Building a Teardrop Trailer: Plans and Methods for Crafting an Heirloom Camper PDF

368 Pages·2020·7.72 MB·English

by  Tony Latham

Building a Teardrop Trailer
Plans and Methods for Crafting an Heirloom Camper
By
Tony H. Latham
iii
Copyright © January 2019 Tony H. Latham
All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws
of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized
use of the material herein is prohibited without the expressed written
permission of the author.
Cover Design by Jay Griffith
iv
“Oh, the places you’ll go.”
-Dr. Seuss
v
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................10
About this Book...........................................................................12
Design Considerations................................................................13
Construction Strategy.................................................................26
Workbench..................................................................................30
Chassis.........................................................................................32
Cabin Materials...........................................................................44
Fiberglass and Epoxy..................................................................47
Template......................................................................................50
Building the Walls.......................................................................57
Building the Doors......................................................................83
Building the Floor.......................................................................90
Interior Components...................................................................94
Assembly.....................................................................................101
Electrical.....................................................................................114
About Solar.................................................................................117
Ceiling and Roof.........................................................................120
Hatch...........................................................................................131
Hatch Struts................................................................................147
Exterior Finish............................................................................151
Aluminum Sheathing..................................................................153
Galley Details...............................................................................161
Cabin Details................................................................................171
Mounting the Cabin.....................................................................175
Propex Heater..............................................................................177
Propane Plumbing.......................................................................180
Titling and Insuring.....................................................................182
Camping.......................................................................................184
Side Plan Detail............................................................................191
Profile Measurements..................................................................192
Chassis Plan Detail.......................................................................193
Other Books..................................................................................194
vi
Disclaimer
I’m a not a professional woodworker. I don’t claim to be an expert in
welding, woodworking, electricity or any aspect of building a teardrop
trailer. In short, I’m a part-time writer who enjoys camping and
monkeying in my shop.
Woodworking can be dangerous. There’s been blood on the floor of
my shop (but nothing that stitches couldn’t fix). I had one near miss
during the construction of the teardrop I built for this book. It involved
haste while running a trim router spinning a carbide bit at 30,000
RPM. Not funny.
Be cognizant of your fingers, eyes, lungs, hearing, and any visitors
during your build.
And in fact, when visitors show up, put the power tools away and the
coffee pot on.
If you see or read
something in these pages that
you feel is unsafe–by all
means–find a different
method and get a second
opinion. Be careful!
Sponsorships
As you read through this book, I’ll mention name brands of materials
and tools that I use. I have no business relationship with any retailer
or manufacturer I have mention in these pages. I refer to these
products because they work for me.
8
Introduction
I remember when she spoke those words, “coming home isn’t a big
deal like it used to be.” Her words rattled me.
My wife, Stephanie, and I were on the last ten miles of a 1400-mile
round trip to Zion National Park. The journey had been the
shakedown of our newly finished teardrop camper. The weather had
been reasonable and the scenery was incredible. I thought we had a
great trip–at least until she spoke those words. Was something
wrong between us?
Why wasn’t she happy to be home after ten days on the road? What
had I missed?
After gathering my wits, I turned and asked her what she was talking
about.
“I love our new teardrop. The mattress is just as good as our bed at
home.”
***
I’ve camped a lot.
I was a serious backpacker for more than twenty years. I wish I’d
kept a journal of those miles.
I fought wildfire in the interior Alaska for a decade. For most of those
fire seasons, I would spend forty to sixty days sleeping under what
we called a “hooch.” We made these from a ten-foot square of black
plastic that we hung over a spruce pole lashed between two trees.
To keep the airborne bloodsuckers off, mosquito netting hung
underneath it.
The netting looked like a porous coffin that was often black with bugs
in the morning.
For three summers I guided back-to-back seven-day wilderness river
trips in central Idaho. On most of those raft trips I slept under the
stars without a tent. We’d throw a sleeping pad and bag on a tarp
and call it camp. We were too tired to fiddle with anything else.
For over two decades, I chased poachers in Idaho’s backcountry as
a game warden.
For those patrols–that would frequently butt into early winter–I slept
in a tent that wasn’t much bigger than my sleeping bag.
I’m sure the number of nights I have spent camped on the ground–
both inside a tent and under the stars–is well beyond hundreds.
10
I remember camping in a snow cave in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley
when it hit -25º.
On at least two summer trips, I recall cutting the floor of my tent with
a knife to drain the puddles of rainwater.
I remember waking at 4:00 AM in Alaska’s Kobuk Valley, lifting the
edge of the plastic fly, and staring at a bear’s foot just inches from
my hand. His head must have been within a foot of mine. I
remember cold-camping in a pile of rocks along Idaho’s Salmon
River and eating a granola bar while smelling the cooking dinner
from a poacher’s last illegal meal.
Those remarkable trips are engraved in my brain because of what I’ll
call the suck factor. Misery and fear make for an indelible memory. I
wouldn’t change any of those nights but there is a more comfortable
way to enjoy the wilds and avoid the suck factor.
I saw my first teardrop parked at a highway pullout in the spring of
2004. I introduced myself to the owners and they gave me what I
would later call a tear-tour.
The little camper was made by Hunter in north Idaho and was a
representation of teardrops made by American craftsmen for at least
ninety years. It had a well-lit cabin with a deep mattress. Its galley
had a propane stove and a cooler full of iced beverages and food
prepped for a Dutch oven. I was stunned.
I thought about building my own, but my job, as a game warden
didn’t ooze with days off. So that fall I purchased a commercially
made teardrop. The cabin was 4’ wide and 10’ long and I thought it
was the cat’s meow.
I don’t know how many miles I pulled her. I wish I knew how many
nights I spent snuggled inside but it was a lot. And for the life of me, I
can’t recall any trips with it that had any suck factor.
In the summer of 2013 my wife and I were returning home from an
adventure in western Montana. We fell behind another teardrop.
After a bit the driver pulled into a gas station and I followed him in.
We swapped tear-tours. The first feature that caught my eye was
that it was a foot wider than ours. The second was that it had a
ceiling fan. Our teardrop’s galley hatch was beginning to leak dust
and water. It had a computer fan for ventilation that didn’t help much
on hot summer evenings. My newly retired-brain started scheming.
After a month of Googling and sketching on graph paper, I was
measuring, cutting and joining.
11
About this Book
Keep this in mind: I don’t think anyone has all the skills needed to
build a teardrop until they’ve done it. Don’t be intimidated. There are
two things you need to possess to undertake this project:
persistence and a willingness to learn. The needed skills are the
ones you learn as you build. Teardrops are built in steps. Just take
each a step at a time and you’ll get it done.
The majority of this book documents the construction of my fourth
teardrop. I’ve tried hard to explain and detail it with photographs and
graphics of each step so that anyone who is short on woodworking
skills can build a fine teardrop. If there is a part that you don’t
understand, ask a friend to look the section over. If you still don’t
understand it, I suggest you ask for help on the teardrop builder’s
forum at www.tnttt.com.
So why four teardrops? I think I’ve answered the question about my
first build. The second one was a favor for my sister and brother-in-
law. The third was a wedding gift.
The fourth was done so I could write this book and help first-time
builders create something that will last.
The profile, chassis, and other details for this project are included in
the back of this book. Construction specifics are detailed in each
chapter. You can certainly design your own and still use these
construction techniques. I encourage you to do just that–but a
fantasy of mine is seeing your teardrop that grew from these pages
pass by me on the highway. That would make my day.
12
Design Considerations
It’s not clear who built the first teardrop but in 1939 the magazine
Popular Home Craft printed an article about a small camper built by
Louis Rogers of Pasadena, California. It had a 4’ x 8’ footprint and
had the classic teardrop profile.
After Word War II, Americans wanted to leave history in the dust and
the teardrop took off. In 1947 alone, Kit Manufacturing was making
forty teardrop campers a day.
That same year, Mechanic’s Illustrated published plans and
backyard builders started rolling their own.