I had a rewarding travel year in 2013. I slept in my teardrop 28 nights this year and towed it approximately 3370 miles on four outings.
I built a vestibule to keep the interior of the teardrop dry when entering and exiting in the rain. I figured out how to set up a tarp-tent off the rear of the teardrop that kept me warm and dry — “snug and smug” through a couple of gully washer storms in Oregon and Washington.
I met a bunch of great people along the way; a foursome of retired folks who knew each other back in Slovakia who gave me a bottle of great Slovakian beer; a woman who had a crow as a pet who moved a crow chick out of my campsite where it had wandered after falling from its nest nearby; a schoolteacher operating a brewery in a small town in Washington. And many others.
I rewired the trailer connector on the Subaru after a short circuit where the wiring installer draped the +12 volt wire across the catalytic converter. Luckily I happened to unhitch the trailer after only about 1/2 hour, longer and the fire would have had time to really catch.
I converted the teardrop’s electrical system from using a WFCO converter to using a Progressive Dynamics PD4045 after the WFCO failed twice!
I took the suspension apart, removing bolts covered with 65 years of rust, just to find that the springs were built that way and that nothing was wrong. I removed the 65 year-old shock absorbers, they just added weight and were completely non-functional.
I added a tongue tray so I could take advantage of the 7 feet of tongue in front of my teardrop. I promptly increased the tongue weight of the teardrop by 65 or 70 pounds by putting the propane tank and box of tarps out there. The increased tongue weight causes the Subaru to be a “little tail heavy” and overloaded.
Being a little overloaded caused me to find a new tow vehicle to drag the teardrop around with. Conversations with people greatly influenced my choice. Some of those conversations, such as those with dealer car salesmen, weren’t so pleasant. But I ended up with a new tow vehicle adequate to the task of towing the teardrop, or an even larger trailer.
I’m looking forward to another year of teardrop adventures. When I bought my teardrop, I had no idea of what I was getting into. After three years, now I can’t wait to get back into it ;-)