Lightweights are smaller and built of lighter or thinner material than their bigger trailer brothers. When Airstreams first hit the market in the 1930s, built with aluminum, they were considered “lightweight” trailers — and they were, at that time. Although average travel trailers are built on steel frames and have real wood framing, floors, cabinets, and more on the inside, lightweights often use aluminum underneath and thinner, lightweight material for walls and other panels. In recent years, more companies have attempted to fill this niche. But some manufacturers have been specializing in lightweights for some time and continue to innovate: Little Guy, nüCamp, and KZ Sportsmen are frequently cited as the top makers of these tiny trailers.
Teardrop trailers
The teardrop trailer design has been around since at least the 1930s, and it continues to be popular, especially as more single campers have been taking to the road. The very first ones were often home-built units, and magazines like Mechanix Illustrated would publish trailer plans so the intrepid do-it-yourselfer could knock together his very own teardrop or mini trailer out in the garage workshop. Everything old seems to be new again, and today you can find modern plans online to build your own.
A teardrop trailer usually looks exactly like what it’s called, with a big, rounded nose in the front, tapering down to an aerodynamic point in the back (see Figure 2-7) — sort of like a comma turned on its side. The tiniest teardrops have little in them besides a bed for one or two very friendly people, some lights, and maybe a TV. In the back end, they often have a tiny kitchen area hidden under a flip-up hatch. Most have an onboard 12-volt battery system that can power a few essentials and can be recharged by plugging into a 120-volt electrical outlet, a generator, or solar panels, or by hooking up the trailer’s electrical hitch connector to your car and starting your engine.
Typically, these tiny titans are no more than 5 feet tall from the pavement to the roof, and between 4 and 6 feet wide. At just 8 feet long and less than 1,000 pounds, the smaller teardrops are lightweight enough to push by hand and store in your garage. Best of all, the smallest SUVs can tow them.
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 oohs and aahs 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.
Off-road trailers
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.
Pop-up trailers
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