Scott B.'s Little Guy Offroad Teardrop Build

Love your little teardrop, I'm going to build another one next winter... Smaller, lighter and narrow......I love the size of yours
 
Love your little teardrop, I'm going to build another one next winter... Smaller, lighter and narrow......I love the size of yours

We really like it as well.

Initially, I was a little concerned that the sleeping compartment would be too small - but not at all. There is "just enough" room. And the kitchen is wonderful.

It tows well, also. The trailer is a couple of inches on each side wider than the truck, so if the truck fits, the trailer fits.
 
Flags

I have always liked seeing American flags flying above campers. I wanted one for the teardrop, but did not think a full-size flag would fit. And, there was the issue of how to mount it.

One day, cruising through the boat store, I found this:

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A marine flag, sewn in America! And, it has a mounting base that I can secure to the roof rack rail.

I picked up a couple of Yakima rail nuts, and voila!

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Not too big, but big enough.

Oh, I put another one on the kayak...

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Since this picture, I added a Georgia flag to the other side. :)
 
Oops!

The inevitable happened - I bent a fender. :( It wasn't even off-road. A security gate started closing, and I had nowhere to go.

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I was bummed. But, this wasn't the first scratch on the fender, and it didn't hit the tire, so I could still pull the trailer. But still...

So, how to fix it? Fortunately, the trailer body where the fender is mounted was not damaged. Only the fender bent. I thought about pulling the fender off, making a jig to support it, bend it...

Then I got an idea!

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I locked the trailer in place, and braced the back of the fender so it could not move. Then, using a Hi-Lift, I moved the front edge back into place!

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Worked great!

There is still a small wrinkle in the fender lip, and a nice scratch/gouge on the front corner, but otherwise, the fender is straight!
 
Beauty marks! Nice fix. A nerf bar our of 2" box could double as a step

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Two inch sounds pretty heavy to me. I think I'd want something that has a little bit of give to it so the bar bends before it punches a whole through the trailer.
 
Armor/guards should be replaceable without damaging what they were designed to protect IMO.

If they are tapered back into to the trailer, it should push the trailer sideways around the obstacle. I hooked a telephone pole once while pulling a car trailer on a right turn. Man, that is a jarring stop!
 
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Fancy Decorations

As much as we like the silver body with black trim, the body looked a little plain - especially the back gate. Looking at other "RV" type vehicles, we decided some moderate decals would probably look nice, and set this one apart from other Little Guys (yeah, if not for the stickers, this would look like all the other Silver Shadows!)

What design(s) to get? We searched, and searched, and searched some more. (This internet thing is quite handy!) Color or black and white? Beach scene, mountains, lake? The number of different designs/ideas out there is virtually endless. But, we eventually narrowed down our ideas, and found some decals.

A nice mountain scene for the front:

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A star for the doors (one on each side):

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And a compass rose with mountains for the back:

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This one came all the way from Russia!

Simple, silly, but we really like how it turned out.

As I look at this picture, I see I need to add a NASA sticker...
 
They have been on the TD for several years. Look to the rear of the trailer in the middle picture.

There is also one inside the rear door - I haven't posted that picture yet.
My bad... it's in the shade and about 2mm in diameter - it wasn't a squashed bug afterall.

Once I took the image to the FBI Academy and had one of their CSI techs apply the scanning electron microscope to the image we were able to eventually locate the decal. :rolleyes:

You probably haven't gotten the tattoo yet either, I bet... :D
 
My bad... it's in the shade and about 2mm in diameter - it wasn't a squashed bug afterall.

Once I took the image to the FBI Academy and had one of their CSI techs apply the scanning electron microscope to the image we were able to eventually locate the decal. :rolleyes:

You probably haven't gotten the tattoo yet either, I bet... :D

I'll be glad to upgrade the decals to the larger ones like Dave put on my truck last year at ARV... ;)

And no, no tattoo - I'm not that dedicated, I guess....................................................................................... :(
 
Taillights

The factory installed long, narrow LED taillights on the teardrop, a single light on each side. (See the lights on a picture a couple of posts back.)

While they look OK, I was always concerned with rear visibility. The narrow light, while DOT approved, was mounted very low. The mounting position seemed to limit the rearward projection of light.

I have seen other teardrops that utilize dual oval lights, and I always liked the look. And, I could use the same light that I use for my backup lights - except in red. All matching lights would look better - not that anyone besides me notices.

Additionally, dual lights would produce twice the light output. That should more than make up for the low mounting position.

Unfortunately, the way the trailer is wired, I could not easily split the turn and brake function of the lights, so both lights function as brake and/or turn signals. With full under belly skid, I really didn't want to try stringing new wires. No big deal, but it would have been kind of cool.

Here is the finished product.

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It has been confirmed by some that follow the trailer, that the new lights are brighter than the previous setup.

Success! :)
 
The Map

This year, we made a big addition to the map - California!

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I used to live in Cali, so I find it odd that the trailer has been in 29 states before California.

We have also started displaying places of interest on the inside of the kitchen lid.

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Sometimes I think it looks a little tacky - but it's better than just storing the stickers in a box in the back bedroom closet. ;)
 
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