The CrowsWing - Offroad Teardrop Trailer

jim65wagon

Well-known member
Did a couple days outside of Davis, a couple at St. George to kayak on the Cheat and a few days at Spruce Knob/Seneca Rocks.
 

NWTrecker

New member
Just want to say you guys did an awesome job. I'm trying to get my wife convinced to take on a project like yours. Thank you for all the great info.
 

jim65wagon

Well-known member
Latest Galley Mod: Spice Rack

The modifications continue: Everything can be improved on - even in our beloved kitchen. We've been keeping our spices for cooking in a Tupperware container in the cabinet above the stove for years. It's not very convenient, we have to dig out that tote, then dig out whatever spices our meal requires. After a long search for a ready made rack, then a search for D.I.Y. racks, Elizabeth found a picture on a yacht forum of this type of set-up.

All we needed was an idea, and a couple of hours , and we built a spice rack.

Made from left-over aluminum angle, flat stock, and shock cord, it conveniently holds our spices (and toothbrushes) ready to use and easy to select.







Ready to cook!!!
 

jim65wagon

Well-known member
With an odd twist of fate - that being Beth has continuing education classes to take in Asheville the first of October - means we will actually be attending the Overland Expo this year. If you've been following the thread, enjoying the build, love and/or own a teardrop yourself, or just like to meet people, feel free to stop by our campsite (at reasonable hours please) and introduce yourselves. We'd be happy to give you the tour.

This trip will finally put us at 10,000 miles traveled towing the tear since we've built it. We've been a little shy this year on camping days - mostly due to kids (both) going to college this year. A lot of good weather taken up with orientations, visitations, moving out (our son's freshman year ended in the spring), moving in (our now freshman daughter and sophomore son, two different colleges, two different areas of the state), generally hauling stuff around Virginia. This Expo trip will at least give us a solid 2200 miles traveled this year with a mere 20 camping days in total.
 

VanIsle_Greg

I think I need a bigger truck!
Hoping to be there this coming year as well...but not sure I can make both Overland Expo and NWOR?

Glad you guys are getting some use out of this unit, still very high on my list of favorites.
 

jim65wagon

Well-known member
We've always said that everything needed for a Basecamp should be stored and transported on the trailer. That's not always been the case. Our ever so lovely porta potti had always been relegated to the bed of the truck and getting stored in the garage when we were not camping. That had recently been amended.

We were originally just going to buy an angle tongue box. All the ones available were not the right dimensions. We even bought one we thought would work but it was wide enough the crank handles of the front Jacks hit the box.

We had a sheet of 4x8 aluminum diamond plate left over from the trailer build and a tig welder. What else is one to do? Learn to weld aluminum and build what you need!

Of course I couldn't just start out cutting and welding the metal. I had to do a trial with the old fashioned CAD program






Once I had the CAD box correct, I simply deconstructed it, laid it out on my aluminum and traced it around. You'll notice a big circle on the backside of the plate, that's a leftover "arena" from our daughters Governor's School project. It involved roughly 20 mice, testing their curiosity (or lack thereof) dependent on living conditions. It was interesting but I'm kind of glad the mice found new homes....







After the cutting all we had to do was bend the main body on the brake then weld the one seam, weld the bottom on and attach the lid to a hinge. Easy Peasy.

Here it is in all it's glory! My first aluminum welding project. It holds the porta potti, outhouse/showerhouse, and all the necessary accouterments for said potti.

We call it "the poop deck"

2e11394d8b996f44d8916166a371a935.jpg
 
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