Dreaming, building, finished, where ?

[billnut]

Let's make it 12
Bill

[TRAIL-OF-TEARS]

just finished it and allready put 5,000 miles on it.

[billnut]

Doug I would love to.
I 'm going to pull it with a PT Cruiser
Bill

[Steve_Cox]

Alan,
2 weekends into the build, have a "roller" with a floor on it. Well the floor was on it, I took it off to seal the bottom. Hope to have walls by next weekend, or just as soon as I find out what kind of gravy goes on those joiner biscuits. Saw your teardrop and the others at little Talbut State Park a few months ago, I was part of the Saturday afternoon crowd, lurking, asking questions and being a general nusiance. Really looking forward to being in the camping mode myself. Oh yeah, I'm in St Augustine, Florida the oldest city in the USA.

[Chris C]

Alan, just use any good wood glue for your biscuits. (I prefer Locktite III, but any good glue will work just fine.) They'll be a little loose in the slots when first installed, but they are made from a compressed wood. As soon as the water in the wood glue hits it, the biscuit will start expanding and fill the slot.

[Joanne]

Short and sweet. Are you still dreaming; have you started construction or are you ready to go camping. And if you would give your state or regional location. I'm camping from North Carolina.

Hay Alan!

I'll be lucky to be camping by next year this time. Progress just seems to go sooooo slow. I get distracted with other projects as well. This weekend was spent starting to relandscape the front yard. Water is getting so expensive here that the water company will pay you to remove your grass and relandscape in a watersaving design. We pulled all the grass out of the front yard. Then I dug two holes for new trees and started to dig a stream bed. (It may be a dry heat here in Vegas, but it's still hot as heck here!) I'm wondering if I'll be able to walk tomorrow.

I did sneek in a couple of hours of work on the trailer though. I mounted one of the front spars, planed a few joints in the roof beams level so the roof will mount smoothly, made a new hatch cover for the small storage compartment, and drilled holes for the wiring to pass through.

The neat thing about having the walls up is that my friends are starting to visualize what the trailer is going to look like. They are starting to get excited about the project.

I'll be buying some wood this week so I can get a few more hours in this coming weekend.

Don't just dream about a teardrop. Start yours today!

Joanne

[bledsoe3]

I'm building. The frame is complete, walls are up and I'm building the cabinets now.The way it's going, I'll be lucky to camp in it next year.

[JunkMan]

Just got back from working the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, so can finally get back to work on the tear. I have the frame done, the walls are just about ready to mount. It's a 4 1/2' x 9' Cub/Modernisitc with sandwich type walls. I'm having trouble finding 5' wide aluminum for the top locally. Might have to run down to Denver and pick some up.

[bledsoe3]

JunkMan, That's a little bit over kill for a tow rig in your avatar. We use our Unimog to tow trains with. Jim

[s4son]

Jeff,

I started calling local semi trailer repair shops and found 103" wide .040 aluminum at one close to home. I'm sure it's similar to the Lufkin trailer aluminum in another thread. It's about $12 a running foot which is comperable to other prices. I don't know what grade it is but if it's tough enough for a semi it should be okay on a teardrop.

Scott F.

[JunkMan]

JunkMan, That's a little bit over kill for a tow rig in your avatar. We use our Unimog to tow trains with. Jim

I've seen them with rail gear on them. I used mine to plow snow with, but I got rid of it this spring. Didn't use it much, and couldn't justify keeping it insured for few miles I drove it each year.

Scott,

I checked with a local trailer repair place, and they can get the 103" aluminum, but I need 106 1/5" I made the interior wide enough for a full sized mattress (104"), and the walls are each 1 1/4" thick. I still haven't heard from anyone that has used the trailer aluminum to see how it worked out. It seemed pretty soft to me, thought it might get scratched and dinged up pretty easily.

[ALAN GEDDES]

Keep the replies coming folks. We all want to know where you are at and it looks like a whole lot of tears are going to be on the road soon and by next year we will take over the parks. The next Minden gathering should be unreal.

[Guest]

I can honestly say I've started my teardrop. Haven't gotten very far, but I have started. I had a local shop weld my chassis. Since then I’ve put the deck, frame, insulation, and asphalt emulsion down and bolted the whole thing down. In a week or so I should be starting on the sides and doors. However I’ve got a few other projects to complete first. My wife says I can do what ever I want, as long as the honey-do list gets done too.

[Arne]

I finished mine just shy of a year ago, no galley. This spring, added a much beloved a/c unit in the front. It has worked its little heart out and kept us quite comfortable.

Now, I will be adding a galley to the back. It will not affect the interior of the existing tear, but will add about 14 inches to the back and be flaired into the roof line. The sides of the galley will be inset about 4" from each of the existing side walls of the tear. So, it will look a bit like a trunk on a 1930's Buick touring car.

We have been using the tear, this year, since early spring... and every weekend this month, going to Canada, VT, NY... I've left Sept open for construction (in spite of some attractive sounding trips mentioned here). I want it done in time for some Fall travel locally (New England), and winter camping in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.

[Jim Wellington]

I am still collecting parts for my Cubby. I have the Harbour Freight frame (still in box), the trailer jack, some of the additional hardware, some aluminum angle. I am still trying to decide what to use for my interior skin. I am looking for windows, lights , and a fan. (although another thread may have just convinced me to bite the bullet and buy a "fantastic fan") I want to have most of the parts together before I begin. Besides, I promised my wife that I would finish one more honey-do project before I start the teardrop.

The good side of all this procrastination is, that I can continue to read this forum, get ideas, and refine my design BEFORE I start to build!!

My plan is to have the Cubby ready to go for next Summer. I have noticed, however, many comments that this is a bigger project than most builders anticipated.

I have two working speeds-- slow and off --- and I have yet to begin.

So...

Time will tell.