Time to prime and paint

The galley and hatch having been drying out for 2 weeks now. 

Today I sanded and primed the bottom and sides of the galley interior.

Next up: Marine grade oil paint, more caulk, and addressing the gap in the sides where the hatch hinge is, which I've been avoiding.

-Leah

Water damage repair

I found more water damage on the bottom of the hatch.  I chiseled out the rot and let it dry for a few days before filling it in.

I keep coming back to the same thought: What the hell was I thinking not finishing bare wood?

What. The. Hell?  -sigh-

The good thing about building something from the ground up is just that - YOU built it.

You know how everything goes together and how everything could come apart. You get too see all the flaws and all the successes of your build.  So when something goes wrong or breaks you know how to fix it.

I know exactly what to do and not to do next time I build a Teardrop.

I patched the hole with exterior grade filler. I'll cut a piece of wood to fill in the remaining void. That piece will be primed and painted on all sides and then epoxied in.

Time for some champagne, because I like bubbles.

-Leah

More hatch repairs

Here we have our major offender: the hatch hinge that was cut too short, and a gap rivaling the size of the Delaware Water Gap. Time to scrape and sand. What was I thinking? This is a HOLE!

Are you judging me? Well, it won't be more than I judge myself, so bring it on!  :)

Our second offender is the bottom of the hatch where it just doesn't have a good seal; there's a gap at the sides.

I started laminating thin strips of wood to fill in the gap a bit so this is phase one.

Live and learn, live and learn...

-Leah

Teardrop building tip 1,129,989

Building a Teardrop trailer?

Seal every single wooden surface really, really well. This means end grain, too. Seal, seal, seal. You want to make it waterproof inside and outside. It's not impossible; you just need to be thorough.

Use paint on the galley side walls, floor and hatch interior. Use a thick, oil paint. Water will most likely find its way in at some point, dripping down a wall and puddling on a flat surface so make sure it's all waterproof.

Caulk every single seam, anywhere two pieces of wood meet. Seal it up.

That's my speech of the day.

Seal!!

-Leah

Water damage be damned!

Well, I'm dragging my feet on this and we're leaving for Florida for a one month trip on January 2, so it's time to get my rear in gear.

I moved the Teardrop into the shop to assess the water damage in the galley and it's been raining ever since, so good timing on that.

At first I thought I might get away with doing a "little" repair, but this is like washing one spot on a dirty white wall. You just can't do one spot. There's no easy fix here.

First, I let a fan dry it out for 2 days.  Then I got out a scraper and some chisels. Fun times.

Water is getting in on the bottom of the hatch - gotta fix that.

The top of the hatch is leaking, too! Boo, leaks, boo!

I had to let it sit for a week and stare and think and stare and think some more before I moved forward.  I've removed all rotten and wet wood. Next steps are filling voids with Bondo or exterior wood putty, and sealing every crack and every spot where two pieces of wood meet, then painting the galley sides and floor with marine paint.

I also have to address the lower half of the hatch not making contact with the trailer when closed; There's a gap of about 1/2".

More soon -

Leah

Hatch still leaking

So, I taped the living hell out of the hinge with heavy duty insulation tape. The kind of tape that is rubbery and sticky on one side and shiny, silver on the other.

This is what I get for not really addressing the problem - it still leaks.

So, on to the next attempt at a fix - Z channel.  How can this NOT work, how? Don't answer that, don't burst my bubble. This really looks like the fix, something that covers the entire hinge and overhangs on each side. The overhang is the most important part of this. Consider this a gutter, like the gutter on a house that takes water away, that's what we're going for here. Away with you rain water, AWAY!!

If you're building a teardrop and reading this remember to cut your hatch hinge with a nice overhang on each side 1-1/2" or so should do it. Learn from my error.

Wish me luck.

-Leah

More shelves, more shelves!

Tiny spaces require creative storage.  I have some loose rules regarding storage: optimize the space, avoid placing things where someone will hit their head, try to work with what you already have, and go vertical, even if it's only four feet high.

I've found that stacking items in the Teardrop is very inefficient. Easy access is a requirement in a tiny space, so stacking doesn't fit the bill.

It's amazing how much more space is created just by adding one shelf in a twelve-inch high cabinet.

Adding this shelf means we can grab a bowl, a glass, or a plate without moving things around.

And really, when I want a gin and tonic, I don't want to fumble around for it.

Adding this shelf to the overhead cabinet in the cabin almost doubled the amount of space I have for clothes. Strange, but true. Though I am a bit of a fanatical folder. I can't help it.

The same goes here, stacking sucks in small spaces.

Separate stuff out as much as possible. You'll be happier.

-Leah

Improved galley doors

Now, why didn't I think of this sooner? Why?

Hinged doors are not a good idea for many reasons. Most hinges aren't designed to bang down the road at 65 miles an hour, sooner or later they'll break. Secondly, they opened inconveniently right over the counters, making the counters less useful. Silly, silly me.

After a year of having to move things around every time I needed to open a door I came up with this.

Drawer slides. Yup. Full extension that slide up and out of the way.

Well, isn't that just swell? No more counter juggling.

There's a cotter pin at the top that slides out to hold the door up.

The middle door is still hinged. I like the look of it, and that door is very, very light (Butternut). Less chance of the hinge breaking.

Now on to adding more shelves...

-Leah

Trash

This is our trash after five days of camping.  It's basically the plastic bags the ice came in and a plastic wrapper from a piece of cheese. By the way, we're not trying to make zero trash, this is how we do it at home, and this is how we do it away.

I noticed that most campers produced a full bag of trash - every day. I find that to be unacceptable and lazy. Lazy is one of my pet peeves. I tend to lump a lot of things into the "lazy" category.

Not only that, some campers just threw away everything: redeemables, recyclables, wet sleeping bags, 'disposable' items. It's like magic! It just disappears when you throw it in a dumpster! Poof!

There is no excuse. You are your trash, consider it a mirror.

-Leah

Bicycling trails in Lewes

We bicycled on the Junction and Breakwater Trail while in Lewes. Round trip was about 18 miles from Cape Henlopen State Park.

It's a really nice trail. One leg of it is still being finished, but it's tightly crushed gravel and easily ridden on even with skinny tires.

Directions on how to get there were a bit sketchy. No one really knew where it started. We picked it up right after the High School on Route 9 at a traffic light. 

The motorists in the area were a bit moronic when it came to bicycles. They gave no leeway, and drove far too close to bicycles. Not very safe. Fortunately, the breakdown lanes are very large. I found myself hugging the right of the breakdown lane when on the highway.

-Leah

Dewey Beach

Dewey Beach is one of the ONLY beaches on the East coast that allow dogs to run free, without a leash. I have to say that I completely understand why dogs are not allowed on beaches.

During the Summer dogs are allowed on the beach after 5:30, that's about the only restriction.

A one time fee of $15 and your pooch can romp on the beach. Money well spent for our little water lover.

But, please, pick up your dogs poop, don't be "that" person.  There's no excuse, poop bags are right there next to the trash can.

-Leah

....and then they arrived...

Our first night was lovely, peace and absolute quiet except for the Chuck-will's-widow at dusk. I've never actually seen one of these birds, but their call is unmistakable.

Afternoon number two arrived with the sounds of four teen-age boys setting up camp right behind us. Oh. No. Here. We. Go.

They came over and told us that if it got "too loud" to just let them know. Oh, how nice. Amelia told them if they're warning us about being loud, maybe they should find another site. I generally just scare people with silence. Why does silence scare people? I don't know, but it works. Sometimes. They stayed next to us.

At three a.m. the little rodents were still wide awake, guzzling Natural Light beer, breaking tree limbs down, running around shirtless with torch-like objects, and hurling themselves repeatedly into something trying to break it. Four words came to mind for me: Lord of the Flies. It's all fun and games until Piggy is dead.

The morning after:

Four teenagers, eight hours.

With the Conch nowhere to be found, the Crows and Grackles declare war over the carnage.

There's always a silver lining.  Most people, regardless of age, can't party like that every night. There is an ancient camping proverb, "Hangovers make night two a quiet and early one."

In the morning, Amelia let them know that yes, you were loud and obnoxious, and no, we aren't here to police you, you need to police yourselves.

As fate would have at, at 11:00 that night, they packed up in the dark and left.  Good-bye Jack, good-bye Roger, good-bye Beast, good-bye Conch. And R.I.P. Piggy.

-Leah

Cape Henlopen cute cabins

Amelia and Eesah went to investigate the new cabins at Cape Henlopen State Park. Looks like they'll be ready for Memorial Day week-end.

No water or bathroom, just a kitchen/dining room, and living/sleeping room. Each one has air conditioning though, which you're going to need very soon.

I really like the screen porches.

I love tiny houses.

-Leah

Eat my sausage

On our way back home a friend suggested we check out Helen's Sausage House. Amelia has a slew of face swelling allergies so she couldn't eat any sausage. She had chicken salad, while it wasn't exciting, it didn't kill her or make her face swell up.

I had the sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. It was HUGE. It was really cheap, under eight dollars for both of our sandwiches. But, I have to admit, I expected something better. The sausages were filled with several preservatives, the cheese was a bright orange tasteless goo-fest, and the eggs I couldn't taste at all.

If you're looking for cheap roadside food, this is your place. It just wasn't my thing. But, when you're traveling some things are about the experience. This is one of them.

I guess I'm spoiled. I get bread, eggs, sausage and cheese back home from farmers less than five miles away with no fillers and no preservatives, no crap.  Just good old fashioned unadulterated food.

-Leah

Cape Henlopen Site

Our site and Cape Henlopen.

Trip saver

We're back! In Delaware.

We arrived a full month later than last year due to that nasty April snow storm. May is quite different than April.

We made reservations and went with site number eight, a seemingly innocent little site tucked back from the road about 20 feet. Looked really nice last year... Well, this year it was the only row in the entire campground that was filled. It was spilling over with strange, silent staring people, five tents next to us on one site, screaming children on trikes and bikes. (Shouldn't they be in school?)

Side rant:  You know when you go to see a movie and only a handful people are in the theater, but some nimrod has to sit next to you, maybe two seats away, but too damn close when virtually every seat is available. What is this about? I have ideas, but I won't bore you with my philosophy on the needy pack mentality of humans.

After a quick visit to the camp office we found another site. Hurray! We were the only campers in our new row. Boo! It was 8:30 at night, and started to downpour. The rain drops were the size of small dogs - Pomeranian-sized rain drops.

 I will not lie. Things like setting up camp in the rain can create really tense situations. It's not fun. The good news is that we're pretty quick and efficient at getting the job done.

The Northern Breeze tent was the first thing to go up, and it goes up in minutes. This thing is ah-may-zing.

It's a waterproof shelter that's also a screen tent, and two sides have large awnings. The footprint is 12'x12'. This is larger than most of the rooms in my tiny house, so I feel right at home. This tent is a trip saver. It can handle whatever you throw at it: cold weather (in Maine we zipped the sides down and it was downright toasty inside), wind, bugs, and....Pomeranian-size rain drops.

-Leah

Never ending upgrades and tinkering

I have a list.

When you spend a month in a 40 square foot space, you take notice of things that could make things easier.

Small things, from having dedicated shelves for plates, to more complex things, like making a dog sleeping area on the trailer tongue, are constantly bouncing around in my overactive brain.

It's winter and cold, so I'll start with smaller, less time consuming upgrades.

Packing takes a few hours, so anything that can make packing a quicker process I am all over. When packing the Teardrop you have to consider possible breakage. Things can't be haphazardly stuffed in, glass can't be against glass, nothing can be loose, everything basically has to be tied down and tied in.

My first modifications I dedicate to Amelia Sauter, packing Queen. They will be three dedicated shelves; one for plates, one for bowls, and one for food. Right now the galley has no shelves, just three doors concealing three wide open areas.

One of the many mantras of working with small spaces - optimize vertical space, go up. Even on the tiniest of levels like a Teardrop trailer, there's more storage to be mined out.

This is my mission, and I choose to accept it.

-Leah

First trip of the year

I wish I could say it's been a long winter, but it hasn't been. We didn't really have winter. In fact, we hardly burned any wood this year, less than a cord. Pretty amazing, and pretty disturbing. The snow we finally got was in April, and it did a number on all early blooming trees and shrubs.

I could roll right into glooming and dooming about the world, but that's not what this blog is about...

We're planning our first trip of the year, and decided to go back to Cape Henlopen in Delaware. We're going a few weeks later than we did last year, so we're hoping for no stupid people antics.

Unfortunately, we must prepare for the worst because the campground had limited sites available.   -le sigh-

 Hey, you never know, we have had great luck with quiet neighbors for the most part.

The next three days will be spent inspecting, improving and packing up the Teardrop for the adventure.

 I'm really looking forward to unplugging for a few days.

 -Leah

Site, sweet site. Anastasia State Park, St. Augustine. One month ago that's where we were, wow.

Time is going by really slow.

-Leah

St. Augustine bicycle shop

When I'm camping, one of my best friends is a bicycle. I rode more on this trip than I did the last two years in T-burg. I rode to the bathroom, to the beach, to the Tiki bar, to get ice, to get firewood, to explore, on the beach. I just rode. Loved it!

Unfortunately, I had the most horrendous seat on my bike for the trip. I had so much tailbone pain and pressure that I actually needed a good minute hobbled over my bike after I dismounted before I could walk. When your tailbone feels likes it's going to explode, standing is not so much fun.

The bike is an early 90's Terry Classic, and the seat was an old, somewhat wide, gel seat with no relief cut outs for my precious little tailbone. Seats have changed a lot since the 90's.

After two and half weeks of utter pain, Amelia and I biked around St. Augustine to check out the handful of bike shops for a seat. I ended up getting a seat at Island Bicycle in St. Augustine that literally saved my ass. It's a Unity saddle from Giant, and it has three different widths - hooray! Because, guess what, our asses are not universally sized.

Thank you Island Bicycle! It was the friendliest shop we visited. We were ignored in all the other shops. I understand hating on tourists. I get it. I grew up in the Berkshires. But business is business. Suck it up, fake it if you have to, or do something else. Tourists will buy things elsewhere. We did.

About the bicycle:

The bike is an early 90's Terry Classic I bought 2 years ago from a great used bike store in Rochester, NY, R Community Bikes. If you are anywhere near Rochester, and you need a bike, a part, or just like bikes, go there (ask for Fred, he's awesome). Well worth the trip. It's much more than a used bike store.

Their website is http://rcommunitybikes.net/


-Leah