Christopher Hodapp - RVs & Campers For Dummies

Photograph courtesy of Christopher Hodapp

FIGURE 2-7:This tiny TAG teardrop by nüCamp can be towed by almost any car.

Teardrops are very high on the cuteness scale and often elicit ooh s and aah s from passersby. The term glamping (a combination of glamour and camping ) comes up often when looking into retro-styled teardrop trailers. You can find more on this subject in Chapter 3, where we cover the fun of glamping in a teardrop or vintage trailer.

Not all teardrop trailers are super tiny. There are teardrops big enough to stand up in. Large or small, the design is an eye catcher, and some manufacturers make them spacious enough for two people to comfortably camp in for longer than just a weekend. These have a bed (often tucked under the sloping roofline in the rear), a kitchen, a small bathroom (often a space-saving wet bath), and even a little storage. Depending on their loaded weight, they can still be towed by a smaller SUV.

If “cute” is not really your image, you’ll be happy to learn that a growing number of smaller trailers — described as outback or boondocking trailers — are offered with more rugged, off-road designs and accessories. These trailers usually ride higher off the ground than most small trailers, with more aggressive off-road tires and stronger suspensions, rooftops bristling with solar panels, communication antennae, accessory racks, and even robust steel fenders and rock guards to ward off damage from debris as you drive down rock-strewn dirt roads or dusty trails.

The makers of many of these rigs have radically rethought the standard trailer designs of the past. You’ll find lots of off-road RVs that look like odd construction equipment, military surplus, or the sort of vehicle Star Wars characters might vacation in. They tend to be fairly lightweight so they can be pulled by a crossover or small SUV. Some feature slide-out exterior galleys, wildly shaped awnings, flip-up doors, pop-up canvas roofs, and other ingenious design innovations. Intrepid wilderness explorers, survivalists, or dedicated loners getting in touch with nature can all find a rig to love with these units. Combined with a four-wheel drive towing vehicle, these rigs can venture where motorhomes and fifth wheels dare not tread.

Other variations of this theme may be referred to as adventure trailers or zombie apocalypse RVs. In many cases, these aren’t trailers but more like a mash up of motorhome and truck camper styles that are designed to survive any global calamities, real or imaginary. They look like military-grade vehicles, with a dash of Hollywood thrown in. If the Mad Max or A-Team vibe is what you’re looking for, top manufacturers of these include Action Mobil, EarthRoamer, EcoRoamer, and UNICAT.

A running gag in old cartoons from the ’40s and ’50s was the prefabricated house that came in a box. The cartoon character would push a big, shiny red button on top of the box. Then the parcel would shake and bulge, quickly unflap and unfold, and — voilà! — suddenly, there was the fully furnished, full-size house, with a white picket fence, a car in the driveway, and a full-fledged flower garden. Pop-up trailers (like the one shown in Figure 2-8) are sort of the camping equivalent of that.

Loads of first-time RVers start out with a pop-up trailer, just to find out if they’ll enjoy camping or how often they’ll really use it. If you’ve experienced camping in a tent before, a pop-up will seem like stepping into the cushy lap of luxury.

A pop-up is a sort of mashup RV, with the bottom half of a tiny travel trailer, combined with a canvas or vinyl tent that unfolds out of the top. They’re called by many descriptive names: expandables, folding campers, pop-ups, crank-ups, fold-ups, fold-outs, tent trailers, and sometimes just plain old campers. Depending on the options, the lower hard-sided trailer portion can contain beds, a sitting/dining area, a rudimentary kitchen with a sink, a small refrigerator and a stovetop, a compact toilet, a propane furnace, sometimes even an ingenious shower, and more. The upper tent half of the trailer expands to give you a roof over your head and create what is essentially an elaborate screened-in porch on wheels. For privacy, curtain flaps can be rolled down over the screens. And depending on the model, you can sleep anywhere from two to six people in these deceptively roomy and compact trailers.

Arina P Habich/Shutterstock

FIGURE 2-8:Pop-ups are a great, inexpensive way to get your introduction to RV life.

Pop-ups have been around for decades and remain popular for many reasons, but here are two of the main ones:

They can be some of the least expensive RVs on the market. Many can be had brand-new for as little as $4,000, and used units can cost as little as $1,500 if you aren’t afraid of a little cleaning and repair. Even the biggest, most luxury-laden brand-new models with all the options are generally priced under $20,000.

They’re lightweight — usually under 2,000 pounds — and ultra-compact when folded down. That makes them easier to store and easier on your gas mileage, compared to a larger trailer. Nearly any midsize car can haul one, and even the very biggest pop-ups generally weigh under 3,500 pounds.

As RVing has gotten more popular with younger campers, companies have offered lots of variations of pop-ups to attract first-time buyers and tent campers in search of a more comfortable experience. On the other hand, new designs of “off-road” pop-ups have a nearly military look, great for fishermen and hunters. The least-expensive units use a mechanical crank to make the magic unfolding operation happen, and the final setup of the tent portion requires an arrangement of poles and straps. More expensive models motorize the process or use a hydraulic lift to simplify the deployment of the tent into a push-button operation. A few even combine an air compressor with a nylon tent that actually inflates in a matter of a minute or so. And as Figure 2-9 shows, not all pop-ups are soft-sided tents — A-liner, Chalet, and Forest River’s Rockwood line all feature an unusual hard-sided, pop-up design that ditches the tent completely. When fully opened, they resemble tiny A-frame cabins on wheels.

Photographs courtesy of Christopher Hodapp

FIGURE 2-9:A hard-sided A-frame pop-up trailer by Aliner.

All of these reasons make a pop-up trailer an ideal way to get started with RVing. In fact, more than a few families pass them down from one generation to the next. Even if the canvas tent portion gets tattered and torn after a couple of decades, a pop-up of any vintage can usually be re-canvassed for around $1,500 or less.

Although technically a towable, RV people give fifth-wheel trailers (see Figure 2-10) their own category because they have specific requirements and features over and above the typical travel trailer. Fifth-wheel trailers (sometimes nicknamed fivers ) are the giants at the top of the towable beanstalk. If you want an RV that you can tow and park with your own separate tow vehicle, and still have the most interior floor space and onboard features possible, this is your answer.