Five Best Teardrop Beds

There are really only two main living parts to a teardrop trailer: the galley and the bed. The bed is where you can really create a special look for your teardrop trailer as well as the place you want to make soft and comfortable. It's also the place where you are most likely going to be storing your clothes, personal and bath items, books and other entertainment. Organization in the bed area is key so that you don't find yourself sleeping with your clothes, books, iPad or hiking gear.

Here are the five best teardrop trailer beds I have found over the years that utilize both beauty and functionality in a darn small space.

This darling bed was in the teardrop formerly owned by my friend, Kay (Kayperkay on TNTTT). Her teardrop was so wide that the bed ran along the short edge of the teardrop.  She was actually able to have room inside her bedroom for a closet. I always loved the boudoir look of her bed.

 

This is the bed of the L'il Bear rental teardrop by Vacations in a Can.
I especially love the adjustable, personal reading lights.

 

The Big Woody Teardrop company has some great styling with their teardrop beds. Their storage cabinets are huge and you can even fit a small child in a bunk bed at the foot of the bed.

 

The beautiful new Vistabule teardrop by the Minnesota Teardrop Trailer company has one of the most functional interiors I've seen in such a tiny trailer. The bed can be folded up into a couch and you can eat inside the bed area. There is tons of storage and some great windows.

 

This is a screen shot from a news piece on the teardrop trailer built by Mary and Myron of North Dakota. Their bed area is small, but has always been one of my favorites: from the handmade quilt to the beautiful, custom cabinetry, this teardrop deserves the attention is got.

Friday Teardrop Photo

 

The Sunflower and Stargazers teardrops at the Glory Hole (unfortunate name) campground 
near Angel's Camp in Central California.

How do you keep your food cold?

Most teardrop trailers do not have the luxury of a full refrigerator. With limited galley space, most teardroppers rely on ice coolers and sometimes 12-volt portable coolers to keep their beer and steaks cold. There are several different ways to keep your food cold if you own a teardrop trailer and there are advantages and disadvantages to both of them.

So far, my husband and I have only used a regular cooler filled with ice to keep our food cold. We previously had a Coleman, but we've since upgraded to a "bear proof" and lockable cooler since we tend to camp in hungry bear territory. The advantages of this way of storing cold food is that these coolers don't use power and keep ice cold for at least 2-3 days depending on the outside air temperature. The disadvantages are that every 2-3 days we have to go hunting for ice which can sometimes run about $3-$7 a bag. On our next big trip, we are going to try to use dry ice. Another disadvantage to our particular teardrop design is that the galley does not have space for the cooler, so we have to keep it outside of the teardrop, and in bear territory, that means having to pack it away in the car at night or when we leave our site. All that lifting is hard on the back.

 

One thing that we have done with our cooler to keep melted ice from mixing with our food is to separate the food from the ice with a clear, plastic storage bin. We bring the bin into the house and fill it with our food and then carry it out to the cooler, place it inside and then pack the ice around it. The ice and the food stay separate and we can also use that clean ice for our margaritas.

Another tip I've seen from teardroppers is to line the sides and the top of your cooler with a reflective, insulation. These are sometimes called radiant barriers or bubble foil and are sold in rolls that you can cut to the size of your cooler.

Some teardroppers are lucky to have enough space in their galley to hold a small 12-volt cooler. These types of coolers can run off the teardrop or car battery or can be hooked up to a solar panel on the roof of the trailer. There is no need to buy ice and the cooler keeps food at a consistently 36 degree temperature. The disadvantage is that these types of coolers are pretty small (about 15-17 liters) and some food will need to be frozen or cooled before putting them into the 12-volt cooler. Also, if you are camping for a long time, you may need to have access to campground power to make sure your battery does not get drained.

Big Summer Teardrop Trip

This August the Sunflower will be heading up to Yellowstone on her first trip through Idaho and into Wyoming. We actually snagged a spot at the Madison Campground near West Yellowstone and will be camping there for about a week with two of our friends from Florida. We will also be spending a night or two in Grand Teton National Park.

I would love to hear where other teardroppers will be going for their summer camping trips and in the meantime, I do get a kick out of watching the Yellowstone videos by Airstream owners, Sean and Kristy:

Friday Teardrop Photo

Harry cooking up some marinated chicken in the back of the Sunflower.
Taken at Convict Lake, California (can you guess now that it's one of our favorite spots?)

Featured Teardrop: La Tortuga

I ran across Steve's (Reddiver on the TNTT forum) pirate ship themed teardrop trailer, La Tortuga, over the summer at a teardrop gathering in central Nevada. My husband and I are fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, so we were drawn to this design right away. It's one of the most fun I've ever seen. Steve answered a few of my questions about his hand built design.

 I love your teardrop design. Why a pirate ship?

I think I always wanted to build a boat. I knew that wasn't practical so when I decided to build the teardrop I went with a nautical theme (I was in the Navy). Next I decided to put in portholes — before I cut the holes inside I made the portholes to make sure I could make them. Once I had them the nautical theme was set. The nautical theme eventually evolved into a pirate theme during the next Christmas when my daughter bought me a Captain Morgan sign. The rest is history.

You built your teardrop yourself, correct? How long did it take you and what advice to do you have for other DIYers out there?

I did build it myself. Woodworking is a passion of mine. I bought the frame from Red Trailers, did some adjusting, cutting and welding and built the body. From the time they dropped the trailer in my driveway until the first camping trip was almost two years. I didn't work on it every day and the journey was great. I still work on it but miss the project now that it's complete.

 

I think my advice would be to enjoy the build. Don't try to buy all your parts at one time because plans and ideas will change. Buy the best parts you can afford — you won't miss the money at the finish line.

What is your favorite part about your pirate theme?

I think the pirate chest toolbox and the portholes are my favorite parts. But once the pirate theme took hold I was receiving pirate stuff from a lot of friends, so the pirate theme includes many gifts from many friends.

What do you like best about teardrop camping? What do you like the least?

I think what I like best is about teardrops is that in NO time you will meet everybody in the campground. You can sit back and have a cold beer and meet all your neighbors. I can't think of anything I don't like...well maybe getting up to pee in the middle of the night but that's an old guy thing, not a teardrop thing.

 Where are your favorite places to camp?

I'm a huge fan of the national parks. Some years ago, before I built the teardrop, my dog and I went on the road for two months and traveled across the country stopping at national parks and state parks all the way there and back. I haven't been able to do that with La Tortuga because of obligations at home but I am truly looking forward to the chance to get back on the road. I want to see Gettysburg.


Photos by Reddiver, Christina Nellemann and the The Flirty Blog

Teardrop Trailer Food

When teardrop camping, we have a tendency to bring along the same types of food. This is really because we have limited storage space and usually we want to spend our time outside hiking, kayaking or enjoying other outdoor sports. We don't want to spend our time figuring out new recipes. So we have gotten into the habit of bringing along our favorite things every time we head into the hills.

Most of our dinners are cooked in a dutch oven which goes hand-in-hand with teardrop camping, and which I will cover in a future post. However, a lot of our meals are also cooked over the propane stove or over the campfire, and because we've been out and about all day our favorite foods and drinks tend to be high in calories.

Our camping standbys are:

Breakfast

Bagels (toasted on the stove or over the fire) and cream cheese
Grapefruit
Orange juice
Eggs (sometimes mixed with cheese or sweet peppers)
Bacon
Toast
Tortillas
Pancake mix and syrup
Coffee

Lunch (usually eaten on a trail or on a kayak beach)

Tortillas (we love quesadillas with turkey or ham)
Bread and cold cuts
Tunafish salad
Pickles 
Apples and oranges
Cheese

Happy Hour 

Tortilla chips and salsa
Olives
Hummus and veggies
Crackers and goat cheese
 
Alcohol

Pre-mixed margaritas (and a few limes)
Beer with twist caps
Wine with twist caps

Dinner

Various dutch oven meals (stews or pizza are our favorites)
Steak
BBQ Chicken
Steamed veggies in aluminum foil on the fire
Grilled veggies 

Desserts

Jiffy Pop popcorn
Roasted Marshmallows or S'mores
Hot Chocolate
Dutch oven brownies or upside down pineapple/peach cake


No matter what we bring, it always tastes much better out in the fresh air.