thinking a receiver on the back of the trailer, but then every time I want to open the hatch I have to remove the carrier. It will fit inside my Tiguan, but that leaves room for nothing and no one else.

Trikes and Tears go together very well. We took both trikes and the TD to Idaho for the TaterTot in 2011 and had a blast. It was so nice to be in the tear instead of a motel. I must admit the folks at the Tot would make staying in a motel a lot easier. Hope the build goes well for you and when you get tired of bourbon and are ready to move up to a real whiskey (that would be a scotch whiskey) feel free to come by our camp for a bit of a nip.
Mikey

[Greg M]

Bourbon, trikes, and teardrops... Were we separated at birth?

-Greg

[halfdome, Danny]

Hi, (from Danny's wife)
I can't tell you what a smile you put on my face looking at your bird photography! I loved it! Jane

[nevadatear]

We are birder's, always good to find another who enjoys the feathered flyer! Beautiful pictures! We are leading a raptor tour here in NV tomorrow!

[ewdove]

I like the look of your TD. What did you use as an exterior finish? How is it holding up?

We are birder's, always good to find another who enjoys the feathered flyer! Beautiful pictures! We are leading a raptor tour here in NV tomorrow!

[ewdove]

Thanks for the props. Would you believe that, some 40 years ago, I was heavily into R/C? I miss that; alas, no space to build today. My last project was a Top Flite (I think) P40 semi-scale with an OS 90 Goldhead. Built up and sanded but not covered. I had to go away for a couple weeks for work, and when I returned, all my roommates had moved out of the house. Locals had broken in and stolen all my R/C gear. I found parts on the beach, but nothing salvageable.

I was so saddened that I just couldn't pick it up again.

Super nice Hatch build Emmitt.

And love the pictures of the Eagles. We get eagles nesting by our RC flying field every year here in
Wichita, KS, Nice blog, Please keep up on the great photos of the build.

Oh and Welcome to the forums.

[TPMcGinty]

How do you carry your trike and haul a trailer? I'm thinking a receiver on the back of the trailer, but then every time I want to open the hatch I have to remove the carrier. It will fit inside my Tiguan, but that leaves room for nothing and no one else.

Welcome Emmitt! How about re-enforcing the roof in order to mount a roof rack on the Tear. You could get some of these to bolt into the top of the Tear in order to use a Yakima Roof Rack System:

http://yakima.com/shop/racksystems/permanent-installation/bolt-toploader

These would allow you to attach cross bars to the Tear.

http://yakima.com/shop/racksystems/permanent-installation/1a-raingutter

You could then place the two cross bars exactly the same distance between your front wheels and back wheel and use some Yakima Boa Short Wheel Trays to strap your three wheels into.

[ewdove]

Tim,

I've considered a roof-mount, but there are a couple of drawbacks:

1. The trailer is about 6'6" high, so I'd be lifting my trike on/off way over my 5'10" head. That would require a step of some sort.
2. Having the trike on top would create significant windage, reducing fuel efficiency.

I'm thinking my best bet is to use a similar approach, but position the trike on the front curve of the trailer so it is sitting cross-wise, above the tongue and tongue-box. This gets it out of the wind, mostly - the trailer is 63" wide, the trike is 72" long.

Nothing would require reinforcement - the construction is two layers of 1/8" birch ply on the outside, one layer on the inside, mounted to laminated oak ribs and filled with rigid foam, creating a sandwich.

Emmitt

How do you carry your trike and haul a trailer? I'm thinking a receiver on the back of the trailer, but then every time I want to open the hatch I have to remove the carrier. It will fit inside my Tiguan, but that leaves room for nothing and no one else.

Welcome Emmitt! How about re-enforcing the roof in order to mount a roof rack on the Tear. You could get some of these to bolt into the top of the Tear in order to use a Yakima Roof Rack System:

http://yakima.com/shop/racksystems/permanent-installation/bolt-toploader

These would allow you to attach cross bars to the Tear.

http://yakima.com/shop/racksystems/permanent-installation/1a-raingutter

You could then place the two cross bars exactly the same distance between your front wheels and back wheel and use some Yakima Boa Short Wheel Trays to strap your three wheels into.

[campmaster-k]

Emmitt I have never seen such a build. It is breathtaking. Well done sir.

[campmaster-k]

Emmitt I must add that you have made a drastic error in your calculations. Bourbon my friend is second only to Irish Scotch Whisky. It must be said. I hope we can still be friends.