Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hey Everyone,

I have an old green canvas boyscout tent. It is pretty big, about 8ft deep almost 10 ft wide, almost 6 ft tall at peak and has 2.5 ft side walls.

It is a pain to set up all the ropes and stakes, but it's nice and large, plenty big for a couple cots and gear.

I figured that I would never use it again once my my teardrop is built, but after seeing some of these alternative fold out campers I have an idea.

What about building a foldout trailer frame that would fit this tent? There would be pretty much no sewing involved, because the tent is already done.

Just build some sort of folding frame that would support the canvas without any ropes or stakes etc.

Hmmm, this might be a cool set-up for the back of a pickup truck...

-
Ben

Check out www.haultent.com for a factory made tent camper like you are taliking about. I wouldn't mind to have one but at $7000.00 I don't think I could justify that. It may give you some ideas for yours. I know that I have been considering doing what you are talking about. I can't seem to find any of the canvas Boy Scout tents. They have gone to the nylon dome type now. Well good luck on yours. Post some pics if you get it together.

For one that actually pops up very quickly, look at http://www.jumpingjacktrailers.com. Unfortunately, their prices are in the same range.

GB

I saw this many years ago, seems simple enough:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/ ... Apt_Camper

bennelson wrote: I have an old green canvas boyscout tent. It is pretty big, about 8ft deep almost 10 ft wide, almost 6 ft tall at peak and has 2.5 ft side walls. . . What about building a foldout trailer frame that would fit this tent? There would be pretty much no sewing involved, because the tent is already done. Just build some sort of folding frame that would support the canvas without any ropes or stakes etc.

What you're talking about doing is EASY!

I've got a 6-1/2' wide X 16-1/2' long flat bed trailer that I use for hauling airplanes. It has a plywood bed. So, like you, I thought, what about pitching a tent on this nice, dry, trailer bed?

Only trouble is, my tent isn't a pop-up. Like your tent, it has stakes and ropes and other implements of destruction (which usually get you in the dark). A pop-up dome tent would work much easier and would need a smaller base to put it on (no ropes outside the tent).

The stakes, of course, go into holes in the ground. So why wouldn't they go into hole I bored through the plywood trailer bed?

Answer is, they do! So I laid the bottom of the tent on the trailer, then bored holes for the stakes. The tent didn't want to stand up, but the usual poles fixed that. To make it stable there are the usual ropes in tension, held by stakes. So I made holes for those stakes, too.

The procedure for setting the tent up now goes like this. Take the aircraft off the trailer. Take tent out of bag. Drop stakes through holes at edges of tent and through holes in trailer. Put the poles into the tent. Pull the set-up ropes tight, put a tent stake through the end, and drop the sharp end of the stake through the hole in the trailer bed. Add the rain fly to the tent.

FYI, I use a 2-man mountain tent that's about 7' long, 3' wide, and 3' high at the peak. The set-up ropes add about 2-1/2' more to the length and about 1' more to the width. This is a tiny, tiny tent. But you can see why a 4' x 8' teardrop would seem spacious and luxurious after using this tent for 18 years!

Hey gyro, got any pics?

There's a site that offers a trailer/tent combo. It's located here:

http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipmen ... _tent.html

I love the JEEP - trailer combo, but the tent pop-up to me isn't anything I'm looking for. The trailer itself has given me some ideas in possibly building a camping utility trailer with a chuck wagon kitchen built in the rear. No sleeping quarters though. A little unorthodox for this forum, but ........... a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

PresTx82 wrote:There's a site that offers a trailer/tent combo. It's located here:

http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipmen ... _tent.html

I love the JEEP - trailer combo, but the tent pop-up to me isn't anything I'm looking for. The trailer itself has given me some ideas in possibly building a camping utility trailer with a chuck wagon kitchen built in the rear. No sleeping quarters though. A little unorthodix for this forum, but ........... a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

One of those was at the KC RV show back in Feb 05. I don't think it was Expeditions West, but something very similar manu'd and sold in KS. Putting it up took couple of minutes as the guy was talking to us and walking around. Putting it back down, just as simple. Only problem I see, the trailer only has one use for it with little much else. You could probably throw some stuff on top of the rack, but.....

What about a TD which slides into a small utility trailer. The sides would be as wide as the wheel wells. Though the axle is centered on the decking, the TD would be longer, shaped to hang over the rails (similar to a typical slide-in camper), and would probably have to be reversed in layout with the kitchen up front for weight distribution.

Would that work for your Jeep and camping? What about the Australian designed TDs with the skid bar all around the exterior, ie exo-skeleton?
http://www.aussieteardrops.com/ There is someone on this forum from AU and has spoken up before.