Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello. I'm new to the forum, but I've spent all night reading postings. Let me give you the background, and then my question...

Last month I bought a Pace Outback 6x10 trailer to haul outdoor movie equipment for my hobby, which is backyard drive-in parties. (Big inflatable 20' projection screen, blower, speakers, popcorn machine, generator, etc.) There's nothing really wrong with it except it's too big to fit in my garage. I live in Maryland and around here, it's about $100/month to store it in an e-z store-type place.

At the same time, my family and I have discovered we like camping. We have an REI six-person Base Camp tent, Coleman camp stove, all the necessary things. My wife and I, our two kids (6 & 9) and all of our stuff really fill up my diesel SUV (AKA tow vehicle).

So I've been thinking... wouldn't it be cool to have a cargo trailer that would double as a camper? Get twice the work out of it, etc. I'm sure I'm talking to the right people here.

I've put the one-month old trailer up on Craigslist, and hopefully it will be sold after tonight. So now I'm putting together a list of what I want for its replacement.

Which leads me to the first question: Should I have the height of the trailer lowered to fit in my garage, and what are the drawbacks to doing so? My garage door will open no more than 81", AND I have a sloped driveway up to it. I've been looking at 5x8 and 6x10 Pace American Journey trailers to replace the Outback. The 5x8 is exactly 81" (59" interior height) without the roof vent cap, and the 6x10 is worse, about 89" (65" interior height).

I can have a custom-built trailer lowered to fit, but how annoying will it be to have a 53" interior height? (I'm 5'9" and my wife is 5'4".) We don't want to store the trailer permanently in my garage, but it would be nice to stash it there for a week at a time. The alternative is the same as what we have now -- it would have to be stored elsewhere.

Can anyone offer insight into whether I'm going to hate a reduced-height trailer? Thanks in advance.

How about the 5x8 with low profile tires??

I'm also looking at getting the torsion axles instead of the default spring axles, and as you said, smaller tires. The problem is that I've measured the garage door opening 25 times, and it's exactly 81". (I can get another 1/2" to 1" by pushing really hard on the door). With the slope of the driveway I don't think it will make it, and it would be crushing to order the trailer and have it not fit by inches. That's why I was thinking 6" lower in the 5x8, and 12" lower in the 6x10. I also can't forget that the roof vent adds 3".

If you have a standard automatic roll-up garage door, you can sometimes get a few extra inches by disconnecting the door from the track (usually via the little rope handle). This may buy you the room you need.

Along the lines of lower tires.....could you let out enough air to lower it and get it in? Then keep your air compressor handy for when you want to roll it out??
Probably not good for the tires. BTW.....what a fun hobby-backyard drive-in parties.! We'd love to have you come to one of our gatherings some time!
TDN

Diesel SUV... is that the Toureg?

Mike...

I grew up in Bowie. We lived in a house with a tilted driveway. You live in the 'K' section of Bowie (K for Kenilworth)? Our house was on the back side next to the playground on Kingsley Lane.

Since you have a SUV, get a box and put it on top of the SUV. Let the backend of the SUV and the box represent your trailer and its height. You back it in to demonstrate your need for height on the trailer. Don't cut it to inch of space since its only a rough representation and the axle reference to the length of the trailer and the tongue height/location will influence all pirameters. Though it will give you an idea. You could also extend the cardboard beyond the back of the SUV (ie an extension) just make it reference to the location of the back of the trailer to the axle.

Thanks for asking -- we live in the newer "A" section south of Route 50,
near 301. The boxtop for the SUV is a great idea. I'll give it a try -- it will answer a bunch of questions.

I asked the Pace American rep at the Indiana factory about the torsion axle -- they said it would lower a trailer about 4".