I did it my way, and here's how
This was my first chance to photograph the trailer. Final details are not shown in this picture.
I include commentary on my mistakes, as I update the site. I will also tell you of my bigger mistakes when I am aware of them. I also hope to add remarks on what my wife and I have learned about using this trailer on our vacation trips around the U.S.
If one of the following search terms brought you here, you will find information on that topic on this website. Sometimes it will be very detailed and sometimes it will be brief. Most of the topics will include pictures. Updated February 2012
As I made my teardrop trailer, I wanted to show what I did and how I did it. I ordered some plans for a 10 foot trailer from Kuffel Creek Press (go here Kuffel Creek Press.) The plans were very good, and I am very pleased with the basic trailer design. Mr. Hauser, of Kuffel Creek has done the hard part, working out the design details, making up material lists, and even a specification on the axle, so I did not have to re-invent the wheel, so to speak. It is a wonderful axle.
I am an incurable tinkerer, so I could not help but stray from the plans a bit. When I worked at a local lumberyard, one of the main things I did there was building pickup truck toppers. Our methods of framing the shell and putting on the skin were very different from the methods in the Kuffel Creek plans. I have a very strong preference for framing up the sides and roof as separate whole panels, and then combining these three parts. The assembly is much stronger and simpler. Further, it is far easier to have the flooring material in place, this way, rather than trying to fit the flooring into the inside of a cramped space. You can see this process on this website. Another change is that I moved the axle forwards a bit, to make the hitch easier for me to lift.
My intention is to show you various stages of construction, with some commentary on methods, materials, and mistakes. This site is a work in progress and will proceed on my own timetable. Please feel free to send me comments and inquiries as you see fit. I'll respond to you as my time and abilities permit. Really. I will. For free.
Making a web site is another new thing in my life. I'm learning by trial and error, and also getting some vital help from a family member when trial and error is not enough. I have been a stage hand, a projectionist, hand-truck delivery boy, film inspector, Navy submarine reactor operator, lumberyard worker, and railroad track worker. I was a gandydancer (track worker) for 32 years, and during that time I've done just about every task a gandy can do, but mainly I was a track welder for 27 of those 32 years. I retired in October of 2007 and find that I am now more busy than at any time since my Navy days. There is so much I want to do, and only 24 hours in a day... and now trying a web site, too.. uffda
tom koehler
Please
feel free to contact me here tvkoehler@frontiernet.net
I will not try to sell you anything and I will not spam you.