Family of four - how long before you outgrew your build??

[nelsonrx]

Happy Monday everyone! Five years ago I built a modified widget thinking it would be plenty big enough for me, my wife, and our then 2 year old. Fast forward to 2020 and we now have a 7 year old and 4 year. I"m sitting her debating whether it's worth trying to reconfigure the inside to accommodate our ever increasing packing load (e.g. clothes, toys, jackets, etc), do major surgery and make the camper longer (currently 6' wide x 10
long), or just bite the bullet and build a bigger one...or worse yet, buy something already made. I haven't seen much talk on this forum about progression of the camper over time with a growing family and I thought this would be an interesting topic to open up.

With that being said, especially for those of you who camp in your teardrop with your kids, how many of you are still using the same build 2 years later? 5 years later? Still using it after the kids think it's not cool to camp with mom/dad anymore?

If you're still using it, have you had to make any big modifications over the years to accommodate the increase in packing necessities or just the fact that what started out as small kids are now growing into full size humans?! Pictures pictures pictures please!!!!

[Modstock]

There are a few trailers with your same scenario in the "cargo conversion" section with some great ideas.

Also keep an eye of what exactly you dont use during your trips and slowly remove that stuff in secret. They wont even notice. Winter is best.

Sent from my H1611 using Tapatalk

[lfhoward]

My wife and I don't have kids but we are active godparents to a 14 & 13 year old (birthday yesterday!!!) who want to camp. Our trailer is only big enough for my wife and me, but we were thinking about expanding our living space with an awning room. The girls could have their sleeping bags and stuff in the awning room, and they would be close enough to talk to us through the trailer window should they need anything. It would be bug free and a little more cozy than having them pitch their own tent. When they get older I'm sure they'll be fine in tents and want the privacy. The most logistically challenging time is probably between when they are small enough to sleep in the camper and when they're old enough to sleep in a tent!

[Dahlia47]

MInd you, my kids are 24 and 16. And we didn't build ours, we modified it.
I added a bunk for 16 yr old. Going on 2 + years and it still holds her. If you can add 2 bunks for your kiddos, it might still fit them in the years to come. The bunk I added for my 16 yr old, can also come down. It's not permanent. So when she thinks it's not cool to camp with us anymore, I can take it down. No sweat. I'll post a pic of ours and the video that gave me the idea when I find it. So so so simple!
Now my 25 yr old, he's not a camper. He hates the outdoors. Sigh... But when he does decide to go with us, I carry 2 extra tents with me. One was my brother's when he was a kid and passed down to my son when he was a kid. Darn! I just realized that tent is going on 20 years old! LOL! The other is for whoever joins us. And the floor of the travel trailer will accommodate 2 people. Although half there body will be under our bed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9ArgHs ... x=48&t=83s

On my daughters, I used steel pipe. Instead of cloth, I used plywood. More sturdy. I also put curtains for her. I have some pics on here showing her bunk. I'll look. I also use her bunk for storing blankets and pillows.

I also forgot, I always told my kids, you have a one backpack for your stuff. What you bring with you, you carry it. You're responsible for your stuff. My dad was the same with us when we were younger.

heres the link with the bunk. Its not the best pic, but I cant post pics from this computer.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71834

[green1]

I have a 5yo, I built a bunk for her across our feet when I got the trailer 1.5 years ago. I figure it will last her until she's too tall for it (54") which I expect will be around age 7 or 8. At that point I'm expecting to either build a new trailer (already plans spinning through my head) or see if she's ready for a tent beside us. I figure the tent idea will work great if she brings a friend at that age, but I'm less confident it will work well with just her.