We Are Building a Camper

This is the marketing picture, ours will look muchhhh less finished. My wife is probably 75%+ of the hard work so all kudos to her.

It’s a kit we purchased when the pandemic started. The whole thing is built like a boat, so basically no metal hardware until the finishing steps.

I am un-photogenic, but an only somewhat crappy photog, so my wife will show the steps!

This is the latest pic of how far we have come, progress pics below!

First steps are to build a mold, which the shell is set down into.

The panels are a really thin marine plywood, so they bend into shape with some pushing.

Each panel is stitched together using small bits of copper wire.

Then super glued together using an accelerant for a temporary “weld”.

Then comes fiberglass and epoxy.

The seams are filled with epoxy + wood powder, which is super strong.

Building the back “kitchen” counter

This is the bottom.

Epoxy gets hotter and hotter while it cures, and decided to eat this solo cup and paint roller.

Soooooo much sanding.

Put the bottom on the top (upside down)

Anddd flip.

Removed the mold and you can see the cutout guides for the door and back hatch.

Fill in any holes with epoxy and sand.

First round of fiberglass, which goes clear when epoxied. It’s very tough once cured.

Sometimes problems happen.

Crap I’m in this one. Door cutout. I did not do a great job keeping it clean and straight.

There’s a hole in the top for a vent fan, to keep it nice inside and not, you know, suffocate on CO2

That’s a lot of fiberglass dust, we had to vent the place heavily.

These are backwards, some kind of Instagram thing idk.

Bottom layer of fiberglass

When making epoxy you mix two parts, stir, and use it Fast!!

Kitchen area.

Hinges come in the kit

Takes a bit of work to line stuff up properly while getting the hinge pins correct.

Kitchen shelves and cabinets, they’ll all puzzle together.

We did this in Idaho, and it got kinda cold, so we found an indoor rated propane heater, for sudden kicks of heat when needed. Epoxy doesn’t set right when it’s too cold.

Sand the WHOLE thing (my job)

Time to get going on paint and clear coat.

Bottom is painted with auto paint. The top was covered in clear top coat.

The little guys likes the inside already.

The doors get some hardware, windows, and foam sealer.

Not lining up quite right, so I’ll print a replacement.

Not quite done, but hopefully will be road ready in about 2-3 weeks!

Hope y’all enjoyed the progress pics!

Edit: link to kit https://www.clcboats.com/teardrop

Viral Edit: we are looking for trailer names!