Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Thanks, Jason. I like where your going with your idea. After I posted my question, I looked at the photos of completed teardrops. Several people just mounted the lights on the trailer rear crosspiece below the transom. I don’t know if there’s a DOT regulation for how far the lights have to be separated, but it’s better than having them dangling from broken brackets. Your deck, of course would give them the same separation as they were designed to have. For now, mounting the lights on the rear crosspiece will get me on the road, and when the weather warms up I might warm up to something ambitious like a wooden-fiberglass-epoxy bracket that would compliment the teardrop.
Good save, GeneEverRead. You’re right about the white color of the cell-o-fill fillets. My wife is a chemist, is trained to test any assumptions, and has been the primary epoxy mixer on this project. So naturally she mixed up a small batch of epoxy with 100% cell-o-fill, another with a ratio of 75% cello-o-fill to 25% wood flour and a 50:50 mixture. She laid out a small bead of each and let them dry. Sure enough, the cell-o-fill-only batch dried white. The 50:50 batch dried close to the wood color, and the 75:25 batch was intermediate. I’m pretty sure I don’t want the galley shelf to look like it was put together with Elmer’s Glue. We’ll go with 50:50. The Manual, way back in the early pages where materials are discussed, recommends mixing in 10% cell-o-fill with the wood flour to make smoother fillets, which we did for the majority of fillets, especially where they show.
Master sells a set of three locks, all keyed the same, to address the vulnerabilities in the hitch-to-coupler assembly and keep a thief from driving off with your labor of love. There’s a lock for the receiver hitch, another that fills the area where the hitch ball goes into the coupling, and a third to lock down the latch on the coupler. When the teardrop is detached, I put use this third lock to also secure the chains. I got my set of Master locks from Northern Tool.
Trust your galley gutters. That should give you some peace of mind. By way of comparison, look at the gap on any hatchback car; it’s bigger than what you’re showing.
Charlie,
If you put a queen-size mattress in your camper, that’s quite a bit of floor insulation, when you think about it — much thicker than the foam headliner. You get condensation when your warm, moist breath contacts the cool walls. Hence the insulating headliner. With a wall-to-wall mattress, that moist air never will reach the floor. Now, if for some reason, you decide on a smaller mattress, there will be some cold floor space that could get a bit slippery. Don’t do that. The CLC teardrop was designed around a queen-size mattress. We put a 4″ memory foam mattress in our camper and took it out for its maiden voyage last weekend. The temperature dipped into the low 40s in Highlands, NC. There was condensation on the walls in the mornings because we hadn’t gotten all of the headliner installed (just couldn’t wait to try it out) but the floor was fine. We did put a waterproof mattress cover on the mattress just in case some rain gets in as we’re climbing in and out.
Keaner21:
Yes, I’m planning on keeping the adjustable NRS strap as a permanent installation. You never know when the door will need to be tweaked. “Permanent” is not to be understood in an absolute sense. If I find a better idea, the strap is easily removed. Now, a couple layers of fiberglass and epoxy sounds much more permanent. Please post your results. A lot of builders will be interested to see how that solution works.
Boxerteam:
Best of luck with your build!
I was not having much luck trying to bend and hold the doors back into position while my wife drove in screws through the CLC-supplied webbing. I tried a tie-down ratchet, but the adjustments were too coarse. Then I remembered an old pair or NRS tie-down straps and flung one around the door. A few pulls on the loose end hanging from the buckle and the door was in its restored shape. But this tension was only temporarily holding the shape until the black strap could be reattached. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have that buckle in place to do fine adjustments over time, I wondered. So I swapped out the CLC webbing for NRS straps. I wasn’t ready to part with my 15′ straps, but REI had a 9′ pair for 20 bucks. Kayakers and canoeists are probably familiar with NRS straps. The cam buckle has two stainless steel springs, and the non-stretch polypropylene webbing is treated for UV protection. Perfect. Very easy to adjust.
Hi Jason,
There’s a bit of discussion on this forum about the Northern Tools Ultra-Tow trailer. Some is under “Northern Tools,” and some is under “Ultra-Tow.” Here’s my two cents. I wanted to put the TD all the way back to the aft-most cross member of the trailer. However, that would have put the fenders in the way of the doors. There are two solutions: move the axle (and the wheels and fenders that go with it), or chop off the rails. I went the latter route. You can cut the aluminum rails easily with a reciprocating saw. My scrap pieces measure 19 5/8″, so I guess, with the kerf, I was going for cutting off 19 3/4″. The axle remains 100″ from the coupler. You don’t want it any shorter than 100″.
Good luck with your project.
I used Rustoleum Truck Bed Coating on the bottom of the camper shell. (I’m not building the ICC.) I quart did two coats. Definitely stir well. The nap of the roller will control the thickness of the coating. The first coat went on too thin, and I switched to, I think, a medium nap roller. Rustoleum sells a kit with the proper roller included, but just buy the can and roller separately.
Thanks, Johannes. You are correct. The distance between the holes in the bottom panel is the same as the distance between the grooves in the bunks. Since I’m not using the Harbor Freight type small trailer, I only skimmed that section of the manual and missed the instruction that you found. I went back and read more thoroughly following your post.
