The little/light Camper Trailer Thread...

I have a 614 without the wetbath and propane setup. It has a the room where the wetbath goes, but nothing in it. It does have a small pump sink inside and all the electric. Fold down dinette bed and pop out tent bed, table, TV DVD, cabinet, roll up carpet, etc... in white with blue stripes.

If I could sell it for $13,500, I'd buy this one in a heartbeat! We haul it with our Sprinter RV and the my three young boys have claimed the VRV. We love it.

PA Slammer

I'm with ya, only I want a 66 C10 short bed.....

nothing is cooler than those old rigs in my opinion.

That's a fun collection.

WOW....that's a rare bird!! ^^^ :eek1

Had a 66 with three on the tree, stepside, Lordy, I miss that truck

OK, serious question to the denizens of this thread.

I have been considering a teardrop or something like a Scamp or Casita for the last several years, due to this thread.

My tow vehicle is a Volvo XC70 wagon (2.4L turbo 6 cylinder).

I cam to terms with the seller of a nice looking LittleGuy 5-Wide with a few upgrades. It looks really nice for my needs, will fit in my garage, and I can pay cash outright.

My friends say that it won't be as useful as I think, and that I should stick to tent camping. One statement was, if it is so nice, why was it only used three times in seven years?

Has anyone here had buyer's remorse after investing in a teardrop or mini trailer?

For four grand, essentially identical to the $8000 model, new, I think that it is worth evaluation. Anyone care to talk me out of it?

Also, I am in Argentina on my South America trip. Any idea what my inspector should be looking for to evaluate teh suitability of a used teardop? I am thinking water and weatherseal damage, wiring, wheel bearings. Rust in the trailer, i guess. Other things?

My take on this is it depends on how you want to "camp". I used to tent camp, as did my wife (before we met). We then started camping in a cargo trailer I converted, it even had an inside shower stall. (No plumbing, we used a shower bag. But it was nice to get out of the shower in a heated enclosure). Last year we bought one of these:

http://www.forestriverinc.com/ToyHaulerTravelTrailers/WolfPup/default.aspx?model=wolfpup&page=floorplandetails&floorplanid=4853&RVType=THT

It's small, so we can get into unimproved state forest sites; and light, so we can pull it with our Ridgeline. We can also bring bikes with us (two smaller, or one cruiser).

I said all that because the teardrop you are looking at is basically a hard sided tent, similar to our cargo trailer (but smaller). If that is all you need, go for it. But I really like having the ability to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without leaving my living space. If you are limited by weight (I don't know the capacities of your TV), there are quite a few "superlites" available with all the amenities.

I'll tell you one thing about small trailers, they are basically for sleeping in, (and anything else you can get into horizontally..)

I think of my Casita as a little rolling hotel room. I take it places, park it, go do stuff and then sleep in it.
You won't catch me lounging around in it, at least not alone.

I'll let others more familiar speak to what to look for specifically in this teardrop.

I agree with hppyfngy, outside of sleeping, I have spent a total of about 10 minutes the last two seasons hanging out inside my trailer, for us, everything is done outside.

I started to build my own teardrop about 2 weeks ago, I'll post up some pictures when the project looks like more than just a pile of plywood and 1x2's

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I would like a Casita or something I could stand in. However, I don't see that happening at my $4000 price point.

I am used to life on the road where my only space is my bunk. Antarctica, hostels, tent camping, sleeping in my Volvo (which is quite comfortable for one). I read and watch movies in each of those horizontal configurations. I assume that a teardrop is a more comfortable version, with lights, power and potentially climate control.

I just have lost my enthusiasm for tent camping, so I rarely go, anymore. I am also thinking of some cross country road trips, as I have been out of the country for a year. Having a trailer would offset some costs for hotels, though extra gas might eat into those savings.

Still interested in hearing more experiences.

tnttt.com has a lot of info when it comes to teardrops.

I wouldn't judge the trailer on that. Most people I know with trailers of any kind might get out once or twice a year :huh

EDIT: see above!

hey...here's a subject that I actually have alittle experience on!! Whoot!!!

First off, those LittleGuy's are well made rigs, and with this one being a 5' wide, that makes all the difference in the world!! (that 1 extra foot of interior room is a Godsend!)

People often asked us (as you'll learn if you pick this up)..."you guys actually sleep in this thing??" I always responded that it's like sleeping in a treefort!

We had a 5' x 10' Lonely Teardrop, and used the crap out of it in the 5 years we owned it. Like EvilClown said...you hafta schedule the time or it doesn't happen.


Another thing is maybe this first guy simply didn't care for it. It IS a bit small inside these things, and it's not for everybody. (especially if you're of the claustraphobic type.) If it was raining out, then we'd set up the laptop on the inside shelf, and watch WiFi movies in bed...no porblem.

That was one nice thing about the teardrop over tenting...we stuffed a Sealy Posturpedic mattress in there, and not a foam pad. It was sweet sleeping in there!!

We camped all year in our teardrop, and our's was not insulated like a LittleGuy is...but we did have a small space heater in ours, and usually once you've got it heated up in there, it's such a small space that it holds the heat quite well. (you DO hafta leave the ceiling vent cracked open or it'll rain inside.)

oh...and teardrops tow beautifully, and behind your Volvo wagon will be a snap!*


but....like Keyzard and others have stated on here...

The thing we did NOT like about it was that you can't stand up and put your pants on, nor does it have a bathroom or shower, so we sold ours. We did set up a 10' x 10' E-Z Up with the walls on it next to the teardrop, so it was like we had mobile cabin with us, which worked out really well...but then you've gotta set it all up, and tear it all back down, and now we wanted something that a person can stand up in and that has a full bathroom. (Momma does NOT care for campground restrooms, and frankly, I don't blame her!!) YUK!

We now have an older Aladdin travel trailer (which is cool too)....but it's in need of some repairs and I'm gonna build a mini camper/toyhauler out of a 12' cargo trailer once I finish my current hot-rod project and have the shop space available again. (NO, I'm not gonna start another project when I've got this big one nearly finished!!)

If any of you remember, but I did buy a cargo trailer a year ago, but it wasn't the size it was advertised to be...so I sold it. (there again...that little bit of extra room can make all the difference in the world.)

Those Casitas and BigFoots are awesome little rigs, and I'd go that route in a heartbeat...and you can find 'em for good prices, but you've gotta be patient, and be ready to move fast when the deals do show up.

$4000 for the LG??? Mmmmm.....unless it's absolutely spotless, I'd either make a lower offer, or just keep looking. (this IS a good time of the year to shop for 'em...lots good deals available right now)

Good Luck!!

Thank you very much for all that good info, Patrick.

Originally he wanted $4800 and I offered $4000. it does have quite a few upgrades: it has a full Posturepedic queen size mattress, that is new. it has linens and pillows 15 inch painted alloy wheel upgrades, custom paint; it does have battery and camp stove and a full size spare.

I don't know if i could squeeze more out of the seller, or not. As it is mid summer and 95 degrees in Argentina, I am thinking of summer cycling trips in Colorado when I return.

Cheers, all opinions and stories are appreciated.

I started building my teardrop today, we have had a nasty cold winter up here cabin fever has set in, and I finally said screw it, I'm getting started even if its only 12 degrees in my unheated garage.

Don't know what you decided to do.

My wife and I spent a summer in a Teardrop, although we have the CampInn 560 'Raindrop' which is a bit bigger and with a full kitchen on the back - www.tinycamper.com

Sorry I missed this, we took ours to Alaska.

We put an easy-up over the back of the trailer to cover the kitchen and the wife sewed a couple of side walls we could add to it when it was windy and rainy.

Yea, it's a bit more of a pain to work with than a 'full size' camper, but when you tow a teardrop you simply hardly feel it back there...OK, that's bullshit - we towed ours 25,000 miles - really - with a Subaru Outback, 2.5 liter, 5-speed. I still have that Subaru, by the way, years later.

Wife and I tired of sleeping on the ground and a teardrop was just enough and not too much, we like it about 90% of the time. Now my wife is a wilderness girl, so for her the bathroom problem is not usually an issue, what she wants, and you find so rarely where we camp is a SHOWER, so we have a portable propane shower and a shower tent - she's happy to squat to pee, but wants clean hair...

I like, no, I LOVE the full kitchen with sink and water system, two burner stove and all that plunder storage. That and we can stop, set up and have dinner on table in half an hour if we need to hurry.

Now if we could just go camping when it's not raining.

Just found this thread, and I haven't been all the way through it ( :eek1 ) but I also love these little campers. We have a Scamp 16' Deluxe (that's the model with wood cabinetry inside) -- my wife calls it the Cramper. Other than space, it has all the comforts of home: front bunks that convert to a sofa, toilet with sink/shower, 3-burner stove, oven(!), 2-way fridge, hot & cold running water, microwave, A/C, furnace, louvered side windows, fantastic vent. I love how everything fits so neatly into such a small space -- it's like a boat (really, the construction technique is very much like fiberglass boats, but also, the compact, carefully planned cabin...).

It's on the heavier side for egg campers, but that's still pretty light -- probably around 3K lbs dry. I haven't had it weighed (don't need to since I have overkill towing it with a Dodge Durango with 5.7L V8 Hemi), but the PO towed it with a Volvo station wagon! Here's a couple of random pics at campsites, though none show off the Scamp to great advantage --





Not sure if anyone posted this link already, but this is a good forum site with info about fiberglass egg campers:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/
There's a marketplace (like the ADV FM, but you know, nicer -- ). I bought ours through there, and you can often find some really good deals.

Here's another website with egg campers for sale:
http://www.fiberglass-rv-4sale.com/
This one doesn't have much of a community, but you can find some deals.

We'll probably sell ours this spring or summer and look for a bigger unit, but I will miss it.

My 1985 U-haul weighs about 1500 lbs and can be towed behind my 4-cylinder Defender 90 (although its better behind the LR3). I used to have a Bowler that was a few hundred pounds lighter - the U-haul was built for the rental market so its a little beefier.



These are generally available for around $4000 - $4500.

The FiberglassRV.com site is a great resource for these little trailers.