Capable Family Camping Setup

[El Chupacabra]

I like the outside kitchen of a traditional teardrop, though I've never owned one. Seems more useful than something like a rooftop tent over a pick up shell - could leave the trailer loaded and ready to go, vs truck that has to be loaded for each trip. YMMV of course.

The clear benefit of a teardrop should be super light weight, towable by anything.

[Danno]

I like the outside kitchen of a traditional teardrop, though I've never owned one. Seems more useful than something like a rooftop tent over a pick up shell - could leave the trailer loaded and ready to go, vs truck that has to be loaded for each trip. YMMV of course.

The clear benefit of a teardrop should be super light weight, towable by anything.

Sure, there are some benefits. But you compare the teardrop to a truck, and then talk about the clear benefit of the teardrop over other kinds of trailers, which is weird. Yes, if I could snap my fingers and make either a teardrop or a truck show up at a remote camp, I'd prefer the teardrop over a truck/topper. But the clear benefit of a truck (or van) is that you don't have to tow anything, and that's pretty huge. Once you get into the world of towing, life becomes more difficult and your camping options shrink. If I'm going to tow something, I want something that has at least a little floor space, and an inside kitchen. If weight is a concern, I'd get a fiberglass egg camper (Scamp, Casita, etc) long before I'd consider a teardrop.

[Danno]

But obviously, opinions differ on these, because many people buy (and seem to enjoy) the teardrop. I'm just offering my opinion as someone who used to be enticed by them, but now -- after owning truck/topper, fiberglass egg, pop-up, and hard sided camper -- I have realized that they aren't really enticing at all.

[El Chupacabra]

Yep, YMMV. I fully agree on the PITA nature of towing.

My point on weight is that a teardrop should be 1000-1500#, which nearly any car can tow. The lightest RV that you can stand inside (floor space, kitchen, bed, etc) will be heavier, and can't tow it with small cars.

[Danno]

Yep, YMMV. I fully agree on the PITA nature of towing.

My point on weight is that a teardrop should be 1000-1500#, which nearly any car can tow. The lightest RV that you can stand inside (floor space, kitchen, bed, etc) will be heavier, and can't tow it with small cars.

Not true. A 13' Scamp weighs no more than 1500#, and you can stand inside it, have a kitchen (burner/fridge/sink), and can even have a bathroom.

http://www.scamptrailers.com/showroo..._clipped_rev_2

[mcsquared]

Jesus Christ. Are all of you still trying to justify spending 10's of thousands of $$'s so you can sleep outside with all the modern luxuries of sleeping inside. #nature #roughingit #needanindoorshitterthough #andaconvectionoven

[doebedoe]

#evenIfyourPointIsValid #hashTagsAreFuckingAnnoying

Sometimes camping is not about roughing it. Its about avoiding traffic / being closer to where you want to wake up in the morning and not deal with the headache of hotels etc. To pay off a 10K camper you'd need to sleep in it 100 nights (at $100/hotel/night.) I could do that in 2 years pretty easily.

[Danno]

Jesus Christ. Are all of you still trying to justify spending 10's of thousands of $$'s so you can sleep outside with all the modern luxuries of sleeping inside. #nature #roughingit #needanindoorshitterthough #andaconvectionoven

I've owned three campers, and in total spent under $9k on all three. And sold the first two for profits of $2000 and $600. So no, not everyone is "spending 10's of thousands of $$'s". And why the fuck do you care? Is my being in a camper somehow degrading your camping experience?

[TAFKALVS]

Waking up in a warm soft bed and having 5 minute setup/tear down is priceless, especially considering there are plenty of places we've been able to camp where a tent would really suck.

[Dantheman]

Is my being in a camper somehow degrading your camping experience?

That depends on whether you are running the generator

[mcsquared]

I've owned three campers, and in total spent under $9k on all three. And sold the first two for profits of $2000 and $600. So no, not everyone is "spending 10's of thousands of $$'s". And why the fuck do you care? Is my being in a camper somehow degrading your camping experience?

Actually, yes it is. Specifically you Danno. You and you alone are ruining it for everybody.

Actually I am just commenting on the general theme of "I want to be considered an outdoorsy person by sleeping nature adjacent 3-5 times a year. Should I buy a 20' camper and a new 1/2 ton truck or a 40' trailer with a 3/4 ton diesel duallie. Actually it doesn't matter, I am just pretending to be conflicted about this so I can feel like I did my due diligence and buy whatever will fill my emptiness"

I miss Hugh.

[TAFKALVS]

Actually, yes it is. Specifically you Danno. You and you alone are ruining it for everybody.

Actually I am just commenting on the general theme of "I want to be considered an outdoorsy person by sleeping nature adjacent 3-5 times a year. Should I buy a 20' camper and a new 1/2 ton truck or a 40' trailer with a 3/4 ton diesel duallie. Actually it doesn't matter, I am just pretending to be conflicted about this so I can feel like I did my due diligence and buy whatever will fill my emptiness"

I miss Hugh.

Dually's only come in the 1 tons, your argument is invalid.

[Danno]

That depends on whether you are running the generator

excellent point

Actually, yes it is. Specifically you Danno. You and you alone are ruining it for everybody.

Actually I am just commenting on the general theme of "I want to be considered an outdoorsy person by sleeping nature adjacent 3-5 times a year. Should I buy a 20' camper and a new 1/2 ton truck or a 40' trailer with a 3/4 ton diesel duallie. Actually it doesn't matter, I am just pretending to be conflicted about this so I can feel like I did my due diligence and buy whatever will fill my emptiness"

I miss Hugh.

sorry to harsh on your mellow, dude. I got into campers when I had a kid. She doesn't know that we're not core enough to sleep in a tent, she just likes the camper. we go camping and we spend almost all of our awake time outside, you can call it what you want, I still call it camping. But I have no illusions about what I am doing, because I'm in a fucking campground. And I would be no more core or into nature if I was sleeping in a tent in the same campground.

And truthfully, how much more of an outdoorsy person would I be if I was sleeping in my truck, or in a tent next to my truck? Outside of backpacking, it's all degrees of the same shit. Or are you better because you drove to a backcountry spot somewhere and set up a tent, opened up your camp chair, cracked a beer out of your cooler, and sat down? Whereas I pulled my camper to a campground, didn't set up a tent, opened up my camp chair, cracked a beer out of my fridge, and sat down? Get over yourself and your indignation because of your false sense of superiority. No wonder you miss that douchebag, he had a patent on that shit.

[mcsquared]

You seem to be taking this personally. Why?

[bodywhomper]

this discussion is getting some legs again.... i miss hugh, too.

nobody commented on the "real" offroad trailers that i linked. anything like this in the US? i need to fill my void, post colonic. this thing looks sick:

sorry to harsh on your mellow, dude. I got into campers when I had a kid. She doesn't know that we're not core enough to sleep in a tent, she just likes the camper.

this made me lol. this was the same excuse my parents made when they bought that first tent trailer, then moved onto a small RV, then onto a slightly larger RV (with co-ownership with my dad's folks), then (15 years later) they moved onto a condo in a mtn town because 3mpg was getting old, the RV paid for the down payment, and the g-parents stopped driving. in reality. my parents had a few back-to-back rough experiences camping with me when i was a toddler, which led to the idea of trying something different that was not staying in a hotel. having an RV let us do stuff rain/snow or shine. my folks were able to ski a lot (and afford for me to ski a lot) because they could park that thing in the main lot of mammoth mtn (anybody remember when that was allowed), june mtn, kirkwood, and snow summit. the rv also let us enjoy the life of urban rv parks a few times when the family moved and my folks were out looking for new jobs and a new home (i became a pretty strong swimmer during those times because i spent most of my time in the RV park pools).

with my family of 5 plus the 100# dog, we're fair weather tent campers. we travel with most of our shit on the roof of our suv. i do not enjoy tent camping with the kids in winter storms or during significant monsoonal flows. to me, this is where the slide-in, camper/van, etc. is the huge benefit. it's also nice when you're hanging out among a skeeter hatch. i avoid the situations with the family; we come up with other plans.

[plugboots]

Sometimes camping is not about roughing it. Its about avoiding traffic / being closer to where you want to wake up in the morning and not deal with the headache of hotels etc.

We stayed at a Hampton in Missoula this weekend, it wasn't a Holiday Inn Express, so we're not experts. Parked next to us, locked up, was a Camp Inn teardrop: http://tinycamper.com camper. Looked cool. We thought it would make sense for us hotel dwellers to get one so we could stay 30 miles up Rock Creek once in a while and not have to drive that road. I think those things would be perfect for that application. Beyond that, not so much, although the larger Raindrop might be cool towed behind our BMW.

Although, capable family setup it ain't.

[bagtagley]

We spent the better part of the week a couple weeks ago camping on the river in WV. It was an amazing spot, and was completely dead. The nightly torrential downpours, and resulting river that flowed under our tent and created a water bed made for some interesting camping, and funny stories. I was solo with the kids. They helped a bit, but it was mostly me. It took forever to get the tent and everything set up, forever to get it all taken down and packed, and then we did the same thing back home to get everything clean and dry. That sealed it for me. As was said, I love being near awesome hikes, fishing, river and lake swimming, the sound of the bugs at night, but car camping is car camping, and tents are a PIA. I'm certain we'll spend a lot more time in cool places once we've got a proper rig. We'll still go backpacking a few times a year to keep our core cards up to date.

I drove 6 hours to pick up a truck. Got there, and as soon as I opened the door, I smelled stale cigarette smoke. I specifically asked about that prior to driving over, and the salesman said it didn't smell like smoke. I spent about an hour getting in and back out and smelling the seats and carpet. I finally thought to smell the headliner, and it reeked. I bailed on the truck, and had a really long drive home.

On a somewhat related not. While the vast majority of car dealers are slimy fucks, truck dealers are a special breed of shitbag. I got into a heated argument with a local guy who was butthurt that I had the audacity to test drove a truck, but not to buy it.

Having said all that, unless a screaming deal pops up, we're going to hold off and go to the Overland Expo East in October.

[riser4]

Good. Smells like an asstray, no sale. I approve.

[bagtagley]

Do you always travel with the full family? How about a hybrid setup? A small trailer (popup or rigid) then a bed platform built into whatever truck or van you end up with. The kids sleep in one, you and the missus sleep in the more comfortable one. Gives you a bit of space at night and adds some versatility in case you don't take the whole family on a trip. Plus, it allows you to tow/store a smaller trailer.

I pretended this was a bad idea the first time I read it, but it's the option I'm going with. I couldn't justify the full size for daily life, so we bought a Tacoma. I'm ordering a topper today, and I'm on the lookout for a camper I can tow.

When I'm solo or even solo with the kids, or traveling beyond the abilities of the camper, the shell will do the trick. I've got a small backpacking tent that sets up really fast that I can use for some extra space.

I found an ALiner for cheap that we were going to pick up, but the guy sold it the day we were gonna buy it. I had already seen it, but wanted the wife to see it before I made an offer. I'm really kicking myself for not just buying it.