Jammer's Milwaukee, WI Teardrop

[jamwius]

Hello All!

This weekend we had great weather to begin my teardrop. I have decided to build a Grumman 2. The plans in the design library were excellent and easy to apply to the side panels. I plan on having the floor and walls be a sandwich of 1/8" Luan(bottom and underside), 1/2 Sandeply(middle), 1/8" Baltic Birch(inside) with insulation in between where I can.

This weekend I was able to pick up the Baltic Birch, Sandeply and the insulation. I was able to make some sawdust too and get the floor and side walls roughed out. I still need to order and axle and build the frame so I just made the floor oversized to cut later to exact measurements. Tomorrow I will be picking up the 1/8" Luan along with a couple of sheets of 4x10 mdf to make templates for future builds.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for sharing and showing all of your work. It has helped tremendously in my planning.

If there is anyone in the Milwaukee, WI area I'd be interested in hearing from you. It is always nice to know others are close by.

Jammer

[gregp136]

Hello Neighbor. We are in West Allis here. Looks like a good start to the build. We got a Harbor Frieght trail in early Feb., and have been making sawdust and having fun every since. We might want to compare suppliers of various items, depending on what you need. We are using aluminum on the outside, which I am picking up from a sign maker for whom my son used to work.

Any way, good luck on the build, enjoy the great weather, and if you want to check out our build journal, it is here:
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=34844

Have fun.

Greg (and Laurie)

[S. Heisley]

You've made a good start! It looks pretty long but that might be coming from the angle of the camera, hard to say. What are the dimensions of your teardrop? Is it a 10 footer?

[tearhead]

We're about 40 minutes from you, east of Whitewater. If you'd like to come see our Lil Traveler, let me know. Or, if you're going to the Cooler Near the Lake gathering at Kohler Andrae the weekend after next, you'll be able to check out a bunch of teardrops! Could camp with us, or just drop by! There are threads on this in the Midwest section (I apologize if you're already signed up in there and I just didn't notice!).

[jamwius]

Hey all,

Greg (and Laurie) we do live close. I am off of Grange Ave and Sunnyslope Rd. I like your idea about sharing info on where to get stuff. I plan on skinning mine with aluminum too and haven't found anyone locally that has it. I have an account with Midwest Sign and Supply but did not see any in their catalog and I didn't get around to calling them yet. You'll have to stop by some day and check out my progress. If you ever need an extra hand with something let me know.

Hey Pat thanks for the offer on the "Cooler by the Lake". I probably won't be camping but if it's nice out I'll try to take a cycle trip up there for the day maybe.

Sharon, my teardrop will be 10 feet long, 4 feet high and 5 feet wide. I am using the Grumman 2 specs that are in the design library exactly as they are. I really like the profile and with the measurements in the pdf it was very easy to draw out. here is a picture of the template I made.

John

http://tnttt.com/album_ ... c_id=63938

[jamwius]

Forgot to press the Img button in prior post.
John

[S. Heisley]

You're right! It has a very nice profile.

[Miriam C.]

Way to get a good start! Great profile!

[gregp136]

Hi, I live off of 64th and Lincoln, and grew up on National and Moorland. AS far as aluminum, I got mine from a sign company, Sign Effectz, Inc, a place my son used to work. The price was resonable, and I picked it up today....Getting close here.


Greg (and Laurie)

[jamwius]

Hi All,

This last weekend I finished up the floor and I think it turned out nice. Very solid once it was all glued up. I also made a jig to draw lines on the side profile curves where the inside roof will be. What I plan on doing is draw a line the depth of the spars then draw a line the thickness of the inside roof which will be 1/8" birch. Then take a jig saw and split the lines and belt sand back to each line making room for the inside roof. Don't know if I explained it well but I will take some pictures when I do the actual cutting. The jig idea was from another teardrop maker and here is his website. It worked great.

John

http://www.richardflake.com/galleyhatch.htm

Here are my pictures from this weekend.

[gregp136]

Excellent Job. It is coming along GREAT!

Greg (and Laurie)

[Jeffmo63]

Hello Jammer, I am just down the road in Kenosha. I am converting a Pace American cargo trailer. I've made a few posts on window installation. Where did you get your 1/8 inch ply? It does not seem to be readily available.

[jamwius]

Hey Jeff, You can get the 1/8" Baltic Birch from Kettle Morraine Hardwoods. They are just off of the 27th Street exit by 7 mile fair. Here is their website.
http://www.kmhardwoods.com

You can also get 1/8 Luan from Alpine Plywood but it is on the north side of Milwaukee so it is quite a hike for you. I decided not to use the 1/8" Luan and went with all of the 1/8" Baltic Birch just because of what I have read on the forum here but next time I may rethink it. For the first build I did not want to deal with any wood issues if I didn't have to.

Good luck on your buiild and keep in touch.
Jammer

[gregp136]

I used some Kettle Moraine Plywood in mine. Have a hard Maple interior. But I also got lots of my other wood at Bliffert's Lumber. Always nice and straight, and the prices are great(not quite like the big boxes, but the quality is the best). They have a yard in Oak Creek. Here is their web adress:

http://www.bliffertlumber.com/

Greg(and Laurie)

[jamwius]

Thanks Greg,

I didn't know about Bliffert. I will have to check them out.

John