Let's talk Teardrop Trailers

Along the lines of the Conqueror brand is VMI Offroad. They a few models, the Canyon would probably be the best for a Tacoma:

http://www.vmioffroad.com/products/...ers/xtender-adventure-offroad-trailers-3.html

I'm not a personal fan of the guy who owns VMI, but I have had a chance to see their work and it is good quality.

 

I have no life..

https://www.offgridtrailers.com/
https://www.gnomealittle.com/gnome-trailers/

 

If you're glad you found this thread wait til you take a look down this rabbit hole:

http://www.tnttt.com/viewforum.php?f=55&sid=071b39de4d9cc8a5f7863eea1ff9f3c0

All about building teardrops out of foam. They deal mostly with what they call PMF (Poor Man's Fiberglass), which is a coating of canvas sealed with paint, but there are some builders doing fiberglass over foam. The basic structures are the same and a lot will carry over. For what it's worth, my trailer is larger than the average teardrop with a body length of 10'. The body is plywood/foam, the outside is a heavier aluminum skin, I have a heavy wheel/tire combo, and I built the frame so that someone could hook up to the back and tow the trailer and truck out of being stuck. Empty it weighs in right around 1400lbs, loaded up and ready to camp it's probably closer to 1800, but I also bring cast iron cookware and travel with spouse and two kids. The loaded weight is also a bit of speculation based off of carrying everything to the trailer, it might be a bit more or less but I'm usually having too much fun to stop at a scale and see what it actually comes in at.

 

Thanks for sharing the thread. I’m not familiar with that forum, but I look forward to checking it out. My idea is to use foam, glass cloth and resin, which is what many homebuilt aircraft are made out of. When done right, it’s very light and very rigid. My thought is to use wood plugs glassed into the foam where things are to be bolted (i.e. fenders) and to have wooden frames for the doors and windows also glassed in. The foam should also provide excellent insulation for the interior of the trailer.

All in theory right now, but most of my R/C planes were built in my head before I ever started cutting foam and/or balsa. The design I like is either the Sawtooth XL or one that’s called the Scotty Jr.

 

My Little Guy Silver Shadow was built by Pleasant Valley in 2014.

While it wasn't the standard build they did (at the time), my trailer has been pulled over 30,000 miles so far, both on pavement and some fairly serious off-pavement. It has held up great!

You might think about finding a trailer that is close to ideal for you, and modifying it to get it the way you want it. (Look through my build thread, you will see what I did.) Changing the axle and wheel/tire combo is easy, and not very expensive. That alone will get you 80% of the off-road ability you are after.

 

I agree with you on the sink 100%. No reason to carry around gray water.

 

I don't care if it has a sink or not. A well designed work area and a powered fridge/freezer are my concerns. I also want hot water for clean up and shower use.

 

I will share one of my design thoughts - the refrigerator.

I mount the fridge in the back of the truck. This way, when I leave the trailer at camp, I still have cold food with me during the day. Also, the small kitchen on the back of the teardrop has more room for cooking gear.

Sure, it's a minor inconvenience having to walk to the truck 4 or 5 times while cooking, but for me, the benefits outweigh the inconvenience.

And, I do not have a battery on the trailer. The 2nd battery in the truck powers the fridge and trailer.

Everyone does what works best for them - I'm just suggestion another way to look at it.

 

I have considered that as an option too, particularly if I go with an Escapod since they would only have room for a small fridge in place of the standard Yeti cooler. I could use the space for dry goods and whatnot instead, but I'm not a fan of adding a second battery to the truck. I suppose I could use a Goal Zero or Dometic portable battery unit only when the fridge was on-board, but this is not ideal. I suppose compromises will have to be made, so I should just stop whining.

 

So I have been going back-and-forth with Escapod via email asking lots of questions about their trailers, and they have been really great at providing answers and suggestions. My comfort level with them is pretty high, so I went ahead and expressed concern regarding the 50% down deposit issue, and all the competitive companies that have failed while doing the same thing. Their response was good.

"We've recently shifted our deposit policy to only take 25% down now that our lead time is a bit longer than it was in 2018. Additional 25% will be taken directly before your build begins, then 50% upon delivery. We've followed Moby, Inka, etc closely, and though the deposit structure may have contributed, the major factor seemed to be misuse of deposits to scale operations to meet demand. We're still very conservative about how we schedule, and our queue timeline is based on how many trailers we know we can and have built per month (2019 is filled on a 3/month pace)."

I will continue to follow them in social media, and assuming everything still looks good in a year or two I think they will win my business. With the exception of a larger fridge unit, they appear able to accommodate all my custom requests. Making the fridge bigger would require an entire redo of the kitchen and their cutting templates, so it would be cost-prohibitive. Also, their trailers are small by design, and a larger fridge would impact interior space. I will live with the smaller unit, and focus my custom cash on upgraded electrics and other do-dads.

 

My trailer was one of Escapod's rental trailers for 2018. I bought it used directly from them in November. It has a few non-stock options on it...I guess I misspoke when I said "stock."

 

Just use a good credit card company for the deposit.

 

I'm kind of curious on their ordering process, do you just go directly through them and not a dealer? I know for Gidget it was directly through them, hence all the angry people at them when they went under. I think I only had to put $500 down on mine, I put $1000 on it, but that was through a dealer so if I didn't buy it and backed out, they'd keep the deposit and just sell it on the lot. Also the two month turn around time from order to pick up at the dealer was great.

I would agree with this a lot. A great credit card company will come in handy. I would give them a ring and tell them if you can be protected through the wait process if the maker does not come through and issue the charge back.

 

Good stuff in this thread.

I built this one in 2005, pretty basic. Still going strong




Now in process of building this one

 

It might just be the camera angle but is the old one narrower than the new one? They both look like they'd be fun

 

First one is 4x8x4 high. #2 is 5x10xjust under 5 high. Thanks, definitely been fun!

 

They don't have a dealer network, and this is typical of all these small manufacturers. It's a direct purchase only model. Escapod builds the trailers to order, and makes a few extra for a rental fleet that then get sold used when the fleet is refreshed.

 

Looking at the pic again, what are the two pieces of wood down low on the galley wall? And the black rectangle below the counter?

 

The wood pieces are backing for the side table mount brackets. The top one will also allow me to mount a bungee attachment point in the galley to hold one of the tables flat against the cabinet when traveling.

The black rectangle is the power distribution center. It is a Power Dynamics PD4045 and supplies the 12volt/120v/Battery Charger.

I’m currently sitting in a fishhouse, but I’ll post a few more pics of the power center when I get home.

 

This is my new favorite thread