Featured Teardrop: Stargazers Teardrop Trailer

While looking at photos of my Sunflower, you might see another teardrop right next to her at a campsite. My teardrop's little friend is the Stargazers teardrop trailer, which is owned by our neighbors and good friends, Brett and Nancy. Brancy, as we call them, had been tent campers for years when a trip to central Nevada was waylaid by a spring snowstorm. They came home tired, cold and ready for something different. So they borrowed my teardrop on their next trip to Great Basin National Park and came back determined to get their own tiny trailer.

Brancy scoured Craigslist for a few months before finding their 5x8 foot home built teardrop trailer from an independent builder in Clovis, California. They were able to snag the trailer for $3,200, just under the $3,500 asking price. The trip back home from Clovis was also interrupted by rain and a snowstorm in the mountains and their new teardrop filled up with water. That didn't deter them. Ever since buying their teardrop, they've been able to make significant changes and updates to the trailer, like waterproofing, sealing and utilizing pop-up shelters.

They decided to get a teardrop trailer not only because of their great experience with mine, but also because they would not have to buy a larger tow vehicle.

"It's easy and more manageable," Nancy said. "Also, it feels like I'm sleeping on a cloud after we've come back from a 10 mile hike."

The Stargazers teardrop is proof of how much fun you can have with a teardrop theme and decorating. Nancy is very artistic and has decorated the teardrop with a celestial theme that includes glow-in-the-dark curtains, sun and moon bedding, wallpaper and cute details like sleeping suns on the windows. They are proud that their teardrop is 100 percent green. They don't have a deep cycle battery, so they only use rechargeable touch lights, head lamps and a small solar charger for other devices.

 

 Brett said that one of the positives of a teardrop trailer is that it's so quiet inside. He also mentioned that one of the negatives of camping in a teardrop is that you don't have a bathroom.

"Sometimes I'm just too tired to crawl out of the trailer to go pee," he said. "But I've also had trailers in the past with a bathroom and those can also be a pain in the butt."

Nancy added that they have a small bathroom bag with toilet paper, wipes, spray soap and other convenience items they take into campground bathrooms.

Nancy mentioned that one issue they have is organization. The Stargazers trailer has some really large storage cabinets and they are well organized, but she complained that Brett still can't find anything.

"He's always asking me 'Where's this and where's that?'," she laughed.

"You do have to constantly re-organize and re-adjust things," Brett said.

They are both pleased that with a basic home built trailer they can make their own improvements and adjustments and they can change the paint color whenever they want. Their tiny trailer also allows them to really experience the outdoors on their hiking, kayaking, stargazing and meteor shower trips.

"We go camping not just to go camping," Brett said.