Teardrop Trailer

How it started

Our trusty little Teardrop Trailer. My husband and I have been on several road trips towing this cute, comfortable, safe haven behind us in our Subaru. Actually we are on Subaru number two and homemade teardrop number one. Yes, I said it, it’s homemade. A real honest to goodness travel trailer. Some years back we had finished a week long camping trip in the Olympic National Park (ONP) and as we were packing up our tent I said to my husband Steve, “I will never camp again if I have to sleep on the ground or in a tent.” He was rather devastated by my remarks. Steve has only ever had one, maybe two camping trips that he could recall as a child. For that lack he’s been trying to bridge that gap as an adult ever since. I’m not making light of the fact that he truly adores camping out and having a campfire. 

Why homemade

Jokingly, Steve and I have always said ‘the universe is listening’ when something happens to us by happenstance. However, approximately a week after our ONP camping trip I was randomly speaking with a coworker who said she was almost done building her very own teardrop trailer. Up until that point I didn’t even know what a teardrop trailer was. She shared a few small details and pictures of her project and that was that. That same evening when I arrived home Steve and I were sharing our work day with each other and I told him about my coworker’s teardrop trailer project. His face lit up immediately. Over the following few weeks Steve became a teardrop information gathering junkie. I mean he was constantly watching YouTube videos, carrying the laptop everywhere, looking through his phone and sometimes he was doing all three at the same time. He finally decided he could build his own teardrop. Mind you, Steve has only ever built two small things in a high school woodworking class.  He had no real experience and he didn’t own one power tool at this point.

He finished

What I’ve learned about Steve is once he sets his mind to something he’s all in, for good or bad, he is all in. So over the following fall, winter and spring he worked tirelessly, every extra moment was about this trailer. He suffered through some highs and some very costly lows. It took three attempts at the back hatch door, getting the curve just right to seal securely. Also he made sure that this homemade rig would be able to handle highway speeds and all types of weather conditions.

Nine months later he gave birth to a beautiful homemade teardrop trailer. He made sure it was travel ready by June 1st so we could camp all summer long. Ever since that summer, I’ve never slept on the ground again.

Thank You Steve.

Trailer in a box.

Plywood frame.

Finishing up.