Rec Trailer - Anyone Have One?

[Swacer]

My wife and I are trying to get into camping, and with our plans of a cross country trip next year, we debated on a camping trailer.

Now, we are not big campers, we simply want something small that can allow us to go out somewhere, camp for a day or two, sleep in a nice bed, have AC or heat, and then go home.

We also figured, going across the country, this would work to allow us to stop places along the way, camp where we'd like, and then pick up and get quickly moving.

So I started looking into this:

Timberleaf Teardrop Trailers - Tiny Trailers - Tiny Travel Trailers

Does anyone know anything about this company? Any experience? Any well reputable companies that offer something similar?

Also, to anyone who does have something like this, this one comes with a modified queen size bed. What is the comfort level in it? It would be my wife, myself, 2 dogs for the next year or two (which we fit in a queen size bed fine every night), but with a kid down the road....space becomes a slight concern.

 

[Forest RnR]

My wife and I have tried lots of different camping: tent, tent trailer (like a jumping jack) and this year we got a TC Teardrops 5'x10' ORE:

TC Teardrop Camping Trailers

We have camped in it twice this summer. It has a verlo foam mattress, close to queen size, just a few inches shorter. I'm 6'0", wife is 5'2" and we have a 28.5lb beagle, we all fit fine. My wife and I both get better sleep in the trailer than our regular bed (time for a new mattress). The model we have 5'x10' with the ORE package has matching tires as our runner 265/70R17 and Todd at TC matched the lug pattern on the trailer so all wheels/tires are the same size/pattern. There is an A/C option, but we didn't choose that. We also got the lock and roll hitch, it's awesome for off road use:
https://locknroll.com/
We love our teardrop, it's the most fun we have had camping. you do have to be mindfull of what you bring, but if you are into having a smaller footprint (not a huge toy hauler thing) it can be nearly perfect. Let me know if you have any questions. Pictures:

 

[Titanpat57]

make your own...

don't be a skinny jeans, flannel shirt, I got a beard, metro sexual hipster that can't do shit other than defrag a hard drive....buy some godamn beer ,go get some tools and build something...

 

[Forest RnR]

OR.. evaluate your skill set, figure out the value of your own time and pay a professional, but I've heard it both ways...

Anywhooo, here is the galley (we kept it basic):
and the cabin:


Edit:Forgive the mess, these pics are from our first trip and we were still figuring things out.

 

[Zonie Taco]

make your own...

don't be a skinny jeans, flannel shirt, I got a beard, metro sexual hipster that can't do shit other than defrag a hard drive....buy some godamn beer ,go get some tools and build something...

Thats pretty bad ass. Do you wheel with that?

 

[Jetboy]

That looks like a great setups Forest!

I'm closing in on finishing my home built teardrop. I went a bit bigger with a 6x10. It's been a bit of a PITA at times, but I have a 4x8' CNC router I built that has been really useful for cutting all the panels. I also built the trailer to use FJ Cruiser wheels kinda like yours with the Toyota wheels. If I finish it this weekend it will have taken 5 weekends of work. Plus random time designing before here and there. I'm guessing I'll spill into a 6th weekend finishing out the interior. I also lost about 2 full days of work messing with independent air suspension with unit bearings that I decided to scrap in the end. I'll probably go back and finish it and install at some point, but it was getting ridiculously time consuming to do so I stopped and just put a regular trailer axle in for now.

 

[Forest RnR]

That's awesome Jetboy! Can't wait to see it finished. My Mrs and I considered building our own, I do have some mechanical aptitude from owning VW's for years, and an IH Scout, but decided we don't have time and didn't want to wait that long.

 

[Titanpat57]

Thats pretty bad ass. Do you wheel with that?

Thanks Zonie

I've had it off road a few times...the killer is the side to side, don't want to bounce it off trees.

It tracks perfectly behind the truck...in 4lo...you don't even know it's there, which I attribute to the large wheels. It's heavy enough loaded to take advantage of using the brake controller to slow you down.

 

[Titanpat57]

plus...if your wheels don't match the TV...you automatically lose 10 points..

 

[Jetboy]

Looking back - I probably would have bought a small camper or scaled it down to a 5x8 kinda size. I'll have about $4,000 into it and I could probably find a decent used small RV trailer for around that price and not have spent half of my summer building it. I'm going to finish it out pretty nice with a 12v fridge, A/C, lights, cabinets, sink and cook top and a small pull out porta potty (That door on the bottom of the side). So I spent a little more than I needed to. But all the little stuff like weather strips a custom size RV door and such really adds up. I built it with the intent of towing with our RX350 90% of the time so it's not really an off-roader.

 

[Titanpat57]

Looking back - I probably would have bought a small camper or scaled it down to a 5x8 kinda size. I'll have about $4,000 into it and I could probably find a decent used small RV trailer for around that price and not have spent half of my summer building it. I'm going to finish it out pretty nice with a 12v fridge, A/C, lights, cabinets, sink and cook top and a small pull out porta potty (That door on the bottom of the side). So I spent a little more than I needed to. But all the little stuff like weather strips a custom size RV door and such really adds up. I built it with the intent of towing with our RX350 90% of the time so it's not really an off-roader.

Check out the Thetford Curve if it fits..no pumping. It's my 3rd one and I really like it. The next camper I build will have a built in cassette

 

[hscoots]

Just throwing some names out there, as far as off-roading teardrop trailers goes.
TerraDrop: Off Road Capable, Overland -inspired Teardrop Trailer. Built for Adventure! - Oregon Trail'R - Teardrop Trailers and Accessories
TC Teardrop Camping Trailers
5x8 Off-Road Deluxe - Hiker Trailer

Premium ones
So-Cal Teardrops - Off-Road Trailers
Moby1 Expedition Trailers LLC

I personally own a 5x9 off road version of TC teardrop, I think it was the cheapest I found with decent capabilities I was looking for. Have camped about 20+ nights on it and been pretty happy with it.

 

[e60ral]

I'm trying to find a fleetwood neon (or something similar) to buy

 

[Jetboy]

For those who have them - I'm building my kitchen tomorrow. My intention is to be exactly like the following pictures except for the TV.

What would you change about the layout if you could. I haven't built any cabinet boxes yet so I've got a clean slate. I do already have the sink/cook top and fridge in boxes. So those must fit somewhere.

 

[Forest RnR]

Jetboy the only advice I have is the more storage, the better, especially for stays longer than 2 or 3 days. Also as you get the trailer into the back country everything moves at least a little, so tie down or containers are very handy in the galley.

hscoots- Nice TC!!

For anyone considering a Moby; I have have seen them in person, and they are impressive, but i'm pretty sure our 5x10 would go anywhere a Moby would, and for way less $$...doesn't make the Moby less bad ass though and some of the options are pretty amazing.

 

[Swacer]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I am not a "builder" of sorts, so mine being produced by someone else is my preference. I am however very interested in the models that come with a kitchenette in the back, which seems to limit a lot of the options.

Also, with no on really saying anything about it, I take it that no one has heard of the company I linked to, is that correct?

 

[hscoots]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I am not a "builder" of sorts, so mine being produced by someone else is my preference. I am however very interested in the models that come with a kitchenette in the back, which seems to limit a lot of the options.

Also, with no on really saying anything about it, I take it that no one has heard of the company I linked to, is that correct?

I have heard of them, but that's about it. Looks like well built trailer, but bit expensive for my taste. If my budget were in 13-15k range, I would probably go for the Oregon trailer out of Salem, I just love how well built they look.

 

[flyrv9]

Being close to the sink - I'd make that outlet a GFI one. Doesn't look like the one in the pic is.

 

[SSDuck8]

Check out mine in my signature. It is a little guy rough rider 5 wide. It has a queen size bed, I have the A/C and have done many things with it

 

[SSDuck8]

here it is with my FJ