Off-road teardrop build from Canada

jaydon44

Observer
What about interior height? How much room for sleeping for a guy my size? Are you doing a rear kitchen?

There's just shy of 4 feet head room I am doing a rear kitchen it is accessible from the outside hatch in the back, or you can use the kitchen from inside the camper too, it is just open through to the rest of room if that makes sense... Kinda a different idea but I will prob use this thing in pretty cold weather sometimes and might just wanna hang in the camper to make coffee or whatever, people said I would not like the smell having the kitchen inside the main room... But I love the smell of food... Especially bacon!


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lacofdfireman

Adventurer
Just curious if you are trying to keep this within a certain weight range? If so what are you hoping this will be as a finished weight?
 

jaydon44

Observer
i think the tow weight capacity of my tacoma is 6500 pounds...so ill try and keep it under that haha

honestly i was hoping for something under 1500# initially, but as you'll read on most threads and builds...the weight really sneaks up on you, and adds up really fast as you build, i would like to imagine i can keep it under 2500# but that is a total guess, ill run it down to the scale when I'm closer to finished and post it here
 

lacofdfireman

Adventurer
i think the tow weight capacity of my tacoma is 6500 pounds...so ill try and keep it under that haha

honestly i was hoping for something under 1500# initially, but as you'll read on most threads and builds...the weight really sneaks up on you, and adds up really fast as you build, i would like to imagine i can keep it under 2500# but that is a total guess, ill run it down to the scale when I'm closer to finished and post it here

I'm going to have the same problem as you. I kinda built mine after yours which is total overkill. I did 3/4" outside walls and 2x3 framing thinking I was gonna need it to support an RTT on top. Come to find out my 3/4" walls would have been plenty. Now I'm having all sorts of issues because they don't make window trim ring kits with a 3.5" gap. Biggest I could find was 2 7/16". What did you do for window trim rings. How did you work around that?
 

jwiereng

Active member
image.jpegimage.jpeg

You could recess your window holes.

3.5 " walls are too big for camper walls, but if you insulate such thick walls you'll stay warm as toast in the winter. (Or cool as cucumbers in the summer with AC)
 

jim65wagon

TundraBird1
i think the tow weight capacity of my tacoma is 6500 pounds...so ill try and keep it under that haha

honestly i was hoping for something under 1500# initially, but as you'll read on most threads and builds...the weight really sneaks up on you, and adds up really fast as you build, i would like to imagine i can keep it under 2500# but that is a total guess, ill run it down to the scale when I'm closer to finished and post it here
The weight does sneak up. I'll be surprised if you out weigh our teardrop though. Even at 3500# loaded our Tacoma tows it very easily.

You're doing a great job on your tear so far!
 
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jaydon44

Observer
I'm going to have the same problem as you. I kinda built mine after yours which is total overkill. I did 3/4" outside walls and 2x3 framing thinking I was gonna need it to support an RTT on top. Come to find out my 3/4" walls would have been plenty. Now I'm having all sorts of issues because they don't make window trim ring kits with a 3.5" gap. Biggest I could find was 2 7/16". What did you do for window trim rings. How did you work around that?

I forget exactly what my window trim vs wall thickness came to but i know that the trim was big enough to cover the thickness of the wall, but i was still coming up with ideas in case it didn't i think the best solution was to route the inside of the window hole with a Rabbet Router bit to recess them like jwiereng mentioned in the next post, depending on the thickness of whatever inside wall panel you are using hopefully that helps

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jaydon44

Observer
Got some colour on the inside
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Gave the cabinets a few coats stain and I will finish them with top coat of polurathane

The paint i used for the rest of the interior is an exterior grade paint the research I did and the talking I did to sales reps at lowes convinced me it was a low VOC paint that would be safe to use in an RV, I went with this exterior grade because it's quite a bit more durable and will stand up to highs and lows of temperature and moisture, also it is designed with a rubber compound in it so that it will move with the trailers flexing on the trails and not crack, Valspar has a myriad of other benefits listed such as anti fungal/ made with titanium, cross linking tech.... I don't know about any of that and I'm no painter but I'm happy with the paint and quality.... Used a semi-gloss


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lacofdfireman

Adventurer
Are you going to also use this in the exterior? I'm hoping to get paint on the exterior of mine this weekend. Still working on plumbing and electrical inside before I can close up my walls.
 

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