Greetings from Monroe, North Carolina

[autocannon]

Howdy folks!

My name is Mike and I used to like camping. That was back when I was just a single guy and I could just throw a tent, sleeping bag and some camp food into the car and go. Now that I'm married to a wonderful woman and father to a 3 year old boy, camping is a much bigger ordeal. We like camping, it's just that when we do go now the prep is dreadful. We've got to bring the cooking supplies, air mattress, cooler, food, ice, kitchen sink and Mount Rushmore with us. I started thinking, why not buy a camper? Then I started looking at small campers and frankly we can't afford one, and we can't pull one. That's when I saw a teardrop. That rabbit hole led me here.

Now I'm reading, thinking, even learning how to use Sketchup. I've got a lot more reading to do before I start my design but we would like to build something that will sleep my wife and I and our son. My son is growing like a weed so my design has to have some future proofing in that area. My wife loves to cook so when she saw some of the galley designs in the Hall of Fame her eyes lit up.

Looking forward to learning and I'll try to document our build from concept to campground.

[daveesl77]

We have been campers all our lives, everything from tents to big RV to travel trailers, pop-up trailers, slide-in truck campers, back to tent and finally found what fits our needs best...the teardrop/tiny travel trailer.

We have always known that the majority of the stuff we bring relates to sleeping, eating and a place to get out of really bad weather. But most of our camping time is spent outside. We initially saw some teardrops a few years back up at Glacier, but they were just too small for us. We then found a build that a family did - 2 adults and a pre-teen- using the HF 4x8 trailer expanded to fit the family. We then found this site, then attended our first teardrop gathering back in February and that settled it for us. We'd build what we wanted. Nice permanent bed fixture on a platform, a pull out galley, plus lots of storage. Easy to tow, reduced my truck's gas mileage by 1 mpg on the highway on a 2,800 mile trip. Absolutely weatherproof and enough room to sit up if wanted. Plus room for our old beagle to hang out and not be in the way.

Granted, it is only 2 of us, but the size of the trailer was almost the same as the one the family built for 3 and could be for 4. Actually, to turn ours into a family sleeper would only mean to remove the front cabinets and replace with bunk type beds.

So look around, find a trailer gathering in your area and see what others are doing.

dave