Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

looking good

Nicely done !!!!

Thanks all.. We've really been putting the hammer down to get her done. 2 weeks ago my dad (a life time carpenter/woodworker) showed up and we probably spent a combined 50 hours on it in the weekend and got a ton done. It was funny he wasn't really familiar with teardrops before but after working on mine he's pretty set on building his own in a couple years but as we were building he kept saying "mines not going to have [x] this is too much work." Things like my wheel wells, insulated walls, 4 doors, all big time consuming projects. I've been spending most of my weekends on it and as much time as i can in the evenings during the week. The goal is to have it done by the end of this month. We leave on our trip at the end of July and want to do a shakedown trip before then. I can really get things done since my wife is fully on board with the project and lets me work long hours on it when I can.

Holly Sheep Sh_T Batman

Did you just pull that thing out of your utility belt. Man that is looking nice.

A few more pictures from along the way. There were some big gaps in progress photos because we were working hard and forgetting to take pictures.

Suicide doors on a moving vehicle scare me... Likely to late however to change hinges... Just saying

Its coming along very nicely.

I wanted to ask about The shocks.

Why did you decide to add them? Was it the weight or the areas
you intend to tow? How did you size them?

Keep up the good work.

Thanks,
Pete

Hadn't even thought about the suicide doors being scary. They are held where they are with a household deadbolt with plenty of engagement. I'm not too concerned about them. And I guess one good feature is that won't even stay closed unless latched so hopefully it'll be pretty hard to forget about them and leave them unlocked. Due to the d door shape I don't think there is really any other way I could hinge them.

As for the shocks I plan on pulling this camper a good 10,000 miles this year and I want it to haul well. I'm sure I will be towing it up plenty of dirt roads and on some rough highways. I'm also towing it behind a toyota matrix which is a bit of a light tow vehicle so it can tend to feel more of what the trailer does inside the vehicle than a bigger truck might. So in order to keep from scrambling all our stuff whenever we're rolling down the road and to try and reduce the amount of bucking and pulling the trailer puts on the car I decided to give them a shot.

They are Monroe Gas Magnum Shock Absorbers Part Number 555002. The same ones used by many other members on here. I picked them up from amazon for $25 a piece and grabbed some 5/8 bolts and angle from my work to put them on the trailer. They are slightly compressed in that position but still should be able to work through their travel without bottoming out. It's not the most optimum position to get lots of travel out of them and have them work really well but it was a pretty convenient way to set them up and the trailer axle moves backwards as well as down when the suspension compresses so I think they'll use enough of their range to make a difference. If you do a search on here for shocks you'll turn up what lots of other people did to retrofit shocks onto their trailers.

Looking good Woodi


Make sure you Dad introduces his self and starts a build log when he starts building his teardrop.

“ Ha Hook Line and Sinker “

Just as a design idea, could you have put the bike locker over teh wheels and have the sleeping area all the way to teh front. Just curious. A great build for sure. Did you have any plans for front stabilzers they help so much keeping the trailer from rocking.

I played around with a whole lot of different configurations before I settled on this one and looking at how the bikes fit now it's very possible something else could have worked. I think this is going to work out really well for our uses though. Just gotta keep the motivation up to get it finished. I got bogged down bad in canvasing, it's just far too tedious for my tastes. Need to push through and get things wrapped up. Only a little over a month til she needs to be on the road.

What a good looking trailer and great design! I could see other people using this idea and personalizing it to fit them, maybe kids bunks up front, or a bathroom, or simply storage for general camp gear. I think your builds a winner for sure
Regan

iregan wrote:What a good looking trailer and great design! I could see other people using this idea and personalizing it to fit them, maybe kids bunks up front, or a bathroom, or simply storage for general camp gear. I think your builds a winner for sure
Regan

Oh a place to put the kids what a great idea!!!!

Ya you would have to poke a few air holes and Padd the wall for the Kids. ..

A Newbie in the forum was thinking about a TearDrop Trailer but needed a Kennel for his service dog.
I Linked him to this thread. This shape might catch on.

That's what I was thinking, great dog house. Separate room for the kids. Great design