Buffalo Woody (Based on the Wyoming Woody)

[calebporzio]

Hi Y'all!

My wife and I have been dreaming about building a teardrop for about a year now and just recently decided to pull the trigger. We live in Buffalo, NY so have been putting the pedal to the metal on the project to get a good amount accomplished before snowfall.

We decided on the Wyoming Woody general design with possibly some slight modifications. Being my first TD, I don't feel confident enough to design my own and didn't really like the look of the Generic Benroy or Weekender, although those plans were very tempting.

I've been at it for a couple weeks (I already feel in over my head) and will post some pictures on what I've accomplished below.

So very grateful to this community for being so helpful and knowledgeable!

[calebporzio]

We live in an apartment with no yard or garage, so securing a workspace was my first hurdle. My parents were kind enough to let me use their garage for the build, so day 1 was cleaning it out - still a lot of stuff, but I think this space will be workable.

[calebporzio]

For the trailer I decided to go with the Harbor Freight 4x8 super duty (https://www.harborfreight.com/1720-lbs-capacity-48-in-x-96-in-super-duty-folding-trailer-62647.html)

I really wanted the NT 5x8, but was too impatient with shipping and cheap with the extra cost. I decided to just build a frame for the 4x8 that would allow me to use it for a 5x8 teardrop.

the trailer comes in two boxes and cost me around $500 after tax and everything. I plan to register it in Maine to save on cost as well.

It took me around 7 hours to put together. I totally underestimated this task. If I were to do it again I would use an impact driver for the bolts, and be more careful that the resulting frame was absolutely square. I tried to accomplish this, but the trailer is the tiniest bit off and I really hope it doesn't impact the wear on the wheels or anything.

I left out all the parts for the folding mechanism (the hinge and casters). I also lowered the fender a bit as I will be building the floor on top of the wheels.

I wish I had more pictures of this part, but sadly I don't.

[calebporzio]

Building the frame (like everything so far lol) turned out to be more of a project than I anticipated.

Sizing the wood:
I didn't want to add too much height to the teardrop by framing up the trailer - so I lowered the fenders a bit and ripped 2x4s down to something like 3" or 2.75" I don't remember off hand.

Half-lap joints:
I wanted to use half lap joints for the cross-members so every member was continuous. I used a router and little jig I made to cut out the voids. These were tough for me to get exact as I'm a novice woodworker, but they turned out ok. I used a Kreg jig to drill pocket holes for the screws to secure the frame together.




Bolting down: I used carraige bolts to bolt the frame to the trailer, but ran into an issue with using nylock nuts. They would strip out the square head from the wood when turning them. I ended up getting non-nylock nuts, using a lock washer and thread locker for security. (I'm open to thoughts on this approach)

Sealing the bottom:
I decided to line the bottom with 2 sheets of coroplast. I sealed everything with caulk - I'm hoping this will be sufficient waterproofing. I'm also eager to hear peoples thoughts on this approach (not that I can back out of it now though haha).



Insulation:
Because the frame is so tall, I went with 1" rigid foam insulation, cut it to size and filled in the gaps with spray foam insulation. I left a small gap between the top of the insulation and the floor - after reading more things recently, I'm nervous this space will cause condensation and then rot - thoughts?



I added more cross-members because I wanted more stability for the plywood above.



Floor:
I used 1/2" maple plywood for the floor. This part was straightforward - I glued it and screwed it to the frame.

[KTM_Guy]

I'm a fan for the Wyoming Woody. When my wife and I started to look into building, one of her things was she wanted a traditional looking teardrop. We started with the Wyoming Woody and made some changes that we knew we wanted. We kept the basic shape and just scaled it to our needs. We went with a taller roof, a little longer, and narrower to fit a full XL mattress. I did aluminum skinned not a woody. I also used the Steve Frederick manual mostly for the galley hatch, I like the way he does it. Ours will see a lot of off road use in the desert and dust is more our problem than rain. And it seems like we will have a good seal against both.

I look forward your build progress.

Todd

[swoody126]

NOW is the time to create a block system under the frame to level the floor fore n aft & side to side(and check periodically)

having a level work base from this point fwd will be to your advantage

you can periodically jack it up/off the blocks sliding the blocks out for checking your suspension drop as weight is added

just make sure you have a smidge more room above the tires to the inside of the fenders than distance between the frame & the axle assembly

FWD HO!

sw

[daveesl77]

Looking good! Couple of things you will want to do. Where the "A" tongue meets the first cross member, you should through-bolt the tongue section directly to the crossmember. There have been many reported failures of that little bracket. To really make it strong, turn the trailer coupler piece upside down and install a 2x2" box steel member, going from at least the 2nd cross member back and preferably the 3rd, then out through the channel at the couple. This gives you a combination tongue and is super strong. Plus, you can easily extend the length making the trailer much easier to pull and back. This adds about 40# of weight, and is well worth it.

Be absolutely certain to clean out the wheel bearings and pack with grease. The stuff HF ships the trailers with is NOT wheel bearing grease.

Have fun and enjoy.

dave

[calebporzio]

KTM_Guy: Good to know you used Steve's manual for the hatch. I bought it last weekend

swoody126: Good call, will definitely level it out ASAP. Also, yeah I checked the distance between the frame and the axle before lowering the fender - the part I lowered was unused space.

daveesl77: Good to know, will definitely clean out the bearing assembly and re-grease before hitting the road. As for the tongue mod - is there a post or something you can point me towards - I'm not sure I'm clear exactly on the fix - thanks (np if not)

Thanks for the helpful replies, everyone!

[pchast]

check out this page of my build............ Offered as an example of the hitch mod...
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=54690&start=15