Building the Campenarti
by Dave Moult
The idea for building the Campenarti came about when we bought a ‘47 Ford pickup. We thought it would be able to tow a trailer that was maybe a little heavier than our regular teardrop which is a 10x5 aluminum clad fully loaded teardrop.
Our camping habits have changed over the last few years and we find ourselves attending more shows than we used to. Most of the showgrounds do not have electric hook ups or power available. We decided to build a trailer that had all the things our regular trailer had but would work off propane gas or 12 volt battery.A propane gas oven, the item we missed most, was going to be a real bonus, as we like to do our own cooking. We have built a few teardrops over the last seven years, including two other trailers with trolley top roofs. The trolley tops were added to give a bit more height in the cabin and we shrunk the over all size of the teardrops to save weight. I really like the style they add, and thought it would be great to include one on a full sized 10x5. We prefer the larger size for a trailer as it gives us a king size bed in the cabin, and plenty of storage both in the cabin and in the galley. I thought if we were going to build a trailer with shows in mind, it would be cool to do something a little different from the norm, which led us to create a teardrop with a steam punk style.
Originally we were going to leave the outside really rough and have a really smart interior. To make it be something that would really stun anyone who dared to look inside. We have used oak face ply on the inside of a previous build and really liked the look. We like recycling or repurposing things and are always on the look out for pieces that might come in handy. I saw a pile of wooden floorboards and other timber, stripped out of a cottage that was being renovated, with a sign saying “Free firewood get it before it snows!” I grabbed it up and that is where all the timber on the sides came from. It has been stored in my workshop for a couple of years until we were ready to use it. The windows are mostly made from copper trays with the bottoms removed. The portholes in the trolley top were made from brass ashtrays and rice dishes with the bottoms removed. The front window was a silver tray picked up at a car boot sale. The entire copper sheeting came from old hot water cylinders that have been stripped and cleaned up. Most of the aluminum was leftover from a previous build. During the build, a friend, Chris at Retro Retrims, asked if we would like any leatherwork done.I thought door cards with pockets would be lovely as well as a headboard. So I asked what I needed to do to make this happen. He told me to look out for an old sofa, which would provide plenty of leather. We soon scored one locally for £15 (equivalent of $22 USD) and got a really comfy chair thrown in too.When I was cutting the panels to be trimmed, I realized it would look great if the bottom half of the cabin was all done in leather. I then cut four more panels to complete the look. Chris put a day aside to do the work, and I was eager to help out. I turned up at his workshop with all the leather from the sofa, and seven panels instead of the three that we’d talked about. We worked for a solid 12-hour shift to get it all done. The huge grin on my face as it was all coming together stayed for days. With all the space the trolley top roof has added, I felt a statement light would be a great addition. So we made one from an upturned coffee pot and some copper tubing. The wood for it was an old toilet seat lid made from nice wood. Organizing the galley was interesting as there was not enough height to fit a fridge. So I came up with the idea of mounting the workings on the outside, with the cold tube going into an insulated cupboard. It works wonderful and will produce ice in a short amount of time. The cupboards are deep enough to fit the oven sidewaysso we made a drawer that slides the oven in and out. A deep drawer is a really handy storage solution as you can get to all the contents easily. I used the back of one of the cupboards to store the 12v battery.The front of it still has plenty of room for storing taller stuff and tins. The decorative drawer unit came from another car boot sale held at a festival a couple or three years ago. The tiled back splash utilized some tiles that I took out of a customer’s bathroom when we were modernizing it. The hatch handle was a grab handle from another bathroom refit. The lower hatch handle and bumper were waste pipes removed from a house when we were modernizing the plumbing. A sink or basin is a really handy thing to havebut with oak tops in the galley it wasn’t practical to put one inside. I made up a frame that can fold down and hold the copper sink. The sinkcame from a customer who wanted me to remove it and I felt it worked great for our camper. The water is delivered to the tap via the pipe that runs around the trailer. It is fed from a milk churn that has a submersible pump fitted and plugs into a 12v circuit that’s wired through a pressure switch. When the tap is turned on the pump is activatedand when it’s turned off the pressure switch turns it off. The cupboard fronts are made from solid brass radiator cover mesh. It’s really expensive to buy newbut we found it on eBay and only paid £20 for it. There isa drop down slide away lower hatch that doubles up for pan storage. A reused copper water tank now holds the two gas bottles on the front. A repurposed brace is used on the jockey wheel. A fold down window is in the back of the trolley top. The 5 meters of hidden color changing led up lights hang in the cabin, and remote color changing spot lights hang in the galley. The mudguards are made from old cylinders. Several friends have donated bits and pieces that help decorate the cabin and give it the feel it has today. The camper has been a real joy to build, as have all my trailers, but this one especially so. Rosie and I have spent over 1,000 hours getting it to where it is and we still have work to do. We are quite involved with the Teardrop Club of Great Britain Facebookpageand spend most of our free time in the summer camping with other tear droppers. The Campenarti is a whole lot of fun bundled up into a very functional camping trailer.
Organizing the galley was interesting as there was not enough height to fit a fridge. So I came up with the idea of mounting the workings on the outside, with the cold tube going into an insulated cupboard. It works wonderful and will produce ice in a short amount of time. The cupboards are deep enough to fit the oven sidewaysso we made a drawer that slides the oven in and out. A deep drawer is a really handy storage solution as you can get to all the contents easily. I used the back of one of the cupboards to store the 12v battery.The front of it still has plenty of room for storing taller stuff and tins. The decorative drawer unit came from another car boot sale held at a festival a couple or three years ago. The tiled back splash utilized some tiles that I took out of a customer’s bathroom when we were modernizing it. The hatch handle was a grab handle from another bathroom refit. The lower hatch handle and bumper were waste pipes removed from a house when we were modernizing the plumbing. A sink or basin is a really handy thing to havebut with oak tops in the galley it wasn’t practical to put one inside. I made up a frame that can fold down and hold the copper sink. The sinkcame from a customer who wanted me to remove it and I felt it worked great for our camper. The water is delivered to the tap via the pipe that runs around the trailer. It is fed from a milk churn that has a submersible pump fitted and plugs into a 12v circuit that’s wired through a pressure switch. When the tap is turned on the pump is activatedand when it’s turned off the pressure switch turns it off. The cupboard fronts are made from solid brass radiator cover mesh. It’s really expensive to buy new but we found it on eBay and only paid £20 for it. There is a drop down slide away lower hatch that doubles up for pan storage. A reused copper water tank now holds the two gas bottles on the front. A repurposed brace is used on the jockey wheel. A fold down window is in the back of the trolley top. The 5 meters of hidden color changing led up lights hang in the cabin, and remote color changing spot lights hang in the galley. The mudguards are made from old cylinders. Several friends have donated bits and pieces that help decorate the cabin and give it the feel it has today. The camper has been a real joy to build, as have all my trailers, but this one especially so. Rosie and I have spent over 1,000 hours getting it to where it is and we still have work to do. We are quite involved with the Teardrop Club of Great Britain Facebookpageand spend most of our free time in the summer camping with other tear droppers. The Campenarti is a whole lot of fun bundled up into a very functional camping trailer.