Small lightweight campers have many benefits including:
A tear drop trailer continues to be popular because of its size and design. If you want to build your own, then there are tutorials and designs available.
See additional footage of the International Redwood Gathering (IRG) here. Photos by Christina Nellemann
The Classic teardrop trailer, hand-crafted in Colorado! Timberleaf’s custom teardrop trailers are a perfect blend of modern-day comforts with retro styling for overlanding adventures.
We have all seen them. Small, quirky little camper trailers towed behind smaller cars. I wanted to build one and I started by building a trailer to tow it with.
Build your own teardrop trailer from scratch with our complete guide. This trailer lets you bring a wide range of gear to make your trip amazing!
The T@B is back! Dutchmen, the original manufacturers of the T@B, discontinued the production and support of the colorful, stylish little trailer in 2009, much to the chagrin of die-hard T@B owners and fans. One reason for this might have been because of the high cost of the various parts of the trailer that came from Europe. The rights to the popular trailer has now been acquired by Little Guy Worldwide, a company that makes teardrop trailers. Little Guy has partnered with Pleasant Valley Teardrop Trailers (the people who built my teardrop) to build the T@Bs. The Ohio-based company was also considering acquiring the T@B name and business at the same time as Little Guy, but decided to partner with Little Guy and their large fan-base.
The French company Carapate has just launched a new retro teardrop trailer that weighs a mere 450kg – give or take – and is compact at 3m2 with a 1.9-meter height.
Design and Build a Classic Tiny Camper From Scratch
One of our readers, Jean-René Rodrigue, wanted to share his homemade micro camper with you. It's a custom built teardrop trailer designed to be 8' in length, 5' in width, and 5' in height on the
I wrote in the last post of finishing the woodwork and electrical, buying aluminum and cutting a memory foam mattress. I thought I was "Rounding Third", or something cheesy like that. Little did I know from there it would take working through the rainest month ever in the history of the (dry?) mountain west to finish the camper, a marathon month at that. Turns out it was a month worthy of building an Ark, or in this case, a teardrop trailer. At the time of this writing and in the wake of the epic 2013 Colorado floods, I am currently isolated from the trailer, unable to access my parents' house due to road washout closures. This project of course being a minor concern in aftermath of such a disaster, my camping trip has arrived less than a week away with no way to get the trailer out of the mountains. What shall I do? Well regardless of what happens next, here's how I got to this point. The focus after last time was the 2' x 8' roll of coiled aluminum. Bought from a semi-trailer supply shop as a roofing repair material, I found this aluminum to be the best compromise of quality and price. As important, I needed 8'6" continuous to cover the sides, which this product provides. As a 3003 alloy, this aluminum has a nice shiny mill finish that, with some care will look nice for a long time. One of the first tricks was to figure out how to cut aluminum from a 23' continuous sheet. To do this, we decided to roll the sheet out on my dad's porch and at .040 thickness, air tools- specifically the Husky Air Shear from Home Depot, were in order to do the cutting: Before hanging and finish cutting any aluminum, we needed to prep the body of the trailer some. For one, the plywood sides of the trailer hang down past the sides of the c-channel trailer frame, and as-is would be exposed to road spray and grime. So, a search again at Home Depot found the perfect aluminum drip edge to cap the bottom of the plywood. Applying with a silicone sealant and staples, the drip edge is a great fit: With the drip edge in place, the full sheets of aluminum can be cut and hung. Liberal use of hand clamps enabled temporary hanging of air sheared aluminum while Sharpie lines are drawn: From there, manageable pieces of aluminum can be cut to precise size on the table: Critical to the proper fit of the aluminum, was to allow about 1/16" gap at the edge of the metal for expansion and contraction due to differential expansion rates between the aluminum and wood. Turned out that the Great Neck Three Piece Aviation Snip set provided a versatile set of hand snips for making right hand, left hand, and center snip cuts to finish the aluminum, all of which proved essential. Using clamps and brads, the aluminum was temporaily hung. We decided on a center-out, door-first fit strategy to minimize the likelihood of bulge and waves (or tin canning) in the aluminum. A combination of drill, RotoZip, Dremel, and Sawzall were all used to cut the door openings. With openings cut, doors and windows are hung. Additionally, holes are drilled, wires run, and lights hung. Along the way, at each of these openings in the exterior, a bead of silicon is applied along with strips or "boogers" of butyl caulk to limit water intrusion. The same goes for the ceiling fan. In this case, the fan is sealed with a trip layer- a sandwich of two layers of butyl caulk with a closed cell foam seal in the middle: The fans is finished with wiring connections and the installation of the trim ring on the inside: Switching gears a bit- as part of the body prep., the stock wheel offset was compromised by adding 3/4" CPVC and 3/4" plywood to the sides of the trailer (all to stretch the interior width to 60" to accommodate a queen mattress, if you recall). This created a potentially dangerous rub/interference situation for the tire sidewalls. To get some of this back, wheel spacers were in order. At first, I considered hubcentric bolt-on billet spacer. These tended to be expensive and a tricky fit. A simpler, lower cost alternative came in using a slide-on over stud spacer. The hang-up up with this approach was the need for a longer wheel stud to extend through the spacer. After Northerl Tool confirmed they don't source replacement studs for my trailer, an exhaustive internet search found an appropriate replacement in the Kodiak Trailer 2" stud. Using an unmounted bench vice (only a little redneck) to press out the old studs, and in with the new, the whole thing comes together perfectly: Switching back to aluminum, with the doors, lights, and power receptacle installed, it was time to start installing edge trim. Having two sheets of aluminum overlap in the middle of the trailer roof, a piece of flat insert trim with moulding from Frank Bear is used to cover the seam in sheets: By the way, you've probably noticed the tarp in some of these pictures. Have I mentioned the rainy theme of this part of the build? More details coming... Next up, the lower edge trim is installed, along with the fender, to finish the lower edge of the trailer. The trim is notched to allow the brackets for the fender to lay flat: Next up, edge trim is installed working from the front, over the top. For this trim, it is pre-drill at 4" intervals. Select holes are added to avoid conflicts with body screws and to secure screw trim ends. Pilot holes are punched using the the trim, and then overdrilled in the sheet aluminum using a 1/4" bit to allow some movement in the sheet. A bead of butyl caulk is pressed into the elbow of the trim for weather seal. From here, the trailer side of the hurricane hinge is installed, with moulding. This specialty hinge proves excellent weatherproofing: After some delay, the kitchen door is skinned, with the hinge mounted at the top first: The hinge is notched to provide a lip at the top. The door has a hole drilled for the latch T-handle, and T-channel edge trim is added. The kitchen door is hung by sliding the hinge on from the edge. After, it awaits weather seal and final fit. Along the way, running lights are installed. This involved cutting conduit and using self tap screws with clamps to secure. Wires are run through the conduit with solder splice connections for the side marker light. Brackets are drilled for the rear lights, before hanging. Wiring for the rear lights is run through the trailer wall into kitchen before running down through the floor. Whew...I'm out of breath. So here's where it stands: I'm so close I can taste it. If I only can get there to finish it. Whenever I do, I need to finish trim around the kitchen door opening, set door strike plates, and finish and seal the aluminum skin. Until then, whenever that is....
Buying a used RV or a new RV from the retailer will be very expensive. Even if you purchase an expensive RV sometimes, you don’t like the design. As a result,
This article, written by Hi Sibley, was published in the Sept. 1947 issue of Mechanix Illustrated. Even though this is clearly a teardrop camper, the word teardrop does not appear in the article, …
The French company Carapate has just launched a new retro teardrop trailer that weighs a mere 450kg – give or take – and is compact at 3m2 with a 1.9-meter height.
Some of you might already be familiar with SignaTour Campers, a small company who builds teardrop trailers in Tampa, Florida, from last year when we featured them on Tiny House Talk. Since then they have added
Explore DIY teardrop trailer construction. Learn how to build your own teardrop trailer with our comprehensive guide. Discover and learn more at CamperAdvise.
Calling all minimalist adventurers! This guide spotlights the best teardrop trailers, ideal for new RVers, solo explorers, and couples seeking a cozy escape without the bulk.
Thinking of buying a teardrop camper? Let us help! View info on pricing, best brands, pros and cons & more.
Check out Best Travel Trailers Under 5000 lbs - features, real user reviews, plans, pros, cons, etc. Fluids, cargo, holding tanks, and other things to consider.
Admit it. You love teardrop trailers. We all do. Here are 10 great designs that will have you craving the open road like never before.
We hit the road with the Vistabule Teardrop Trailer to see how it performed. The weather was challenging, but that just made for a better test run!
We hit the road with the Vistabule Teardrop Trailer to see how it performed. The weather was challenging, but that just made for a better test run!
This is Wayne's Awesome $1000 DIY Wooden Teardrop Trailer that he built in Wisconsin. Wayne owned an old aluminum trailer he had previously built and decided to transform it into a portable bedroom that he can
The compact, Canadian-built Droplet is more than just a place to hang out. The mindfully designed teardrop trailer is influencing a new camping lifestyle.
American teardrops first became common in the 1930s after DIY magazines such as Popular Mechanics published plans to build your own. The ultra-lightweight concept normally only sleeps a maximum of two adults in the cabin and has a small outside galley or kitchen at the back of the trailer. Often these campers weighed little more than 450kg and were very streamlined so were ideal for towing behind small cars or for long road trips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7DdQRc-FIg&ab_channel=ProCamp Everyone has their own nifty way of experiencing the joys of the wild. But if you’re an outdoorsy person, going off the grid and living an evening or two in a camper is definitely the way to go. Fitted with all-terrain tires, suspension, water tanks, and even a power generation system; off-road camper trailers
Find small travel trailers & campers under 3,500 lbs. The list includes fiberglass campers, teardrop campers, and aluminum travel trailers.
What to look for in a teardrop camper. Pros, cons and features of a small, lightweight travel trailer. Examples of the coolest teardrop trailers for sale.
