Build or Buy..the age-old quandry

[VT800C]

I am torn between building a teardrop on a 4x8 Harbor Freight trailer (keeping it 4'wide, as I plan on making it a 'convertible' or taking advantage of a never-used 2013 Yuengling 5 wide Little guy. the LG has advantages of being professionally built, with better fit and finish, but as my TV is a 4-banger RAV4, and wired with a flat-4 connector. I wonder if the electrical is a deal breaker. Building it myself is cheaper, but I have no schedule or how long it will take. Basically building a chuck box I can sleep in, and I am worried about the doors and leaking. Buying gets me a wider trailer, and on the trail sooner, but SWMBO is not a camping type so most of the time I'll be going solo. comments? is $5.5K a deal for this trailer or should I just take my chances?

[Vedette]

This choice is a "no brainer".
Little Guy gets you camping now!......not in 3 or 4 years.
LG has a 10 times better chassis than HF!
You may think you can build cheaper....but when the smoke clears you most likely will have spent more!
Oh could I go on and on!
BUY IT NOW!
DON"T MISS IT!
Oh. and the wiring connection to the TV is probably the weakest excuse I think I have heard to date????
Welcome to the Forum.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi
PS
SWMBO may like the LG a lot more than a home built "Chuck Box" on wheels and may Love TD Camping???

[PKCSPT]

I bought mine, a Little Guy 4 wide. I dream of building my own and maybe some day I will. I truly admire the home builds but I tend to not finish things very well.
This way I am camping now, planning my build that may or may not happen.
I too solo camp, hubby is not one for camping

[jstrubberg]

At that price...buy. Unless you can source a lot of material used, you are going to be lucky to bring a build in under $3k. You will more likely be at $3.5-4.5k when you're finished.

I've never, EVER heard a teardropper say "Boy, I wish I had a narrower teardrop!". Trust me, you want that extra foot of width.

[Tomterrific]

A four footer is a bit tight for couples and we are skinny. I built ours four wide and I wish it were a five. Solo camping is comfortable in the four wide and I'm sure it tows easier than a five.

Building my own was a no-brainer for me and I did not consider a factory trailer. I already had a trailer with a rotten deck and I wanted to try building an extremely light weight camper/motorcycle hauler. Success! Light, water proof and kind of fun to build. I am by no means a craftsman so mine is not a piece of beautiful furniture as are so many others.

Tom and 'The Eyesore'

[gudmund]

Note: All vehicles are wired in the basic 4 wire setup to start with, its just that the 7 wire version gets some "EXTRA" wires added to the side of the basic 4 wire setup for the electric trailer brakes/charging system for whatever options are being added. Any 4 wire setup can be made into a 5/6 or 7 wire setup. My present 'used' PU came with the 7 wire setup and to start with I just used a 4 wire adapter to tie the two together with. Than a few months ago when I was under the PU and seeing how I did not like all of the extra wires I saw left un-connected and wrapped off to the side being the former owner had undone and took their electric brake controller when they sold it, I tore it all out but left the 7 wire prong plug-in in the bumper. I have always liked a 7 prong plug-in connection better than the 'flat' 4 wire plug-in connector that was/are always hanging loose dropping/dragging or just getting in the way with whatever. My 7 wire plug-in is just a nicer, cleaner hook-up now with a couple 3 plug-in spots that just don't work anymore. (now if and when I sell the PU, whomever buys it may find out there are NO extra wires for the extra's of a bigger trailer - oh well, I may have forgotten to tell them and they will have to run their own wires later)

[gudmund]

PS, I agree with Vedette!!! stay away from the HF frame if at all possible. You are always better off having an overbuilt foundation to start with!! (Using a HF trailer to start with would be like building your new house on pier blocks, hoping they later don't sink - I know this "frame" thinking here on the forum stirs up 'frame bias', but like I said - I am with Vedette on this one !!!!) And as far a the difference between a 4 and a 5 foot? Remember now, this is coming from a present 4 wide owner - go with the 5 wide!! Something someone said here awhile back that is imbedded in my mind now is - you NEVER read here on the forum how "I should have bought a 4 wide", it's always "I should have bought a 5 wide" which is also true in my case, even with me being just one person. A 5 wide just has so many more options when dealing with matrasses being they are a standard "queen" size bed - not some cut down matrass/topper to make it fit in a 4 wide - along with just more space!!!! (a 4 wide is about 6 inches narrower than a "full" size bed and you either have to cut something down to make it fit - like a matrass topper - or have a matrass made for it. I cut down a W-M a 4 inch thick topper along with adding another 1 1/2 thick cut down topper for more support later)

[s10ryan]

I bought a new wave teardrop and could not be happier and it is awesome plus I saved a ton of money was able to totally customize my camping experience. My setup time is 20 minutes and I have privacy and have an under 5k total in it. Bobby is the best!!

[adker27]

You can buy a flat 4 to 7 pin round for about $25 -$30 and install it yourself. Just Google it. Very straight forward to do. Good luck with your new LG.

[Socal Tom]

If you search a little you may find 7 pins harness made for your
vehicle.

[VT800C]

sorry about being so late....

SWMBO won. :-(