Teardrop camper door construction is part of a series documenting our homebuilt teardrop trailer. Please scroll to the bottom of this post for links to previous articles.
Special thanks to readers David and James, who pointed out that we hadn’t covered door construction.
While it’s all well and good up to this point, it doesn’t do anyone much good if there’s no way to get in and out of the trailer!
This post will detail and source how we constructed the doors for the sides; there are doors on both sides, but I’m only talking about a single door. Of course, it’s your call if you only want to install a door on one side, but we do love having them on both sides; it gives us flexibility in placement and lets one person get out to pee without climbing over the other. 😉
The basic door shape was decided back in the planning and framing days; Jamie set the arch and then inset the negative of the cut piece into the frame and the piece itself became the top of the door frame, so everything fits perfectly.
The door construction itself is pretty simple, it was framed, insulated and skinned the same way the rest of the walls were.
I made curtains for simple shade and privacy. We chose an indoor/outdoor fabric so that the color will stay longer since it’s made to be exposed to the elements. They’re about a simple as you can get, hemmed and sewn onto a dowel curtain rod that is actually simply double-stick taped onto the inside of the door. (Roll over the image to see the curtain rolled up)
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You can see, in this top corner shot, the layers of the plywood inside, then the frame. The exterior metal trim and then the weatherstripping foam.
The door is attached to the frame using freezer hinges, with weather sealing putty between the door/trailer and the hinge. The part on the trailer itself is layered with a sheet of aluminum as well, to help fill the gap created by the T-molding around the door.
The door handles (scroll over to see inside and outside shots) are standard trailer latches. I like that they are lockable, so we can lock them up tight if we’re leaving the campsite for any reason and need a safe place to stash our stuff.
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The last piece of the teardrop camper door is the window. It’s a “crank out” window style, so we can open them for ventilation. Between the windows and the awesome fan in the ceiling, it’s a blissful spot to nap when you’re camping.
PLEASE do me a favor, and leave any questions you have in the comments below. I’ll be sure to address them in one of the last two posts. Thanks so much for following along, and if you have your own homebuilt, I’d love to check it out! Leave a link to photos below.
Next post: Finishing touches
Previous posts: Planning & Framing | Walls & Interior Skin | Galley Counter & Flooring | Insulation | Interior Ceiling & Fan | Exterior Wood Skin & Sealant | Hatch Construction | Child’s Hammock Bed | Galley Design (and Redesign) | Exterior Aluminum Skin
You might also like this post: Our favorite camping gear
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Shawn Bishop says
July 14, 2016 at 6:03 pmI love the posts. I’m planning to build a teardrop similar to yours. You gave me several ideas so keep it up. Mine will be smaller and more complicated but you have some good descriptions that will help me alot.
Thanks for your time and let me know when you post more.
Shawn
Les says
May 21, 2017 at 6:03 pmCan you tell me if the rest of the posts for your teardrop trailer build are posted and how you find them past number 11?
Lizz says
June 5, 2017 at 7:40 amHi Les,
We only got up to 11 done, but the main build is all covered… the only posts left I want to do are the little details we’ve since added. (Like we bought fenders recently, and I’ll probably post about those) Was there something specific we didn’t cover that you’d like more info on?
Sam says
January 19, 2018 at 9:46 amI would love to see a post about how you did the electrical system
Trenton says
August 27, 2017 at 4:13 pmYour link to this page and the next page are not working. I noted your page naming scheme and was able to type in the url to this page. Going to try the next page the same way.
Lizz says
August 27, 2017 at 4:53 pmOh! Thanks so much!
Wayne Lowe says
October 3, 2017 at 8:43 amThe bent piece of metal used on the door how was that bent?
What would be the total cost of materials for the door, window, hinges and latch to make a complete door installed?
Wayne Lowe says
October 8, 2017 at 5:28 pmI have not seen any emails addressing my questions about the doors.
Lizz says
October 8, 2017 at 8:01 pmHi Wayne, sorry for the delay, my husband just replied to your comment.
jamie says
October 8, 2017 at 6:53 pmThe metal on the door was bent as by hand. the aluminum T moldings were quite soft and would hold their shape very easily. I didn’t break down the costs in that way, but I think that the doors have about $200 worth of hardware.
Wayne Lowe says
October 9, 2017 at 8:51 amIs that $200 per door or for both together?
Wayne
Lizz says
October 10, 2017 at 3:32 pmThat’s per door, but includes the windows, which were around $80 each.
Matt says
February 1, 2019 at 10:05 pmCan I ask where you got the windows from?
Wayne Lowe says
October 9, 2017 at 4:02 amThis gives me a budget number so when I start to put together a cost list for materials.
Jeff says
October 4, 2017 at 10:07 amImpressive and inpirational! I’ve been thinking about doing this for a couple of years now. Time to pull the trigger. What size mattress do you have– twin or queen? I’m tall as well, so having sufficient legroom and elbow room is important.
Looking forward to your “if we had to do it over again” post.
Lizz says
October 8, 2017 at 11:18 amIt’s a standard Queen from IKEA, we’re totally comfortable in there!
MIke says
October 9, 2017 at 12:16 pmDo you think the aluminum T would bend around an 8″ radius without splitting? My doors are essentially rectangles with rounded 8″ diameter corners (looks great with the radius’s of my trailer) so I’m trying to see if this stuff will work or if I’m going to have to look for something else.
Great build BTW! I’ve purchased the hinges and the door handles and are building my doors like yours!
Also – the link to the windows isn’t working – could you update that? Wanted to see the price. I’m considering just building my windows! Thanks for a great site!
Lizz says
October 10, 2017 at 3:31 pmHey Mike! Thanks for the kind words! My husband says that 8″ might be too small, but that it’s worth a try. lol (So helpful, right?)
We paid about $80 each for the windows…I’ll have to look for a replacement link, but at least that Amazon link shows you what we bought!
Johnny says
October 11, 2017 at 2:47 pmHello!
This whole thing is incredible! I’m just curious if you have an estimate of hours put into making this and a total cost of materials? If that’s private, I understand.
Thanks for sharing!
Lizz says
October 11, 2017 at 6:02 pmHi Johnny! I want to say we came in around $4000? I’ll bug my husband to come and answer if he says differently, and he might have a better answer about the hours. A lot. Is that helpful? lol
Johnny says
October 11, 2017 at 8:02 pmHaha super helpful! Just wanted to get an idea.
Thank you thank you thank you!
jamie says
October 12, 2017 at 8:50 amMy guess would be about 7-800 hours. total guess though Your results may vary.