Any one building in Europe ?

I am currently building, in north west Germany, and I think someone recently posted he’s completed one in the UK (at least he stated he’s using UK electrical sockets…).

Got my kit from Fyne Boat Kits in England. So far I’m happy with it (approx. half way through) and would recommend them.

I’m also curious about other builders in Europe. Quite a few in NZ and Australia, but no “verified” ones over here…

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by jmb_builds.

Hi strikerguy & Johannes,

I have recently finished my build and live in the UK – I went on my first trip last weekend and was very pleased. It took me about 9 months and took many hours! I didn’t record the hours but I’m sure it was more than the stated 250. I went for the varnished wood finish which took a great deal of sanding time!

I worked with a local trailer company and we designed a trailer for it on which the teardrop sits nicely and drives really well. I only have a small car so am both relieved and pleased with how it tows.

It is a great project but not without it’s challenges – well worth it in the end though.

If I can help at all please just leave a message here. This forum is supposed to notify you of posts to threads you are involved with but I have never received one so I keep looking back periodically. I you have an email for direct (and therefore quicker communication) let me know.

Kind regards,
Andrew

Hi,

we are living in southern Germany and just started to build our camper 2 weeks ago. So still long way to go.

@Johannes, how is it going? You must be close to ready now. We also plan to have a custom made trailer so we are very interested in yours. Could you give us some information, that would be great. You can contact us directly at barbara(at)pantow.de

Andrew,

I can see why you passed the 250 hr build as your finish is outstanding. Mounting the lead acid battery low like that instead of on the galley floor makes good sense, however I built my trailer with Timbren axel-less suspension, this lowered my frame about 3-4 inches and I was concerned with battery getting hit underneath so I went with a much more expensive lithium battery in the galley box. The primary reason for the Timben axels was to lower the overall height to compensate adding the ICC module however I should also be rewarded with a smoother ride. I will let you guys know how that works out when I complete my build I will open a thread outlining my unique changes and how they have worked out.

Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your kind words on the build finish – I think I must have exceeded 250 hrs but I didn’t keep a log so have no proof. I also think I experienced some strange distortion in the time-space continuum, possibly triggered by my orbital sander. Whenever I was sanding, time seemed to pass incredibly slowly and progress with the project appeared almost imperceptible!

Your trailer sounds good and anything that gives a smoother ride will be a great bonus. After my first couple of trips I had to re-think the galley in order to devise methods of keeping everything in place during transit. The bumpy ride caused absolutely everything to find a new home, mostly in the gap between the galley module and teardrop wall.

The lithium battery is probably a sound investment too. They are supposed to last a lot longer than conventional ones so pay off better in the long run. I had to buy an AGM battery to mount it on it’s side underneath the trailer and that was pretty expensive compared to a standard lead-acid, so your choice of lithium ion is a good one I think.

Good luck with your build and I’d love to see your mods when you are ready to share them.

Andrew

Hi Marie,

Sorry for the delay in replying, I posted a response a few days ago but on looking at this post again it doesn’t seem to have registered!

Congratulations for getting this far, you must feel good to be on the home straight now!

In the end I got the teardrop sprayed with clear car lacquer. Factors that made me go this way:

• Cost of the marine varnish for the whole teardrop looked pretty high so having it sprayed looked less costly.
• The number of varnish coats required – the tin says 7!
• The permanence of car lacquer – the varnish would need sanding & re coating periodically (don’t think I’ve ever repainted any of my cars!).
• My sanity – 7 coats with sanding in between would have pushed me over the edge!
• The quality of the finish – it is like a car, but you have to put the effort into the sanding to achieve this.

I had to do some research on the lacquer to get a high UV protection product and that was £70 which bought more than enough I did varnish all the inside surfaces and used the attached varnish tin photo, and for the underside used the second attached photo.

If I can be of any help & you want to correspond directly just let me know. Where about are you in the UK?

Andrew