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TinTop Teardrop Info
About Teardrops
Teardrops first appeared in America in an age before the interstate highway or suburbs, and at a time when the automobile had become the common way of getting about. Commercial air travel was still something for the future, and most long distance travel was by train. Most people never traveled too far from home, and most of that travel was by automobile. Motels as we know them today did not exist, and if a traveler needed overnight accomodations they were likely to find it at a 'tourist home' or in a traditional downtown hotel. The depression years had taught the nation a hard lesson in being frugal in all things, of making do and adapting and recycling. It was also a time when people were handier, and were more likely to trade their skills with their neighbors than to pay for services.

So in the late thirties when how-to articles began appearing in magazines like Popular Mechanics to build small camping trailers with streamlined profiles it was only natural that people would begin cobbling them together in their garages. They went camping in them, and slept in them along side the roads for overnight trips. By the end of WWII, when materials became more available, their popularity took off. Several companies began producing them commercially, but the teardrop trailer could still be built by a handy guy in his garage, using materials that today we'd probably throw away, to be pulled down two lane roads by a car with running boards and fender mounted headlights.

By the late fifties and on into the early sixties the nation's attention turned to larger trailers like the Airstream. By 1954, when Desi and Lucy pulled "The Long, Long Trailer" down the California coast behind a '54 Mercury, the humble, homebuilt teardrop had been all but abandoned in the rush to buy the latest, the biggest, and the best of everything.

Now, half a century later, we in America are facing high fuel prices and wondering why a suburban housewife has to drive a Ford Excursion to the grocery store. Mid size SUVs are gaining popularity, but they don't have the bulk or horsepower to tow the modern travel trailer. The teardrop, forgotten for a time, is the answer for many who want a small trailer but don't want to sacrifice the basic comforts. Teardrops go where huge motor homes dare not venture, down two tracks and into wilderness campgrounds. And in the process, the people who build and use them rediscover something fundamentally good about American life that tends to get lost in the high-tech hustle of the 21st century. They learn old and simple can be more fun than modern and complex, sometimes less is really more, and the sound of loons by a campfire on a northern lake beats the rumble of a Winnebago's generator any night, even if it is powering the satellite dish.
About TinTop Teardrops
The TinTop plans are thought through on behalf of that man or woman with some basic carpentry and handyman skills who can not or does not want to weld a trailer frame. That was the problem I faced when I built my teardrop. I hadn't welded anything in 25 years and my barn was not set up for powering a welder. Buying a finished trailer frame to put under my teardrop was too expensive, and the cost of paying someone else to build it custom to my specs was way out of line. I wanted - indeed, I needed - a teardrop as a means of cheap lodging at car shows and motorcycle events, where I sell a custom graphic arts product. The motel rooms within a hundred miles of those big shows - if you can find one - can easily run $150 per night. I knew the teardrop was my answer, but struggled to find a design approach that was safe, rugged, and could be built at a reasonable cost.

My answer came in a catalog from Harbor Freight. That vendor of low cost tools and equipment offered three different bolt-together trailers with the right load capacity. After a month of research I took a chance and bought one of their trailers for almost $100 less than the local cost of the steel to build one. I was not disappointed in the quality of what I bought. The strength of a trailer is in the steel, the axle, and in the rigidity of the frame once the plywood is attached. The bolt-together trailer met all the criteria. Now my teardrop goes to a car show every weekend, which means I sleep in it at least one night each week. I have to say it is holding up fine and doing just what I intended it to do. It weighs in at about 650lb., so it pulls easily. (Most of the smaller SUVs and cars the size of a Mustang are rated to tow up to about 1500lb.)
About These Plans
In the TinTop plans I've put together a reliable guide that walks a novice builder step-by-step through the design and construction of a 4x8 ft. teardrop modeled on the most popular versions from the forties. The plans also have information on how to adapt to a 5x8 trailer. The plans are professional in their appearance, accurate in their content, and affordably priced. I believe they are the best value available for teardrop trailer plans.

Several reasons came together to move me to publish this set of plans. First, I have a background in technical training in naval shipyards and in the nuclear utility industry, and I am used to presenting technical information in the simplest possible way. Now that I am semi-retired I have gotten deeply into graphic arts and desktop publishing, so making a classy looking set of plans was just plain fun for me. And I've been taking photographs for years, so it was natural for me to capture in detail every step of building my own teardrop.

What really got me going on these plans was when I began taking my teardrop to car shows and it drew big crowds wanting to look at it and talk about it. It's size, shape, and simple approach to creature comforts made people smile. Even though I know where all my construction mistakes are hidden, the greatest compliment comes when people assume mine is a professional restoration of an original teardrop. What really pushed me to publish these plans is the number of people who asked to buy a set. People were astounded to learn I'd built it myself, and the general reaction seemed to be "if this guy can build this trailer so can I". They're right. They can, and if you've got some basic carpentry and metal working skills and a reasonable inventory of tools you can too. I designed these plans specifically to help you do just that.

What can you expect when building your teardrop from these plans? Plan on spending about $1500-$2000 and plan on investing between 100 and 150 hours. For tools, you'll need the standard assortment of hand tools, including a good set of sheet metal snips. I made much use of a cut-off saw, table saw, skil-saw, saber saw, and cordless drill/screwdriver. I was glad to have a set of clamps of the sort that mount on pipe so I could clamp across the four foot span of the trailer. I have a pneumatic stapler and finish nailer, which came in handy but is not required.

What about skills? You need enough saber-saw skill to follow a curved line closely. You need to be functional with table or radial arm saw or skil-saw. You have to be willing to measure twice before you cut once, and take the time to make sure things are square before proceeding to the next step. You have to be able to drill a pilot hole, and then drive home a pan head screw with a drill/screwdriver. You need to be able to drill holes up to 1/2" in steel. You need to cut straight and curved lines in thin aluminum using snips. You need enough strength to lift one sheet of plywood and to tighten the bolts that hold the trailer together. You need to be able to connect auto electrical wiring. That's about it.

I hope you decide to build, and I hope you enjoy the process as much as I did. Give me a call if you want to talk about my experiences or get more details about the plans.

Steve Guthrie, Charlevoix, Michigan, summer, 2005