Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Just finished our first camping trip with the CTC. It's been about a year since I started the CTC project. I already used it to haul my Harley Tri-Glide to Phoenix and back. It performed that task perfectly, no complaints there. I did some work here in Kansas City and some more in Phoenix before returning to Kansas City. Getting the AC installed and building out the counter in the nose were the final large tasks. I was a little concerned with the weight of the trailer versus towing capacity of my 06 Tacoma, so I downloaded and setup an account on the CAT Scales you see at the truck stops. My Tacoma has a towing capacity of 5,000 and my trailer has a payload rating of 5,220. My truck weighed 5,000 and the CTC weighed 3,800. That made me feel better. We stayed at the Custer Park Game Lodge Camping area. What a great camping site. They had electric at all of the sites, but no water/waste hookups. Suited me since I have no water hookups anyway, electric only. They had a very nice bathroom/shower house close to our campsite. Setting up for camping went good although I had to modify my plan for the awning end support. I had bought 3 tent poles from Cabella's to support and raise the far end to keep from butting my head (thanks for the idea McDave). Set them up, but every time there was even a slight breeze one or two of them would fall. Turns out I only need one in the center for it to work. Problem solved. The temps in Custer and Sturgis really have a wide range. We had 50's in the morning and 80's in the afternoon so I had a chance to run the space heater I took and the AC. We ended up sleeping with AC on low and it was very comfortable. The eTrack bed worked good after a night of getting used to it. We did find some things we can make better pretty easily such as a nightlight (that CTC is pitch black with the lights out), the counter in the nose was covered in "stuff" very quickly (moving fridge and putting shelves to address that) and we need some laundry hampers. It's all small stuff that can be easily fixed. All things considered it was a great trip and we have the CTC camping bug. Already made reservations for the same camping spot for next year. Attaching a few pictures of the campsite and some deer we had right outside our door the morning we left.

Wow -- looks like a good trip and a nice camping site! That's a nice looking camper/hauler! We also just completed our first trip after finishing the CTC. It's fun to get out there and enjoy it after all that planning and work.

Glad to hear that everything worked well, and you had a good time. I really enjoy seeing postings of people camping with their CTCs in different places and types of camping.

phoenixbound, Howdy;

Great post. great pix. Sounds like you're not to far from having your trailer
at the 89% complete stage. They never get to the 99 - 100% level, ask flboy.
, !

hank

Yea, I get the never completly done part. Always room for improvement. My wife and I talked about what worked and what didn’t work. No biggies. Just makes the non-camping time more fun. Up till now neither one of has done that much camping. Didn’t see any CTC’s in the campground except for waht looked like gooseneck conversion. It was kind of sharp. We are already scoping places in Phoenix for while we are there. All that good camping and great motorcycle rides of the Sturgis area. Great trip.

Lookin' good!

Hey phoenix,
So I don't have windows either, but I did install some 180deg peepholes like you would find in motel doors. They don't let in much light but you can see what's going on around you. I put one in the door and one in each side wall and one in front wall. Also, if you have 12volt you may want to look into porch lights. I got one that is motion activated and has a photocell so it does not come on in daylight. It also has a manual mode so it will just stay on or off if you want. You could probably find a home unit for 120v. I wired a small led light to the porch light to alert me when the light is activated, it's nice to have light when you come home at night and the inside is lit up as well. I installed Ramp/Reverse lights in back, for loading or working and they are activated by the trucks reverse lights to help backing in at night. I also installed rope LED lights around the cabin that really light it up nicely, and a couple of LED task lights for reading or working, very bright. The LEDs use very little power and make it comfortable like your living room.
Just some ideas for you.

McDave

Some great ideas. Thanks. I have a list started of stuff to get done before we use it again. Always improving.

Here are some of the items I used. Got most off ebay or amazon. This stuff is cheap but it works great and I ordered spares but 2yrs so far so good. I ran a total of 40ft (3 rolls) of strip lites in the cabin, warm white. the lites are hidden for the indirect effect, much easier on the eyes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-12V-Waterpr ... SwOh9ax0mM
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3X-12V-Wire-RF ... Swg9dZu0C~

a couple of these for task/reading lites
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RV-Interior-Si ... SwzcpbMM5V

Porch lite
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Motion-Sensor- ... 9301!US!-1

Ramp/reverse lites
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-LED-18W-12V- ... Sw1NJbNYXI

Here's a shot of the strip lites. I made some hand rails and hid the lites behind them. You can see how the light washes across the wall and lites the floor and ceiling but doesn't blind you. Both side walls and the kitchen/bar area like this and they are dimmable.




McDave

Nice lights, thanks. I am still thinking how much if any 12 volt lighting I want to add. Thinking about how we use the trailer, we will either be rolling down to the campground and back or plugged into shore power at the campground.