I LOVE how this little 1940s design is making a HUGE comeback. I'm seeing all sorts of people getting back into camping. Fantastic! Beautiful shop, wonderful little trailers, guys! 😎
I’m currently waiting on a trailer from one of your competitors, SoCal Teardrops, but I just wanted to say that I’ve enjoyed your videos and appreciate what appears to be a great attention to detail and craftsmanship. I don’t exactly know why, but your side table video is my favorite. Such a basic accessory yet so beautifully crafted. Keep it up!
Good question. Plywood is actually quite a bit stronger than people think it is, especially with shear load - which is what is happening with our rack. Each of our massively overbuilt rack towers is bolted on with 4 Stainless carriage bolts - which combine to create massive clamping pressure between the rack tower "foot", and side wall. The rack towers are then connected with a very strong 2" x 2" aluminum extrusion. I've had more than 500 lbs worth of people in the tent simultaneously + plus the 120'ish lbs of the tent itself. I hope this helps answer your question.
Sorry for the late reply, we are having notification issues! Polyurea sticks pretty well to carefully prepared plywood, but the shop we use to spray our Alpha Coating has a special primer that goes on the wood first that helps the polyurea bond to the wood. This was highly recommended by the polyurea technicians we worked with when designing our Alpha line of trailers. Our first one was built in 2015 and is still functioning perfectly 8 years later! Color has faded a little, but no cracks, warps, or anything of that nature...
@@OregonTrailR That you for replying! I am building my own custom teardrop and was considering line x for the waterproof exterior over plywood. If you don't mind me asking, is the primer a special formulation or a standard product that I could apply myself?
@@affidavit4 I'm sorry for the late reply! Unfortunately it is a trade secret, but if you can find someone who has a lot of experience spraying this stuff (you don't want to try this yourself IMHO), they will probably know what to use to bond to your substrate. Make sure to do samples first so you can be sure the bond is perfect! Good luck!
you guys are great! been a fan a long time. I'm a carpenter/ cabinet maker wanting to build a tear drop. any good advice would be appreciated. just a shot in the dark, but do you sell on the east coast. would like to talk more about that.
Jeff Dixon we have sold a few trailers on the east coast, but honestly given your skill set and the fact you have the tools, I would suggest you give it a shot yourself if you have a lot of free time! We would love to sell you one of course, but we support the DIY community as well! The most important advice I could give you is to think several steps ahead and keep weatherproofing in mind at every stage of the build! Use the best materials you can afford (we love pre-finished Baltic Birch), and build it like a cabinet instead of like a house! Dados/rabbets, glue and screws!
Gotta agree with the guys at OregonTrailR. You have the skills. I built one and i'm an AC man with little to no wood working skills. That shows in the wood work but the metal work is pretty darn good and I get positive comments everywhere I take it. Took me 4 months working a few hours a night. My advice, pay attention to weight as much as weatherproofing. Its easy to overbuild, but with a little fore thought, you can keep them light. Mine came it at 900 pounds fully loaded and with enough food in the cooler to last a week. In hind site, lighter would have been easy, but at least I can throw a couple of deer on the roof :P
You are correct, we do not insulate our sidewalls. We prefer the durability and stability of a solid Baltic Birch sidewall which makes for maximum shear strength.
I’m a life long woodworker, so the easiest answer is that I work with the materials I know and trust. The more important answer is that wood (especially this Baltic birch) is a environmentally responsible renewable resource. This is specialty marine plywood, harvested from trees that were grown on a plantation in Russia specifically to become the worlds best plywood. Technically speaking, a composite material is just two or more materials put together to create a superior material, so plywood, being made of many wood veneers held together by specialty adhesives, is a composite material. But what you are talking about are plastic products, I’m assuming. These can be excellent materials for construction, but can be very limiting when designing with curves, etc. The benefit of plastic, as that it lasts nearly forever, but that is also part of my issue. I believe excessive dependence on plastics is poisoning our environment, and I can’t justify going through that much of it to build a product that isn’t anyones life necessity. When you coat Baltic Birch correctly with polyurea (linex), you get an incredibly strong and lightweight body that cannot leak, rot, scratch, dent, etc... Now, to be fair, polyurea isn’t the most environmentally sound material in the world either, but it adds decades to the potential lifespan of these trailers (I believe they will outlive their owners), which removes the necessity to build replacements, which uses vastly more energy and materials... hope this helps! Thanks for the question!
@@OregonTrailR Thank you for the very detailed answers. They are very helpful as I'm doing research on various products of this form format, especially those using different materials (plywood, aluminum frame, etc). I hope to see your products in Overland East 2020.
HC Lim We only are able to take enough time off to go to a few shows a year, and Expo East is just too far for us, though we usually have a few of our clients messing around out there in the campground and sometimes in other brand’s booths. We are planning to be at the new Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland CO this year, instead of Flagstaff like we normally do...
hinduspl Yes. These are miniature campers. They all have a bed and storage inside, some have a galley kitchen in the back, and all are durable enough to be towed to just about anywhere by just about any vehicle.
Hi Alex, we do stock and sell a few parts and materials for DIY builds. Check out our online store on our website: oregontrailer.net - more parts will be added soon, right now it's a relatively small number of offerings. We are actively working on adding more items to the store though. We also have an amazon affiliate store opening soon with links to parts, materials, and products that we use on our builds and have personally vetted. Check back soon for that. Should be live in within a week or so.
We don't use dealerships. We prefer to deal with our clients directly. We are a low quantity, high quality manufacturer, and that doesn't really jive with the dealership industry. We have several of our campers in Canada, but none that I know of that far East... We do have a client in Calgary that I'm sure would be happy to show his off, but that is a LONG way to go! If you find yourself a reason to come to Oregon, we'd love to show you around our facility!
Nice video of production work but unfortunately not much help to us homebuild guys. Some ideas can be cribbed, but that production router is a dream tool.
I get it man. I built my first teardrop 12 years ago in my backyard with a jigsaw and a drill. The first few production teardrops we built were all made with hand tools. I still have the hundreds of templates I used in the early years to cut every single part of these trailers before we bought our CNC router. All of this can be done without a CNC, and with as much accuracy, it just takes more time and a steady hand... The most beautiful and impressive teardrop I ever saw in my life was built by a retired woodshop teacher in his garage with hand tools.
These trailers make so much sense. Bikes on the back, kayaks on top, can't wait to pick one up some day!
I LOVE how this little 1940s design is making a HUGE comeback.
I'm seeing all sorts of people getting back into camping.
Fantastic!
Beautiful shop, wonderful little trailers, guys!
😎
jon decarbonel That’s high praise, thank you friend! These campers are SO FUN!
Another satisfied customer... just like me with my DDA. Awesome product.
Love watching your videos. I've always appreciated your willingness to share a view into your process. Keep up the good work OT!
James Davidson Than You!!! We will!!
That was a really good looking trailer! I want one
How do you make the rear hatch? Is the outer skin on the hatch that seals against the frame line x coated plywood too?
I’m currently waiting on a trailer from one of your competitors, SoCal Teardrops, but I just wanted to say that I’ve enjoyed your videos and appreciate what appears to be a great attention to detail and craftsmanship. I don’t exactly know why, but your side table video is my favorite. Such a basic accessory yet so beautifully crafted. Keep it up!
Thanks David. I hope you enjoy your SoCal when it's finished. I really do like those. Maybe we'll see you out on the trailer someday.
OregonTrailR That would be awesome but I’m in Ohio and unless you venture to Overland East I’d be willing to say that’s a long shot.
Another enjoyable video!!!
I love the look of your products? Any plans to build any out of composite and or insulated? Wood scares me a bit long term.
Do you build a 6ft wide trailer?
So it looks like the only vertical members are the pieces of plywood. How does that support the rack with a RTT on it with a few people inside!?
Good question. Plywood is actually quite a bit stronger than people think it is, especially with shear load - which is what is happening with our rack. Each of our massively overbuilt rack towers is bolted on with 4 Stainless carriage bolts - which combine to create massive clamping pressure between the rack tower "foot", and side wall. The rack towers are then connected with a very strong 2" x 2" aluminum extrusion. I've had more than 500 lbs worth of people in the tent simultaneously + plus the 120'ish lbs of the tent itself. I hope this helps answer your question.
I M ready to upgrade from tenting. Are you going to be in any of the RV shows in Seattle area. Or do you have a showroom.
Do you put any surface treatment on the plywood before you line x it? Does the liner x stick well to the plywood?
Sorry for the late reply, we are having notification issues! Polyurea sticks pretty well to carefully prepared plywood, but the shop we use to spray our Alpha Coating has a special primer that goes on the wood first that helps the polyurea bond to the wood. This was highly recommended by the polyurea technicians we worked with when designing our Alpha line of trailers. Our first one was built in 2015 and is still functioning perfectly 8 years later! Color has faded a little, but no cracks, warps, or anything of that nature...
@@OregonTrailR That you for replying! I am building my own custom teardrop and was considering line x for the waterproof exterior over plywood. If you don't mind me asking, is the primer a special formulation or a standard product that I could apply myself?
@@affidavit4 I'm sorry for the late reply! Unfortunately it is a trade secret, but if you can find someone who has a lot of experience spraying this stuff (you don't want to try this yourself IMHO), they will probably know what to use to bond to your substrate. Make sure to do samples first so you can be sure the bond is perfect! Good luck!
How big is the camper? And what length is inside sleeping
Parabéns 👏👏 muito sucesso
Lindo demais seu trabalho 👏 abraço 🙏
you guys are great! been a fan a long time. I'm a carpenter/ cabinet maker wanting to build a tear drop. any good advice would be appreciated. just a shot in the dark, but do you sell on the east coast. would like to talk more about that.
Jeff Dixon we have sold a few trailers on the east coast, but honestly given your skill set and the fact you have the tools, I would suggest you give it a shot yourself if you have a lot of free time! We would love to sell you one of course, but we support the DIY community as well! The most important advice I could give you is to think several steps ahead and keep weatherproofing in mind at every stage of the build! Use the best materials you can afford (we love pre-finished Baltic Birch), and build it like a cabinet instead of like a house! Dados/rabbets, glue and screws!
Gotta agree with the guys at OregonTrailR. You have the skills. I built one and i'm an AC man with little to no wood working skills. That shows in the wood work but the metal work is pretty darn good and I get positive comments everywhere I take it. Took me 4 months working a few hours a night. My advice, pay attention to weight as much as weatherproofing. Its easy to overbuild, but with a little fore thought, you can keep them light. Mine came it at 900 pounds fully loaded and with enough food in the cooler to last a week. In hind site, lighter would have been easy, but at least I can throw a couple of deer on the roof :P
several features i see here which i really like:
1. fairly rugged.
2. the propane tank is close to the kitchen
3. roof rack
Great video guys!
Thank you!
How much or your trailer
What is over the interior of the doors at 2:56?
That's a jeep style nylon grab handle.
Hi guys! As I understand in your trailer side panel without insulation. Isn't it?
You are correct, we do not insulate our sidewalls. We prefer the durability and stability of a solid Baltic Birch sidewall which makes for maximum shear strength.
Some manufacturers use composite materials for their body. You guys use plywood and LINE-X. What're the pros and cons?
I’m a life long woodworker, so the easiest answer is that I work with the materials I know and trust. The more important answer is that wood (especially this Baltic birch) is a environmentally responsible renewable resource. This is specialty marine plywood, harvested from trees that were grown on a plantation in Russia specifically to become the worlds best plywood. Technically speaking, a composite material is just two or more materials put together to create a superior material, so plywood, being made of many wood veneers held together by specialty adhesives, is a composite material. But what you are talking about are plastic products, I’m assuming. These can be excellent materials for construction, but can be very limiting when designing with curves, etc. The benefit of plastic, as that it lasts nearly forever, but that is also part of my issue. I believe excessive dependence on plastics is poisoning our environment, and I can’t justify going through that much of it to build a product that isn’t anyones life necessity. When you coat Baltic Birch correctly with polyurea (linex), you get an incredibly strong and lightweight body that cannot leak, rot, scratch, dent, etc... Now, to be fair, polyurea isn’t the most environmentally sound material in the world either, but it adds decades to the potential lifespan of these trailers (I believe they will outlive their owners), which removes the necessity to build replacements, which uses vastly more energy and materials... hope this helps! Thanks for the question!
@@OregonTrailR Thank you for the very detailed answers. They are very helpful as I'm doing research on various products of this form format, especially those using different materials (plywood, aluminum frame, etc). I hope to see your products in Overland East 2020.
HC Lim We only are able to take enough time off to go to a few shows a year, and Expo East is just too far for us, though we usually have a few of our clients messing around out there in the campground and sometimes in other brand’s booths. We are planning to be at the new Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland CO this year, instead of Flagstaff like we normally do...
We can know the dimensions, length, width and height. From the inside
Can someone explain me for what this cab is? its for sleeping?
hinduspl Yes. These are miniature campers. They all have a bed and storage inside, some have a galley kitchen in the back, and all are durable enough to be towed to just about anywhere by just about any vehicle.
Hi
Do you guys sell new parts for tear drops ?
Hi Alex, we do stock and sell a few parts and materials for DIY builds. Check out our online store on our website: oregontrailer.net - more parts will be added soon, right now it's a relatively small number of offerings. We are actively working on adding more items to the store though.
We also have an amazon affiliate store opening soon with links to parts, materials, and products that we use on our builds and have personally vetted. Check back soon for that. Should be live in within a week or so.
@@OregonTrailR
Thank you !
Do you guys finance? It would be sweet if you guys show the end result of that alpha!
Do you have a dealership representing you in Ontario Canada ?
We don't use dealerships. We prefer to deal with our clients directly. We are a low quantity, high quality manufacturer, and that doesn't really jive with the dealership industry. We have several of our campers in Canada, but none that I know of that far East... We do have a client in Calgary that I'm sure would be happy to show his off, but that is a LONG way to go! If you find yourself a reason to come to Oregon, we'd love to show you around our facility!
Very nice, that would look good behind my 4runner. haha
Nice video of production work but unfortunately not much help to us homebuild guys. Some ideas can be cribbed, but that production router is a dream tool.
I get it man. I built my first teardrop 12 years ago in my backyard with a jigsaw and a drill. The first few production teardrops we built were all made with hand tools. I still have the hundreds of templates I used in the early years to cut every single part of these trailers before we bought our CNC router. All of this can be done without a CNC, and with as much accuracy, it just takes more time and a steady hand... The most beautiful and impressive teardrop I ever saw in my life was built by a retired woodshop teacher in his garage with hand tools.
hello distribuidor en peru
My idea would be to have the teardrop just for storage and have the bed in the van...
Show,,,,,,,,,,