jmnielsen's pseudo-teardrop-oid trailer

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
Thought I'd post a "build journal" of my "teardrop" camper build- more of just a small camper thingy since it's not a "teardrop" shape. This will be done on a fairly tight budget, so progress will be slow and while I won't cut corners, I may go cheap on some things. The main goal of this is to get out of a tent off the ground and into something comfortable, everything else is an added bonus!

It all started when I picked up this dirty axle:



I picked it up off craigslist for a whopping $20. The bought it, found out it was too narrow for his use, and it sat in his yard for a year. It was rusty as all get-out but I had it sand blasted for free and then painted it. It's good as new! Bearings were in great shape so I re-packed them and got on with the build!

I decided on a 5x8 trailer. 4x8 would have made my life easier, but everything I read said go 5x8 if you'll be camping with another person, which I will be. I drew up my design on AutoCAD for the trailer frame (sorry no pic of that) and then had get to work. I took last summer off of school because I had so much going on, so last May after school got out I built the frame. It's mainly 2"x2" .125" wall square tubing. The cross braces are 2"x1" rectangular tubing that is 14 gauge. The total steel cost was $140, and I got the coupler for free! This trailer is STOUT. It's way overbuilt, but that is fine by me.









This bad boy makes cutting so easy compared to a chop saw!!



With it all welded together and the axle mounted, I flipped it over in the yard and put on a couple coats of rust inhibiting primer and a couple coats of black paint.





I let the paint dry overnight, then I wired the trailer with lights that I bought from Harbor freight $37.99 w/ 20% discount for LED lighting isn't bad!



Once I tested the lighting in the driveway and everything checked out I took her for a spin to make sure it would tow ok. Which it did! It towed great! A little bouncy with a 3500# axle that has like no weight on it though. It was about 3 months between building the frame, and getting it tow ready. So since I had all the measurements I went ahead and build the floor of my teardrop. It is two sheets of 3/4" birch ply cut to fit the 5x8 trailer frame. The framing of the floor is 1x2" stuff (can't remember the wood).





Once the floor was built I bought some roofing tar (asphault emulsion) that is extremely weather resistant, and 3/4" foam insulation. I cut the foam to fit the spaces, then I coated the entire bottom of the floor with the emulsion. I pressed the foam into place, then used 1" screws and fender washers for good measure to hold in the foam insulation. I used 10 screws per piece of foam. (sorry no pictures of that step) Once I got the trailer tow-ready, I bolt the floor to the trailer frame with 4 - 1/2" x 3" carriage bolts. I have gussets welded on the trailer so that I can add 4 more, but this feels VERY sturdy and I don't think it is going anywhere.

I had drawn the profile that I wanted to go with,



so I used an extra piece of OSB that I had to practice the cuts and make sure that is the profile that I wanted to go with! The OSB blended in with the wood on the wall, so I put blue tape around the edge to make it easier to see the profile. The masking tape shows where cabinets, counter, etc will be. I need to mock up door placement and window placement as well.



This is my fancy wall prop



and for those that are interested in height of it, it is right at 6 feet tall. I'm 6'2" so here is a selfy to show you the height.

 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
I need to buy the door and windows, but DANG those things are pricey. I could make my own but that is time consuming and they would not be near as nice as the pre-made ones.

Next on my list of things to do is buy two 3/4" sheets of birch ply and some 1x2s to get the walls up and spars in place!
 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
Wow, haven't updated this in forever. I'm planning on this being totally done in 3 weeks, just have to order some parts. I guess I should rephrase that- not "totally done" but "totally campable" in 3 weeks. I will be adding things as money allows, and will probably never be "done" with it (we all know how modding goes). I am going to start a thread for my F150 as well, because I have decided I'm going to slowly make it an expo type rig for camping, hunting, and fishing.

Once I had my wall profile figured out I went ahead and cut them out, along with the opening for the door. Putting these things up all by myself was a pain in the rear, but I got it done!



After that I installed a divider between the galley and sleeping area, and also made cabinets for the sleeping area. Unfortunately I can't find the pictures that I took of that process. Next up was skinning the interior, insulating, and then skinning the exterior.





Here it is with wood filler waiting to be sanded down



I then sanded everything down, and cut out the hole for the window that will be going in.



I pulled it outside to sand it, and figured I would tow it around the block to blow all the dust off. Here is a picture behind my F150 for size reference. I will be building a tongue box for this along with building a roof rack for it - similar to ones I made for the Xterras.

 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
I thought about just painting it, but wanted more protection than just paint. I also couldn't/can't afford aluminum skin for it. Doing research I found an instructable about "Poor Mans Fiberglass" along with a lot of information about it on tnttt.com. Basically you use Titebond 2 glue and glue canvas down, once the glue dries you fill the weave of the canvas with paint (I used KILZ 2 primer, it took TWO gallons of paint to do it!). Once that dried I had my wife pick out a color (charcoal gray) and painted it with glidden exterior paint. Here are some pictures of the process.









A few things on that process:

1). I cut the canvas a wee bit too small on one side ( about an inch) so near the hatch there is a 1" space of wood and no canvas. It won't hurt anything, just doesn't look that great.
2). I should have bought nice scissors and trimmed the canvas edges uniformly. I didn't, and it looks unprofessional. I do not need edge trim for waterproofing because this will work fine, but may do it anyhow to cover up the not-so-good cuts.

This is going to be weatherproof and last a long time! It is much cheaper than fiberglass and epoxy. It provides a rough finish, which I like, and it covers up some of my goofs.

I don't have pictures of this process either, bought I built, covered, and installed the galley door.



I opted for the "swing open" because if it were to swing up I wouldn't be able to stand under it. I still need trim for it, and I need to buy two pull action toggle clamps to secure the non-hinged side. It swings freely, and I'm actually impressed I didn't mess up hanging it.


Need to upload more pictures, will post them in a little while!
 
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jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
Thanks guys! Got some more done on it.

Got a heavy duty slide out built for my cooler in the galley.





Was going to buy fenders but I figured in the spirit of building everything that I would make some.



Mocking up fitment



And painting them. They are going to end up black with bedliner.

 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
Got the fenders, door, and window installed.



I'm waiting on trim for the hatch door so I can get it watertight, and I need to weld on the stabilizer jacks in each corner. Once that is done it will be campable! Still a lot on the list to do though:

Short term list:
- Spare tire mount
- Tongue storage for propane tank and other misc stuff
- Build shelving for galley. I don't have the galley area finished, partly because I don't have all the gear I need to plan the storage.
- Install 12v power. I just want it to power some lights, fans, and be able to charge electronics. Will probably have a 100W solar setup to keep me charged.

Long term list:
- Remove wood fenders and weld on steel fenders and steps. Will make them big enough for 33" tires
- Build roof rack for extra storage, and to put bikes or kayaks.
- Build awning to attach to roof rack.
- I may swap the torsion axle for a leaf sprung axle if I get to do more offroading.
- If I actually do get to do more offroading, I will build a better coupler for it. Standard ball coupler will work for now though.

There will [of course] be other mods, just nothing too major.
 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
I also drew up a rack that I would like to make for my truck. The goal is to still be able to use the bed and roll up cover for storing things out of the elements and not waste space in the bed storing bikes.

 

brett

Bought an X
Location
Little Rock, AR
Pretty cool build. Some of the teardrop manufacturers have made something shaped like this and called them reverse teardrops, or modified teardrops - with a rear entry door. I don't remember seeing the kitchen stuff in the back though. Clever design - nice work!
 

jmnielsen

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lincoln, NE
I've heard of them being called "squaredrops" which I suppose makes sense. I've seen the ones you are talking about as well. They don't have Kitchens or anything and not much storage at all. They also start at $2500, and I only have about $1200 in this.
 
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