SoCal Tear Drop Owners! Post up!
- Thread starter Yulli
- Start date
Took delivery of my CCT 510 last Saturday. Excellent build quality, handles like a dream off-road, suspension is fantastic. Couple pictures taken during shakedown in the Rio Puerco, NM.
Congratulations, looks great. My build date is next month, I can hardly wait.
Yulli
Yulli the Yeti
I just got my trailer back from SoCal for some warranty work. Now I need to work on changing out my wheels to fit my Toyota wheels. I need to get on that cuz I wanna be able to take it out with the same wheels and tires as my truck.
And as a side note, SoCal was very helpful with any warranty work I needed done. They were very understanding and made sure everything was right. no BS involved.
And as a side note, SoCal was very helpful with any warranty work I needed done. They were very understanding and made sure everything was right. no BS involved.
Yulli
Yulli the Yeti
I just had an alignment issue with the rear hatch and faulty hinge from supplier. It caused a slow leak and had minor water damage. Nothing bad. They repaired it all. With the amount of trailers they put out I was just one of the unfortunate ones. The biggest negative was not having the trailer rather than the issue itself, though they had it during the winter months so it's not like I missed out on camping.
I don't think it's anything to be concerned about.
I don't think it's anything to be concerned about.
BlackRubiX
Overlander
So I know we have gone over this before but I couldn't find it in the thread. For the ARB Awning is everyone using custom mounts on the roof rack or is there a universal mount I can get. Pictures would be helpful. Thanks!
Yulli
Yulli the Yeti
I have an ARB awning. I made a mount that bolted up to the underside of the basket. I will have to get a couple pics and post them.
Yulli
Yulli the Yeti
I went to a metal shop and had them cut me some "L" stock for me. I can't remember off the top of my head how wide I had them cut it. But as you can see it's not that wide. I just measure the amount of width I had to work with to center my holes I had drilled. I just replaced the existing bolt that went into the T-nut that's used to mount the bracket. I just got something a little longer to accommodate the new bracket. I made a little template so I could have the holes drilled correctly for the awning to mount to.
In the first pic you can see how it's holding it on. I believe it's a 4" by 4" L stock that was used.
Good thing to note in this pic. I ground off a bit on the inside part of the bracket to clear the weld bed from the main basket bracket. When I held up the bracket I noticed that it wouldn't lay completely flat because it rest against the bead just a tad. I just took a grinder to it and made it look nice. I made sure to do the other to the 2nd bracket. Just make sure you mirror it and not the same side.
In the end they came out really nice and look good. Plus you can't really see them anyway, but at least they don't look hacked. I looked all over for a universal bracket but nothing would work for actually mounting to the trailer unless you started investing money into the really nice aluminum brackets that bolt to the basket. I didn't want that. Also make sure when you mount the awning that you don't go too far back to where the hatch will hit the awning. I left my hatch open while I installed mine for the most part so I know I wouldn't run into any problems.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any other pointers and I'll do my best to help.
In the first pic you can see how it's holding it on. I believe it's a 4" by 4" L stock that was used.
Good thing to note in this pic. I ground off a bit on the inside part of the bracket to clear the weld bed from the main basket bracket. When I held up the bracket I noticed that it wouldn't lay completely flat because it rest against the bead just a tad. I just took a grinder to it and made it look nice. I made sure to do the other to the 2nd bracket. Just make sure you mirror it and not the same side.
In the end they came out really nice and look good. Plus you can't really see them anyway, but at least they don't look hacked. I looked all over for a universal bracket but nothing would work for actually mounting to the trailer unless you started investing money into the really nice aluminum brackets that bolt to the basket. I didn't want that. Also make sure when you mount the awning that you don't go too far back to where the hatch will hit the awning. I left my hatch open while I installed mine for the most part so I know I wouldn't run into any problems.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any other pointers and I'll do my best to help.
coastsider
Adventurer
A few days along the Illinois River, Siskiyou National Forest
After a family visit in Oregon we decided to come home to the Bay Area the slow way down the coast via the Illinois River and the Siskiyou Forest. Heavy rains eventually beat us into submission but we managed to get a few quality dry days by the river first. It gets pretty loud inside the trailer with heavy rain, while we were nice and warm n' dry in the cabin (the forced air propane heater is awesome!) it sounded like 20 crazy drumming monkeys on the roof all night long. And after 7 hours towing in torrential rain the doors did leak a little allowing some water ingress into the trailer cabin, I've since fitted fatter door seals which I hope will fix the problem. Here are a few pics, it's our first time using the fender attached table I built, works great!.
After a family visit in Oregon we decided to come home to the Bay Area the slow way down the coast via the Illinois River and the Siskiyou Forest. Heavy rains eventually beat us into submission but we managed to get a few quality dry days by the river first. It gets pretty loud inside the trailer with heavy rain, while we were nice and warm n' dry in the cabin (the forced air propane heater is awesome!) it sounded like 20 crazy drumming monkeys on the roof all night long. And after 7 hours towing in torrential rain the doors did leak a little allowing some water ingress into the trailer cabin, I've since fitted fatter door seals which I hope will fix the problem. Here are a few pics, it's our first time using the fender attached table I built, works great!.
jim65wagon
Well-known member
Dusty,
We don't own a SoCal Teardrop, we built our own. We also used a SoCal Hinge. Ours leaked enough to puddle on the cabinets also. Here is the excerpt from our build thread where we discovered, repaired, and how we ultimately solved the issue.
At the end of May we had determined that the small leak in the galley was due to water pooling above the hinge when it would rain. The insert trim came all the way to the hinge and water was unable to flow completely off the top of the trailer. So we thought that the answer was to trim back the insert trim and create rain gutters that would allow the rain to drain. Beth used a hack saw to cut it back to size . She also trimmed the flat molding that we used to finish off the edge of the aluminum on the roof, then fashioned gutters out of scrap aluminum and sealed and fastened everything down. After letting everything cure for one day, we tested my new system with a water hose. Everything seemed to work fine.
She even took pictures of her excellent work. Oh so clever.
Everything seemed hunky dory at first. Then we had four days of heavy rains coupled with high temperatures . We didn’t check the trailer all that week, when the weekend came we opened the hatch and realized that we had big problems. Apparently there was now a bigger leak than what had originally been repaired and now it was leaking on both sides!. The water had flowed onto the top of the upper cabinet then had run down the electrical access into the interior of the upper cabinet, the worked its was south into the lower cabinet. Even though it had only been less then a week, due to the high temperatures ( in the 90’s) there was a thick layer of mold in the right cabinet and the plywood had delaminated and peeled in five separate places. Of course, now we realize that the only plywood that failed was the 5 layer hardwood we bought at the big box store. Needless to say Beth was devastated . After she threw a tantrum and I calmed her down, we cleaned the mold off with dilute bleach water, placed a large container of Damp-rid in the cabinet, and covered the trailer with a tarp. After drying out for a week or so, Beth peeled off all the damaged wood, which amounted to the top veneer layer and then one or two layers beneath it. Even then the underlying wood was still damp, and there were a few small black beetles that had taken up residence. She sprayed the areas with insecticide and left everything to dry for another week and a half.
We decided to remove the flat piece of trim and the rain gutter to see what the problem was. Once removed it became apparent that we had broken the seal between the hinge and the roof in our efforts to cut the trim while in place. There was a good sized gap on the passenger side. I have no idea why it did not leak with my hose test.
We then decided to fix the problem by placing a piece of z-channel trim over the hinge . This we could effectively seal while leaving the ends long for a gutter effect. We placed some d-shaped weather-stripping under it to keep water from invading when the hatch is up. In the end it looks like this:
I know it’s probably overkill but it works and has weathered a dozen storms with no leaks.
Remember, all this was in 2012. With the Z channel in place and the seal between it and the top of the hinge we have had zero leaks since then....and we have had the pleasure of camping in some severe rain storms, and more than one trip with 5+ days of rain.....
We don't own a SoCal Teardrop, we built our own. We also used a SoCal Hinge. Ours leaked enough to puddle on the cabinets also. Here is the excerpt from our build thread where we discovered, repaired, and how we ultimately solved the issue.
At the end of May we had determined that the small leak in the galley was due to water pooling above the hinge when it would rain. The insert trim came all the way to the hinge and water was unable to flow completely off the top of the trailer. So we thought that the answer was to trim back the insert trim and create rain gutters that would allow the rain to drain. Beth used a hack saw to cut it back to size . She also trimmed the flat molding that we used to finish off the edge of the aluminum on the roof, then fashioned gutters out of scrap aluminum and sealed and fastened everything down. After letting everything cure for one day, we tested my new system with a water hose. Everything seemed to work fine.
She even took pictures of her excellent work. Oh so clever.
Everything seemed hunky dory at first. Then we had four days of heavy rains coupled with high temperatures . We didn’t check the trailer all that week, when the weekend came we opened the hatch and realized that we had big problems. Apparently there was now a bigger leak than what had originally been repaired and now it was leaking on both sides!. The water had flowed onto the top of the upper cabinet then had run down the electrical access into the interior of the upper cabinet, the worked its was south into the lower cabinet. Even though it had only been less then a week, due to the high temperatures ( in the 90’s) there was a thick layer of mold in the right cabinet and the plywood had delaminated and peeled in five separate places. Of course, now we realize that the only plywood that failed was the 5 layer hardwood we bought at the big box store. Needless to say Beth was devastated . After she threw a tantrum and I calmed her down, we cleaned the mold off with dilute bleach water, placed a large container of Damp-rid in the cabinet, and covered the trailer with a tarp. After drying out for a week or so, Beth peeled off all the damaged wood, which amounted to the top veneer layer and then one or two layers beneath it. Even then the underlying wood was still damp, and there were a few small black beetles that had taken up residence. She sprayed the areas with insecticide and left everything to dry for another week and a half.
We decided to remove the flat piece of trim and the rain gutter to see what the problem was. Once removed it became apparent that we had broken the seal between the hinge and the roof in our efforts to cut the trim while in place. There was a good sized gap on the passenger side. I have no idea why it did not leak with my hose test.
We then decided to fix the problem by placing a piece of z-channel trim over the hinge . This we could effectively seal while leaving the ends long for a gutter effect. We placed some d-shaped weather-stripping under it to keep water from invading when the hatch is up. In the end it looks like this:
I know it’s probably overkill but it works and has weathered a dozen storms with no leaks.
Remember, all this was in 2012. With the Z channel in place and the seal between it and the top of the hinge we have had zero leaks since then....and we have had the pleasure of camping in some severe rain storms, and more than one trip with 5+ days of rain.....
dusty122
Adventurer
Thanks! going to pick up some Z channel today. Im in So Cal and it hasnt rained much since I bought the trailer 2 years ago. Its rained a bit more in the last few months and it seems to have gotten bigger puddles. Exact same issue you had where it would slightly puddle on the top of the cabinets but not its a big puddle that leaks down into the floor of the galley. excited to hopefully fix this once and for all.