When I was a kid my family camped in a tent trailer my grandfather built in the 1940s, a trailer that weighed in at about 800 pounds. So why was the Coleman trailer I had for a while 1500 plus pounds? I pulled that thing with my Outback, but probably shouldn't have. So I started looking for ultra-light trailers, only to find trailer manufacturers had a FAR different idea of ULTRA than I did. And when I did find something my car could pull, it cost nearly as much as the car!
And still needed brakes installed!
I had already gotten rid of the Coleman when it occurred to me that I could tear it down and build something new. So my first purchase will be a trailer (5x10). But for now I am looking at plans and at the posts about builds, trying to get ideas. I can't just do a pico-light teardrop, as the whole point of having a camp trailer is to get out with my 9-year old twins, so we need a bit more room. My grandmother sewed the canvas for Grandpa's trailer, and my dad sewed backpacking tents, so a tent-top or tent sides on fold-out bunks doesn't scare me, if it will keep the weight down. I even have both of their sewing machines! And I will be working evening shift at work through March, which gives me some time to start this project.
My grandfather's trailer had the door at the back, benches along the sides (cot width), and the bunks folded out to the sides and were supported with poles that attached at the bottom of the trailer frame. There were deep drawers at the back that pulled out to form the kitchen, an ice box in one, dry food, pots and pans, plates and flatware, etc, in the other. The Coleman stove had its own table, or sat on the picnic table at our camp site. Under the benches in the trailer was storage, with sliding pannels for access. It was all very efficient, and I see many similar ideas in the teardrops here and from Grandpa's day. My grandparents had 3 kids, though, so my aircraft-builder grandpa built his own camper to fit--one child on one wing, one on a bench, one on the floor, and a platform over the other bench to make a double-bed sized level for him and Grandma. When my parents married and had 3 children, Grandpa gave them the trailer (he was Mom's dad), and my brothers and I developed a strict rotation so one kid was never on the floor two nights in a row. I was on the floor one night, though, when a bear was sniffing around the icebox drain outside, and then reared up and put his paws on the side of the tent just above my feet. Fortunately our screams and my dad's shouting scared him off before he did any damage.
Yup, I want to create happy memories like that for my children!
Catherine[/i]
...I guess it's a challenge for most of us...at least those of us who might be guilty of overpacking. 
