Travels with a teardrop, other tiny trailers

We have owned several tiny trailers over the last six years; our first was a cute little reproduction Kit Kamper, popular after World War II and one of the more frequent teardrop trailer styles seen today. The Kit was built on a platform of 4’X8’ plywood sheets; hence, 4’ wide, 4’ tall and 8’ long (we have since upgraded to a Scotty teardrop, as noted below).

Pictured, from top down: Our reproduction 1958 Serro Scotty Junior teardrop, Susan relaxing in camp with the Scotty and its open rear galley (beside a giant fifth-wheel), and our 1964 Serro Scotty Sportsman (a work in slow-progress, behind the Nissan 300ZX we towed it with before we got the Focus)

Ours was built from a kit in 2004; we purchased it from its second owner who towed it with a Mini Cooper! We toured mostly California with this trailer - the North Coast, the Sierra and a few trips to other destinations. In 2012, we decided to up-size, and bought a slightly larger 1964 Serro Scotty Sportsman trailer (still teardrop in style, but offering a dinette, an interior sink and two-burner stove) but needing a pretty complete rebuild.

Shortly after, I sold the Kit for what I had paid for it, to a new owner in S. California. With the larger Scotty trailer wedged in our garage (awaiting more extensive work than I originally realized), I found on-line (eBay) a beautiful reproduction 1958 Serro Scotty Sportsman Junior, built in West Virginia in 2011 by a true craftsman. Since we were headed back to Gettysburg anyway (for a week-long bicycle tour with my brother and four other pals), I bought this cute teardrop and picked it up in route to Gettysburg.

The 1958 Scotty was also built on the 4’X8’ plywood platform) making it similar in size to the Kit. We have toured extensively with it, including the trip all the way across the country, a three week trip up the CA/OR and WA coasts to Vancouver, BC, across BC to Spokane and back, and assorted other shorter CA trips to national parks like Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Pinnacles and more.

The arguments for a teardrop trailer include small and lightweight (about 700 to 800 pounds), so a small car or truck can tow it and still deliver good gas mileage (we tow ours with a 2013 Ford Focus 5-speed stick and get 26 MPG). I take special delight in pulling up beside giant diesel pickups, pulling 35' fifth-wheels (and getting about 10 MPG), realizing we are about as comfortable as they are! 

With their small size, teardrops fit in your garage, and their relatively small interior space mean two bodies keep us quite warm, even when outside temps drop into the 30s!  Our interior sleepting space is 4'X6'5", so plenty of length and space for two.  Being a hard-sided trailer, my spouse Susan no longer worries about bear attacks, as she did when we tent-camped! 

The teardrops also have a rear galley that often have built-in stove tops and/or sinks; ours offers reasonable storage space for Coleman stove and other camp gear. We also equipped both our teardrops with a rear bike carrier receiver, so we can load 2-3 bikes on back.  With your bedding already made up, camp gear loaded, it's a simple matter to pack a cooler and your clothes, and away we go!  The cons include being small (not a lot of fun on a rainy weekend, though we have been known to hibernate and watch movies on a laptop for hours on end)!

Teardrops are not the only choice in small camping rigs, which also include both soft-sided and hard-sided “tent trailers”, and smaller, fuel-efficient vans decked out as creative campers. The marketplace for any of these is both Craig’s List and eBay (search for both tear drop, and teardrop campers); I frequently see nice teardrop trailers advertised from anywhere from $2,500 to $7,500, depending on how nicely equipped.

You can also find, on the web, varied companies that rent teardrops for a few days or a week. Try one out, you may become hooked on the comfort afforded and hard-sided security, vs. tent-camping!

Travels with...Scotty

In an earlier post, I noted that we had had a June auto trip planned to Gettysburg, for a Civil War bike ride with brother and four pals, I was intrigued to find a "repro Scotty" on eBay, a 1958 Scotty Junior model, built in 2011 by a West Virginia high school shop teacher. It was listed for a good price, looked perfect, so I bought it on-line, picked it up enroute to Gettysburg, and my spouse and I, over three weeks, towed it all the way to Long Island, NY, then back across the US to California. Camping and living out of the Scotty Junior takes a bit of adjustment. Like all the early teardrops made in the 40s and 50s, they were built on a 4'X8' plywood foundation. That makes them 4' wide, 4' tall, and 8' long, with an interior sleeping compartment 6'4" long by a little less than 4' wide. Cozy for two, but we sleep very well! In the back is a small "kitchen hatchback" where we store camping gear, pots and pans and the like. Overall, we have learned to travel pretty light, storing other camp gear like small table, chairs in the interior compartment, and storing "chilly weather gear" in the interior cabinets. We each get a clothing bag, which we toss in back seat of a 2013 Focus Hatchback, our tow vehicle. Barring wet or really cold weather, a very pleasant way to travel (of course, we toss in a stop at relatives/friends or a motel every so often, so we are not camping continuously)! Getting 26 MPG is also likeable, compared to 7 MPG for those diesel pickups pulling giant 5th wheels that we often pass!

Little places we know, with Scotty trailer in tow...

I am a recently retired fellow whose spouse, Susan, also just retired. We have set our own personal sights on regular travels, targeting the United States and Canada (since we live in the former, and are not that far from the latter), and can reach all those myriad destinations by auto, or, auto and small travel trailer. Small trailer; you may wonder what that means. For us, that means Serro Scotty travel trailers, some of the lightest (read "good gas mileage") and most compact of all the retro travel trailers. For the past six years, we had toured California destinations in a Kit Kamper teardrop, so we knew the simplicity of towing, and living out of, a small teardrop camper. In mid-2012, I decided to upgrade to a slightly larger Serro Scotty, popular in the late 50s to 70s, and found a "rebuildable candidate", a Scotty Sportsman 13 footer, in Oceanside, CA, for which I paid $900 and towed home with my then Nissan 300ZX. That little trailer is tucked into my garage, in process of a complete rebuild (I have purchased virtually all the needed new parts, and have begun the disassembly). After retirement, I had long planned a bicycle tour of the Gettysburg battlefield and other Civil War stops with my brother John and four others, for late June, 2013. While planning for this trip, I saw a beautiful little Scotty teardrop advertised on eBay, and purchased a two-year-old reproduction 1958 Scotty Sportsman Jr., a true teardrop camper, built by a high school shop teacher in W. Virginia. Just before arriving in Gettysburg in June, we picked up and then towed this smaller Scotty all the way to Long Island, NY, then retraced our steps across the US, back to California (that is builder Tom in the photo). With the smaller Scotty, Susan and I can tour (currently targeting California and the West) while I regain enthusiasm for rebuilding the '64! I will plan to post regular updates of our favorite destinations as they unfold for us!