Aloha from Sacramento

[DragonFire]

I have to confess: I don't have a teardrop. And my trailer is hardly tiny: I have an 18 1/2 ft 1972 Aristocrat Starliner.

I love vintage trailers. I love all the vintage stuff you can add to them to make them even more authentic. But I have had to face reality...my trailer is too big for me to handle alone.

I have always thought teardrops were interesting...they are half way between full-on RVs and tent camping. Easy to take with you, and provide a warm room for sleeping, unlike a tent. You can lock up your gear inside while gone. The kitchen area I honestly don't quite get, but I guess instead of using an end of your picnic table you use the back of your trailer instead. Unless you have a hook up to power, then you could have a full-on kitchen (?)

I was given my Starliner free 6 years ago. I was working on restoring it when I moved 100 miles inland. I have had shoulder surgery in the mean time and just don't think I can handle restoring my rig. I have boxes of awesome 70's vintage stuff for my trailer. It's going to be hard to let it go...and only to someone who will restore her to original condition (the counters and appliances are awesome avocado green and in perfect condition! As is the 'wood' paneling!)

Four years ago, after shoulder surgery, I realized another life-long dream: I bought a Vespa motorscooter. Scootering has become a major part of my life, but scooter camping is not easy. You really strip down to bear necessities. I would rather tow the scooter, or put her in the back of a truck, but then that means moteling it at camping rallies. Not fun.

I saw someone 2 years ago at our camping rally (I belong to a scooter club) with a teardrop..ideal setup. And light enough to tow with a small truck. But I wasn't ready to give up the big rig...

I want to find out more about teardrops. I saw a picture on a scooter board of a Little Guy Sport...platform for a scooter in the front, teardrop in the back. Easier than putting the scoot in the bed of the truck, and I'd have a bedroom for camping in. There must be other setups similar..but I want to learn more. I have tent camped all my life, but I'd rather have a warmer place to sleep..and I like the security of having a place to lock stuff up. And teardrops look cool...just like Vespas.

So that is why I'm here. I am interested and want to know more before I buy. I love camping. I love my scooter. I love vintage stuff. I want to roll all that together and take it on the road!

[S. Heisley]

Welcome, DragonFire:

Yes, Little Guy makes an elongated tongue on some of their teardrops that is used for special hauling needs. You'd have to ask them if they would recommend putting a teardrop on it; I don't know how much weight it is meant to hold.

I believe that it is even possible to build a small, light weight teardrop that the scooter can pull. There are a few that have been made here that might have worked for you. Just take a look around the build and design threads and you'll probably find them.

[DragonFire]

Thanks for the tips! Little Guy makes a tear that you can load scooters, motorcycles or a quad on the front of.

http://www.golittleguy.com/teardrops/mo ... ide-sport/

It would certainly hold my Vespa. I would like to see one of these in person, I don't know if they are, um, cheesy, or not. Hopefully they will be at an RV show here in Sacto in January. I don't want to drive to Fresno (a few hundred miles) for a peek.

Building a tear is interesting. I'll look at the platforms again and see if this platform is available. I want a pretty stripped down tear...I don't need an mp3 player, TV, etc. A bed, some lighting inside, I want to run some solar lights somehow, a place in the kitchen for one of my ice chests, camp stove, lantern, and whatever kitchen stuff I need (percolator, pots and pans, etc.)

My main concern with the Little Guy is getting rocks kicked up from the truck and hitting my scooter. So I need to figure out some kind of guard to go on the front of the trailer.

Where is the section where people show off their trailers? I was looking for a photo area for that last night and couldn't find it. Is it the Hall of Fame? Or are those just the cram of the crop guys? I looked at camping pictures from AZ and other rallies...beautiful rigs everyone!!! Even the crazy Packers tear!!!

[nevadatear]

So I assume you saw either Tupelosue or Lee's teardrop at a scooter ralley as they both have them and do the scooter stuff in northern Cali. Sue is headed to burning man with her's this week.

[46Kit]

That Little Guy seems like overkill for just one scooter, looks like you could fit 6 scooters onto that platform!

I was thinking about a rig like you describe as I wanted to bring my Heinkel scooter along when camping. Actually, I have a truck so I could bring it anyway, but if I had the truck already full of vintage race bikes then I would need a place to carry my pit bike! Well as luck would have it I ended up with an original '46 Kit Kamper so I will not be carrying anything substantial on the tongue of my rig and will need to figure out some other method to carry 3 bikes... Maybe the pit bike will go on the front bumper?

At any rate, for your application and if you only want to haul a single scooter you will not need much extension of the frame, maybe 2 feet. You will want to make sure that the tongue is long enough that your scooter will not get pinched by the tow vehicle in tight turns, though.

Another factor to contend with will be axle location vs. tongue weight. People with more experience than me could tell you what the exact ratio should be, but I know that the weight being supported at the tongue should only be a fraction of the whole package. Your scooter will be adding roughly 250 lbs and it will be carried fairly far forward. Most likely you'll need to move the axle further forward on the frame to compensate for this additional weight on the tongue. You'll also want to make sure your re-located wheel/fender combo does not interfere with door openings, too. Depending upon where the axle ends up smaller wheels may be the solution. Nothing insurmountable, but a few things to think about for your build.

So are you in Burgundy Topz S.C. or Royal Bastards S.C.? (or maybe the Sneaky Devils S.C., I can't tell from your post if you're a guy or a gal???) I'm in the San Francisco Motorcycle Club and we have strong ties with a few scooter clubs so lots of friends in the scooter scene. As a matter of fact my Heinkel came from Sacto, it belonged to Norm from the Topz!

Whatever, get yourself a teardrop and get to enjoying it ASAP!

Regards-HW

[DragonFire]

My Vespa is a 250 and weighs over 350. So it's not like I'm hauling a bitty scoot on it. It's not a moped for sure. It would be easier for me to load the scoot on the front of the tear instead of the bed of the truck. I thought that if Little Guy made their sport model specifically to carry a quad or motorcycles, then they figured out the tongue weight issue. Adding some kind of guard to keep from getting my scoot dinged won't add such a large amount of weight to unbalance it...esp. since I'm only loading up one scooter. With Vespa hips (they are hard to load on typical motorcycle trailers due to the width of the cowls!)

I'm still checking out options at this point. I want a tear. I want to haul my scoot. If I'm not camping she will go in the truck bed. If I can camp, then she will hopefully go on the tear. I'm concerned about putting a carrier on the back of the tear due to unbalancing the weight. Besides, 250s are a pain to get on those hitch carriers from what I hear. Especially me doing it by myself. it's going to be a bit of a challenge no matter what I do!

RBSC. Not a Topper, BTW.

[DragonFire]

And I'm a girl. Which is what the whole problem is. If I was a guy I could load my scoot on easily. But I'm kinda not beefy, so I've gotta find the easy way to get things done if I want them done.

I would love to build a tear...but the things you pointed out were what concerned me. It's an odd thing, and adding that weight to the tongue would unbalance the whole thing and potentially make it dangerous. Which is why I was leaning toward Little Guy, unless someone else makes one. I want to see one in person before I commit to anything (says the commitment-phobe!)

So there are a couple vintage scooter/tear drop people here, huh? Interesting.

[LarryJ]

Take a trip up to Auburn and check these guys out.

http://www.americanriversales.com/

I was just up there a couple weeks ago and they had a model that should fit what you are looking for on their lot.

[46Kit]

Oh, I've seen some fellas struggle pretty mightily when loading their bikes, too. There are some very long folding aluminum ramps available for 4x4 trucks with tall beds. The longer the ramp the easier it is to get the scoot into the bed of your truck. I know one guy with a tall truck that has two ramps one for the bike and one for him to walk up as he loads. Maybe it would make more sense to figure out an easier way to load your scoot into the truck and just go with a traditional style teardrop?

I still think that Little Guy is overkill for your application, esp. in light of your comments about wanting to keep things minimal. The 6-Wide Sport has a curb weight of +1,500 lbs. LOA of 17' for Pete's sake! I think my Kit tips in around 600 lbs. and <12' LOA...

There are tools available to calculate tongue weight and balance point:

http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear81.htm

I didn't take the time to figure out how to work this calculator because I found an ABB trailer (already been built! ) prior to becoming involved with a build project, but is sure looks like they've got all the angles covered.

If you think it's more than you want to tackle yourself I'm sure you could get one of the many constructors in NorCal to build a trailer to your specification. I hear good things about the Lil' Bear Tag-Alongs out of Redding.

There are a few scootin' teardroppers here. I heard that some were headed up to your club's rally in Coloma weekend before last, but maybe they ended up not making it for some reason? Bunch of us are planning to bring our tears and scoots to the Ocean Cove gathering in early October, get it together and come join us!

Regards-HW

[DragonFire]

I have already been thinking of how I'll get the scoot in the truck...because that's what I'll get first...which is a whole new can of worms...Some say avoid Chevy, others say the same about Ford. Looking for a small used truck, 6 cyl is what has been suggested for ease of pulling a tear up a hill (like to Tahoe)..Or course Toyota would be ideal, but it's way more expensive than American. And I'm not sure all American vehicles are bad. I've actually heard we make some dang good trucks.

Any suggestions from anyone out there are welcome. Not looking for anything fancy, but would like to find one with the extended cab just so I could carry stuff like groceries and lock it up inside while I make other stops.

So...getting the scoot in the bed of the truck. Someone said get a wide ramp..easier to load the scoot on, I guess there is room for the scoot and me? I was thinking of finding the longest ramp I could, hopefully not horribly skinny, and getting the scoot up on that. My driveway is sloped, so that helps. A friend of mine who owns a motorcycle/scooter shop in the area tried to load my scoot into his truck in my driveway using his ramp..but couldn't do it so moved to the street. It still seems like it would work somehow. And my scoot would be more protected in the bed.

I really don't like the way the little guy looks with the platform in front. The inside seems really small from what I can see...almost a token sleeping area. I've seen in tears before, and they are cozy, but you don't need a shoehorn to get in and out. I'm 5'8" and 125 lbs, so I don't need a lot of room, but I don't want to feel like a sardine, either.

I want to go to a teardrop show/camping trip or something so I can see what is out there, what can be modified, what I like and what I don't like. I know I don't need a stinkin' TV! I don't even watch the one in the house!

I'll look up the tear place in Redding. I have family there and maybe I'll have to go visit and look at teardrops. I just checked the site for American River tears in Auburn. Might be a good place to stop on my way to pick up my 70's COLEMAN stove I have stored there (now I have to get a Dutch oven...have 2 solar ovens, though!!)

And, yeah, the Little Guy looked like the Long Long Trailer to me! I didn't realize some tears were so light! 600lbs? wow!!! I didn't realize 1500 lbs was heavy for a tear.

I just need to be exposed to more tears...what is the average size of a teardrop? I know there are tons of them out there, mostly homemade, so it varies. The T@b is huge. Don't want something like that. I have seen much smaller wood ones (but aren't they heavy??) that are a nice size cabin for reading and sleeping, with a nice little galley area.


In short....HELP!!!! I'm not stuck on the Little Guy...it seems like a not quite right teardrop. Just wouldn't look right with a group of 'real' tears.


Besides...I want a vintage look...I have all that stuff from the 70's from my Aristocrat! Might as well have an 'Avocado' or "Alligator Pear" tear!!

[DragonFire]

Ohh...just found the 'perfect tear' sticky...5x10 sounds like it's the golden number! I want it to be 'cute'...hopefully I can find a rig that will be good for me...but first..the truck, which needs t be able to pull the tear with a Vespa in the bed...


Then, serious tear shopping!!!

[The Teardrop Nanny]

O.K., DF, are you real??? This isn't a spoof..?... cuz you have just fallen in with the right group! WOW...as I read through your posts it was as though you read our minds...

Scooter, dutch oven, Coleman owner, trailer restorer, vintage items......You speak our language(s) . WELCOME! Check out the link below for the IRG and you are certainly welcome to come check out the tears there. Also, you can rent a teardrop to try out. Whether you build or buy, I recommend a five wide if you do get one Happy trails, Joanie
The Teardrop Nanny

[46Kit]

All I've got to say is: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/ctd/2566958435.html and http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rvs/2567932968.html will have you camping this weekend for under $5k...

Regards-HW

[DragonFire]

That truck is a gas guzzler!!! Wow! But the whole thing is mighty tempting!!

Must resist impulse buy!!!

[DragonFire]

Nevadatear:

I saw Lee's teardrop at our rally in Tahoe 2 years ago. Haven't seen Suellen's. Lee is the one who directed me to this site. I blame it all on him!

Actually, I have always thought teardrops were a great idea...but I was always concerned about theft...

They are so perfect to go with scooters...

and I camped several years ago outside Portland in a tent. Kinda forgot it's a rainforest. I stayed dry, but the tent was soaked. And that was just from the fog, mist, whatever. I was so thankful that my Dad always told me to keep things from touching the inside of the tent...forgot why, but remembered quickly when my duffel was still dry and only a bit of my sleeping bag!

Decided then that there is a need for a trailer..

and teardrops fit the bill! I was camping at Mackerracher in Fort Bragg and someone had a tent trailer with a big mosquito enclosure...they were totally isolated from the rest of the group by hanging out in that thing all the time...I think camping is about being outside and enjoying being with friends, and relaxing. I could sit inside at home!! But a tear would give me a nice place to sleep without fog and noise, and a clean place to cook meals. Other that that it's like tent camping, right? Just more comfy!