Doors. Build or Buy?

Important Information and Stickies...
(Threads with essential information about building teardrops)

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby Kim Armstrong » Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:13 pm

Let us know what you find out.
Kim Armstrong
Super Duper Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:38 pm
Location: Arkansas

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby Sparksalot » Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:42 pm

I built my own. Mainly because I could choose the shape, and not be limited to a rectangle.
Holy cow, Rose is a teenager now! Done? Surely you jest. A teardrop is never "done".

The Compass Rose build thread: viewtopic.php?t=23213

Inspiration: http://tnttt.com/Design_Library/Trailer%20for%20Two.htm

It's got a cop motor, a 5.3 LS plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. ~ Elwood Blues
User avatar
Sparksalot
Silver Donating Member
 
Posts: 1624
Images: 682
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:36 pm
Location: Texas by God

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby VORSHEER Trailers » Fri Oct 25, 2019 10:18 am

I think doors are so critical and so prone to leaking that spending the money on manufactured doors makes the most sense.

From what I've seen all the major manufacturers of teardrop style trailers buy their doors. These are shops that are dedicated to building trailers. Even with the resources of a shop they still choose to purchase manufactured doors.

Probably the biggest distributor of teardrop doors is Challenger Doors: https://www.challengerdoor.com/teardrop-trailer-doors/

I would highly recommend purchasing doors as water damage is probably the most common issue with teardrop trailers.
Take a look at our overland trailers VORSHEER Trailers
VORSHEER Trailers
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 13
Images: 16
Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:30 am
Location: Springville, Utah
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby Louisd75 » Sat Oct 26, 2019 12:31 pm

VORSHEER Trailers wrote:I think doors are so critical and so prone to leaking that spending the money on manufactured doors makes the most sense.

From what I've seen all the major manufacturers of teardrop style trailers buy their doors. These are shops that are dedicated to building trailers. Even with the resources of a shop they still choose to purchase manufactured doors.

Probably the biggest distributor of teardrop doors is Challenger Doors: https://www.challengerdoor.com/teardrop-trailer-doors/

I would highly recommend purchasing doors as water damage is probably the most common issue with teardrop trailers.


I dunno...

So Cal Teardrops makes their own doors.
Camp Inn makes their own doors.
Oregon Trailer makes their own doors (though they also do pre-made for some models)
Vistabule makes their own doors.

I'm sure there are others, those are just the first four that popped into my head.

I would argue that it's more of a convenience thing. It's definitely more time consuming to build a door vs just plopping one in. It's not really any more work making a water tight door than it is to make a watertight galley hatch.

For me personally, I'm not a fan of how the pre-made doors look. To me they often look like an afterthought.
Louisd75
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 106
Images: 209
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2013 4:27 am
Location: Bellingham WA
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby KTM_Guy » Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:12 pm

Louisd75 wrote:
VORSHEER Trailers wrote:I think doors are so critical and so prone to leaking that spending the money on manufactured doors makes the most sense.

From what I've seen all the major manufacturers of teardrop style trailers buy their doors. These are shops that are dedicated to building trailers. Even with the resources of a shop they still choose to purchase manufactured doors.

Probably the biggest distributor of teardrop doors is Challenger Doors: https://www.challengerdoor.com/teardrop-trailer-doors/

I would highly recommend purchasing doors as water damage is probably the most common issue with teardrop trailers.


I dunno...

So Cal Teardrops makes their own doors.
Camp Inn makes their own doors.
Oregon Trailer makes their own doors (though they also do pre-made for some models)
Vistabule makes their own doors.

I'm sure there are others, those are just the first four that popped into my head.

I would argue that it's more of a convenience thing. It's definitely more time consuming to build a door vs just plopping one in. It's not really any more work making a water tight door than it is to make a watertight galley hatch.

For me personally, I'm not a fan of how the pre-made doors look. To me they often look like an afterthought.


I bet all those companies have an area and people that just build doors. With custom jigs and tooling. Out of the scope of a one off builder. When I did my build I went back of forth, build or buy. I cut the door openings for an off the shelf door so I had both options. When it came down to it I bought, I have about 30 minutes total time in my doors. Couldn't say that if I built.

One day I was driving to Flagstaff AZ and the skies were getting darker as I headed north. I made a stop at a rest area and saw a guy with a real nice home built teardrop. He was working on something on the other side of the camper from me. I went over to see if he needed anything. He was duct taping the doors to keep the rain out. He said he was on a three week trip and is was the 5th time he had to do it. After the first bad rain had two days to dry out the mattress.

My advice would be cut your door opening to a stock size. Then when it comes time for doors, look at your build, are you in your time frame to complete? Is the build harder or easier than you thought? How about the budget, did you totally blow that? Do you just want to be done and go out camping? Then you’ll know to build or buy.

Todd
User avatar
KTM_Guy
500 Club
 
Posts: 571
Images: 193
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 7:50 am
Location: Mesa, AZ near Usery
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby Louisd75 » Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:20 pm

KTM_Guy wrote:
I bet all those companies have an area and people that just build doors. With custom jigs and tooling. Out of the scope of a one off builder. When I did my build I went back of forth, build or buy. I cut the door openings for an off the shelf door so I had both options. When it came down to it I bought, I have about 30 minutes total time in my doors. Couldn't say that if I built.

One day I was driving to Flagstaff AZ and the skies were getting darker as I headed north. I made a stop at a rest area and saw a guy with a real nice home built teardrop. He was working on something on the other side of the camper from me. I went over to see if he needed anything. He was duct taping the doors to keep the rain out. He said he was on a three week trip and is was the 5th time he had to do it. After the first bad rain had two days to dry out the mattress.

My advice would be cut your door opening to a stock size. Then when it comes time for doors, look at your build, are you in your time frame to complete? Is the build harder or easier than you thought? How about the budget, did you totally blow that? Do you just want to be done and go out camping? Then you’ll know to build or buy.

Todd


I respectfully disagree :) Oregon Trail'r, for example, is just two brothers. Custom jigs, sure. In fact I'd be shocked if builders didn't use jigs. Heck, Camp Inn has a rotisserie for varnishing the trailer. Tooling would be no different than the other tools needed to build the trailer. I used a plunge router and a pattern when I cut my doors out. It was the same pattern that I used for making the walls and insulation cutouts. My experience is that the door wasn't any tricker than any other part of the project. I spent far more time on my front windows than the doors.

Now, are my doors perfect? Absolutely not. I may end up rebuilding the passenger one at some point since I had to stop my project before I got the layers of plywood screwed and glue together. They developed a slight twist that didn't go away during the assembly process and I can see it if I look close. Most people probably wouldn't notice. But they still seal, passing the hose test with no problem and then the real world test of 4" of rain while freeway driving on our maiden trip (I did have a leak on the front window and in the galley that we found that voyage).

If you're building and really have your heart set on a certain look or style for your trailer then off the shelf doors may not work. If you have a plunge router and a drill bit then your door is mostly done when you cut the opening out of the wall :)
Louisd75
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 106
Images: 209
Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2013 4:27 am
Location: Bellingham WA
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby tamnalan » Sat Nov 27, 2021 4:56 pm

Another vote for building your own - there is plenty of great advice in this forum. I used Tom's (Aggie79) thread to build a double seal arrangement for my door, back in 2012. It's seen some tough weather but never leaked. My ceiling vent did leak, but that's a different story :). The manufactured doors available when I built mine did not have the look I wanted.

I spent about 2 weeks to build my single door, but scaling it to two would not have doubled the time. The hardest part was shaping the aluminum pieces I used to create the door jam.

Image

Image

Image

Image
tamnalan
Teardrop Builder
 
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:12 am
Location: Oregon
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby saywhatthat » Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:55 pm

$30.00 a door blank with willy window . so easy to build if you can slobber on yourself you got it beat. No T or J molding to fight can not rot glass over right foam
IMG_20210514_195808.jpg
IMG_20210514_195808.jpg (183.13 KiB) Viewed 2358 times
Il suffit de le faire
fast, cheap, fiberglass/ foam stressed skin panels
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=73945

Build 4.5 by 8' using Trailtop fiberglass Components
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=70729
User avatar
saywhatthat
The 300 Club
 
Posts: 498
Images: 135
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2016 3:31 am
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby twisted lines » Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:48 pm

tamnalan wrote:.


Image


Nice pair :thumbsup:
Racking up; And Rapin foam
User avatar
twisted lines
1000 Club
1000 Club
 
Posts: 1218
Images: 2
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 4:37 am
Location: Jefferson
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby jpagejr75 » Sun Aug 14, 2022 3:28 pm

as i type this, August 2022, doors are going for close to $500.. my build is a square drop style camper and will have 1 door in the rear. I've decided for my purposes that I will make my own custom door to match the style of trailer i am building. i am going to splurge on the windows for the campers sides .. I would add that a couple comments on this thread did a part by part list with prices that seem to indicate that diy doors would cost similar to manufactured doors but also you have all the labor as well. but this is based on building doors that are essentially the mirror image of premade doors. DIY doors can be done susbstantially cheaper and perform just as well, but there is definitely more labor in them besides cutting out the hole for the storebought door to slide into.
jpagejr75
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 2:45 pm
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby tony.latham » Sun Aug 14, 2022 7:06 pm

With custom jigs...


That's one reason I advocate for a full wall template with the door hole cutout. That's your jig.

Image

:thinking:

Tony
User avatar
tony.latham
Gold Donating Member
 
Posts: 6874
Images: 17
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:03 pm
Location: Middle of Idaho on the edge of nowhere
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby 3GKnight » Sat Mar 16, 2024 8:24 am

Reviving a very old thread here but can anyone tell me how overall thick these Otufan doors from Amazon are? And tell me if they're worth the exorbitant cost...? (I realize I may have to just buy them and risk returning to find out the thickness...)

Thanks!!

https://www.amazon.com/Otufan-RV-Door-Push-Pull-Entrance/dp/B0CF863RCR/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2OV96MKN86V1W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.x32WWWArsYgbEdTN2lSf-qZS-M-P92ekyI-WEOt1j14I9Fc1hnWJgKVKi2lwr1ElHCE7vxDtcqgqZJA6wODunNpnN_VjnhXP6CIAQdJB5RLFJC9PQhG0mrBb3YDdZzb3aCzbQMGchUpJV5L6Dlu4NiLjUE1kyaP6H0p4jc_sR0tgRo28T8Oe6h8wLGXmlqLhC9hHsaiOzoBujyASMLNhR2Bkf7Eajq5GcoKW41wPHdpF95zVsrCaI1pnx90Z7BCE492buTZPgBLe1e_9caWhtXYGsaaUAMgewdppGtuW13Y.dk_Psnc5I2WMw5bPBlcllwUgQHl0N_pnLnW5_4prvok&dib_tag=se&keywords=teardrop%2Bdoor&qid=1710594844&sprefix=teardrop%2Bdoor%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-4&th=1

***DISREGARD*** - HAD TO CLICK INTO THE RIGHTHAND SWING TO FIND THIS: Installation Wall Thickness: Approx: 15-18mm/0.6-0.7in or 40-43mm/1.57-1.7in
User avatar
3GKnight
Donating Member
 
Posts: 174
Images: 0
Joined: Wed May 28, 2014 3:43 pm
Location: Cheyenne, WY
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby 3GKnight » Sat Mar 16, 2024 8:44 am

Welp...I just can't do it. $1,276 for 2 premade doors. Sheesh.

I'm reconstructing my first teardrop build so already have the windows and hardware from that for DIY's. I'm very concerned about sealing though. I need these to be able to handle a water crossing where the water level gets up past the sill.
User avatar
3GKnight
Donating Member
 
Posts: 174
Images: 0
Joined: Wed May 28, 2014 3:43 pm
Location: Cheyenne, WY
Top

Re: Doors. Build or Buy?

Postby tony.latham » Sat Mar 16, 2024 10:15 am

I need these to be able to handle a water crossing where the water level gets up past the sill.


That's a tall order. First of all, the doors you considered purchasing wouldn't be waterproof while submersed. Vintage Technologies used to sell those, and I had a set on a previous teardrop. My (current) DIY doors are weatherproof, but I wouldn't trust them underwater.

Here's the seal system:

Image

Image

Vistabule uses the same seal system with their doors.

Weatherproof as I said, but I didn't build them as submarine doors. :frightened:

Tony
User avatar
tony.latham
Gold Donating Member
 
Posts: 6874
Images: 17
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:03 pm
Location: Middle of Idaho on the edge of nowhere
Top

Previous

Return to Essential Information about building teardrops

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests