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July 12, 2016 Camping Projects

Homebuilt Teardrop Trailer 11: Teardrop Camper Door Construction

This post contains affiliate links.

Homebuilt Trailer Part 11: Teardrop Camper Door

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.

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. 😉

 

Completed teardrop camper door

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.

 

Door shape in frame

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.

interior teardrop camper door

teardrop camper door curtain upYou 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.

corner with layers

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.

hinge attached

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.

outside door handle

inside door handle

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.

window wide open

 

window frame

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


25 Comments

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Comments

  1. Shawn Bishop says

    July 14, 2016 at 6:03 pm

    I 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

    Reply
  2. Les says

    May 21, 2017 at 6:03 pm

    Can you tell me if the rest of the posts for your teardrop trailer build are posted and how you find them past number 11?

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      June 5, 2017 at 7:40 am

      Hi 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?

      Reply
      • Sam says

        January 19, 2018 at 9:46 am

        I would love to see a post about how you did the electrical system

        Reply
  3. Trenton says

    August 27, 2017 at 4:13 pm

    Your 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.

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      August 27, 2017 at 4:53 pm

      Oh! Thanks so much!

      Reply
  4. Wayne Lowe says

    October 3, 2017 at 8:43 am

    The 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?

    Reply
    • Wayne Lowe says

      October 8, 2017 at 5:28 pm

      I have not seen any emails addressing my questions about the doors.

      Reply
      • Lizz says

        October 8, 2017 at 8:01 pm

        Hi Wayne, sorry for the delay, my husband just replied to your comment.

        Reply
    • jamie says

      October 8, 2017 at 6:53 pm

      The 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.

      Reply
      • Wayne Lowe says

        October 9, 2017 at 8:51 am

        Is that $200 per door or for both together?
        Wayne

        Reply
        • Lizz says

          October 10, 2017 at 3:32 pm

          That’s per door, but includes the windows, which were around $80 each.

          Reply
          • Matt says

            February 1, 2019 at 10:05 pm

            Can I ask where you got the windows from?

    • Wayne Lowe says

      October 9, 2017 at 4:02 am

      This gives me a budget number so when I start to put together a cost list for materials.

      Reply
  5. Jeff says

    October 4, 2017 at 10:07 am

    Impressive 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.

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      October 8, 2017 at 11:18 am

      It’s a standard Queen from IKEA, we’re totally comfortable in there!

      Reply
  6. MIke says

    October 9, 2017 at 12:16 pm

    Do 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!

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      October 10, 2017 at 3:31 pm

      Hey 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!

      Reply
  7. Johnny says

    October 11, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    Hello!

    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!

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      October 11, 2017 at 6:02 pm

      Hi 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

      Reply
      • Johnny says

        October 11, 2017 at 8:02 pm

        Haha super helpful! Just wanted to get an idea.

        Thank you thank you thank you!

        Reply
      • jamie says

        October 12, 2017 at 8:50 am

        My guess would be about 7-800 hours. total guess though Your results may vary.

        Reply
  8. Kevin Verville says

    October 21, 2020 at 4:48 pm

    I really enjoyed your teardrop post, I own a factory built teardrop and I am disappointed in the quality. I have been studying different homebuilt tutorials with the thought that I might build my own homebuilt teardrop. By the way I think your tear drop looks awesome. So I would really like to ask on question, that is what would you do different if you were to do another build?

    Reply
    • Lizz says

      October 27, 2020 at 7:37 am

      Hi Kevin! I think the biggest thing is that we would have started with a heavier-duty base trailer than the one we used. Otherwise, everything has pretty much gone as planned, other than the galley redesign after our first night out!

      Reply
  9. Becky M. says

    February 23, 2021 at 8:09 pm

    I think this is amazing. I want to build one, I just have to work up my courage. This tutorial will be a wonderful guide. THANK YOU!

    Reply

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