May - July 2019

Hello all-

The teardrop is close to being complete!  Since the end of May we've gotten the doors assembled and epoxied, cut out holes in the teardrop shell for the vent and hinges, cleaned up the kitchen area and finished the hatch, and assembled the trailer the teardrop will be mounted on.  We're getting really excited to be in the final stages of this project and to take it out on the road!!  Take a look at the photos below to see different parts of the process.

Teardrop is upside down; vent hatch is being cleaned up & epoxied

Attaching the window sill to the window frame with epoxy/cell-o-fill glue

Cleaning up kitchen hatch; removing the blue piece that previously helped keep the edge stiff

Using fillet on the kitchen hatch for more solid connections and strength

Using epoxy/cell-o-fill glue to attach the door stiffeners.  This will keep the doors angled correctly in the oddly shaped wall of the teardrop.

Attaching the final stiffener to the kitchen hatch.  This pieces is along the edge that will be connected to the teardrop via hinges.

Using fillet to assemble the door frames that attach to the inside of the teardrop

Cleaned up the kitchen

New layer of epoxy in the kitchen - nice and shiny!

Cody cutting some boards to make risers to set the teardrop on

Risers are ready to be used

Doors and kitchen have been epoxied and are looking great!

When small bubbles appear under the fiberglass/epoxy layer, we end up with these small patches that don't look too great.  To help get rid of these, we dabbed small amounts of epoxy over the patches, smoothed them out, then sanded them later to make the top layer nice and even.

To cut out the holes for the hinges, Cody began by using a drill to break through the hardened epoxy, then I used a triangular file to get rid of the rest

Here's an example of one of the hinges.  These were coated with fiberglass and epoxy, so now we have to file and sand down the edges to get rid of the overlapping fiberglass tape

The hinge holes on the kitchen hatch were tricky to get at because there was a board directly below these holes.  Cody was very careful as he chipped out small bits of epoxy without damaging the board below.

Here is a hinge and how it will slot into the teardrop shell.

We got the door to fit onto the teardrop shell with the hinges!!

Here the door is swung open

We were able to attach the kitchen hatch to the teardrop shell with hinges as well

It's looking more and more like a camper!

We attached the inner door frame to both sides with epoxy cell-o-fill glue and clamped them in place to dry over night.

Here's a view from the inside of the teardrop

The teardrop shell was set on top of the trailer to make sure everything aligns correctly.

A coat of sealant was added to the bottom of the teardrop so that it would be safe from water and rocks getting kicked up on the road

The trailer lights are getting hooked up

The hole for the vent has been cut out and sanded smooth

A spacer has been glued to the underside of the vent cut-out.