Forum Administrator Posted July 11, 2020 Share #1 Posted July 11, 2020 No, I am not going to build one. I don't have the space or the tools. I am thinking about buying one next summer. About 60% of the time, it would just be me camping for a weekend or so. The plan is to use it as a basecamp for some biking stuff. The other 40% of the time would be with one other person. I also usually have a month off in July to do a serious road trip. In 2-3 years, I plan on heading out to Utah and doing some hiking and biking. Does anyone have any experience with them? Edit: I am basically planning on a trailer replacing what I currently use a tent for. I am not thinking I will camp much more often than I currently do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx ★ Posted July 11, 2020 Share #2 Posted July 11, 2020 11 minutes ago, Forum Administrator said: No, I am not going to build one. I don't have the space or the tools. I am thinking about buying one next summer. About 60% of the time, it would just be me camping for a weekend or so. The plan is to use it as a basecamp for some biking stuff. The other 40% of the time would be with one other person. I also usually have a month off in July to do a serious road trip. In 2-3 years, I plan on heading out to Utah and doing some hiking and biking. Does anyone have any experience with them? When I was a kid we traveled across the continent with a 50 Buick and a teardrop trailer. We went from CT northeast to the Canadian Maritimes and then west to the west coast via much of Canada. Then south to San Diego. Then east via the southern route. We never used a motel. The teardrop is usually a minimalist device. The inside was one thin mattress on a plywood bed, wall to wall and end to end. Two adults and a kid was a crowd. The back of the trailer had a upwards opening hatch that enclosed a mini kitchen with a small water tank and spigot, a small sink and a shelf on which we had used a white gas stove. There might have been an insulated ice box but my memory fades. That's it, that's all. Everything else fits in the trunk of the car. I believe I slept in the backseat of the car most of the time but perhaps two adults and a kid was too much of a crowd, wink wink. I suspect they might be a bit better today as that was mid last century. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted July 11, 2020 Share #3 Posted July 11, 2020 The big selling point is ease of towing It is a step up from a tent as far as comfortable sleeping, if you are used to a tent I don't think it would be a hard adjustment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikeman564™ Posted July 11, 2020 Share #4 Posted July 11, 2020 I don't know about them, but I know a dude that has one of these T@B trailers w/ the kitchenette in back like this. He said they're pricey but he bought it used. Likes it a lot for the simplicity. They have larger ones w/ more interior amenities. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Administrator Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share #5 Posted July 12, 2020 I’m looking at the T@B trailers. A big selling point is that it has a bathroom/shower and air conditioning. My wife says she will come more often if I have a trailer with both of those. I checked one out last weekend and it reminded me of the bathroom/shower in the cheapest rooms on a cruise ship. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsnip Totin Jack ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #6 Posted July 12, 2020 I’d like the No Boundaries trailer for overlanding. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #7 Posted July 12, 2020 1 hour ago, bikeman564™ said: I don't know about them, but I know a dude that has one of these T@B trailers w/ the kitchenette in back like this. He said they're pricey but he bought it used. Likes it a lot for the simplicity. They have larger ones w/ more interior amenities. I believe ours was smaller than that even. The scariest part of the trip was crossing a river in Canada on a rope ferry raft, capacity 2 cars. They loaded the Buick and the trailer side by side but the ferry was listing so much that they wouldn't let us board. We had to wait for a second trip. That raft in fast flowing waters looked like it was going under any moment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tizeye Posted July 12, 2020 Share #8 Posted July 12, 2020 37 minutes ago, Forum Administrator said: I’m looking at the T@B trailers. A big selling point is that it has a bathroom/shower and air conditioning. My wife says she will come more often if I have a trailer with both of those. I checked one out last weekend and it reminded me of the bathroom/shower in the cheapest rooms on a cruise ship. First thing to understand is the difference between a wet bath and dry bath (and of course, no bath on a typical teardrop). Some pop-up tents (assuming they have a bath) and small trailers have a wet bath which is essentially a shower with a toilet and sink in it - everything gets wet. Dry bath is the more traditional separate components. The question is, which would your wife prefer? Next question, what would you be pulling it with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Administrator Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share #9 Posted July 12, 2020 44 minutes ago, Tizeye said: First thing to understand is the difference between a wet bath and dry bath (and of course, no bath on a typical teardrop). Some pop-up tents (assuming they have a bath) and small trailers have a wet bath which is essentially a shower with a toilet and sink in it - everything gets wet. Dry bath is the more traditional separate components. The question is, which would your wife prefer? Next question, what would you be pulling it with? I think she would be ok with a wet bath. If she comes with me, we rent a cabin and she shares the bathroom with everyone else. It's not her favorite thing. It's funny that you ask what I will be pulling it with... I haven't even bought that car yet. My plan was to buy a car six months after my daughter got her driver's license. She hasn't gotten it yet. I am planning on either a Jeep Wrangler, Gladiator or the Ford Bronco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudge ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #10 Posted July 12, 2020 Or a Chevy Colorado. 👍😎 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikeman564™ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #11 Posted July 12, 2020 12 minutes ago, smudge said: Or a Chevy Colorado. 👍😎 A dude I ride w/ who's a designer at GM, drives a ZR2...it's super dope. He say's the '23 model year is the new generation Colorado. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #12 Posted July 12, 2020 What ever happened to the Aztec? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital_photog ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #13 Posted July 12, 2020 8 hours ago, Forum Administrator said: I haven't even bought that car yet. My plan was to buy a car six months after my daughter got her driver's license. Can I recommend an Aztek? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team scooter Posted July 12, 2020 Share #14 Posted July 12, 2020 Why so fancy? I may have already mentioned that back in the day, my wife and I used to attend our snowmobile club's annual snowmobile trailer camp out weekend. Basically, we'd travel UP north to our favorite snowmo destination in the summer, put some indoor/outdoor carpet, a battery powered lantern and an inflatable mattress in our clam shell snowmo trailers, and we called it camping. 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Administrator Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share #15 Posted July 12, 2020 1 hour ago, team scooter said: Why so fancy? I may have already mentioned that back in the day, my wife and I used to attend our snowmobile club's annual snowmobile trailer camp out weekend. Basically, we'd travel UP north to our favorite snowmo destination in the summer, put some indoor/outdoor carpet, a battery powered lantern and an inflatable mattress in our clam shell snowmo trailers, and we called it camping. I am not a smart man. I started looking up images of clamshell trailers and assumed they were all for snowmobiles to pull. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Administrator Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share #16 Posted July 12, 2020 4 hours ago, Longjohn said: What ever happened to the Aztec? Remember.... It fell apart. Literally. The belt tensioner pulley fell off while I was driving. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #17 Posted July 12, 2020 1 hour ago, Forum Administrator said: Remember.... It fell apart. Literally. The belt tensioner pulley fell off while I was driving. Oops, sorry for laughing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted July 12, 2020 Share #18 Posted July 12, 2020 All I know about teardrop trailers is that they are literally tens of thousands dollars more expensive than I thought they were 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tizeye Posted July 12, 2020 Share #19 Posted July 12, 2020 Here is a tow vehicle for you. Doesn't have to be a station wagon. The 56 Bel Aire would be fine to. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tizeye Posted July 12, 2020 Share #20 Posted July 12, 2020 15 hours ago, smudge said: Or a Chevy Colorado. 👍😎 Why a Colorado when you could get this. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattlecan ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #21 Posted July 12, 2020 My wife worked on me for years to look at teardrop trailers, and I resisted, saying tent camping was fine, and cheaper. Then, over the last couple of years, she shifted her focus to designing her own based on a cargo trailer conversion, without even knowing that it has become popular. Again I resisted, but she kept chipping away at my resolve until we now have a nearly completed cargo conversion as I have documented elsewhere on this forum. A teardrop would no doubt be much more aerodynamic, but the living space and functionality of the cargo conversion is way better than any teardrop. Not to mention MUCH cheaper, and lighter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted July 12, 2020 Share #22 Posted July 12, 2020 49 minutes ago, Rattlecan said: A teardrop would no doubt be much more aerodynamic, but the living space and functionality of the cargo conversion is way better than any teardrop. Not to mention MUCH cheaper, and lighter. The clam shell snowmobile trailer conversion Scooter mentioned would be the ultimate in cheap & light 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Administrator Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share #23 Posted July 12, 2020 2 hours ago, Rattlecan said: My wife worked on me for years to look at teardrop trailers, and I resisted, saying tent camping was fine, and cheaper. Then, over the last couple of years, she shifted her focus to designing her own based on a cargo trailer conversion, without even knowing that it has become popular. Again I resisted, but she kept chipping away at my resolve until we now have a nearly completed cargo conversion as I have documented elsewhere on this forum. A teardrop would no doubt be much more aerodynamic, but the living space and functionality of the cargo conversion is way better than any teardrop. Not to mention MUCH cheaper, and lighter. I saw that and am 100% jealous of the skills and knowledge to do something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattlecan ★ Posted July 12, 2020 Share #24 Posted July 12, 2020 2 hours ago, Forum Administrator said: I saw that and am 100% jealous of the skills and knowledge to do something like that. It's more about having the time and the place to do it, both of which I have. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted July 13, 2020 Share #25 Posted July 13, 2020 On 7/11/2020 at 6:06 PM, Forum Administrator said: Tell me about teardrop trailers I like these guys. My friends have one, but not sure that they are hardcore users. The mid-level Canyonland (starts at $16,500): ...and the super light Basedrop (The Basedrop starts at $13,900): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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