💧 Project Teardrop

If you are a hipster that likes camping, then what the heck are you doing on the internet.  There was no internet in the 1940s; ARPANET was not even thought of as a possibility until 1963, let alone the world wide web (that’s www for the newbies)!  For those romantic getaways when you leave the kids with Grandma!What they did have in the 1940s was a bunch of returning GIs moving to the suburbs, having babies, and looking for a more comfortable experience of camping.  As with all good things from that era, the do-it-yourself variety was sent out to the suburban garages through magazines like Mechanics and Handicrafts (Dec. 1936) and Popular Mechanics (April 1953).  Alas I was not around then, but that is probably good because I don’t think I could have handled living through the disco era later.

Growing up in the 1980s and 90s (let’s make it clear, I’m a Gen Xer not a Millennial) my father, brothers, and I did our fair share of camping.  At some Don't Tell Me We Started to Go Soft in the 1950s!point along the way we picked up a travel trailer.  I think it appeared sometime around when Mom decided to join us, and she insisted on having a shower.  Anyway I digress … or did I?  I think though that the camper is what got me soft on camping; sleeping on the hard ground, lack of access to a toilet, no air conditioning, and no screens (window not video) became less appealing.  I was no longer a “nature guy.”  Fast forward twenty years, and as the big 4-0 is starting to loom across the horizon I started thinking about recapturing some of my old youth.  (I’m calling it nostalgia not a mid-life crisis!)  We don’t need to get into all the details, but it includes the outdoors.  I’m looking to do some traveling, roughin’ it (just a little, you don’t want to go overboard on these things), and have it all be inexpensive.  Being a bit of a handy person I settled on building my own teardrop trailer.

This page then is meant to chronicle that journey.  I did a lot of research, a little bit of planning, found a 4×8 utility trailer that was built the same year I entered the monastery (that’s 1998 for the trivia buffs out there), and now have started to build.

Now where do I find the asbestos sheets called for in the plans?