Where do you keep all your gear?

[beverlyt]

Just curious.

We keep all our gear inside the teardrop. Chairs, tables, tents, bedding, etc.

When the granddaughter comes over for the weekend and wants to "campout" in the teardrop, I have to move everything to our "other" trailer.

I've been thinking if we were traveling and wanted to just pull in a parking lot to sleep, we'd have to transfer stuff to the tow vehicle first.

Is this pretty much what everyone does?

Bev

[tdthinker]

Like I have told many others in my design my bed is only a queen at 5 wide but my tear will be 6'8 so I will have about 13 inches of storage in a big u shaped cabnet that will have shelves, cabnets, and drors(however spelt). and 2 book shelves at the top of the bed with a reach through hitch box. The kitchen will have a ton of space to so I will never really be able to fill it all up. And at 13 inches deep it should be able to hold about anything.

[Chip]

Bev,,I think thats pretty much it,,Donna and I have started putting together "tha stuff" and already the propane tank, firewood, and cooler are in the truck bed,,the cabin behind the headboard is for tent, chairs, and if any room left anything else there is not room for,,

now ya getting me wondering if I need to add on,,roof rack????

thanks a lot Bev!!!!!!!!!!
chip

[beverlyt]

Chip,
Hee-Hee, you're welcome!!

I don't have any closets or storage room in my tiny trailer for big items.
(I do have a footwell that didn't work for the inside table and wasn't quite wide enough for the spare tire!) I store lots of small stuff in there.

Storing everything on top of the mattress is ok if we're never going to use it except when we plan on a camping trip where there is no need to unpack until we arrive...

I guess if we had plans to stop and sleep somewhere along the way we would just have to transfer everything to the vehicle. Though a roof rack..hmmmm
HEY!!! THANKS A LOT!!!!

Bev

[twc3]

Bev,

I have found this to be accurate. I have traveled with the Tear many times this summer and have found myself strategically packing so I have little to remove off the bed when I arrive at a sleeping destination. I found that Rubbermaid tubs work fairly well because you can slide them under the trailer and they will still keep things dry if it rains. I also have a larger vehicle than the Beetle that helps. In 1998 I got the 21st new Beetle in our area (Just fresh off the waiting list). I traded it for the Explorer I currently have mainly because the bug was too small for my family I aquired shortly following. None the less I still have the Explorer and I still have issues with space.

Good luck with strategic packing.

[campadk]

Bev,

We used to store pretty much everything in the tear... chairs, small coffee chairs, tarp poles, portable 12V/AC battery, 3rd bike etc etc. Plus I'd fill the front tongue box with lots of stuff.

Recently though I stopped in at a weight scale and had them weight the tear. 948lbs plus about 115lb tongue weight... thats 1063 lbs!! Dry weight of the trailer is about 735lbs. Didn't realize just how much extra all that stuff weighed.

Anyways our PT Cruiser is rated for 1,000lbs, 100lbs tongue so I think we are pushing it (plus canoe and 2 bikes on top of the PT). Now we try to lighten the load and simply put the chairs, poles, all the heavy stuff in the back of the PT (lots of room anyways).

Anyways the point is that if you have a smaller tow vehicle you may well want to try to lighten up on the gear in your tear.

I agree with twc3. Its nice not too have the tear too full on arrival, and your less likely to bang up the inside. Besides, we often are 'called to duty' and give tours of the tear on demand when we stop for gas and what not, so its nice to have an orderly cabin to show.

[beverlyt]

Hi Dave,
Thank goodness I don't camp with bikes or boats. I'd REALLY be in trouble then!!
Thanks for all the advice!

Towing with the bug, I have really tried to keep the weight down. With everything packed, I figure the trailer weighs about 865 pounds or so. I've strayed away from even an EZ-UP or the like, since they seem to weigh quite abit!
I'm not storing the spare tire on the tongue as I had first planned, since the tongue weight is already at 95 pounds.

Any gear I've bought, I look closely at weight. Some of our gear I could transfer to the bug. We've made trips to Tennessee and it's amazing how much one can pack in with the back seats vacant and available for storage. I think I'll take the idea of packing some smaller things in containers for neatness and putting some of the bigger things inside the bug, such as both our pop-up tents. They both fold into a small circle that I can fit inside the car.

I do want the teardrop to appear nice and neat when people want to look at it too!

Bev

[OurStuff4You]

We use the "Rubbermaid" containers quite a bit too. I have a small ones with medical emergency supplies in it, one with small clothing items (socks, undies, etc.), one with those small items that always get lost (alarm clock, business cards, handy-talkies, etc.) and so on. Bigger ones if needed for other items. Our kitchen area held a lot, so pots & pans, etc. all went in there. Pull the big tubs out, pull out chairs and EZ Up and we're ready to go. System worked out really well for us.

Rhonda