Greetings from Minnesota

[Eaganites]

Hi, I plan to purchase a teardrop and travel with my sister. She is younger and able but I am at the top of your age list and have post-polio - we used to tent camp but I am no longer able to do that.
The teardrops look like we will be able to camp again.

This is a very helpful site. I have read a lot and now am closer to knowing what I want in a teardrop. But I have not read much discussion about whether to add water tank, sink, etc. or carry a jug and dish pan. I would appreciate any experience with either.
Thanks,
Pat

[Mike_La]

Pat, Welcome to T&TTT.

Have you found a certain TD to purchase, or just looking for now?

Enjoy the forums,

Mike

[toypusher]

Pat, welcome to the board!

I have a 7 gal water tank on board with a small sink and electric pump (12volt). Something to consider in either case is that you have to have some place for the waste water to go. We have a 10 gal blue tank with wheels that we use under the tear because I put a drain in the sink. We used to use a bucket and just had to keep an eye on it.

Next tear, I want to have the water tank, but also have a 'gray water' tank for the drain to go into and then dump it at the RV dump station when we leave a campground.

[Eaganites]

I think I need to be a little clearer. I am close to buying a teardrop - reviewing several. The water issue is the choice to have the clean water tank, the gray water tank and the sink. Or skip that expense and carry water like we do when tent camping. How much trouble is it keeping the tanks clean? Is it worth having? thanks, Pat

[rebapuck]

I have a freshwater tank and sink in my TTT. No graywater tank. I've never used the tank, and the sink usually carries two water jugs. I prefer to wash dishes in a plastic dishpan outside.

Conversely, I have a two burner stove inside that I prefer to a campstove outside.

[TPMcGinty]

Welcome from a fellow Minnesotan! You should attend a St. Croix Chapter of the Tearjerkers gathering. You can look at a wide range of trailers. Another option is to travel to Camp Inn's manufactuing plant in Wisconsin and check them out. They are awesome at answering any questions you may have.

[Eaganites]

We visited the castle rock camp out last weekend but were unable to stay very long. We have been looking at the Camp-in and were at the show room tour also. Also talked to several campers and got lots of good help.

[tearhead]

Welcome to the forum! Thought you might be interested in this thread about washing dishes:

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... ing+dishes

We're newbies, too, with a Lil Traveler. We prefer the two dishpans method, but I did get a little RV dish drainer. Not strictly necessary, but it was cute!

[Eaganites]

Pat,
Thanks I thought I searched for everything that might turn up the sink question but I missed this link. This will be helpful. Pat

[Rvankeur]

Pat -
We don't own a teardrop yet, we have a pop-up trailer with the freshwater tank and the sink inside. It doesn't have an integrated gray water tank, we carry a small one.

Having said all of that - part of the reason that we're looking into teardrops is that we never use the inside of the popup for anything other than dressing and sleeping. We put water in that tank once, just to see how it worked. Even if we were in a site with a hose hookup, we wouldn't use the hose to hookup, we'd use water out on the picnic table.

One thing to think about if you include a sink/tank/gray tank is that you have to "winterize" these things at the end of the season. That isn't terribly difficult, but you do need to remember to do it. Given that you're in Minnesota, it'd be a "must do". Essentially, you blow air through the water lines and then run some non-toxic antifreeze thru them - no biggie - unless you forget and residual water in the lines freezes and expands.

My vote, when we buy or build our teardrop - no integrated water system.

[queeniejeanne]

Hey there, jugs and two dishpans with camp soap works just fine...you don't need to overthink with teardropping.....that's the beauty of camping with us.
We have a 5x10 Lil Traveler.....good luck. Queenie Jeanne

[Eaganites]

I really thought a sink was more trouble than it would be worth - and yes Minnesota is a freeze issue. We also want to travel to Rockport Tx in the winter so would be coming and going during freeze times.
Thanks for the good input. Pat

[rainman0]

Welcome Pat,
I saw in another post you said you spend winters in Rockport. Are you going this year?
We are going to Surfside on the 18th. If you care to, I would love to have you PM me,with anything you can tell me about the area. Thanks.

[mikeschn]

Pat,

Water is heavy. If you don't have to carry it, you're better off. As for the sink... keep it simple. Wash your stuff in a plastic dish pan.

Mike...

:applause: Hi, I plan to purchase a teardrop and travel with my sister. She is younger and able but I am at the top of your age list and have post-polio - we used to tent camp but I am no longer able to do that.
The teardrops look like we will be able to camp again.

This is a very helpful site. I have read a lot and now am closer to knowing what I want in a teardrop. But I have not read much discussion about whether to add water tank, sink, etc. or carry a jug and dish pan. I would appreciate any experience with either.
Thanks,
Pat

[tinytrailer]

When I purchased my teardrop, it had a water tank already installed and I asked to have it taken out. Why carry the heavy water with you? The dishpans work just fine after filling it from the hose.. If you need water nearby, buy a hose from WalMart that is made for drinking water.