Tactical Teardrop build

Awesome build. Love the shape.
Like the window upfront, would you mind pointing me the right direction for it?

 

I found a bunch of camper windows on eBay. When some camper and RV manufactures leak test their newly built models, if the windows leak they have to take them out and reinstall new ones. They sell them off pretty cheap. Just search for camper windows and you’ll find quite a few sizes.

I’ve even got a couple left over I didn’t use if you’re interested.

 

That is bad ass ! Nice work !

 

Thanks man!

 

Awesome build man huge inspiration

 

@MachRanger I to feel your pain. We camp out at SPI every weekend and had it with tents and sleeping on the hard sand, so we built, A'luna our very own tent on steroids, equiped with an outdoor shower and a/c to fight off the blistering morning beach summer heat....take a look......

 

Tactical Teardrop build

In your case, that's spelled.... Tacti-Cool !!

Very nice.

 

Thanks all. Yeah I’m thinking about adding a little AC unit somehow. I think I’ve seen some that heat and cool. Also planning on adding an awning. Like I said before, I like fabricating better than I like using it, lol. Guess I should just go into production.

 

That's pretty sweet, how about some inside pics!

 

Those heating coils are present in the roof-mount type for RVs and trailers. Remember though that while you can run a simple vent fan off battery, A/C and heat coil are going to require "shore power". For this reason, those trailers that "go native" also have a propane heater. And the addition of propane anything then requires the addition of smoke and CO2 detectors.

Consider a free-standing "sun canopy" instead of an attached awning. Those can be moved anywhere in the campsite, while an awning is limited to the area adjoining the camper. Some canopies are available with mosquito netting and other options. And have you considered that wet awnings may get mildew ? What then ?

 

That is incredible! The Batcamper

 

CO- carbon monoxide not CO2 (carbon dioxide). You can buy smoke/CO detectors from the big box stores though.

I'm not normally a fan of teardrops but that came out really well; well thought out, tasteful and clean looking.

I'd highly recommend you consider bracing that tongue though, some simple triangular bracing welded from the tongue back under the trailer to the outside edges of the trailer frame will stiffen it up a surprising amount. I just used a couple pieces of angle iron on my utility trailer and it tows much better. The bracing will also give you something to mount a shelf on so that you can carry propane tanks, cooler, batteries, spare tire or whatever up there. It adds tongue weight of course but just keep it reasonable. I'd also consider a flip down type guard for that front window to protect it from debris on the highway. As an added bonus they provide shade for the window in camp.

 

I believe it needs bracing on the tongue too. When it was built as a utility trailer it would’ve been more than adequate but there’s a lot of extra weight being whipped around while towing now. The tongue weight is really low but I’ve seen snapped tongues and it ain’t pretty. I’m thinking about adding a little extra length to it too. The front edge of the camper gets kinda close to the tail of my truck in tight turns.
The window cover is a great idea. Haven’t thought of that before but I’ll look into it.

I’ll grab some more interior shots next time I pull it out of the shed. Thanks Taco Team!

 

Finally somebody else like me. I swear I think I love the work more than the use. Except, the use sometimes leads to more work.

 

We can’t stop tinkering.

 

Nice build! what is your trailer axle rated to? Does your trailer have brakes? I am looking at doing something similar but Im looking for an axle rated to 3000 and I am unsure about the brakes... end weight is hoping to look around 1200.

 

It has a 1500# axle and the camper came in about 1100. No brakes. It’s heavier than I was shooting for but you can barely feel it back there. ETrailers.com sells tons of trailer components like axles, leaf springs, hubs, fenders etc that it’d be real easy to swap out a heavier axle. You can fabricate anything you want with the stuff on that site.

 

I took this interior picture during the annual TW SPI Meet.
@Markndee

 

I know everything is big in Texas, but...

 

lmao.