Preview: Small Boat Adventuring with Teardrop Trailers
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January 12, 2017
Email this Video to a FriendFor those of us who love the portability, practicality, affordability, and stylishness of little boats, we’d like you to meet their over-road-equivalent: the teardrop trailer. We see a trend happening with people starting to go small boat adventuring with teardrop trailers. When we ran across this luxury teardrop-ish trailer at the Small Craft Festival in St. Michael, Maryland, we just had to take a closer look (as did nearly every small boater who walked past).
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10 Responses So Far to “Small Boat Adventuring with Teardrop Trailers”
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Greg Mactye says:
Gee, I thought I was going to see a tear drop trailer. Well, hate to burst yer bubble, but while this is a really neat trailer, it ain’t a teardrop. What it is, is a standard small-sized trailer, SHAPED like teardrop. If you don’t understand the difference then you really don’t understand what a teardrop was. Shape has nothing to do with it, and “Roughing it” is not “only having a small head with no shower” — its having bucket for a head, and a watering can for a shower! LOL Very neat video, as always, and nicely presented. But “this” old timer was just a tiny bit disappointed in not seeing a real teardrop like they were designed “way back then”.
Roy Cantler says:
Kevin,what a fine piece of engineering.I like seeing people living their dream. I live in northern Maryland ,where the Susquehanna river enters the bay. Lots of camping, and boating available. Enjoy your journey. Keep the rest of us updated.
Richard Raymond says:
You may have opened up a can of worms here. There are hundreds of varieties of teardrop trailer, thousands of owners/builders, and they are just as devoted as small boat fans. For a sample check here: http://teardroptrailers.org/index.html.
Chris Coakley says:
Kevin, Thanks for sharing your obvious enthusiasm for a very cool trailer that facilitates your love of camping/slack packing/yellow blazing. I saw the Maryland plates and have a fondness for the beauty and diversity of camping in your state. I’ve sailed and lived in the area for almost 20 years. I was pleased to hear you’ve ventured to Maine for your “in the wild siting,” as Vacationland still provides some of the best camping on the East Coast, IMHO.
I would agree that your overhead fan is very important and quite slick. Can you please tell me who manufactures it? Thanks again. -Chris, ’98 Nimble Kodiak, Gin Lizzie (a way-less-aerodynamic, trailer-able camper)
Kevin Brennan says:
It is a fan-tastic fan. http://www.fantasticvent.com/
Chris Coakley says:
Thanks
Thomas McLaughlin says:
Kevin – I teach some of the pond yacht building classes at WoodenBoat School and was intrigued by the pond boat inside your Subaru. Is that the boat you take to the small boat festivals? What classification is it? Thanks, Thom McLaughlin
Kevin Brennan says:
Thom,
It is a vintage Marblehead that I’m fairly certain was built to the lines of Cheerio II in John Black’s Model Yacht Building from back in the day. At some point it was modified (butchered up) and I brought it back to life a number of year ago. I never use it so if you know of a good way to find a home for it let me know.
Thomas Dalzell says:
These things are great. The Alto is sold just off a road I frequently drive, and I looked it over. From the outside it looks like an interesting trailer, from the inside it looks like the nicest place one could live. Incredible attention to the beauty of the experience. However, even without the roof going up it is really large for the teardrop space. Real teardrops are small enough not to notice the trailing.
However, if you are a boat person, why you would opt for a complex, composite construction, trailerable home, that couldn’t be dropped into the water is a little beyond me. As a boat guy I have built one trailer, and two trailerable, semi-livable, boats. To get everything you need to trailer, to be a boat, and on top to be a trailer home, is not going to be practical unless you just like to build and solve multidisciplinary intractable problems. And then you get your dream and on the first night find it doesn’t really sleep two, or it actually takes 10 to launch.
There is a new form of boat for billionaires which basically floats but is really just a more or less stationary home. It differs from a floating dockside home in that the inspiration for both the luxury and the shape comes from a yacht, not an island or a raft:
[img]http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WNbX-maF4fE/Ucz6fP0mKhI/AAAAAAACHTE/KhtVySLmG6s/s900/bb30.jpg[/img]
At the opposite end of the spectrum one has various shanty boats that would provide teadrop like economics with the ability to move away from the dock but not with exciting performance. The recently profiled Kohler cat is a little too boaty. That is great, but it comes at some building cost and complexity, and excess weight for trailering.
One traditional problem with shanty boats in super small sizes is that gas motors can be a CO problem if the container is sufficiently box like/efficient. Bolger ran into that problem. An option would be to use solar at some point in the future. The technology is growing at the rate of Moore’s Law, so it will get better over time.
Brian Donohue says:
great trailer/camper. I winder if i could put my 14ft row/sail boat on top. I saw a similar lift roof teardrop at the Wooden Boat show in Mystic Seaport about 5 yrs. ago. This wooden camper had a roof that lifted from the bumper to create a walk in camper with the usual kitchen and , if I remember, a double bed compartment forward. Never seen it since. Has anyone else?