Donegal kayak Angler: Teardrop camper, the build.

This is a diary of my progress making my own teardrop camper. As the colder weather creeps in camping up this end of the country becomes more of chore than a pleasure. So a few youtube videos later it was time to make one myself.
Well I think there will be more tears than a camper lol. But sure I'll give it a go and see how it works out.
I have the main frame made and the dimensions of the living space are 5ft wide by 4ft high and 8ft long. I am making this in 2 parts, a base and the upper frame.
WHY , well it is so I can add a water proof layer under the living area and add insulation with out compromising on axle strength.
Here are the pics so far.

I started off with chalking my design on the concrete and bending the bar bit by bit. A slow arduous task but it is worth taking your time.

The over all length of the outer bars is close to 14ft 6" so I cut it 15ft and trimmed the excess to allow for the curve of the bar.

In this pic you can see I tacked the 2 bars together so the 2 sides would be the same.

The budget didn't allow for a hire of a benders so a lamp post and some concrete for purchase worked a treat.

The very basic frame to check out size and was it going to be worth while.

At 5ft wide theres even room the bait bucket in there lol.

Here it is all the frame bars added, cross bars and supports in place. Some metal paint and it's time for the next stage.

It is obviously upside down here for painting. There's seven lengths of 3/4" box in it, weighting 95lb

Time for the base trailer frame to be made. Two 25ft lengths of 2.5"x 1.5" box iron. Two lengths weight 150lb

With this build I am concise of the overall weight and will be keep a close eye on it. I hope to have and end weight of 700lb to 800lb.

So axel, draw bar and trailer frame is a total of 207lb, add the sprung hubs and wheels you could add about 70lb.

So as it sits now we have a grand total of 375lb. So not to bad considering that's all the metal major metal work done. Just hope the cladding is light lol.

Here is the apprentice bodger, a great help but don't tell him I said that lol.

Dam it I nearly caught him smiling.

The outer covering/cladding

Well between the rain and wind and when there was no wind we where eaten alive by midges, Donegal is not the spot for an out door project lol, but we are stubborn buggers up here and don't give up easy.

So between the and the vicious onslaught of ravenous midges got some cladding done.

As said before I was fortunate enough to get some stainless sheet scrap. They where 7ft x 4ft. Not enough to do the whole lot but enough to do the roof and back door,

Dam it's heavy stuff.

I got 2 sheets of .9mm galvanised tin and that was a lot easier worked than the Stainless.

So here's some pics of how things have progress.

After getting it lined up, it had to come off for painting.

An improvement, painted and wheels lined up. I am using 3/4 ton sprung hubs.

Ready for the plywood base, when that paint eventually dries.

Here I have added a seem of CT1 to stop any rattle and for added security for the roof sections.

Adding the first sheets, nerve racking stuff. Here's where you find out if everything is as square as you thought lol.

I had a pain in my backside trying to work out proper rams to I made up some handy self setting catches which lock in place when you lift the rear door all the way up.

Shit weld, I know I was being slaughtered by midges at the time.

Here the door in the up right position. Will it stay up with a a heavy sheet of Stainless steel on it.

The stainless sheet is stubborn stuff so it need a bit of pre bending before applying. So a gas bottle was a similar size curve and it worked out well.

The rear door is only temporarily done, and will be fully riveted soon.

So all covered except the very front which I will sort soon. Then it's time for the window, door and vents before insulating, inner cladding and electrics. Fook this is one hell of a project lol.