The Rebuild

There are people and companies who build beautiful and finely crafted teardrop trailers. Mine is neither. I was limited in both time and funds, so my trailer is a slapdash affair, which still meets my needs. My purpose in chronicling the rebuild is to give the reader reassurance that If I can build an ugly trailer, so can you…

After I bought the partially deconstructed teardrop trailer, I had to rebuild it into something I could use, tow, and live out of for an extended period. I’m not sure at this point if I’ve achieved all of that, but it seems to be working so far.

When I bought the trailer, it had no roof, the door was lying in the sleeping area, and the frame for the back hatch was detached, and resting loosely against the back. (See picture above) We tied the hatch in place, hooked the trailer up to my PT Cruiser, and I drove the 30 or so miles to the storage facility where I could keep and work on the tiny teardrop. (I could not work on it at my friends’ house, due to HOA restrictions).

I first covered the roof with FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) sheets, like is used in inexpensive shower surrounds. It’s cheap, flexible, and waterproof. But it is not UV resistant, which wasn’t an issue here, because I planned to cover the whole body of the trailer in canvas and paint.

I bought two 9x12 canvas drop cloths at Harbor Freight, a gallon of Titebond III waterproof glue, and a gallon of Cabot polyurethane spar varnish.  Then I proceeded to glue canvas to the sides first, then to the roof, overlapping the sides by a couple of inches. A couple of coats of spar varnish (I had to buy more), and a couple of coats of Rustoleum, and the exterior was covered.

I had wanted to add a couple of porthole windows for more interior light, and a more "retro" look, but could not afford round, tempered glass, domed windows, so I bought a couple of cheap frying pans with glass domed lids, removed the handles, and replaced them with a short bolt, and siliconed the windows into holes I jigsawed into the sidewalls...Viola!

The previous owner has used a flat piano hinge on the “kitchen hatch” which leaked. I replaced it with a “hurricane type hinge, which also leaks, but hopefully less so. I am in a caulk and recaulk mode as far as the hatch is concerned, and the leaks now are minimal, and only occur when it rains.