Texan Newbie

[thewayfaringway]

Hello! My name is Constance.

First, some background: My husband(Gerry) and I currently live in an apartment in Texas with our almost 4 month old. I am an aspiring minimalist, and have been in love with tiny houses, skoolies, and pretty much all alternative living situations for a while now. I also love to travel. It's one of my greatest passions and joys in life. Gerry does too, but more because he met me and travel is a contagious addiction. But anyway. My sister and her husband are building a skoolie (converted school bus for those who don't know) to live and travel in with their 5 kids. I've been real jealous of that, but resigned to the fact that such a project is out of our budget.

I was first introduced to the idea of the teardrop about a month ago via the Exploring Alternatives youtube channel; they did a tour/review video of a teardrop manufactured in Canada. I loved it. Small enough to be pulled by our CRV, while still better than a tent. And, I realized as I researched more, within our budget...if we built it ourselves. So I got my husband on board after much enthused ranting, and by a happy happenstance we found ourselves a trailer(my dad was going to build a teardrop to try and sell but realized quickly he didn't like that sort of thing =P).

So once our lease is up next January we will be temporarily moving in with one or the other set of parents(they both live in the country so have the space to build this that we don't with our apartment). Our goal is to build a teardrop in two months(hopefully sooner) for no more than $5,000. Once it is done we will hit the road with our then 1-year old son.

I have been lurking a while but figured I should join and introduce myself now that this is a real thing for us. I still have a ton of questions. My hope is to get as much research and planning out of the way as possible to reduce hang-ups during the build. I've learned a lot, but still have so many questions. I'm really excited to be here!

[KennethW]

What do you think you will build? size? insulated? woody? aluminum? foamy? Some good reading it under (design resources)-perfect TD

[Shadow Catcher]

Welcome to the forum.

[pchast]

Welcome!

[thewayfaringway]

What do you think you will build? size? insulated? woody? aluminum? foamy? Some good reading it under (design resources)-perfect TD

Uuh okay I got this.

Our trailer is 5'x8' so that's that, but we don't know about the height-size yet. My dad has some plans he is giving us with the trailer but I haven't seen them yet so I don't know if I want them/any other details if I DO want them. But probably not too high just because we don't want it to weigh too much(our tow limit is 1,500lbs) and every little thing adds up and I haven't researched average weight except for the basic "teardrops can be towed by small vehicles". Though the extra height would be nice since we'll need to build a bunk for The Tiny One and I'd like a little storage space too. =P I think I found my next research topic!
Probably insulated.
Wood sides but maybe aluminum top. But maybe not.
Foamy say what?
And thank you I will check that out!

Whew. ^_^

[thewayfaringway]

Also thanks everyone else! I just got distracted by the question avalanche.

[KennethW]

Though the extra height would be nice since we'll need to build a bunk for The Tiny One and I'd like a little storage space too. =P I think I found my next research topic!
Probably insulated.
Wood sides but maybe aluminum top. But maybe not.
Foamy say what?
And thank you I will check that out!
Whew. ^_^

for the child If you don't do cabinets and go 9'+ long(overhanging over the front of the trailer). You will be able to have a 24" x 60" shelf(bed) for the young one 18" off the floor at the base of the bed.
For more storage I dropped the floor in the galley 6" and store my cooler on the galley counter. I have HF trailer and I bolted the last to frame rails under the frame and slid a piece of 1/2 plywood in from the side over the bottom of the rails and boxed in the ends.
Foamy, check out the foamy section. viewforum.php?f=55
Here is what I build with foam and almost no wood.
click to enlarge

[thewayfaringway]

I understand the explanation about the shelf bed...but you lost me talking about dropping the floor and everything after that. Sorry! I am still learning.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk