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teardrop camper

5K views 31 replies 14 participants last post by  GEMcooter#2 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
My daughter and I are starting to build a 4x8 teardrop camper. She has purchased the 4x8 trailer from HF. We have been searching for plans and ideas. Has anyone ever built one of these and could give us any tip and ideas? toyman (former gmcooter)
 
#2 ·
GM, I built a teardrop camper a few years back, I will be glad to help all I can. I did build on a Harbor freight trailer like you have but I expanded it to a little over 5 feet wide so I could use a queen size mattress, 4 feet is just way to small as you will see. Here are a few pictures of the one I built.
 

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#5 ·
My step dad has a similar plan. He has a stripped trailer frame and wants a teardrop. But after looking around we may have changed plans to one of those triangular pop up trailers instead! Lots more room and since every piece has straight lines, should be pretty easy to frame in with 3/8 plywood and FRP board. Just a thought, might get more bang for your buck in a small space like that:)
 
#6 ·
What did you use on the exterior walls? She has found a plan similar to what she wants. It is square and not rounded. We have also decided on five foot wide s someone mentioned. Another question What did you use for the trim around the top to the walls? Thanks for the information you all gave me.toyman
 
#9 · (Edited)
Walls were 2x2s with 1/8" plywood exterior, rigid foam insulation, floors walls and ceiling, it was very well insulated. I use 1/4 inch printed camo plywood inside.

The top, I used same as walls except I used the 3/8 T&G western cedar inside . Top edge was capped off with aluminum trim like in the picture below. I used butyl or putty ribbon under the trim which you can but at a camper store. The leg of the trim over lapped the edge to make a great water proof seal. It has a vinyl insert that covers the screws also.

When you buy the aluminum trim, you will have to anneal the aluminum to be able to bend it. The way that is done is this, take a candle and hold the flame of the candle to the bottom side of the trim. This will cause soot to form on the bottom of the aluminum. Using a plumbers propane torch heat the back side of the aluminum until the soot disappears them move on, do not keep heating that spot because you will ruin the trim big time.

Here is a link of a great teardrop site, great helpful people.
http://www.tnttt.com/index.php?sid=491f6f0e99d2a8651cdcc068f1b8528a

This is the aluminum trim I used to cap the top edges of the side walls.
 

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#10 ·
#11 ·
My neighbor refurbished a larger one and it turnout nice!
I had no idea there were so many different types and styles:
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs...fr=ytff1-gl-gen1&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-006
I know some of the folks who built some of the teardrops in those photos.

The reason we sold ours was, we hated to pack everything in the truck, set up camp, then we had reload and haul home and then we had to store when we got home, that was too much work for us.
 
#12 ·
tear drop camper

Thanks Big Jim. Where did you purchase that trim? What did you do to the out side? Did you seal it with something or just paint it?I have rebuilt several campers. The last being the one I've had for at least 10 years. It is a 28 ft. Shasta. It had been a flood. I had to replace the floor and remodeled for queen size bed in the back and a larger bed out of another camper that I ha parted out for the front. All of that is a little different from building one from the frame up. All the help you can give will be much appreciated. toyman ( formally registered as gmcooter)
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#13 · (Edited)
Thanks Big Jim. Where did you purchase that trim? What did you do to the out side? Did you seal it with something or just paint it?I have rebuilt several campers. The last being the one I've had for at least 10 years. It is a 28 ft. Shasta. It had been a flood. I had to replace the floor and remodeled for queen size bed in the back and a larger bed out of another camper that I ha parted out for the front. All of that is a little different from building one from the frame up. All the help you can give will be much appreciated. toyman ( formally registered as gmcooter)
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GM all I did was stick the aluminum sheeting on the 1/8 inch plywood exterior with contact cement. The glue will not hold the aluminum on after the aluminum heats up and expands, but by then you should have the trim and other things installed that will hold the aluminum in place.

I don't remember right off hand where I bought the trim, I looked online and found some but man, it was not cheap. I will look around and see what I can find. I do know there is another trim that looks a little like small aluminum angle that would work. It is 1 inch wide with a 1/4 inch lip on it, it would work with the self drilling hot zinc coated neoprene screws, with a good sealer under the trim.

The floor was water proofed on the underside to keep road water from rotting the plywood floor, inside on the floor, I used vinyl sheet flooring to keep the mattress clean and not snag on the plywood.

There are a lot of different ways to build a teardrop or a small camper. It just depends on your taste and your billfold. Many folks have painted the outside of their camper. There is also a way to water proof the top without aluminum or EPDM or one of the other materials used on a camper top and it will out last the EPDM. But it is white and slick as a peeled onion when it is wet, but good stuff.

If you are going to build with all straight lines, it should be a really easy build, I had about 380 some odd hours in that build.

What I would like to have now is one of the little Scamps or a Boler, they are all fiberglass and light as the dickens.

I am rambling here but for your doors you can go to a junk yard and buy the side windows out of an old van, you know the kind that has a sliding window at the bottom. I will explain if you want to go that way.

I will be more than happy to help you any way I can.
 
#16 · (Edited)
GM, when I widened the trailer, I did not cut the trailer frame at all, I left it just like it was because it would have cause a separate problem for the tongue. I built a separate frame, cut the axle and expanded it, then mounted the original HF frame on top of the one I made. Yes I did move the axle back some, I can't remember how much though. Click on this link and hopefully you will see how I did my frame. Oh and I did flip the axle to give it more height, the best I remember.

http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image.php?image_id=5364

By the way, when you widen the frame, be sure to make it 5 foot 1 inch inside camper cabin measurements, example; if walls are 2 inches thick, make the frame 4 inches (plus one inch) wider. The reason is, that mattress will not fit if it isn't 5 foot wide inside, I just like the extra inch to change sheets.

We bought a little shower tent that we had a porta potty in, sure makes it a lot easier going to the bathroom at night. LOL

We also bought one of the EZups with the add on wall curtains. We used that right up against the little teardrop so we could get out of the camper without everyone seeing us undressed. :grin: Be sure and get the EZup that is water proof, no fun sitting around under the EZup with umbrellas. :thumbsup:
 
#18 ·
Big Jim, that is really neat! Toyman, you have committed to posting some pictures of the WIP and completed. Looking forward to it.

FWIW, there was a show a while back on Discovery or another similar channel about people who attend rallies with rare, antique, or classic campers. The crafting of them was outstanding! There were some that I had never heard of before.
 
#19 ·
Thanks an for all of the helpful information. It will be a while be for I get started. I have another show on the 28th so I have to finish a few things for that first. It's my daughters project she ha to get every thing gathered up too. I'm also building a small room onto my shop for my DC because it's to loud inside the shop. I can't work but for 3 or4 hours a day because i run out of energy pretty quick. I'll probably be calling you again when I get it started. Thanks again for all of you help. gmcooter
 
#22 ·
That is nice, but I didn't see any insulation, wiring, lights and trailer was extra from what I saw. It is a sharp little camper but by the time all is said and done it would be more than the base price for sure.

I wonder how they make the doors and all weather tight.
 
#23 ·
A while back I posted about a teardrop camper for my daughter. Sense then the plan has changed. She has a Honda CRV that's why she wanted a teardrop. They had a bad hail storm where she lives. Just up the road a little way is a Ford dealership. They had a lot of vehicles damaged. So she ended up buying a 2015 Dodge Ram with 22,000 miles on it. It also is a Hemi engine With lots of power. Sense she got the truck she decided to go with a larger camper. She found a 16 ft. camper for $200 so now the plan is to rebuild it. I started bringing it down yesterday. I have it down to the floor today.There is' not any insulation in the floor so we are going to go from the frame up. Don't that sound like fun? ha ha! toyman
 
#24 ·
From my experience camping with the little camper, she will be much happier with the larger camper. We had fun with the little teardrop but it was an awful lot of work packing, unpacking then packing up to go home then unpacking again. The larger camper, there isn't so much packing and unpacking.
 
#26 ·
We sold our teardrop and bought a 17 foot camper and restored it also, we took the entire roof off and replaced everything, also some of the walls were in bad shape so we rebuilt some of them also. We went back with a roof membrane like the old rail road cars of yesteryear, never leaked another drop and is still holding up great.
 
#27 ·
I will be starting from the frame up. I thought I might be able to use the floor but after I got the walls off the floor was bad too. The guy we brought it from had started putting vinyl siding on it. He didn't know much about what he was doing. The wall framing was all chopped up and rotten in places so we decided to start from scratch. I took some pictures before I started. I'll try to get them posted.toyman
 
#29 ·
Looking forward to seeing your daughter's finished camper.
BigJim, know what you mean about a camper. My parents had three motor homes and a 26 ft. cabin cruiser. A friend of theirs had a house boat. It's like keeping up two homes. The houseboat only lasted one summer for that reason. For what my parents paid per month for the last motor home, they could have stayed in four star hotels and had room service much cheaper.
A camper or motor home is only cost effective if you are retired and travel full time or use it every weekend.
My idea of roughing it is staying in a motel with a black and white TV.
 
#30 ·
Hi, I was searching for info on building my own teardrop trailer and came across this thread. I just wanted to say thanks and that it has been very informative.

I really wanted to know about using a harbor freight trailer and I think it answered some of my questions.:smile3:
 
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