Why building a tiny or mini camping trailer in the first place?

The question bares to ask, why build a mini camping trailer? Me and my wife love camping but sleeping in a tent with the risk of getting wet every time it rains and having nothing more than nylon between us and the bears is not that exciting.


The big fifth wheel trailers or motorhome RVs are way out of our budget. Besides we just don't get the approach of "bring your house behind your car in the woods" type of camping. So what we did was to sit down and figure out what were the bare essentials that we wanted in a camping trip. The answer was a dry place to sleep.

A bit of research brought my attention to Tear Drop trailers. Those small bedrooms on wheels have been around since the 20's and most of them to this day are homebuilt jobs. I have tools and some decent skills and I figured I could pull this off on a budget.

The first step was the debating/designing stage. Although I find the classic Tear Drop shape to be very cool, my better half felt she would feel too cramped. So after some (hmm hmm) discussion, we finally agreed on the posted design.

CAD model made with Google's Sketchup 7

While not a Tear Drop per say, it is still the same basic set-up of a cabin with a bed and a galley (or kitchen for you non-tear drop folks). I still wanted more than just a box, so I went with a Shasta Airflyte inspired design. This also allows me to make the trailer wider and higher than a traditional teardrop. The dimensions will be 110" X 62" floor and it will have a height of 56" inside the cabin.

The goal is to make this project as cost effective as possible. So join us in the build adventure and eventually in our camping adventures to come.



Gerry :)