CLC Teardrop #623: April 2021

Latest Photo - 25th Anniversary Briggs Farm Blues Festival - Nescopeck, PA

This build is from a kit designed by a company called Chesapeake Light Craft out of Annapolis, MD.

This is the end goal - something similar to this anyway (photo is of another builders assembled kit) - I did not order the storage box in the front of the camper:

This is a photo from the vendor/manufacturer of the teardrop's galley (that's kitchen for you land lovers 😏 ):

Kit Contents:

Build Playlist:

Grateful Dead - Live Orchard Park, NY 04July1989

Phish - Live Atlantic City, NJ - 13Aug2021

My Build:

The Puzzle Joints -

The overall length of panels #1 & #2 exceed the 8' of a standard length of plywood. This is addressed by having each of these panels comprised of two individual pieces which are connected via a simple puzzle joint. The pieces are fit together the 'tacked' together with CA glued before being 'glassed' with a 3" strip of fiberglass on the interior side.

(2 ea.) #1 Center Panels
(2 ea.) #2 Panels

Tack-glued with CA glue (super-glue):

Fiberglass the puzzle joint, #1 panels:

Clamped to set-up overnight:

Mold for camper assembly:

Panels #1 (2 ea.) & #2 (2 ea.) placed into teardrop mold:

The 'Stitch' of 'Stich & Glue" building (copper wire), the 'wet' spots are the 'Glue' or super-glue tack spots that hold pieces together once the copper 'stitches' are removed before fiber glassing the seam

Seam of the #1 panels glassed (center seam of the ceiling/shell):

Glassed center seam and puzzle joints for the #1 & #2 panels

Panels #3 & #4 added to panels #1 & #2:

Bulkhead Installed (separates the cabin from the galley):

Bulkhead Fillet (one of the two sides) - early in the build I mistakenly used the wood flour and cell-o-fill additives interchangeably for my filleting thickening material. I am not sure of the long term impact of this other than it took a considerable amount of Cell-o-fill to reach a peanut-butter like consistency. Appears to be just as strong - at least so far.

Bulkhead & Hatch Stiffener

Galley flat stiffeners applied (I opted to include fillets on the galley flat stiffeners in addition to just gluing the stiffeners to the flat itself):

Galley Flat & Rear Quarter panels installed (you are looking at the bottom of the galley flat [where your feet go]):

My own personal addition - (2) Rear Quarter Panel Stiffeners [1/2" AC plywood] (I will use this for the Shore-Power hook-up, and a possible external outlet) - wood glued w/ fillet:

In retrospect these may be a issue with the instillation of 'mushroom vents' (At least in this location) in the future.
More celofill filleting material vs. wood flour

Trailer Floor Assembly:

Left & Right Floor halves assembled, again since camper is wider than 4' a puzzle joint is used to join the two floor halves together, this is supported/reinforced with a 'butt-block' fixture which is filleted in place:

Floor Puzzle Joint

Floor Butt-Plate (before install)

Butt-Plate Installed with Fillet (wood flour fillet this time):

Floor Placed onto Camper Shell, temporarily held in place with 2"x2" plywood blocks and 1.25" drywall screws:

03May2021 - Finally Flipped her over to right-side up:

While flipping the camper right-side up there was a minor causality where I cracked the upper fillet on the left-rear corner panel, on the transom side. I used one of my 2" x 2" blocks, mitered one of the sides and created a patch.

Mold Removed:

Preparing the double layer of 6oz. fiberglass blanket on the #1 panels:

Double layer of 6oz. fiberglass blanket glassed onto the two #1 roof panels with overlap onto the #2 panels (visible puzzle joint in bottom photo):

Preparing to fiberglass the starboard side of the camper (single layer of 6oz.):

Starboard side after initial sanding 120 grit, 3 hrs. of sanding (window area of door not sanded thus the color difference):

Port Side - glassed, two additional layers of 'filler resin' and sanded with 120 grit (took 4hrs.):

Entire shell coated with 3rd and final coat of resin:

Another big milestone day! Cutting three of the four large holes into the camper. Port and starboard side doors and the galley hatch. Per suggestions from the builders forum I decided to install the door-stiffeners prior to cutting out the doors (not 'before' photos of this).

Door (upside down) note that stiffener installed prior to cutting out the door as recommended by others on the forum. A headache to do climbing in and out of the trailer via the transom opening - still to be determined if worth it or not (pending re-attachment to the camper):

I added a fillet to the top of the door stiffener for added strength and rigidity:

The removed hatch:

The cabin shelf which is mounted to the galley bulkhead incorporates a 'fiddle' (nautical term) or rail to prevent items from falling off the shelf. I customized my fiddle with a piece of Ipe' or Brazilian Mahogany that I'm reusing from a previous project. I've decided to attached the fiddle provided in the kit to the bottom of the shelf as I have read the shelf makes for a good handhold at times thus my shelf will have a 'T' profile versus an 'L' profile. From knife making I took the idea to 'pin' the fiddles much like one would 'pin' scales to a knife handle. I could not justify the cost of mosaic pins for this and opted for 1/4" brass rods which are glassed into place.

The galley has a gutter system for the hatch opening which must me built up in various stages:

First, the gutter risers:

In efforts to proactively address the potential issue of the galley flat separating from the bulkhead, as an additional measure, I added a strip of fiberglass down the interior (galley side) seam of these two pieces, ~ 4" of glass per surface. Later on, a similar reinforcement will be made on the cabin side surfaces as is mentioned in the hymnal.

I also decided to fiberglass the galley's surface. I used fiberglass matt I had purchased from Home Depot which worked fine however in retrospect I would have purchased a length from CLC to do it in a single piece. Due to the size available at HD, it took 4 different matts which all overlap to some degree.

In the photo above you can see the galley's gutter system is installed. Below are two detail pics of the gutters to date (filleting partially completed):

Photos of the cabin shelf mounted in the camper against the bulkhead. Shelf was installed before door sills to prevent any interference with instillation. I added a strip of fiberglass to the fillet along the top of the shelf for additional strength & rigidity.

Sorry, missed capturing a bunch of work at this point. From here the camper was rolled over onto its roof to work on finishing the bottom. From the original kit I was able to glass 1/2 of the trailer in a single pieces of 6oz. fiberglass blanket, the other half of the bottom took a collage of pieces that remained from the original roll of fiberglass provided. I decided to order and add a second layer of 60z. fiberglass blanket to ensure a 'clean' and watertight layer for the bottom.

Around this point in the project I ran out of the original supply of resin & hardener & needed to order and additional MAS resin kit (CLC's canoe kit I believe).

Sorry, no photos of fiber glassing the bottom. 😕😢

It was at this time that I also began to install all of the hinges. It was a headache to remove all of the fiberglass that had accumulated in the hinge cut-outs (especially for the hatch hinges) - in retrospect, I would have tried to have done a better job of keeping these clean and free from resin build-up during construction. Conversely for all of the 'dotted-line' CNC cuts for the door, window, and hatch opening I would suggest filling those with Cell-o-fill impregnated resin so jagged edges are not left once cutting these out with a jig-saw.

For each of the hinges, I reinforced the fillets with small pieces of 6oz. fiberglass blanket. This took additional time to blend into the skin but hopefully any additionally strength or support they add will be worth it.

Example of the drill-fill-drill process:

Hatch Hinge(s):

I also finally added the drip-edge to the hatch.

Following a suggestion from the CLC Teardrop forum I chose to use Rust-Oleum 323529 Professional Grade Truck Bed Liner Kit for the bottom of the trailer and wrapping up two inches on the sides. I was very happy with the product but be forewarned you with need a mask with an organic vapor cartridge. This is very strong stuff VOC wise. I also used the yellow 3M automotive masking tape which resulted in a very nice crisp edge with the truck bed liner.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HM4Z964/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

At this time I also have about 2/3 of the exterior fiberglass skin sanded down to a 320 grit level (thus the hazy appearance of the skin) , the rest will be done once the camper is rolled back over to right-side-up. I'm also ordering my interior and electrical components at this point.

Right-sided the camper back onto it's proper orientation. Finished sanding the remaining 1/3 of the campers skin.

Glassed the hatch bezel for the roof-top fan, the decorative trim cover for the fan access opening, and the 'eyebrows' which will be mounted above both doors.

Also applied final coats of fiberglass to the doors and hatch / galley cover.

Three more large holes to go for the camper... the fan hatch and, port and starboard side windows. I ended up purchasing CLCs fan hatch bezel for packing out the fan opening. The final photo in this series also shoes a good shot of one of the eyebrows with it's final layer of glass applied, still needs to be sanded.

CLC Rooftop Vent Kit

Bezel glassed in place and clamped:

Bezel installed:

Ready for accent paint.

Next was the two porthole openings on each side of the camper.

Note eyebrow and final layer of glass. Doorway is taped so the jamb can be painted the accent color.

I also added an accent color to the camper. The interior door trim, the galley side-walls and gutter, some of the hinges, and the fan 'copula' have all been painted with Behr Marquee exterior grade semi-gloss paint. The floor, galley, and both sides of the bulkhead will eventually be coated with a few layers of Varathane 350 VOC High Traffic Floor Stain in clear gloss.

Galley sidewalls, gutter, and hatch hinges painted with accent color.

Cabin shelf, door jambs and, door trim:

Additional work related to porthole part fabrication and instillation:

First I created two custom trim pieces for the portholes.

The porthole assembly being test-fit:

Porthole trim pieces are fiber-glassed (Cell-o-Fill and resin) to the interior of the camper shell.

Amarine 8" Porthole

Ventilation, Shore-Power Input, 110V Receptacle Preparations:

Initial plan of image below (left to right):

3" opening for shore power connection point
3" opening for marine cowl (ventilation)
3" opening for marine cowl (ventilation)
Not visible (far right) rectangular hole for 110V duplex receptacle

'Backer plates' for 110V duplex outlet and marine cowl:

'Backer plates' for marine cowl and shore power connection point:

Screening was glued to the interior of the marine cowl to keep bugs out of the camper.

Attwood Marine Intake/Exhaust Cowl

I generated a QR code for the blog:

And, at StickerMule.com I developed a sticker that can be applied to the camper:

https://www.stickermule.com/uses/outdoor-stickers

Beginning to assemble the galley Module:

CLC Teardrop Galley Module

I had enough fiberglass cloth left from the extra I had ordered to cover the campers bottom with a second seamless coat to cover at least ones side of all the galley module components. The galley faceplate and parts of the dividers were routed to round-over the 'contact' edges of the galley. I also took time to route the quarter-circle cut-outs for the wring.

I decided to paint the interior of the galley module with the accent color on the camper. While I am sure this will be a nice finishing touch when I look back at it, it has added quite a bit of time to this phase of the project.

I also thought that 'Mikes Life' blog had a great idea for the 'central nervous system' for the camper. I also plan on storing my battery in my trailers tongue box so I am utilizing the intended battery compartment for my 'brain housing group'. I think this will be mounted to the galley flat v/s the cabins bulk-head. The intersection of the bulk-head and galley flat are not 90 degrees (at least in my build) so I need to choose one connection surface (bulkhead or flat) and go with it.

http://mikepilone.blogspot.com

Layout for cockpits port side electric, currently planning for duplex outlet and a 5-switch rocker panel with USB & Voltmeter. Centered above the 'brain-housing-group' will be another duplex outlet for the future 32" TV.

Layout for starboard side electronics mirrors the port side's. Upper electronics (fans & lights) still to be laid out.

I found a use for the piece of plywood from the ventilation hatch that I removed from the top of the camper; I used to to create templates for routing the rough-in holes for the electrical work and appliances. Below are templates for a duplex receptacle blue-box (old construction style) and a three-switch rocker panel with USB and lighter adapter.

Rough-in for duplex outlet and two USB Charging Centers.

Rough in for 3-switch rocker panel with USB and lighter adaptor.

Reinforcing parts of the galley module for bottle opener to mount on.

Duplex GFIC receptacle and two USB charger accessories installed (3-rocker switch panel pending):

Bottle opener added to reinforced galley module.

Electrical Rough-In:

Incoming shore power will split at the trailer's tongue box where it will supply the 12V battery charger and the camper. 110V power in the camper will include an exterior duplex outlet with GFI mounted in the transom, a duplex outlet with GFI in the galley module, (2) duplex outlets (w/ USB ports) & (1) single outlet [future TV] in the cabin on the bulkhead. 110V wiring in 14/2, 12V wiring is supplied by 14/2 and feed with 16/2 to the switch panels and 18/2 to individual 'appliances'.

Nilight 5-gang rocker panel: Amazon Link - 5-gang rocker switch

Electrical rough-in view from the galley.

Blue Sea Systems Fuse Block

Time for 4-6 coats of varnish - as recommend by CLC, I used Interlux Schooner Varnish #96

Interlux Schooner Varnish #96:

I lightly sanded between coats 1, 2, &, 3 with 320 grit sandpaper. After two coats of varnish:

Before the fourth coat, I sanded with 320 grit followed by wet-sanding with 400 grit sandpaper. After four coats of varnish (opened trailer box in the foreground):

The fifth coat was prepped by wet sanding the fourth coat with 400 grit sandpaper. I did the 5th coat first thing in the morning rather than late at night like most of the other coats. Upon finishing my 4th coat one night at some time around 1:00 AM, a moth landed on the camper ruining about 4sq" of beautiful finish...

Port and starboard side electronics (rear view from galley) mounted into the bulkhead. Mid-way through wiring the rocker panels.

Below: 'Brain Housing Group' (gray) in center with single-plex outlet (future cabin TV) flanked by duplex outlets to either side and 12V rocker control panels. Mounts for the camper's hatch pistons are shown installed on the bulkhead.

Port side cabin electronics:

Nilight 5-switch rocker panel

6-terminal bus bar for (-)

12V Voltage Stabilizer (for max-fan)

Starboard electronics are mostly the same as port side minus the voltage stabilizer for the max-fan. The extension cord plug exiting the duplex receptacle will feed the GFI outlet on the galley module.

Interior view of external duplex receptacle mounted in the transom , one of the marine cowl vent intake backers and the two incoming power supply lines (12V & 110V).

Routing wires u through the galley flat and into the galley.

The wiring run from the transom to the bulkhead.

Rough wiring for external GFIC outlet shown exposed and ready for the outlet to be installed with an exterior weatherproof outlet box.

Both cable glands are installed (12V & 120V supplies). Seaview Cable Glands

Marine cowls installed.

LED light-strip installed under the cabin shelf, wiring routed through bulkhead and galley flat. 3M 94 Primer was used to aid in adhesion of the LED light-strip. 3M 94 Adhesive Primer

Masking off the camper shell for instillation of exterior components (clean caulk lines).

Porthole (exterior and interior masking)

Porch light masking:

External GFI outlet, cable glands and, marine cowl inlets masking

Detail of marine cowl and cable gland masking:

Masking for Maxxfan roof ventilation fan (note screw hole locations are marked to be pre-drilled):

A combination of butyl-tape and GE Advanced Silicone caulk were used to seal the Maxxfan mounting flange to the roof of the camper.

Butyl Tape Sealant 3/4" x 1/8"

Mounting fan attached to camper and silicone caulking completed with masking removed. Tops of screw-heads still need to be covered with caulk.

GE Advance Silicone caulking was used for all sealing/weatherproofing all accessories.

GE Advance Silicone Caulk

Porthole installed pending perminent stainless steel hardware of a proper length, silicone caulking completed.

Portholes and porch lights installed, pending Maxxfan roof fan.

Marine cowl intakes and cable glands:

Installed marine cowl and cable glands detail:

Maxxfan 7500 installed.

Maxxfan 7500K

Getting closer!

Ughhh... final stretch build failure uncovered: crooked instillation on one of the two cabin-side hatch hinges resulted in to much torque on the hinge, cracking the fillet before any real-life application.

The existing hinge will need to be cut out & an new hinge installed.

Prepping for surgery with files and sandpaper.

My son & I finally slid the camper onto the Trailex SUT-1000 trailer using two Fir 2x6's as ramps. It is surprising how high the trailer sits, I see why some builders prefer to install the trailer axel between the leaf-springs and the trailer body rather than under the leaf-springs.