The Tear Jerk Journal - This Is Dope!

So I get this wood filler from the same people that make Elmer's Glue because it says it's "stainable". I figure I can putty over the screw heads in the roof with it and then match up the color so that the screw heads don't stand out like a sore thumb.




Apparently those Elmer's people are FILTHY LIARS!




Oh well, what's another set back in THIS project? This definitely isn't the worst thing I have come across in advertising. Besides, I wasn't that positive about making our Good Friday deadline anyways.

The Tear Jerk Journal - This and That

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Hey Kids! I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but my computer died, and I was surprised to find out that my replacement from Dell was going to take 6 weeks to get here. Good grief dude! 6 weeks! So, basically I am forced to use the wife’s laptop since I don’t really have the time to wait before this next blog post.

“We gotta long way to go, and a short time to get there” – Jerry Reed

I looked at the calendar yesterday and realized that time is quickly running out. We only got 2 more weekends until the self-imposed deadline of April 2nd. So, if we are going to have the teardrop done in time for the first camping trip, we are going to have to get crack-a-lackin’.

Let me bring everybody up to speed. Since I last posted here, we put a counter top on the footboard wall, put in the studs that make up the wall between the galley and cabin where we plan to put all the electrical wiring, and we put the entire roof consisting of 1/8 inch panel inside and 3/8 inch “wacky board” outside with all the foam insulation between those 2 layers. We also got the hatch door built and ready to hang on the back. Now all we gotta do is put wood filler over the screw heads on the roof, then sand, stain, and urethane the entire camper before we can get started hanging the doors and attaching the trim.













Building a Better Mouse Trap…err…Teardrop Camper

A few months ago I got fed up with all the mistakes and half ass stuff from the teardrop building instructions we got from the internet and I decided to scrap those plans and go with my own. That was clearly the best decision I made during this entire project. Luckily, I figured this out in time before the whole project was scrap. Unfortunately, there was a lot of additional effort and wasted time as a result of this company’s apparent ploy to sabotage any home builder’s project as a way to acquire more sales of their finished campers. As a service to every homebuilder out there that is thinking of getting plans from a company whose primary business is selling campers, I am going to provide a free set of my beginner level plans here at this site in hopes that people will get these instead of buying the worthless ones. These will, hands down, be the best teardrop building plans anyone has ever seen.

The Tear Jerk Journal - Excuses

Hey kids! I'm back! And working on the Teardrop as well.

Well anyways, we would be farther along in this project except it's been an unusually cold winter for Cincinnati. And as it turns out, the polyurethane coating goes 'all whack' when it has to dry in colder temperatures. So, the best we can do is continue on without staining things, and then just stain everything all at once this spring when it warms up again.

So anyways, we going to get back to work, but we decided on having the family to our house for Thanksgiving. In all the preparations for that, we ended up neglecting the teardrop. And then Christmas season came around again. We were so busy with all the usually stuff at Christmas, that the teardrop sat there through the whole month of December.

So then we figured we'd get back to work after the start of the new year, but then were distracted with a small snowstorm.

Well, finally we got back working on it last weekend, and we able to get the main components assembled.

The Tear Jerk Journal - Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It

Well, jig-saw-y with it anyways. I am pleased to announce that after getting the right scrolling blade and taking it one sheet at a time, that the sides turned out rather nice. Apparently Iron Chef's experience with sewing machines made her better than me at working the jig saw.

We just couldn't resist putting a fully cut side up on the trailer to see what it looked like.

The Tear Jerk Journal - The Bad Side Of Teardrop Campers

My wife has all these plans for the teardrop. Plans like what colors it will be, what cabinets will be in the galley hatch, what spaces will be available for everything to have it's own place, and what kind of bed will be in the sleeping compartment. Where as I just have one goal in mind; keep the thing from looking like a turd on wheels. Lately, it seems as if everything is completely working against me.

Bad Side #1

Lumber (good lumber I mean) is clearly a rarity in the Cincinnati area. There is of course the low quality stuff at the big box stores, but after minimal thought I decided I should go with a higher grade (or at least stain grade) of material that won't look like crap when it's done. So I stepped up to what used to be a good lumber yard, 84 Lumber, because I can actually get there before they close without leaving work early. Everything else closes at like 4pm and is only open week days which is retarded because that cuts out all the home builders with serious projects. After 2 visits to 84 Lumber, I discovered why they have been on the verge of bankruptcy; off an on for the last 20 years. They try (and succeeded the 2nd time) to slip inferior grade plywood past you. So anyways, it looks like will have to take a half day from work after all just to go to another lumber yard. I think I will check out Paxton this time.

Bad Side #2

I started cutting out the door opening in 2 sheets of good plywood when I discovered that the jigsaw, despite being a bad-a** Dewalt jigsaw, can't hack cutting through 2 sheets of 3/4 inch birch plywood. The blade uncontrollable skips out of the guide wheel and flex's to the side of the saw.

Thereby causing it to veer off course and then refuse to go in any other direction except that one.

If that was the outer edge instead of the door opening, I could have just left it and sanded to the line, but because the there was more than what's acceptable for the door gap between front and back side of each sheet, I gotta start all over again. So let that be a lesson to you kids. Don't attempt to cut 2 sheets of plywood at once or you'll end ruining 2 sheets of plywood at once. Now you know. And remember, "knowing is half battle".