Jeremy from Janesville, WI Build Journal

[5speedsoffury]

Jeremy,
Did you get a price quote for your axle from a place in Madison or Edgerton? The guys from Edgerton were able to give me a good price when I had an axle made to my specs. The guys downtown at the steel place know me, they would get a kick out of hearing about another teardrop coming together in town, that is were I purchased my frame steel , diamond plate and aluminum sheeting , just ask them if they know a guy named Paul that has army trucks, jeeps ,a rat rod and is building a teardrop camper . Good luck on your build . It sounds like you are starting to get things together. Like TimC stated about Mikes' saying , its true once its done and you sit back or in it and look at your work the price kinda is forgotten but the workmanship is there to stay .
Have fun making dust and woodshavings,
Paul

Paul,
I am super excited I am getting out of my Forester payment and buying a 2010 RAV4 Sport V6. I have been worrying about towing weight abd lack of extra money for the build. This rig solves both.
I just finished adhering the last spacer to the cross beams. The HDPE plastic was a little pricey but I also got 2 sheets of 3/8" 4'x10' osb to make projects with. I have the tongue mocked up in place. I'm going to grind off the ball hitch mount on the tongue bracket... When I get my hands on a grinder and then drill holes for two bolts through the top and bottom tongue brackets and tongue.
I will have to check out the place in Edgerton for an axle. I'll get a picture up when I get the tongue mounted.

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hi all,
Sundays project time:
Upgraded hitch area. I used 7/16"x 1" grade 8 bolts for the top and bottom plates. Farm and Fleet had a great deal on the hardware! 16 bolts & nuts and 32 washers for 7$ and change. I plan to use the remaining 4 bolts for the a frame attachment. Note middle bolts go all the way through and are 1/2"x3.5" long. I spaced the tubing with 2 stacked 1/2" washers on top and 1 on bottom on each 3.5" long tongue bolt. The original hitch mount channel was grinded off for reference.

Only a 2 bolts left on the cross beams! Better pictures to come.

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hello all,

I finally finished up with bolting the 2x2 square channel to the frame. Drilling the 1/2 inch holes was a challenge but the end product turned out nice and I now have a nice drill bit set that I got on clearance from Sears. The titanium bits sure are worth their weight in gold !

All bolts are tight and I used loctite to ensure no surprise loosening of them. I also replaced the bolts on the A frame with 7/16" x1" grade 8 hardware for peace of mind. Next on the to do list is to buy the steel for the cabin extension over the a frame and get that into shape!

That's all for now!

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hi all,

Progress has been hard fought on the project. I did just buy some steel for the front but what I ended up getting was not what I wanted. I got some c channel that was hot rolled. The cut was made so that steel goes off to the side for now. What I really want is the lighter u channel that is a cold rolled sheet pressed into a u /c shape. This is the same steel the trailer kit came with. The problem now is finding it affordably. I need to chat with the guy at the steel place here in town and see if he can get me back on track with what I want. On the plus side I have had time to clean and read some more build journals. The Astroliner got me interested in filon and the Standie design he is making. The design is larger than I would like but I like his layout. Very well done. This site has so many awesome build journals it I'd hard to even scratch the surface!

Hopefully more progress soon. Locating u channel is front and center the rest of this week. And shop organization/ finishing up small side projects.

Jeremy

[skinnedknuckles]

Jeremy,
There is a place on the South side of town that could press brake a channel to your dimensions, its kinda behind Pick and Save in the old Monroe truck building the name is Fabmasters.
Have fun,
Paul

[5speedsoffury]

Jeremy,
There is a place on the South side of town that could press brake a channel to your dimensions, its kinda behind Pick and Save in the old Monroe truck building the name is Fabmasters.
Have fun,
Paul

Thanks Paul. I will see what they can do for me. Heck hopefully they would be willing to fab me up a nice brake pressed channel and weld it into a rectangle for me. I checked with Northern tool for seeing how much a the a side rail and a crossmember would cost. The side rails are $84.54 each and a crossmember is $42.95 so as long as the price for a welded up piece would be less I am game for them doing it, plus supporting a local business. Otherwise I would buy a side rail and a crossmember and then make a rectangle for the front and just bolt that up.

More fun is to be had soon!

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hi all,

Well I have been side tracked a bit on the build as I plan, gather money and get quotes. The ShopSmith Greenie has come to life and is running great! Now I just need to finish up the pieces here and there that go with it like the miter gauge, fence, table, jointer and the like.

I did make some progress on the planning though and have got a quote request submitted to Fabmasters Inc here in Janesville. I hope to hear from them in the coming days and hopefully if the price is right to get the front frame extension fabricated and welded so I can get that painted and on the front of the trailer. Once the trailer frame is complete I will move onto building the floor I still need to speak with another local supplier on a torsion axle. I am fairly certain I will add trailer brakes just for safety on the trailer. That extra stopping power always comes in handy. I am still debating the exact dimensions of the cabin and whether to have the wheels on the side of the trailer or underneath with wheel wells coming up into the cabin space. All I know is I want to have a queen bed with room on the side and enough room to sit up/ kneel while staying under 84" total trailer height (garage door). I am looking to have 7.5" to 8" of ground clearance, max cabin width at 70-72" outside dimensions. Rough calculations in my head say that I can possibly keep the trailer around 75" total height and satisfy my requirements. and since the TV is about 70" tall that should not drag to bad when towing.

Well that was a ramble! I really look forward to any and all input and if you have any builds journals to suggest I am all for it. I love to see what others have done. It is inspiring and gets the creative juices flowing.

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hi all,

Trailer extension designed and ordered through Fabmasters Inc! I can't wait! Then I get to start the woodworking portion

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hi all!

I figured I would post an update on the build. Since last post I have received the front frame extension from Fabmasters. I painted an mounted that to the trailer frame using 7/16" Grade 8 hardware and red Loctite on the nuts. No chances taken.

I was able to go home this weekend and get some building materials for the teardrop. My dad has some dry planed poplar and and a few boards of basswood he was willing to let me have. Together we edged them and cut them into 2 inch strips. I got about 25 total 8-10 feet long boards 3/4" thick. This will get me through making the floor and most likely the sides or close. I can always head back and get some more!

Also, my dad has some sheets of acx ply, 2 homemade kitchen cabinets and 3 full sheets of 250 pink 3/4" foam! They plan to bring that down on this week! I am so excited to make progress again. I have been sidetracked by other little projects like the ShopSmith and making a sound reducing cabinet for the shop vac dust collector system.

That's about it for now.
Thanks for following the progress!
I will post pictures soon!

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hi all,
Here is a picture update! I have been able to make sawdust fly! I have also decided to go for a 5 foot wide tear! Now insulation time and completing the sandwich floor.
That's all for now! Thanks for following!

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

Hi all!

Two posts in one day but it has been great! I cut all the pink foam for the for and labeled it so it can be taken out and set aside while I put ply on one side. I spoke with my dad today and he found 3 boxes of laminate wood flooring so I will use that for my teardrop floor.

Thanks for following!

Jeremy

[skinnedknuckles]

Jeremy,
Looking good Keep up the good work . Get 'er done for next years camping season. We have a lot of good places not too far from us to camp at.
Paul

[5speedsoffury]

Jeremy,
Looking good Keep up the good work . Get 'er done for next years camping season. We have a lot of good places not too far from us to camp at.
Paul

Thank you Paul! I picked up another sheet of ACX tonight and cut my pieces for the top of the floor. Last night I finished up the bottom and trimmed it flush with the router and clearance bit set I picked up from Sears.

Tonight I worked on leveling out the foam and framing. If only the foam was the high point! Phoee! But it's given me a reason to use a hand plane.

I am a little up in the air of what to do with the bottom of the floor. I have read about "the mix" and its wood sealing benefits. I have also read about asphalt emulsion and the water repelling benefits of that goey goodness. From my understanding of woodworking and polyurethane that stuff really sinks in. The word on the forums about asphalt emulsion is that it coats the wood well but takes forever to dry and still is tacky. I honestly like the idea of asphalt emulsion but should I put a cost or two of the mix down before the emulsion? Or is that going to cause issues with the bond of the emulsion to the acx? Finally what products did you use for the asphalt emulsion? I'm sorry to ask this but I have done a lot of searching and even went into Menards to look but didn't know what product to choose.

Thanks in advance for any advice given!

Jeremy

[5speedsoffury]

In regards to the previous post here is some of the product that I can pick up locally. One seems more of a brush on the other seems like a trowel on. Also, does fibered or not fibered make any difference for this purpose?

Thanks! I really look up to all of the fine people on this forum!

Jeremy

[noseoil]

Brushable would be best for the deck I would think. It doesn't need to be too thick, just coat the surface well and stick. The fibered will span cracks better, but I don't think that's what you need to do on the bottom, since it's not cracking or suffering from gaps & irregularities in the surface. Once it's on there, the water won't be able to penetrate the asphalt, that's all it needs to do, sit there & look pretty. Let's hear it for the dead dinosaurs!