Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

For me it was a 4 stage process, I just didn't know it at the time.

1) It all started as a pathway to not sleep on the ground ina tent.

2) Then the dream of building evolved into an obsession to finish what is commonly known here as #1.

3) The next phase was receiving adulation from friends and strangers, the "tours", the photos, and the praise at every stop.

4) Then came enjoyment of just being with your own kind, other TD'ers who understood ya, away from the gawking crowds.

And then, a return to step #2 dreaming of building and the process repeats.

Building is half of the fun part until I get about 70% done.. then it becomes a hassle and I just want it done.

With camping, driving becomes a hassle after several long days.

But, the entire experience makes it all worthwhile.

For me, it goes back and forth depending on season and circumstances.

Building *would* have been as fun as camping, if I had any place to build. Lacking that, what I truly wanted was a way to get back to camping more often in a way that was a little more comfy than my tent.

When I found a locally available vintage SunSpot that was going for a song, then it became sort of 50/50...making the SunSpot my own as well as enjoying camping again (even if I was only able to enjoy camping in a few back fields last summer....) The more I learn about SunSpots, the more I want to learn, and the more I want to bring her back to her full purpose and glory.

Now, I'm a little heavier on the 'fixing up the camper' side, since I'm not quite healthy enough to camp (but soon, soon.) The camper will make camping possible much sooner than if I were camping in a tent, and even if I 'park' it in a nice local camping spot for awhile, it will be camping and it will be worth it!

50/50 for me. I did not build the frame on mine, I am just doing cosmetic stuff, so it is a little different for me. If I smudge paint, it is onr thing, but if I didn't put the frame together correctly, it would have been a different story.
So 50/50 : Camping / customizing.


Dianne

I see you've got this poll under control...

For me designing the teardrops is the most fun part... Yea, I'm a designer at heart...

but I enjoy building and camping too.

Mike...

I have to say the build was the fun portion of my teardrop experience.
No plan no preordained path I just wandered thru the experience to see what would turn up at the other end. There are a lot of things I will do different next time the biggest is to slow down and think a little farther down the road. I had a lot of un-do's and re-do's but the build was the fun. If I just want to camp I could just go to the campground where my 16' Ritz is setting and camp. Ah the sweet smell of sawdust !

More for the camping than the build, though I'm a builder at heart, I wanted a better way ( and easier for the lady ) to camp. The Hog has a refer, microwave, t.v., even a built in heater. It was fun to build, but I rushed it into a 3 month ordeal. I do admit, it is 100% better then a tent. I'm a shy person, so all the "lookers" that have never seen a teardrop before, would come to see it, made me alittle uneasy, but you get used to it.

I think you have to have a basic love of the outdoors and camping in it first. Without that, the trailers really don't enter the picture. That said, it's more about building and or designing something for your own individual needs and desires that adds a great deal to the experience. I have camped in tents, I have camped without tents where I had to build my own shelter out of whatever the woods provided, I have owned a tent camper, I have owned a full blown travel trailer, I have build a small trailer that was primarily used for hauling stuff and I have slept in that, but to design and build my own personal TTT will be the crown jewel of a life spent in the outdoors.