How many hours to build your teardrop?

[DWT77]

I did a search on build hours, how many hours, man hours and found a few that mentioned how long it took to build their teardrop. Got a lot of results for amp hours lol

I am getting close to finishing my build and wish I had tracked how many hours I have put into the build. I can't even imagine how many hours in research and planning.

I know every build is different but how many hours do you have in your teardrop?

[edgeau]

Similarly I didn't track that. I tracked the $ but not hours. I'd estimate 15 hours per weekend 2.5 weekends per month for 12 months makes around 450 hours. Which is funny as the cost was about $4500

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[Sparksalot]

I am getting close to finishing my build...

Done? Unpossible.

I've been camping in and finishing mine for 10 years.

[DWT77]

I am getting close to finishing my build...

Done? Unpossible.

I've been camping in and finishing mine for 10 years.

Yeah I already know things I want to add to it!

[Wolfgang92025]

According to my excel spreadsheet, I spend about 800 or so hrs before I could camp in it.
Maybe another 100 after that (stopped keeping track).
Since then I have refinished it twice. Unknown hours for that.

Yes, woodies are a lot of work and maintenance.

[Sparksalot]

I am getting close to finishing my build...

Done? Unpossible.

I've been camping in and finishing mine for 10 years.

Yeah I already know things I want to add to it!

LOL, that's the spirit.

I go through phases where I make no mods for a while, then several at once.

She's never done.

[Dan242]

I spent about a year building mine, would stop for a few weeks at a time when other stuff got in the way. I also engineered and designed as I built, made changes, redid a few things, so probably a few more hours than many in building, I only spent about 1500.00 on it, mine is simpler than most, but fits my needs perfectly. I think 5-600 hours sounds good, but the satisfaction of knowing I built it is worth every hour

[BrwBier]

Some where between a lot and holy cow, what was I thinking.

[working on it]

• My trailer build was sorta pre-planned, prior to joining the forum, which I did three days after I loaded my derelict frame onto my car-hauler trailer, and took it to a distant location to work on it. There, I would have room to work on it, a wide array of tools that I could use, a friend that wanted to help, and where I could hide it from the wife (hidden mainly for the cost). That distance back-fired on me, causing the "projected" build schedule duration of 6-9 months, to be almost quadrupled, as I first had it campable after 22 months, and camped in it just two weeks shy of two years of building. How many hours were spent working on it there were probably not even close to the hours wasted.
• I had done some automotive projects at home, that stayed pretty close to schedule & budget before, but this "hidden" trailer project was unlike any other one, and certainly the distances involved contributed to that. The trailer build was started 50 miles from my home, and 90 from my job, or 110 from work-to-home-then to the trailer, if I stopped-by home to get parts when going from work to the trailer build site; or in other words, it was pretty damn distant from my position whenever I wanted to work on it, and it drove me crazy. I'd come up with a new wrinkle I wanted to try, or to get some measurements, and never could...until the next weekend, if then. And I couldn't always work on it, even when I had time; when my friend was gone, or during much of the week, or weekend, I often couldn't get to it. It didn't help that I was working/commuting 12-16 hours a day, on call 24/7/365, or that when I showed up to work on it, I'd often be sidetracked to help on another project, while there. That pattern went on for 11 months, even when I tried working on it for a full week of vacation time, from sunup-midnite, during three weeks of that period.
• I carried a notepad in my pocket for those eleven months, jotting down ideas as best I could, without ready access to the trailer, but I wasn't happy with the progress...there is no substitute for having the trailer close at hand. I decided to 95% complete the exterior, with the shell finished & painted, doors & hatch all sealed & lockable, with no interior done (except for the on-board generator). Then, suddenly w/o warning, I withdrew the trailer from my friend's shop and took it home, mad at my friend for delaying the build, but madder still at myself for missing my goal. I appreciated his help at first, where his skill was much needed, but as I got better at it, and he became less interested in it, it became apparent that it was not to my best interests to remain working on it there any longer.
• My original planning was probably inadequate for the semi-off road future I had envisioned for the TTT, but I would've taken steps to replace the weaknesses, as soon as I could, as I did later on my replacement suspension. But, I would've been camping earlier on, and able to use the time (and money) spent traveling to the trailer site to better effect, and the strain put on our friendship may never have developed?? In any case, building my TTT at a distant site cost too much time and money, just on commuting, and caused bad feelings to germinate; no hobby should put a strain on one, much less all, of those categories... which are pretty much the same reasons I gave up drag-racing ten years ago. But, working alone at home ever since, even when repairs or modifications have been rushed, needing to be done in a hurry, I found out that every hour spent is enjoyable, if only for the opportunity to just be "working on it".

[Mr. Lahey]

Add me to the list of people who kept track of the money, but not my time. I also have maybe one of the longer total elapsed times for my tear too. I started my build journal here on the forum 11/2015. I am pretty sure I'm on target to be camp able and "finished" (many say it's never done) by 11/2019.

Some big factors in my long build E.T. are these:
1. I work in an unheated garage in Wisconsin. There is "build season" and "no build freeze to death season". Build season also runs parallel with sweat to death humid, muggy, biting mosquito season.
2. I have a life. Weddings, funerals, parties, grand kids, holidays, vacations, etc. etc. You can't spend as many weekends on it as you thought. The build sits idle.
3. More important stuff. Painted my house one summer. Fenced my entire yard perimeter the next = 2 lost build seasons.
4. Building by the design as you go method. Mid stream changes, re do's, corrections really eat up the time.

Thing is I would not change a thing about the process. I have a mind numbing boring repetitive job. I've spent countless hours going over my build in my head at work. I too keep a notebook to sketch stuff or make a note of ideas. The countless hours I have spent in the shop actually working on it are the most mentally rejuvenating hours in my life. I get totally lost and involved in the build. Feel refreshed after looking at my progress for that session.

By far this has been my most productive build season yet. I cut back to part time at work and semi retired. So I've spent many more enjoyable hours making good progress on the camper. I've set a goal for this season and think I may even get past it a bit before it gets to cold to work.

Yes, you can by a manufactured ready to go one for money.

Building you own custom teardrop your way.......priceless

[Tom&Shelly]

I took ten weeks off this Summer and got as far as designing the teardrop (on an antique drafting board), building the floor and some bulkheads, and cutting the templates for the walls. Doesn't seem like much when I list it. I also built the bench to build it on, made some other tooling, learned to use the router as a jointer, made a hot wire foam cutter, and a few other miscellaneous things that I hope will make the rest of the build go faster.

Oh, and naps! I got good enough at those this past Summer, that I'm trying to figure out how to continue the practice back at work.

Now I'm debating whether to take a few weekends to cut our firewood (I use a bow saw--everyone I know who uses a chain saw has a near miss story), or to buy some for the first time since moving to the East Mountains, and continue with the build.

With effort, we still hope to have the teardrop ready to use by next Summer.

Tom

[DWT77]

I have kept all of my receipts as well. I haven't added everything up yet and at this point I'm not sure I want to

At first I was aiming for 18 months to complete the build. I hit the 2 year mark last week. I applied for some jobs in Colorado and was at a good stopping point, job training out of state, and vacations ect.. it definitely eats away at the time. I was going to hurry last fall to get it completed but I found out quickly how many corners I would have to cut. I didn't want to do that. I would assume I am around 500 hours though

Of course friends and family will say geez you aren't done yet. You can work hours on the teardrop and seems like you didn't make much progress.

[Sparksalot]

I have kept all of my receipts as well. I haven't added everything up yet and at this point I'm not sure I want to

I quit after $4,000.

[Socal Tom]

I wasn't working when I started mine. I'd estimate about 200 hours ( 8 to 10 hour days) to get it campable. I've put at least double that since, but in smaller pieces. oh and that is after the shell was already on a purchased frame.
Tom

[working on it]

I have kept all of my receipts as well. I haven't added everything up yet and at this point I'm not sure I want to

I quit after $4,000.

• As I stated previously, my trailer costs were hidden from my wife. After I realized that I had spent about $300 just for stainless hardware, and about the same for other hardware, I threw away my cost sheet.
• My wife asked/told me not to spend over $500, which I agreed to, but knew it wasn't going to happen...that's why I hid the build away from home, paid for all parts with cash, and had parts stashed in my HHR Panel, at work, and mostly in the friend's shop...all out of her sight.
• After I brought it home, then she saw the truth about it, and said to finish it as I wished. I'm sure I spent $4-5k on it (from start 'til now, 7 years later), since I keep re-configuring and modifying it constantly. It's still cheaper than buying drag-racing parts, by far, so she accepted it as my new obsession.