Starling Travel

When Mike told me he wasn’t willing to sleep in a teardrop trailer because they were so small that they induced claustrophobia, I began to look at roomier designs. I immediately liked the Wild Goose.

The design originally was published in the April 1953 Popular Mechanics Magazine and can be seen here:

• April 1953 Popular Mechanics Wild Goose PDF Download

Unlike the typical teardrop, the kitchen area is within the trailer. The hatchback opens up and a tent is erected around the opened area allowing for more room within the trailer, but keeping the low profile of a teardrop. Here are a few photos of the design.

Ginger’s Wild Goose:

Sara’s Adventure Drop, see more at her website: Adventure Drop: Cross Country Winter ’09-’10

Here’s another Wild Goose from Old Trailers: OldTrailer.com Teardrop and Tent Trailer Pictures

There is an updated design available here.

• New KampMaster

• Updated Wild Goose PDF Download

I liked this design because of the transformer aspect, but in the end, it’s just a tent all over again. I was attracted to a trailer because I wanted to be warm in the cold. I already HAVE a tent, so making a trailer that just turns into a tent seemed wrong to me. The best and warmest tent made on the planet fits into a space the size of half my trunk in the Prius. The thought of hauling a trailer down the road just so I could have a tent sounds crazy to me, so I left the dreams of building my own Wild Goose unfulfilled.

Update 10-12-12

Sara pointed out that one of my photos was of her Adventure Drop, which she took across the country in 2009. These pictures of her in the snow are particularly spectacular!

You can read about her epic journey here: Adventure Drop: Cross Country Winter ’09-’10

Check out this interesting idea for a travel trailer from 1972:

It’s a trailer that hooks onto the top of your car.

Here is a video describing it:

I love watching the Beetle push the trailer into place. There’s no backing into your campsite, you just turn around and push it in.

It was a prize on Let’s Make a Deal. The trailer really catches some air in the demo video.

It was featured in the May 1972 Popular Mechanics issue:

It reads:

Fifth-Wheel Trailers usually hitch onto a pickup-truck cargo bed, but this new Shadow design from Harmon Industries, Warrensburg, Mo. tags onto a passenger-car rooftop. A removable steel plate, bolted to brackets along the roof gutters, take advantage of the roll-resistance built into modern roofs to firmly anchor the trailer hitch. Great maneuverability and easy tow handling are claimed for these rigs. Models of 18, 23, and 27 feet are being produced, and unfinished units are available for extra savings. Shell for the Shadow 18-foot Mini will start at about $1700; price is $6500 for the completed 27-footer fully equipped. Driver reports indicate the design is aerodynamically suitable and does not buffet at speed or in strong winds.

Here is another video of something called the Dynamik Tev that also hooked up to the top of a car:

Here’s a picture of a Cadillac towing a fifth wheel trailer:

It’s not too difficult to know why these trailers never really succeeded. Most small cars are just not strong enough to safely tow a trailer without blowing out the transmission. That is the reason people buy huge pickups to tow their fifth-wheels. Sadly, the Shadow trailer and the Dynamik Tev have disappeared in the history of camping to become oddities.

Update 01-08-12: Here is another video that shows this fifth wheel camper in action:

• 1974 Volkswagen Beetle & Camper – road test

Pictures via:

• TheSamba.com :: View topic – Trailer
• Station wagon pulling 5th wheel trailer – iRV2 Forums

If I had let my obsession get the best of me and I had no one else in my life to consider but myself, I would be building the Trailer for Two right now. It was a design that was in the September 1947 Mechanix Illustrated magazine and it’s my favorite.

It’s also the favorite of most of the people who have built their own teardrops, so far better builders have figured out how to make it using a pre-fab Harbor Freight Trailer. Here is a link for the plans for this trailer built on the 4′ X 8′ Harbor Freight Trailer:

• Andrew Gibbens – Harbor Freight Design

• Harbor Freight Trailer for Two PDF Download

• Original 1947 Mechanix Illustrated Trailer for Two PDF Download

I actually looked at the trailer at my local Harbor Freight store, but Mike told me in no uncertain terms that I was welcome to build a teardrop trailer, but he would never sleep in one. They are just too claustrophobic for him to even consider sleeping in.

So ended my love affair with the Trailer for Two. If the love of my life won’t sleep in it, then it’s not for me.

I am coming down off a serious case of Teardrop Trailer Obsession. It all started the summer we had an awesome trip to Disneyland in Pat’s Motorhome. I loved that I could just sit in the motorhome and play with my Barbies while Carol drove. It didn’t feel like a road trip at all. It was so much better!

Actually, I think my obsession might go back a little further than that. Maybe it all started when I got the Barbie Star Traveler.

I played with that toy so much that it was a worn out wreck by the time I reached puberty. I don’t know how many adventures Barbie took in the backyard with the Star Traveler, but I can tell you that I hauled that toy from Salt Lake City to Billings every summer until I was fourteen.

I think my recent obsession started back in June when I saw this adorable trailer and truck setup at the car show.

I know this trailer isn’t a teardrop, but the efficient floor plan and the way it matched its truck made me start looking. Teardrop trailers are actually TINY trailers with a galley off the back. They can usually only sleep one or two people. They are basically a bed and a camp kitchen on wheels. I don’t know where I saw my first teardrop trailer, but I do know what video made me fall in love. It’s this one.

Kermit and Diane look so happy camping in this trailer. The song is so comforting. I wanted to have the same fun they have coordinating their outfits to match their truck and trailer. I find myself humming, “Honey, hook up the teardrop, I’m on my way,” all day long.

After looking at a few videos of teardrop trailer gatherings, however, I began to notice something. Can you see it?

Almost every trailer has a canopy or a tent near it. I noticed that every teardrop owner showed their trailer at its campsite with a tent pitched nearby. If I have to pitch a tent anyway, why don’t I just sleep in it? In fact, the camp kitchen I have is actually a little better than the kitchens on the back of the teardrops because I can put it under the shelter at the campsite near the picnic table.

No matter how I looked at it, a teardrop trailer didn’t make any sense for me. I’d much rather sleep in my large tent and be able to change clothes standing up than try to wiggle into my pajamas while in a tiny trailer. Even though a teardrop is so light that a normal car could tow it, there’s still some question about whether a Prius could handle towing one and I wasn’t willing to buy a new vehicle just for this obsession.

In the end, I realized that this trailer obsession has been a combination of a desire to camp all year long coupled with the latent childlike desire to build a doll house that I could decorate however I wanted. When I realized that, it was easy to decide to buy a four season tent and customize it.

Now I just need to change the words of that song, “Throw the tent in the hatchback, I’m on my way!”

I found pictures of Dupont’s camping auto on Flickr and I just had to share them with you.

It says:

Photo shows a Stoddard-Dayton camping car built for engineer and politician Thomas Coleman du Pont (1863-1930). Du Pont used the vehicle during his supervision of the construction of the DuPont Highway through the state of Delaware.

We actually have similar technology for hatchback cars today. One company is called Sportz Dome To Go.

Before buying my Springbar, I seriously looked at these tents, but I had problems with it. I like to set up camp, but sometimes we need to take the car for supplies, to head to the lake or even make a trip into town. If my tent is attached to my car, I’d have to break camp in order to make a firewood run.

One thing I liked about it was that I could sleep in the car and let the heater keep me warm, but since the tent is situated at the back of the car, I’d be constantly worried about car exhaust setting my tent on fire. It just wasn’t something that would work for me.

After looking at this video for the setup in a pickup, I have NO desire to own one of these tents. There are EIGHT poles?! Why does this tent need to be so complicated when my Springbar goes up in fifteen minutes?!

In the end, I prefer to use my car as a transport vehicle and keep my shelter separate from it. It appears that Thomas Coleman du Pont, however, did not agree with me.

I have been in a funk ever since the weather turned colder. All the activities I love, camping, biking and canoeing, are all on hold until the air warms up and the lake unfreezes. Mike and I had a cold trip to Lake Mead after Thanksgiving, but other than that, our gear has been sitting in the garage.

Part of the reason that I’m sad is that camping just makes me happy somehow. I saw this old picture from our camping trip to Mantua, Utah a couple of years ago and it reminded me. Campfires make me happy.

Man, I can’t wait for the weather to warm up…

If you are looking for a camp kitchen that is just a simple box (like a boy scout patrol box), Blue Sky Kitchens makes a few that are pretty innovative.

• Blue Sky Kitchen Chuck Boxes – camping equipment for the camp kitchen

My favorite is the Work Top Box. Here is a video of how it sets up and packs up into one compact area.

They also make a HUGE workspace called the Grubby Two. It’s an amazing 6’2″ long. I love that you can close up the box for keeping out the little critters. Of course, it would be kindling if it encountered a bear.

Their simplest model is the Grubby One. I like this one as well because you can configure it in so many ways.

They also sell plans for all of these boxes, so if you want to build one yourself, you can.

• Blue Sky Kitchen Camp kitchen, chuck box, patrol box design, build and outfit books.

I find this guy to be quite entertaining. They made a calendar for this year and he created a video showing where all the photos from the calendar came from. It’s a great little video to watch when you are stuck in the office or at home and wish you were in the mountains instead.

Of course, I’m a little scared of the “Evening Grease Bomb” from camping tip number 8. I liked the rest of the tips, however.

His calm voice reminds me of RedGreen, but mostly these videos really make me want to go camping.

Part of the reason that a trailer appeals to me is because I could decorate it. Just look at this adorable trailer. It makes me want one of my own:

As cute as that trailer is, I just can’t justify owning one. I’ve talked about this before:

• Starling Travel » Camping: Trailer Vs. Tent

So, I have decided to customize my tent in order to make it my own as much as the owner of that trailer did. Originally, I wanted to stencil on a map of the U.S. so I could color in each state as we camped in them, but that idea became too difficult. Instead, we decided to draw an image for each place we’ve camped.

To do this, we used Sharpie markers. We tested the Sharpie Fabric Markers, but their colors were so bright and they just didn’t look as good as the regular Sharpie markers. We hope to have a tent covered in little reminders of all the places we’ve camped. As of now, it only has the Lake Mead picture because that’s the only place we’ve put up the tent since we bought it last November, since our backyard doesn’t count. Here is how it looked with the regular Sharpies.

Luckily, we tested it with the Sharpie Fabric Markers on one of the bags. It didn’t look as good because we didn’t have as large of a color selection and the colors are a tad on the flourescent side.

You should test the markers on an unobtrusive part of your tent, letting them dry and then checking for waterproofing. The Sharpies didn’t affect our waterproofing on our canvas Springbar tent, but I have no idea how they would work on a nylon tent like our old Hobitat.

The next time I see an adorable trailer that has been personalized, I won’t feel as left out. I can look at my own tent and relive all the great memories we had camping in it.

Trailer photo via: camper « ¡Ay Mujer!

I bought my camp kitchen from a store, but I adore this homemade camp kitchen from this blogger, pwef. He talks about the design of it on these two posts:

• pwef – A circus tent and a chuck box – August 12, 2007
• pwef – Advanced chuckboxery – June 1, 2009

He based the original design on the Boy Scouts of America patrol box, but made it so much better.

• BSA Patrol Kitchen Box Plans

Instead of the heavy, wooden legs, he used pipes that slide into the fittings. You can also see that he attached a towel rack that also holds his paper towels. He even added a bottle opener.

The camp kitchen opens in such a way that it needs to be on its legs to open up. He ended up adding little legs to the bottom so that he can just set it on a table to open and leave the legs in the car. You can see the little legs in this photo (they are the black nubbins on the bottom of the box). He said that if he made another one, he would design it to open flush.

He built it to work with his Coleman fold up stove, but the stove doesn’t have wind shields, so he ended up adding a windshield himself in addition to another shelf on the left side for extra workspace.

I felt a sense of camaraderie with him because he has the exact same pan set that we use. I could imagine making meals with that very chuck box while camping instead of my camp kitchen and it looked like fun.

I really liked that he painted the box to match his Springbar tent. They look really good together at camp, don’t you think?

I love the idea of being able to choose exactly the features I want for my camp kitchen instead of being at the mercy of the camping manufacturers. If I ever break my Mega Camp Kitchen like I did my Coleman, I think I will choose to design my own camp kitchen.

Our Springbar tent is better than our old Hobitat in every way except one: storage. The Hobitat had tons of pockets all over the inside of the tent, so it was a change for us to camp in the Springbar. The tent came with one storage closet, which is a zip-in panel with a bunch of little pockets, and one hamper, which is like a laundry bag.

One is supposed to zip in on one side of the tent and the other on the other side. After having so many pockets in our Hobitat, however, I just couldn’t go to having so few places to put stuff. To solve that problem, I bought one additional closet and one additional hamper. Hanging them, however, was the problem. There are only two inside zippers in the tent, so I had to find a way to hang the additional items.

Here’s how I solved the problem:

I sewed a zipper onto the bottom of each storage closet so that the hamper could attach to the bottom of it. Here is it with the hamper partially zipped.

Now, both Mike and I each have a closet and hamper of our own. That is barely enough pockets for the each of us. Here is how it looks all together.

That additional loop on the bottom of the closet is also something I added. It’s for our toiletries bag. There is a loop on the closet, but when we hung the toiletries bag from it, it covered our pockets. This way, we can hang the bag, but it will hide behind the clothes hamper.

We also had a problem with no loops for our lanterns to hang from, so we added string to the top with a few loops in it. This is such a simple thing to do, but it took us a while before we realized how to add those loops. Springbar had added a spot to tie the string, but we didn’t make the connection until Dan mentioned it to us.

Having that string taut across the ceiling of the tent is good for us because we can hang our wet towels over it to dry. I wouldn’t trust the loops to hold a heavy thing, like those fans that are supposed to cool off your tent, but they are perfectly fine for a small flashlight or our LED lanterns.

When you order your Springbar tent, don’t be disappointed in the amount of storage you have. Order an extra closet and hamper and add zippers to the bottom of each closet. You’ll have plenty of pockets to hold all your stuff.