- Joined
- Sep 25, 2009
- Messages
- 1,108
- Age
- 71
- Location
- West Des Moines, IA
- Bike
- 2024 Kaw Vulcan S
- 2026 Miles
- 007631
I like camping.
Sometimes I wonder if I like camping more than riding.
Sometimes I do... and sometimes I like riding a little more. But I think that's because I can go riding a lot easier and more often than I can go camping. I really don't do wilderness or back-country camping but I just like to get out away from normal life and be outside with nothing to do for a while even if it is in a campground or RV park.
So far I've consistently gone camping 5 long weekends per season but I'd like to double or triple that if I could (IOW- if I were allowed!
). My wife already thinks I'm nuts.
Lately I've been thinking about going camping more. And when I think of that I am also thinking I'd like to go camping even if I didn't ride the bike there!
Several months ago I became really interested in a teardrop travel trailer. A NuCamp T@B 360. It's essentially a tiny tiny house on wheels... like most RVs. It's a "travel trailer" because you can easily stand up in it and it has a wet bath inside and some versions have a full kitchen inside. A teardrop camper doesn't have any of that.
More recently I decided that the T@B is more than I want to deal with. And I'd have to winterize the water system and do maintenance on the heating system (radiant heat provided through propane heated antifreeze in plumbing that needs to be flushed on occasion). And also it would have to be stored outside or at an RV storage site (not cheap).
As a result of that I became much more interested in smaller teardrop camper trailers. The down side to these is that the inside is only a bedroom where the bed takes up almost the entire space. A step up from tent camping but significantly so because they are hard sided and some have heaters and even A/C. Most of these also have a clam-shell lid in the rear that opens to an outdoor kitchen. Some of the kitchens do include fresh and gray water tanks that need winterizing, but many either don't have the kitchen or only have half the kitchen... no integrated sink with the tanks that need winterizing but still have a propane cook top.
I've looked at Camp-Inn, Bean, Timberleaf, Vistabule, and several others. Many of these still don't fit through a standard 7 ft garage door... too tall. Though they are plenty short enough to fit if you can get them through the door.
Currently my favorite is the Vistabule. Very configurable. You can have the full kitchen under the clam-shell hatch. Or just the cabinets and counter back there. Or somewhere in between. I would not have the fresh water tank or sink or city water hookups. Instead I would use Jerry can water jugs for water and collapsible sink basins for washing dishes in. No winterization needed. Maybe I would include a gray water tank and install a sink without the other plumbing so still essentially no winterizing needed other than the dump that tank. I would include the propane cook top and the 12vdc refrigerator/freezer unit (Dometic or ICECO). The bed folds to make a comfortable couch inside with foot wells to make it comfy to hang out inside if the weather is bad. I can include a built-in propane heater (heat exchanger so no moisture goes inside) and maybe an A/C unit for those cold nights or hot days. I've been in both while tent camping. The Vistabule has a lot of storage cabinets and also storage under the bed as well... more than most teardrop camper trailers. It's not as tall (5' 7") and only 14 ft long. Weight is just under 1800 lbs with the options I would want.
I would still need to upgrade one of my vehicles to pull it. My Tesla Model 3 is able to pull it but I wouldn't use an EV even though it is capable. Battery range would drop dramatically pulling a trailer like this and that would mean many stops along the way. Like having a 150 mile range on any other vehicle pulling a trailer. I was thinking of replacing my Rav4. Mine only has a tow rating of 1500 lbs so not enough for almost anything but a small mc trailer. Maybe getting a Subaru Outback or better. The Outback has almost the very same mpg as my Rav4, which is very good. It also has a towing capacity of 2700 lbs which is plenty for a Vistabule.
This shows the couch setup. The mattress is put down flat to fill the space for the almost queen sized bed. A split bed version (2 single beds that fold up into couch mode separately) is also available.
This is without the heater or A/C so a little more storage in the bottom center. The white-ish cover top center are actually the doors that close the upper side storage and then the center opens as a pass-through to the kitchen area.
This is with the heater and A/C installed in the bottom center. The heater is below the bottom of the center bin and is the black vents and control near the center. The A/C is obviously the white unit that takes up the entire bottom center storage bin. If I were to get just the heat and no A/C then I would still have the bottom center for storage. The Vistabule has almost double the storage of other same size class teardrop camper trailers.
Sometimes I wonder if I like camping more than riding.
Sometimes I do... and sometimes I like riding a little more. But I think that's because I can go riding a lot easier and more often than I can go camping. I really don't do wilderness or back-country camping but I just like to get out away from normal life and be outside with nothing to do for a while even if it is in a campground or RV park.
So far I've consistently gone camping 5 long weekends per season but I'd like to double or triple that if I could (IOW- if I were allowed!
). My wife already thinks I'm nuts.Lately I've been thinking about going camping more. And when I think of that I am also thinking I'd like to go camping even if I didn't ride the bike there!
Several months ago I became really interested in a teardrop travel trailer. A NuCamp T@B 360. It's essentially a tiny tiny house on wheels... like most RVs. It's a "travel trailer" because you can easily stand up in it and it has a wet bath inside and some versions have a full kitchen inside. A teardrop camper doesn't have any of that.
More recently I decided that the T@B is more than I want to deal with. And I'd have to winterize the water system and do maintenance on the heating system (radiant heat provided through propane heated antifreeze in plumbing that needs to be flushed on occasion). And also it would have to be stored outside or at an RV storage site (not cheap).
As a result of that I became much more interested in smaller teardrop camper trailers. The down side to these is that the inside is only a bedroom where the bed takes up almost the entire space. A step up from tent camping but significantly so because they are hard sided and some have heaters and even A/C. Most of these also have a clam-shell lid in the rear that opens to an outdoor kitchen. Some of the kitchens do include fresh and gray water tanks that need winterizing, but many either don't have the kitchen or only have half the kitchen... no integrated sink with the tanks that need winterizing but still have a propane cook top.
I've looked at Camp-Inn, Bean, Timberleaf, Vistabule, and several others. Many of these still don't fit through a standard 7 ft garage door... too tall. Though they are plenty short enough to fit if you can get them through the door.
Currently my favorite is the Vistabule. Very configurable. You can have the full kitchen under the clam-shell hatch. Or just the cabinets and counter back there. Or somewhere in between. I would not have the fresh water tank or sink or city water hookups. Instead I would use Jerry can water jugs for water and collapsible sink basins for washing dishes in. No winterization needed. Maybe I would include a gray water tank and install a sink without the other plumbing so still essentially no winterizing needed other than the dump that tank. I would include the propane cook top and the 12vdc refrigerator/freezer unit (Dometic or ICECO). The bed folds to make a comfortable couch inside with foot wells to make it comfy to hang out inside if the weather is bad. I can include a built-in propane heater (heat exchanger so no moisture goes inside) and maybe an A/C unit for those cold nights or hot days. I've been in both while tent camping. The Vistabule has a lot of storage cabinets and also storage under the bed as well... more than most teardrop camper trailers. It's not as tall (5' 7") and only 14 ft long. Weight is just under 1800 lbs with the options I would want.
I would still need to upgrade one of my vehicles to pull it. My Tesla Model 3 is able to pull it but I wouldn't use an EV even though it is capable. Battery range would drop dramatically pulling a trailer like this and that would mean many stops along the way. Like having a 150 mile range on any other vehicle pulling a trailer. I was thinking of replacing my Rav4. Mine only has a tow rating of 1500 lbs so not enough for almost anything but a small mc trailer. Maybe getting a Subaru Outback or better. The Outback has almost the very same mpg as my Rav4, which is very good. It also has a towing capacity of 2700 lbs which is plenty for a Vistabule.
This shows the couch setup. The mattress is put down flat to fill the space for the almost queen sized bed. A split bed version (2 single beds that fold up into couch mode separately) is also available.
This is without the heater or A/C so a little more storage in the bottom center. The white-ish cover top center are actually the doors that close the upper side storage and then the center opens as a pass-through to the kitchen area.
This is with the heater and A/C installed in the bottom center. The heater is below the bottom of the center bin and is the black vents and control near the center. The A/C is obviously the white unit that takes up the entire bottom center storage bin. If I were to get just the heat and no A/C then I would still have the bottom center for storage. The Vistabule has almost double the storage of other same size class teardrop camper trailers.
