Newbie aiming for an ultralight

[ninerhb]

Howdy all!

I've been lurking here for a while, since finding out about teardrops and getting that bug in my ear. After taking my wife camping for her first time (first time tent camping, at least) I've decided I want to try my hand at a tear and do some "upscale" camping instead.

I'm looking at building an light-weight tear - I'm aiming for 400 lbs empty, 550-600 full, so well above some of the other ultralights here. But I'm also going for an insulated rig - I'm going to try building it with light 5mm plywood over insulation panels (which I have an abundance of, from an auction).

Henry

[cguardsman]

welcome! sounds like a plan! the people on here will answer questions and give tips on about any problem with building a tear just one requirement... lots of pictures

[Podunkfla]

Sounds like you are on target...
A Harbor Freight frame, made of thin luan ply & your insulation with just enough 1 x 2" frame to hold it together, and even the floor can be a laminated tortion box... Should make for a very light tear.

[toypusher]

Do you have any pictures of your 'insulation panels"??

[Miriam C.]

to the playgound Henry. I imagine you have checked out Roly's TD and 1/2 nelson. Also look at Mike Schn. ultra lite. It can be a little bit bigger and still be light.

Enjoy and

[ninerhb]

Do you have any pictures of your 'insulation panels"??

No, but it's nothing fancy - just expanded (extruded?) polystyrene - like the pink or blue stuff you get at the big box stores. I got about 30 4'x8' sheets, 1/2" thick.

Henry

[mikeschn]

After building the floor for the ET this week, I realized that you can't get too large and not have a frame. My floor was flopping around all over the place until I set it on the chassis.

My gut thought is a 4x8 or 5x8 floor might be okay, as long as it's one piece of plywood...

Mike...

to the playgound Henry. I imagine you have checked out Roly's TD and 1/2 nelson. Also look at Mike Schn. ultra lite. It can be a little bit bigger and still be light.

Enjoy and

[Roly]

Henry, I have 500 pounder and a 250 pounder. One can be seen in the Hall of Fame photos. The other is shown in my Galery. Take your pick. They can be made very light, but sacrifices must be made to do so. It all depends upon how much you are willing to do without.

Roly, PS, welcome to the board, you are at the right place for answers.

[ninerhb]

Thanks for all the support!

Pictures... there probably won't be pictures any time soon. Two reasons for this, the first being that I just started a project for a semi-mobile 8'x12' winterized chicken coop, and that's probably going to take a month or two to get done in between work. The second is that my personality type is "collect every piece of information, then overwhelm myself with 20 different designs that would all work".

However, since I'm thinking about using all the panels in the tear as torsion boxes, I'm going to do some experimentation with scrap from the coop, which I'll try to post here.

Oh yeah - I'm definitely planning on a small tear - 8x4.5' is the biggest I'm ready to go. I was trying to squash the length down to 7 or even 6.5, but I couldn't give up the cooler space in the rear. I may still go that way and just add a fold out table, and keep the cooler in the car, though... I also really like the design of the Jim Dandy Sportsman, since it gives so much kitchen space in a small area, and a straight hatch with a 1/4 circle on top gives you a good roof over your workspace. The only problem I had with that was when I threw my design on the trailer balance calculator, I needed to get the axle almost 4' from the back, which didn't leave a lot of room for the door.

Henry

[Mike C.]

Hi Henry,

Welcome to the forum. Hope you enjoy yourself and have fun.