Day 10: Building the Galley

Well, we are the proud new owners of 500 billion clamps. It's clamp city up in the Otto household!!

Sunday started out slow as we had church and a volleyball game to go to but got set up around 3pm and logged a good 5 hours on the teardrop.

We made more Home Depot trips and cut our 4x8 plywood into 46 1/2" wide to make the bulkheads and we cut our dividers 16.5" high as that is the height of the bottom of our counter top. Now that we pocket hole screwed everything in, I regret not making the counter an inch higher. You can see in the photo our cute little cooler fits in there great, but I wanted a slide out drawer and the brackets caused it to sit up an extra 1 1/4". We only had 1 1/4" room to work with. So no go on the sliding drawer unless we get a different cooler. 

With the counter top being installed auto created a foot cubby hole where we are going to have a shelf with a 15" sliding table that comes out so we can play games inside of the teardrop. It took some trial and error to see where the bulkhead would lie and when we were happy, we realized it didn't line up with ANY of the framing studs we had placed for specifically that purpose. So we just drilled our pocket holes and hoped it went through the insulation. It did! And it holds!!

Building the wall shelving in the galley wasn't the easiest thing. I think the whole trailer is *slightly* off square so nothing sits perfectly. I ended up having to cut things NOT square in order to fit to look square, haha.

Total time spent today: 5 hours

Total project hours: 44.5 hours

Days 8-9: Erecting the Walls, Insulating, and Gluing Walls

WE DID A LOT TODAY. It was fun.

We had to finish framing the other exterior wall "quick" and let that sit overnight with our "gravity clamps" and then the next day (Day 9) we routed it flush. So that was our prep for today's long and productive day! Not enough actual work to make a post about it so I decided to lump it in with today's. 

While Dan was at work, I cut the Reflectix insulation and did two layers in the cabin and one layer in the galley since no one told me not to. 

We put polyurethane glue on the inside of the exterior wall and the bottom of the framing and attached it. We added screws 6" apart along the sides and then installed temporary spars to help the walls dry and set and square as possible (no photos of the gluing step). It's a fast process that requires communication with your partner and a good system to get the glue spread and not dripping all over the garage floor. Side one was frustrating, side two was great!

After the walls were glued up, we had to let it set for around 24 hours or so.

Time spent Day 8: 3 hours 
Total project hours: 36.5 hours

Day 9, I filled the framing with the Reflectix.  Ran out of staples in the staple gun but masking tape worked I guess. I just needed it to stay upright so we could attach the interior walls without the insulation falling out. 

We had another roll for the roof and galley but I didn't want to open it and needed to fill this last bit of space so I played a game of insulation Tetris. Glad no one will ever see this. Worked great though! I have about 4 square inches of insulation leftover. 

We decided we weren't going to have any switches so it's not necessary to run our wiring through the walls, instead we will be running it through the roof. We did a dry fit of the driver's side interior plus our bulkhead and counter to make sure we liked the space. We about called it final and then Dan realized the roofing spars were going to take about 2 1/2" of space at the head of the trailer. Phew. Glad he realized because it meant we had to shift the bulkhead back 2 1/2" to account for that space to make sure our mattress we are ordering will fit. 

Dan fits. I'm a couple inches shorter so didn't need to worry about it. Glad he's not 6 1/2 feet tall. That'd be unfortunate. 

Sinces we messed up our first profile board with the blob we didn't like, we had to get another 1/4" sheet to do the passenger side interior wall. We got to use a ladder because the lumber guys know us. No big deal.

Had our friends meet us with Trailerface (their big trailer) and we brought home the extra quarter inch board as well as 7 sheets of 4x8 luan (1/8" plywood) that will bend around the profile to create the roof. Once home, we routed the new piece to match the interior of the other side.

Our router likes to act like it's on fire so we can only do small parts while we wait for it to cool in front of the fan. (Buying a better one for next time.)  In the meantime we drilled pocket holes for installation of the bulkhead into the side wall studs and flooring.

Got all the routing done and GLUED THE INTERIOR! YAY!! We needed 500 more clamps though.... We are getting more for the next interior side that we will put up tomorrow.

Time spent Day 8: 3 hours 
Time spent Day 9: 8.5 hours (including two trips to Home Depot)
Total project hours: 39.5

Day 7: Cutting Insulation and Routing Frame Flush

It's been a week of work days spread over a week and a half or so. We don't want to be working on this project for 6 months. We're trying to be quick and efficient because we may be making another one for some friends right after this. We started this afternoon cutting some Reflectix from Home Depot to use as insulation. We got two rolls, one for the sides and one for the roof. The mattress should insulate the floor well enough. I think I'm going to do two layers of Reflectix for the cabin and one for the galley for extra insulation since our outer wall is only 1/4" as is the interior (unless someone tells me otherwise).

After Dan got home we got the router out and used the flush trim bit to buzz off the framing and make it flush to the exterior wall. Our poor one horsepower router was overheating so we had to do it in 4 rounds so it added significant time to that step of the project. Between the rounds we took the router inside and set it in front of a fan on high.

Nice and flush!

Then we heard this loud thunk and this dude fell out of the tree and onto the top of the Jeep!

I have zero patience so I had to clamp the walls up to see what it's going to look like! Super pumped to glue the walls up tomorrow!!

Time spent today: 4 hours
Total project hours: 28 hours

Day 5-6: Copying the Profile and Framing the Walls

Today we wanted to get a final profile cut and use the template to get the interior walls. After cutting out the profile we had to use the router to create three more identical pieces. One for the other exterior wall and two for the interior walls inside of the framing that will be exposed inside of the teardrop. We got a nicer flush trim bit from Home Depot for about $20. 

About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, the router slipped and gouged the profile. We didn't panic (okay, maybe I panicked for about 30 seconds) but decided that we would use that as the interior wall under the roofing spars so it should be covered. Also, for the one on the outside, it should be covered by aluminium trim. Not an ideal situation, but not the end of the world. We stopped after this as to not get frustrated.

You can sort of see the gouge here. The camera didn't focus well on it. 

Time spent Day 5: 1 hour
Total project hours: 22 hours

The following day-
We had to decide if we wanted to attach the exterior walls and build outside in or build the framing and then erect the walls. We decided with our router issues we've been having, that it would be easier to route the framing flush if we were to build the framing flat. We got 6, 1"x2"x96" boards for the framing and made a rough outline of the profile.

The 8 foot framing board on the bottom sits a hair under 2 inches up as when we mount it, the frame will sit on the floor and the exterior wall will be poly glued to the side of the frame and screwed in. (I'll post a picture of this when we get to it.)
The process of measuring and cutting boards for the frame is a super menial task and quite boring and repetitive. We needed more clamps than we we had so really glad I own an Olympic weightlifting set!

Time spent Day 6: 2 hours
Total project hours: 24 hours

Day 4: Designing the Profile

After the trailer was all good to go we started designing our profile. I wanted a mix of a benroy style and kenskill style. I prefer the kenskill but the edges had to come in perpendicularly which makes a full kenskill a problem. We did a first side with a front radius of 30" and rear of 40". We lost a lot of vertical space with that and I wasn't quite loving the "blob" look.

Stepped back for a day and tried to do some more measuring and ended up doing a 25" front radius with a mixed radius in the back (39"-ish plus some hand drawn). Much more room. I still might drop the rear a bit to make it more "teardrop" shaped but I'm not sure. Dan doesn't care. He just wants it to hold. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We carefully measured out the 26"x36" rough cut hole with a 4 3/4" radius for the custom teardrop doors we are having made! Those should be delivered around May 3rd. (Happy Anniversary!!)

I spent some time measuring out galley dimensions as well as interior cabinetry dimensions. So many ideas! So little space!!
Drop some recommendations in the comments if there's anything you think
 is a "must have"!!

Time spent today: 3 hours
Total project time: 21 hours

Day 3: Trailer Frame and Floor

After the trailer frame was *mostly* finished, we took three, 2x4" 8 foot long boards from Home Depot and used the band saw to rip them in half. Then we built a frame that covered the metal parts of the trailer. We laid it out and made sure everything was square (which we came to find out that our trailer wasn't the squarest thing ever. I have a feeling this could be a common theme). The plywood underneath is just for a flat surface to line everything up on. We secured the long rail and the two side rails and then removed the plywood to accurately copy the cross member locations. Then attached everything flush so the floor can rest on  it evenly.

We used 16 brackets and fastened with exterior screws as support.

Then inserted a 2 inch exterior screw in all of the areas where the wood beams joined.

We then had to brainstorm on how to drill the holes for the bolts through the frame so we clamped the frame and Dan took one of the smaller bolts and hammered it up through the bottom of the hole to leave a mark where to drill. Surprisingly, in all the guides, no one decided to go into detail on how to drill these holes!

We then flipped it over and drilled through the frame and counter sunk the holes using a countersink  so the tops of the bolts would be flush with the frame so the floor sits nicely on top. 

Tada! Frame! Also, it was 45 degrees this morning hence the hat, wool sweater, and vest. Brr.

Then we took some Lumber-Seal and did 4 billion coats to the whole bottom and insides of the cross members. (Actually around 6.) We did not seal where the floor was going to be glued on or the sides where the walls are going to be glued on. We chose this sealant instead of the normal emulsion asphalt because it was the least toxic version of sealant (also that CPES is toxic as heck!) Here's hoping for good results! Dealing with MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity is hard when working on projects as I need to use things that aren't going to trigger reactions).

Next we had to install the bolts. We used between two and three washers beneath the cross members and the frame to keep everything level since the cross members sat inside the frame rails. That way the floor wouldn't dip with our butts inside of the trailer. We used a ratchet to tighten the bolts as much as we could but we couldn't get the ratchet into the countersunk hole. So we took a screwdriver and wedged it in there and a wrench to tighten it the rest of the way. Exhausting. 

After the wood frame was completely installed on the trailer, I had to crawl under the trailer to trace the gaps between the cross members to apply the waterproof sealant. 

Three layers of sealant on (don't want the sealant where we are going to glue) and we are good to flip it over and screw it into the wooden frame. 

10 hours of work done today and we made some mistakes and learned some things! Now, on to the fun part of the project!

Had some friends come over the next day and we flipped the trailer and I added tons more sealant to let it harden. No water rot here!

Time spent today: 6 hours
Total project hours: 18 hours

Days 1-2: Starting Our Teardrop and Putting Together the Trailer

Hey everyone!

This is Dan and Danielle Otto and we created a blog to document our projects! Our recent (and biggest) has been our adventure in building a custom teardrop trailer so we can go camping! I'm (Danielle, and the writer of this blog) is pretty anti-ground sleeping and I felt that this was a way we could haul a bunch of stuff around attached to our Jeep, Sally.

Teardrop campers can run anywhere from $500 for an ultra light cheaper build (if you have all the tools) to upwards of $20,000 if you want a professionally built fancy one. We are looking at $2,000 as our budget for all the parts, tools, and finishing. I'll make a final post at the end with a budget journal and whether or not we stuck to it! I don't want to skimp on parts that are important and a lot of the budget will go towards the wood and our custom doors from Challenger Doors. 

When we started the project, we had to make the decision what size we wanted our TD to be. We had the option of doing a 5x8' trailer as it fits a queen bed perfectly but thought that was too big. We decided to go with the Northern Tool 4 foot by 8 foot trailer.  but the tow rating for Sally is only 1,000 lbs and it's super easy to overbuild on these projects and be stuck in a sticky situation. I thought that putting together a trailer would be ridiculously easy... Turns out it's not. I don't care to go into the whole specifics on how to build a trailer but here's some pictures ...it sucked.

You have to make the folding trailer NOT folding. This took a bit of research as many tutorials said to cut the cross member and drill new holes and I wasn't about to deal with cutting steel. 

By the way, we decided to do this without set plans. We are following about 6 different guides and plans and adapting them as we see fit. Our biggest concern, currently, is having a trailer that is to standard and road safe. 

To combat the folding issue, we decided to bolt the cross members together where it would normally have the brackets to allow folding. Normally, there isn't anything holding this part of the trailer sturdy as it's designed to bend in half. I feel better knowing that this trailer is now ultra solid. 

Tada! Trailer.

Time spent Days 1-2: 10 hours (Box said 4.. not TOO shabby)