Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Teardrop camper?

I looked into teardrops a few years ago.

My neighbor bought one. She and her BF set it up for an extended cross-country trip .. Oregon to Florida and back, national parks, etc. I got to check it out while I helped them a bit. The bed is too small for me, 6 foot long sleeping space. I'm 5'9". That puts my head against one end and I can't stretch my toes out 'cause of the other end. The door was pretty low, kind of a pain to get in and out, and you'd need a wall tent for getting into and out of wet hunting clothes. The open rear kitchen area is interesting but in foul weather you'd need a tent over it.

In my mind they're last in line for choices. I would choose a slide-in camper, big pickup shell / canopy, or a tent before a trailer and if I picked a trailer it would be an A-frame hard sided pop up, not a teardrop and not one with a cloth / canvas upper section.

The only plus as I see it to the teardrop would be a situation where, like my neighbor, you had a very small, low powered vehicle. She had a 4-banger Rav 4 and that's about all it would pull.

Rented this in Denver for a Antelope hunt in N.M. it was pretty nice,AC,heat, shower,nice cooking area etc.
But this one is made in Indiana,12' long,decent ground clearance,I would not have a problem buying one of these if I was only using it for a few trips a year.
Its called a Sunray,they have a few different models.
If you look online there are tons of reviews and hacks for this type of trailer.


Greg

thought of a slide in camper for my Chebby 2500HD

Truck was not suited for where I wanted to be.....

thus the off road tear drop option........short wheel base Lexus LX

Will keep you posted after my final purchase July 9th

Also a nice 6' slide in is $30K

Im lookin at teardrop, reg and even jumpinjack tent trailer.

have a budget in mind ?

Tow behind SUV.
1 to 3 people.

Fam thought jumpin jack was fine.
Id like a hot shower and maybe prefer self contained.

Im a cheap bastard. So lookin for deal new or used.
Can build too.

Wrong time to be looking LOL.

When ecomomy crashes again......

When the 4 girls were young and we wanted to do some "see the whole US" travels, in 1971 bought a 4 year old Dodge 4 door pickup (crew cab?) with 8ft. bed for about $1200. Then got a big used Red Dale (CO) slide in camper (hung about 12" past the bed) for another $1200 or so, put some heavy load rated 16" tires on the thing and we were set.

Kids all slept in the queen over cab and we on the table conversion. Had all nice appliances and small bathroom (holding tank was WAY to small for that crew). Took out the rear window of the cab, cut a same size hole in the camper front and put in a nauga boot - all 6 of us could ride in the cab if we wanted (cab had a/c), but the kids scooted back and forth between cab and camper all the time. We had about 5k in it and it was a great value. Good times - few worries - big adventures. Where have those days and those prices gone?

You need one of those rooftop tent thingys on the 470... look all baja... I was looking at some 470s, LX and GX last year. But found a 2005 Chevy single cab short bed 4.8 4x4 with only 72000 miles, it'll get me there, couldn't pass it up.

Kent

If you are looking for high speed low drag with a trailer that works even on regular trips.

A high truck topper with rear door or Kodiak truck tent

https://www.kodiakcanvas.com/canvas-truck-tent-mid-sized-estimated-restock-date-jul-28th-2021/

Then, configure a small trailer as bathroom and shower to haul behind. You can haul this anywhere even non-camp trips and its better than looking for a bathroom.

The wife and I really don’t do much summertime camping except high altitude where its cold. In summertime, outside yes, and cabins yes. Luckily I have a bunch of military secret spots and options for lodging.

Its nice to have a little 5k Btu A/c for a tight spot, draws about 450 watts. Otherwise, an A/C for camping is lost on me.

Oh yeah, don’t leave your big bags of peanut M&M’s out for the bears because they will get them. And, fox urine sprayed around camp and Zatarain’s Cayenne pepper sprinkled around will keep the critters away.

Teardrops to my understanding are uniquely American from the depression days and maybe even from covered wagon days, the chuckbox was from the Goodnight/Loving cattle drives. Kinda like having a Leveraction rifle.

Threads like this will show you who the real snowflakes are though, its CAMPING man !

You serious?

That Airstream lived for dirt roads, with its single axle. Think I paid $1800 for it over 4 decades ago. Took it as far as Bella Coola, BC, fishing remote spots along the way. And the Baja roads were pretty rough too in those days..

This is also false. First, I’ve camped in it in storms with winds hitting 75mph. I left it hooked to the truck…awesome sleep ! The wind did drive a tiny bit of rain through the seals on the rear hatch but not much.

Second, I drove through a dust storm from Hell last year in 35mph steady wind with gust to about 50mph from Roswell NM to Big Spring Texas. You couldn’t see crap but you never knew the trailer was there !

I won’t knock an airstream but it boils down to this, if it doesn’t have about a King sized bed (for a couple), I ain’t using it. I do have one conversion trailer with a twin XL but thats fine for just me. When airstream inventory gets back to overstock status and I figure how to enlarge the bed on the basecamp, I’m in for one.

I've got several tents that rival these 5 figure rigs.

I love tents but The wife and I had an unfortunate incident while remote camping and the guy turned out to be…Gary Michael Hilton

If I woulda killed him like I wanted instead of listening to my wife’s reasoning, the world woulda been better off.

Hardshell for me or stay at the house !

Its also why I have one of these 3d printed pistol/mag racks mounted in each camper and a Beretta 1301.



And, if you didn’t pack it, don’t drink, eat, or smoke from strangers.

Nice little campers.

That's a hell of a story!

Fun thread!

I have a 6x12 cargo trailer that i use. Has a raised platform with a queen mattress for sleeping, all the gear fits under the bed. Has an outdoor shower with a on demand hot water heater, one large sink, and a 2 burner stove with decent sized counter space under counter storage. LED lights and insulated. Great stereo system, TV and DVD player, 2 deep cycle batteries and 2 propane bottles. Small and light enough to go most anywhere. In the summer we will make a patio with the rear door and sleep off the ground but under the stars.
While not everyones cup of tea it works great for 2-3 days for 4 folks. My youngest boy and i hauled it from AZ to Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico for 3 weeks camping and fishing where and when we wanted and had an absolute blast. My favorite thing is that the camping gear is secure and out of sight.

the AC in an insulated is probably more effective than on a popup?
I guess popups have zip in windows as an option, but all the onrs I have seen are screened. but I saw one with an AC unit on the roof last week being towed.

I saw a lot of them when I worked at the Shell and every one that I queried were pleased with their purchase...they certainly have their niche.