Progress report #3 - Misc frame and electrical preparations.

Painting the hardware...

Progress has been slow, but I made some good advances today. The trailer wiring harness had its first test and the plug does work to my F-150 and I know the harness does work. Just need to start getting it permanently hooked into the trailer frame per the plans from RedTrailer. I have the model SJ-8530 and it is a really well-built piece of hardware.

Wiring and the newly painted frame

I did notice that the bolts that hold the springs to the frame have holes in them for cotter pins. Those never made it onto the frame when I built it, so I'll add some. Endless inspection of the frame is paying off as I slowly advance forward. I had pulled off a lot of the hardware that had rusted and also the plastic lighting that had sat outside for awhile. I decided to clean all of  that up and paint it with Rustoleum... The side light plastic fittings and the fittings for the license plate holder and the fender holders are all painted and drying as I write this.

My worry right now is how the electrical grounding works for the trailer. More reading to do. I'm sure I'll find plenty of good articles on how that works for this overall process.

The ball hitch is now installed. Looks great!

I went ahead and added the trailer hitch ball to the bumper. It was an easy task to get out of the way and it looks great on the bumper. I'm going to double check that this is properly secured. Having never done any of this before, I'm not taking any chances that I'm missing some huge detail that could come back to haunt me later.


I've made the decision to fully replace the hubs and keep the old original ones as spares. For the price, it is cheap to go with brand new ones and have some confidence in having had new ones. When I looked over the seal on the rear hub, I didn't like what I saw and considering that I don't know squat about replacing the seals, I'm willing to just get a new setup for this first time out and then fix the old ones without the pressure to get it right the first time... 


The lumber is all ready to go forward for the next step which is to get the floor attached to the bottom frame. I have the Henry's sealer all set to go for sealing the bottom and I bought the insulation for the bottom of the trailer to make things warmer for me. Once I finally have all of this done and attached to the bottom of the trailer, I'll be able to get her down for the safety inspection and licensed. I've also been getting little accessories and items I know will be needed. I now have four trailer jacks and will also be getting some fold down jacks that permanently adhere to the frame... I'll likely have them welded on for me by someone.

That is all for now. More on Saturday when the next progress report will be forthcoming ;>)

News to date - A slowdown on getting the bottom coat of sealer on. I had planned to finish that out last weekend, but a minor surgery sidelined me until this coming weekend. I'm on the mend and will be back to normal in another day or so.

I did, however, manage to fine tune the floor of the trailer and to finish adding the center 2x4 brace. Next steps will be glue and screwing the bottom frame to the floor 4x8 and securing the entire thing to the trailer itself. This Friday night and Saturday will see a lot of action in that arena. I'll feel good if I see both 1/2 inch sheets of plywood cut with the overall trailer shape and then bolted to the sides before the third week of April is over with!

Stay tuned!

Progress on the trailer floor is coming along

Hello and welcome to my build log for my custom teardrop trailer.

My name is Jon and I'm building a 4x8 trailer that is named after the sea goddess "Calypso".

My design will be a fusion of several classic teardrop shapes and, from the looks of it, may very well earn it's name as a new class of teardrop unto itself. To say that it will be a memorable sight going down the road, once I have the custom paint job finished, will be an understatement!

These little trailers have quite a history and I'm certainly not the first to build one. That said, I'm taking my own unique tack on building mine and hope you enjoy watching as I build mine from the ground up.

This is the first time I've ever built a teardrop and I've learned plenty in this first few weeks of getting the project going. The project is actually almost seven years old, with my having started it in 2008 only to have to put it aside after my father became ill and required nearly constant 24x7 care until his passing in 2012.

I had progressed up to the point of building the trailer, a nice model from Redtrailers.com, and then had to set it aside, parked under a tree where, in late March of 2014, I pulled it out and began to clean up everything. Rust had set in, but not badly and I managed to get things cleaned up quickly enough.

As of mid-April, I've made a lot of progress. The sub-floor and main floor of the trailer are now built and nearly ready to mate to the trailer itself and I've removed all the components that do not need to be on the trailer and have the following steps to accomplish in the coming week:

• The trailer will need buffing to bring the paint back and if that doesn't work, then it will get a couple of coats of black Rustoleum.
• The wooden sub-floor will be coated with asphalt water proofer after being mated to the frame. I will be drilling out the holes to mate the entire floor to the trailer frame as well.
• The trailer frame needs to be set so it will no longer fold, as this was a folding model.
• I will mount the power conduit to drive the trailer turn signals and brake lights plus test it all.
• I will get the trailer licensed for the road and test it out for a first run to insure it all holds up well.

I've been shooting videos of progress to date, so I'll share the two videos so far and will keep you updated with progress at roughly one week intervals.

Video #1 - Early April

Video #2 - 

Video #2 - Mid April