Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Ok, so, we pick up the TD first part of Feb. Now the next question. Being life long "tenters" what is your opinion of accessories for the area?
What items are "must haves" for teardrops, which are "great to haves" and which are just "good to have"? I figured I would post this in the Northwest section, as I imagine location is a big factor (Arizona people would likely add "Sun Screen, whatever that is??"

...the only difference between "tenting" and teardropping is that
you now have a bed that is off the ground and a place to organize your cooking...if you have camp stoves and lanterns, you are all set the only other thing I might recommend based on your location is one of these ...y'all have fun now, ya heah
madjack

Maybe an EZ-up for over the galley. It does rain a little up here and you could stay dry while cooking.

It takes someone out in the Rainforest to come up our types of problems...One of the things I'm wrestling with is storage. I don't intend to store my tear in the garage, I don't intend to put up a "tent"shelter. It will most likely just sit in the yard under a tarp. Given my experience with my enclosed boat (which gets mold every year), I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep the insides dry while I'm not using it to prevent mold, mildew and condensation. Suggestions appreciated...

Tom as far as accessories, the EZ-UP is probably the most useful, and a floor mat. I'm sure you must have table and chairs if you're tent campers. go to this site and look at all the pics, everyone has something different. http://teardrop.blogicalthoughts.com/

Juneaudave wrote:It takes someone out in the Rainforest to come up our types of problems...One of the things I'm wrestling with is storage. I don't intend to store my tear in the garage, I don't intend to put up a "tent"shelter. It will most likely just sit in the yard under a tarp. Given my experience with my enclosed boat (which gets mold every year), I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep the insides dry while I'm not using it to prevent mold, mildew and condensation. Suggestions appreciated...

Down here in Flawduh, we have problems with mildew on the north side of everything, but that's an outside problem. For the inside there is nothing like a dehumidifier. Here is a link to a pretty good one, I used to have this one a boat. Uses only 38 watts @ 120V. http://www.drytheair.com/xcart/store/catalog/product_16152_36_GoldenRod_Dehumidifier_38_Watts.html

Steve

Thanks all for the input. We are fairly low maintenance campers, a few folding chairs is all. Seems like the campgrounds we do go to the sites for tents are nicer and the RV hookup sites are out in a flat paved/grass field, so we will likely continue that part. I plan on installing a battery for the lights is about all, charge before we leave home and that is all, keep simple. I loved the pics Robert. My list now is up to.
1. Same old tarps I used on tents (I like puttin them up!?!?)
2. a mat on either side
3. a shoe box for each
Not bad, three items from reading posts til I am cross eyed

Tom

Tom-

We have one of Ed's trailers and we keep ours outside under a Tyvek VW bug car cover in RV storage in our community. We put Dri-Z-Air in a container and put one in the galley and one in the inside. The stuff is messy if it spills so we set the one inside in a dishpan and the one in the galley goes on a plastic plate. Ed's trailers don't leak so we've never had a problem with mold or moisture inside the teardrop during storage. We neglected to "winterize" our teardrop this past fall and just pulled it up to the garage last weekend. Things were perfect inside. We dried out the cover, kept it in the garage for a couple of days, and took it back down for storage until spring. We usually check on it once a month to replace the Dri-Z-Air and head off any potential problems. This will be the third winter we've stored ours outside in the Oregon rain.

Last spring we pulled our teardrop up to the house without taking out the Dri-Z-Air and had quite a mess to clean up. We now have a big tag hanging off the teardrop keys to remind us there is Dri-Z in there.

They have a web site , www. drizair.com.

Last year we had a slight problem with a discoloration on the aluminum skin where the car cover was in contact with the tear. We buffed it out and then used a cleaning wax. Some people told us we shouldn't have waxed it, but the finish looked beautiful when we took off the cover last Sunday.

Hope we get to meet you at Spring Fling.

Gretchen

Gretchen,

I am just a few weeks away from picking up the trailer, and jumping out of my skin! Ed showed me the pics of yours, and of course the Ad for Ford. He was telling me you use yours more then any?! I too look forward to meeting once we get it home.

Tom

Good accessory items I take is a bottle of beverage or two,, easy up,, lights to string around,, BIG coffee pot,, electric cords,,, Pickle juice,, flamingos,, and the list goes on

chipper

Tom--

One place to start for a reference is http://campadk.com/pjsnoozer/ I was encouraged by the missus to get a Coleman water heater. I figured we had been camping in a tent without one for 20+ years why would we need one now? Boy was I mistaken. We should have bought one long ago. We also went to http://www.cabelas.com and got a 12V travel blanket. We had one for the car and now have one for the trailer. It sure makes it nice when we were camping in Idaho, Washington, Oregon. Just be careful or you'll go beyond the KISS principle.

Rob

Again, great tips, keep em coming. I did check out the campadk, and loved the checklist. (planned on making one for years)
So, now the list has grown
1. Whiskey (covers the beverage and heat)
2. Dog (Not as good as Whiskey, but still warm)
3. Shoe box
4. The mats and the tarps (Still like puttin them up)
5. More Whiskey (Maybe in a Pickle jar?)
6. Ummm, oh yea, wife....! almost forgot!

So, number 7??