Another New Guy Checkin' In

[Nobody]

Howdy All -

Thought I'd post a sorta "get acquainted" note before gettin' into all the questions I'm sure I'll have. Wife & I are retired, in our late sixties (she was a nurse & I was Air Force Air Traffic Controller for 20yrs & then a cop for 15yrs). Retired second time in '92 but both worked part time for several more years. Now we kinda do what we want most of the time except for providing "taxi service" for grandkids & great grandkids. We do considerable fishing & I hunt as often as I can when there's a season open. Married 45 years last June, two sons, 5 grandkids, 2 great grandkids, been camping in one form or another since our boys were very small. I've build a # of campers including P/U caps, Cabover P/U camper, & "rehabbed" one small camp trailer.

We currently "live" in a 32' 5th wheel that's parked under a shed on property we sold to our son & his family when we retired last time. We're just down the hill from their house & so have access to the shop, tools, advice, kibbitzing, etc. We have a Ford F-250 Diesel to pull the 5th wheel or a small travel trailer, & it carries an 8' Skamper pop-up cabover for most of my huntin' & fishin". Trouble is it don't get really great fuel mileage & diesel has gone "outta sight" along with gasoline. I have a small Nissan King Cab 4WD P/U that gets fair mileage & has a respectable tow rating (3500 lbs, 350 Tongue Wt) but I don't really want to deal with trailer brakes so I'm probably limited to around 1000 lbs or so.

That's where the teardrop comes in (I think). I'm thinkin' one of the small Harbor Freight trailers might be a good base if I decide to build one. This would be primarily for warmer weather camping and/or short trips, more me than us?? I "GOOGLED" Teardrop Trailers a few months ago, found as much or more info as I needed or could absorb, perused this site for several days, saw what appeared to be a lotta great, helpful folks, so I registered & here I be!

The idea of a neat, off the ground sleeping space along with a separate, outside kitchen area appeals greatly, & the various portable shelters appear to be just the ticket for days when the sun don't shine. One problem(?) for us is we're at the age where "getting up in the middle of the night" is often a necessity. I don't find that as much of an inconvenience as does my wife. For her, we have a small "porta potti" in the Skamper that could also be used with a teardrop but one issue here is privacy (& room?). I've seen that some folks use one of the extremely light weight, pop-up type hunting blinds as a dressing room. Would one of these, set up just outside a door & containing the porta potti, be a workable solution?

Sorry for such a long 1st post. I expect I'll be back with lots more questions if/when I get into the project.

[toypusher]

Nobody,

Welcome to the board. You could build something like Mike's Lil Diner or something similar for a little extra room. The porta poty in a small tent is an idea used by lots of teardrop folks. It's a good solution. A small addon type tent is maybe even better.

Like this:



Made of awning material and snaps to the teardrop with two support poles and all three sides can be rolled up (or not) It makes a pretty good change room also.

[madjack]

Well nobody, it sounds like you are set up to do it right and we welcome you to our liitle board of happy campers(some nuts)...in answer to you question...a whole buncha folks do what you are asking with many different types of little privacy rooms such as this one from Cabela's so yea it is a very doable and common thing...hope you enjoy your time here and when you start building we will be here for ya...one thing though...we just luv to see photos of folks build so take a lotta pics to post cause we really do luv da pics
madjack

[goldcoop]

Nobody/Somebody!

Welcome!

You might want to consider building a 5' x 8'/9' for you & Mrs. a little more elbow room!

These guys sell a 5' x 8' frame:

http://www.redtrailers.com/

OR you could special order a Tractor Supply 5' x 8' unplanked frame for around $450, its welded together, comes with a title and made in the good 'ole USA!

...And a door on both sides for those middle of the nite potty visits.

Some have used a little potty shelter outside, love 'em, like this:

http://tinyurl.com/49kdv

Your little truck sounds like a perfect tow vehicle.

Check out the Design Library, Generic Benroy plans, Rich's list and links, sources of supply, etc.

Alot of free info. here!

Good luck with your build, ask questions, etc.

Cheers,

Coop

[Chris C]

Hey Nobody, welcome aboard! Sounds as if you already have a lot of experience on this subject, so just dive in.........the water's fine.

[mikeschn]

Hey nobody,

Welcome to the forum. It looks like the guys have the bases covered, so all that's left for me to say is, take lots of pictures for Madjack!

Mike...

[TRAIL-OF-TEARS]

Nobody,
welcome to the board.
I have a 5' wide by 8' long tear weighs about 900lbs. so I think you are right on with your tow vehicle.

[rooster]

Well, Nobody, Welcome to the funny farm of Teardrop builders. You and I have something in common, were in our late 60's and goin strong. Just finishing my first build with help with these folks. You'll do just fine.....

Jim,

[goldcoop]

You and I have something in common, were in our late 60's and goin strong.

Jim-

You are that OLD?!

Cheers,

Coop

[Steve_Cox]

Nobody,

Like the name, is that just for here, or have you been "Nobody" somewhere else before? Glad to see another Geezer join the ranks. Cause nobody has opinions like old Geezers, just hang around a while and you'll see. There are probably a collective 1000 years experience building little camping trailers here, and we would appreciate your thoughts as well. I have really learned a lot from these guys and ladies.

Steve in St Augustine

[critter]

nobody,
howdy...im one of the nuts

[Ira]

Were in our late 60's and goin strong.

Braggard.

I'm 49 and about to COLLAPSE. (And I ain't joking.)

[cracker39]

Hi Nobody. Did you ever see the spaghetti western "My Name is Nobody" staring Henry Fonda and Italian star of the 70s, Terrence Hill? Funny movie.

Ok..about trailers. I have a '2000 Nissan King Cab 4 banger with auto trans. It is rated for 2000 lbs towing and 2400 lbs total load. I pulled a Coleman popup with my '88 Nissan and it was rated for only 1500 lbs towing. I currently tow a 17' bass boat, and not sure what the weight is, but it's heavy and I have no problems with towing or braking. I'm starting to build my TTT next week (see concept drawings and a model on the link below). It should weigh in at between 1200 and 1300 lbs dry and around 1500 lbs loaded for camping. I don't anticipate any towing problems.

I won't have any built-ins, like stove or sink (may add that later), but will have an inside 5' x 2' galley (i.e. kitchen) counter top and cabinet below for storage bins. I plan to do most cooking outside with my old propane camp stove. Maybe my design will give you some alternative ideas.

[Nobody]

Thanks all for the warm welcome . Nothing I didn't expect from the good folks here, given my previous readings of the forum. Still sorta confuzzed & undecided on what I'd like to build & there's so many options out there to look at & disect the plans/pix that it may take me a while longer settle in on what I really want . I do think some of the suggestions about a sliightly larger, i.e. 5X8/9 or so may appeal to me a little more, considering my arthritic joints on cool mornings. I'm kinda enamored with the construction details of DeeBee's Zephyr & I like the idea of the wheels being under the body of the trailer. Only thing is I'd kinda like to use the HF 1800 lb heavy duty trailer (it's still on sale 'til Monday 1/30) but it has 12" wheels which I like, and that might entail additional chassis/overall height. That might not make a lot of difference tho if balanced properly & the additional ground clearance could come in handy for some of my off road adventures. Anyway, I got a lot more info to examine 'fore I actually begin to spend money & start bustin' knuckles .

Steve & Dale, Re the Nobody - I've been using that name since the 1960's, first as a CB "handle" & later as user name on internet forums after I finally gave in & succumbed to the lure of the WWW . On a few forums I've had to add a numerical suffix as someone had already registered "my" name. It began as my CB handle back in the days when we actually had to pass a test & buy a license to use citizens band. I was on a long cross country TDY trip for the USAF & late one evening I fell in with a bunch of truckers on I-40. There was as usual a lot of chatter with many diverse opinions & comments filling the airwaves. One driver stated an unpopular (but still valid IMO) opinion & immediately began receiving "flak" from all around. Another driver said, "Ahh, nobody listens to that nonsense." When I told 'em that even tho I didn't agree with the first opinion, he might have a point, I was immediately tagged "Nobody" for the remainder of that trip. Guess I still get a sorta perverse satisfaction from using a handle that originally started as a put down. It surely doesn't denote any lack of ego on my part .

[Hardin Valley Magic]

Welcome aboard Nobody. I agree whole heartedly with the info. overload. Seems everday I look further back through the pages of discussions and learn yet another tid bit.
Looking forward to the many pics of the build!!!