I've been trying to get teardrop campers out of my mind for about three years now......you guys aren't helping my recovery one bit with threads like these
!
Yeah, this probably won't help either:
You're welcome. :sombrero:
I have to say I don't get teardrop camping...seems like the worst of both worlds to me. They are too small to do anything but sleep in, so you still have to set up a screen tent or awning if you want a place to relax out of the rain/sun/bugs...so why not just have a nice tent for a lot less money?
well....
It depends on know you look at it. The TearDrop is basically a tent with hard sides. You have protection from the weather, you get a comfy bed ( camping is way more fun with a good night sleep). But it's not so comfy and big inside that you just spend all your time inside. The galley is outside, the sitting space is outside, so your still camping.
Since they are small and simple, maintenance is easy and cheap. Most of them can fit in your garage. All you have to do to go camping is throw in a couple days worth of clothes, and food and you are on your way.
Yup, what he said. You can't think of it as an "RV" because it really isn't one. It's a hard-sided tent that can't collapse in the middle of the night, that has a comfortable bed that is off the ground, and that is fully set up when you stop.
I can certainly see how it is handy for a quick overnight. But if you are doing more than sleeping, and it is raining, or the mosquitos are bad, or the sun is very hot, you are going to need to set up another structure for protection.
OK, seriously, if you're camping someplace where you need to stay inside for comfort or to get away from the bugs, you don't need a shelter,
you need to find a better place to camp! :elkgrin:
In fact, the whole thing that makes being a "tearjerker" so much fun is that you don't have any place to "retreat" to. You have to be "outside" because the inside is so small!
Go to a typical KOA or other big campground and look at the big monster RVs and 5th wheels. Plugged in, TV on, AC blasting, parents and kids watching a movie on TV or playing a video game.
Ummm....so why not just stay at the house? What's the point of going to a place like Glacier NP or Yellowstone if you're just going to sit in an air conditioned box and watch TV?
OTOH, go to a Teardrop gathering and you'll see a large circle of teardrops, various awnings, shelters, etc, but people are sitting
outside: Talking, playing games, cooking, drinking a beer, checking out the other teardrops, playing with the dog or the kids (though to be fair, most teardroppers are either singles, young couples with no kids or empty nesters like us, for obvious reasons that there aren't a lot of places to sleep a couple with kids.)
The "outdoor" part of it is one of the things that makes it so much fun!
When we go solo (that is, by ourselves instead of to a teardrop gathering) we wake up, cook breakfast, then go out. Hike, take pictures, sightsee, just enjoy the outdoors. And even if it's pouring rain when we get back to the teardrop, we can unlock it and our bed is made up and dry as a bone. Can't say that with a tent, which might collapse while you're gone!
We do have an EZ-up type awning for shelter and shade, and we sometimes carry a screen house to keep the bugs away, but honestly most of the places we camp, it's not an issue.
