Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi, I’m Glenn and I split my time between Michigan and Kentucky. This is my first post. I’m still in the conceptual design phase (it’s all in my head) and this will be a first build for me. I plan on following closely the design of the Northern Lite Traveler by alaska teardrop (thank you, your build journal is still producing fruit!). Because my wife won’t sleep where there is no room service, I’m designing the inside to accommodate a solo camper. Essentially ½ floor space for the mattress and ½ for living room.

I will be semi-retired next May and will start my build then. I plan on traveling from Michigan to the Pacific Northwest and then to Kentucky over 4-6 weeks next fall. Unfortunately, at 60+ years old, I get up to pee at least once a night. I don’t relish the thought of stepping out into the cold and darkness or trying to pee on my knees while groggy from sleep. I’ve considered an Aliner, but I want to cook outside, not inside, and I want to be a part of the teardrop community.


I want to stand up in the teardrop. To do that, I need a portion of the rooftop to rise while parked for camping, lowered for driving, and still be watertight. I’ve joked if I could find a upside down collapsible silicone sink large enough for my head that would work. I’m 5’7” so finally my shortness is a plus! More realistically, I’ve been looking at hard sided rooftop truck tents as an inspiration. I am thinking of a 2ft x 3ft rectangle pop up cross ways at the rear or the same dimensions lengthwise for a wedge design (tall height at the rear?). Am I asking for trouble? Anybody have some good advice?
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Hi CamperG and welcome onboard. I would recommend checking out this list of trailer builds with lifting roofs to give you some ideas.

You might take a look at the Meerkat trailers to get some ideas for a pop top. Their pop top seems to be a very simple design. Thought of this when you mentioned an upside down sink. Yeah, I took that as not so serious but you might be on to something!

Thanks OP827. The link was very helpful.

Thanks TimC, I'll check out the Meerkat. My sink comment was in jest, but only after I spent an hour searching online for exactly that!

I just want to stand inside to change clothes and assist my middle of the night bathroom requirement. If I only raise a portion of the roof/ceiling, I'm wondering if I will bonk my head without paying attention. I'm particularly interested in hearing thoughts from anybody who has raised only a portion and not the entire roof.

Also, I should have been explicit in my first post, I want the raised part to be hard-sided not canvas. Thoughts on that?

If you want hard sides, I think you'll want to go bigger. Hard sides usually means one edge hinged, which means there is no increase in height at the hinged edge.

The other way to do it might be a hard box that retracts into the cabin. Think of a slide out only vertical. You'd lose the space inside while traveling, but if that's OK it might be easier than dealing with hinges and folding sides. Make it light (ie foam) and you could raise it by hand.

"The other way to do it might be a hard box that retracts into the cabin."

I would think rather than "into" it should be "over" from water leakage point of view.

CamperG wrote:... I want the raised part to be hard-sided not canvas. Thoughts on that?

I support that approach. It will be well protected from elements, if it's built properly.

Pmullen503 wrote:If you want hard sides, I think you'll want to go bigger. Hard sides usually means one edge hinged, which means there is no increase in height at the hinged edge.

The other way to do it might be a hard box that retracts into the cabin. Think of a slide out only vertical. You'd lose the space inside while traveling, but if that's OK it might be easier than dealing with hinges and folding sides. Make it light (ie foam) and you could raise it by hand.

Brilliant!!! I hadn't thought of a box retracting into it. I think I could lock down a watertight fit while driving. The challenge is with water leakage during the raised time. I would be okay with losing storage while driving because I'll be solo, and I travel light. I don't want to go bigger than 5x8. This is a whole new thing to rattle around in my brain.

The comments about "over" versus "into" are well taken. No question "over" would be the best design for water avoidance. That would change the look, so I'll have to noodle that as well.

I've been thinking about this (and a tilt out) as mods on my old foamy camper.

The idea is to cut a square opening in the ceiling, run 1/4" ply around the edges to create a "dam" about 2" high. The "hat" at the top of the box seals on that dam when traveling. When up, I was thinking of using something like a rain fly to direct water away to the sides. The seal on the box just needs to be mosquito proof, not waterproof.

Top hat with a short down turned outer rim at the top, and a longer inner sleeve. Raised collar around roof opening so that outer rim slides down outside collar, and inner sleeve slides down inside collar. Nice fat trim-loc seal around base of inner sleeve so that seal only rubs on roof cutout at the last bit of raising.

That's pretty much what I was thinking. Don't know if I'd need anything to prevent racking. I was thinking foam, so light enough to raise by hand.

That and rotate the single mattress and use a tip out for the length. The idea is to have a spot to stand and change clothes.

Pmullen 503, I love the hat concept. KCStudly, thanks for breaking down the mechanics. These ideas have been really good.

As a newbie, what is "racking" and I'm not sure I understand "rotate the single mattress and use a tip out for the length". Can you explain.

Racking is tilting the top as you lift it so it jams. Pop ups have a system of cables and lifters to made sure all four corners move up the same.

I think a light and small enough pop up could be maneuvered by hand with little problem.

What I meant by rotate the mattress was to use a tip out extension on one side so I could orient the mattress side to side in my 4 ft wide trailer. The tip out would mean over 6' of length for the mattress and almost 3 ft wide (solo camping). That would free up floor space under the pop up area.

Mine was fairly big, so I needed to add spars integrated into the foam. Still light enough to raise by hand. I liked how my 'H' hinge/brace worked out allowing lift one end (N/S) at a time. Probably with you all going much smaller, you'd still lift the whole thing at once.

If only using it to dress, pee or cook, I'd lean towards an angle lift. Better stability with one end hinged (version of the H hinge on the other?). If soft sided, you can just roll the material and use the TD top-down mode. My soft side went through 2 tropical storms without leaking. The duck cloth had issues, but the Ottertex ripstop worked great! Scared me as it's so light weight, but held up!

Thank you everyone. I'm truly grateful for your ideas and willingness to help. I think I have a solid plan now.

An added benefit is you've given me inspiration to name my teardrop. I'm thinking Forrest Top Hat, Mountain Top hat, Cozy Top Hat, or something similar. Suggestions welcomed.