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All excellent advice, thanks for sharing! I’ve just started mounting the uncovered foam using magnets so I can remove the panels but I think eventually I will select a fabric cover and then use adhesive to attach the foam more permanently. I’ll add that I tried cutting the holes for the mushroom vent using a hacksaw blade and that ended up pretty rough and uneven. What ended up working great was a 4 3/8 inch Kobalt brand hole saw made for cutting drywall. Rather than blades, it has carbide grit embedded in the cutting edge.
Like neldave, I also insured mine online through Progressive. Rather than call and explain, I’d recommend using the online option. I used the VIN from the Northern Tool trailer and manually entered the brand/model as CLC and used the fully constructed TD price from CLC as the insured amount.
Until this problem gets fixed, you can use other search engines like Duck Duck Go (https://duckduckgo.com/) or Google and search for:
site:teardropforum.com velcro
to find text of your choice (in this example “velcro”). The “site” portion restricts results to the domain of this forum and you can follow that with your search string.
Joshua, the hockey puck approach might help but that’s a pretty tall stack of pucks compared to the normal use (when the shell sits between the fenders). I’d recommend going with the bunk rails that are provided in the kit exactly for this purpose. See page 269 of the manual for details.
Deepwoods,
I haven’t pulled my trailer much yet (only ~500 highway miles) but haven’t seen any extensive wear or damage to the brackets. That said, they are clearly very flimsy and are shin busters so I plan on replacing them along with the fenders because I don’t like the diamond plate look. I kept the back ~1.5 feet of the Ultra Tow trailer while I was working out the weight and balance, and I’ve decided to keep it for now and put a deck on it for hauling equipment and as a shelf while using the galley. I plan on having the deck extend to the width of the current brackets and attaching the lights to the deck with an angled wood, glass, and epoxy bracket that I make.
I think either of the approaches you suggest would work fine but if I didn’t have the deck to attach to, I’d probably go with the wood bracket approach because I’d be able to create a shape the fit the camper design better and was less likely to have sharp edges to walk into.
Jason
Mike, looking good! Where did you get the reading light? I purchased the “puck” light from CLC but found it to be way too dim for a general interior flood light and too directional for a reading light so I won’t be using it. I was thinking of adding a small shelf to the side and mount a light there but I think I like your solution better.
Mike, those look great and functional. I hope to do the same once I get some of the other essentials checked off the list.
Thanks for the followup on the alternative method, sorry it didn’t work out. Can you tell where it separated – between the Al and epoxy or between epoxy and paint or paint and the fiberglass underneath? For other projects where I tried to attach aluminum to something with epoxy I would usually score the aluminum maybe 1/32 inch with a hacksaw or sometimes drill though with multiple 1/8 inch holes (or similar) to give the epoxy more grip. Not suggesting you should try other methods but if someone else comes across this thread maybe they can figure a way to make it work.
My doors fit pretty well I think. I don’t have anything to compare to except anecdotes here on the forum but I do think glassing inside and adding the door stiffener before cutting did help. I glassed inside the hatch as well but added my own supplemental stiffener as suggested here. I think the stiffener probably made a lot more difference than additional glass on the hatch. My hatch fits well towards the bottom with little upward flex where I think most people have problems but I have a leak at the top. It still twists a bit if you try but not really a concern with the even support of the struts and when it is cinched down and closed. I only recently “finished” and tested the camper body so I need to do some tweaks on the gasket on the hatch to prevent leaks.
@Daniel, I think I must have been shorted on the fiberglass. I think even if I didn’t glass the inside of the doors and hatch I would not have had enough to cover even half of the bottom.Regards,
Jason
Maybe I got unlucky but my kit was VERY short on fiberglass. I glassed the inside of the galley hatch and the doors only with scraps, not taking any extra glass (OK, maybe a foot) from the roll and I still needed to purchase ~16 extra feet of glass to be able to do the bottom.
Completed first road test today. Still need to work on some details and get started on the electrical system.
Paul, I built on a 5×8 trailer so I don’t have pics. There are really good pics in the manual but I probably shouldn’t post those here since it’s copyrighted. I was going to suggest purchasing the electronic version of the manual as a great guide and backup to the printed version (which comes with the kit), but it went from $15 when I bought it to $79 now. I love having the electronic version but would hesitate at the current price. Maybe the study plans ($2.99) have some good pics?
Back to the topic, the ~6″ span beyond the trailer should be pretty stable because the floor is so thick. Even on a 5×8 trailer the camper is mounted on “puck” risers that are 4-6″ in from the edge of the camper.
Jason
P.S. Since the camper was originally designed to be on the even smaller 4x? HF trailer, I’m sure the 4×8 will be totally fine.
@pwebster25 The CLC kit comes with four bunks that run the length of the camper and bolt to the trailer frame to raise it up above the fenders of the HF trailer.
While I understand your concern about not putting holes in the bottom of the camper, I think having 8-10 carriage bolts holding it all together is a much more comforting proposition. I think your setup probably won’t fail, but I’m 99.999% certain that the conventional approach of bolting it down won’t fail except in the most dire situations. And I can tell you from my experience, the 1/8″ protrusion of the carriage bolt heads can not be felt through a 4″ mattress. This has not been confirmed by the Princess nor the pea.
