Campers, Campers, Campers

 Rob and I are currently working on a cargo trailer camper conversion so I thought my dusty old blog would be a good place to log our progress.

Some backstory: 

We love camping and exploring and about 10 years ago we transitioned from backpacking and tent camping to a travel trailer.  Of course since I am a huge fan of vintage, unique and unusual, we HAD to get a vintage trailer.

We started out with a little 13' 1970 Scotty.  It was cute, it was vintage, it was poorly constructed, it was thankfully cheap.  It was a great place to hang out and drink cocktails in the driveway but the layout didn't really work for us and the dogs and I am pretty sure the only thing holding it together was the skin.  But we did learn that we enjoyed trailer camping so the search was on for another vintage trailer.

Charlie and the Serro Scotty, I miss that little pup!

I knew I wanted a silver trailer so I was searching Craigslist for all the usual suspects; Avions, Airstreams, Silver Streaks, Streamliners.  That's when I found "Dorothy" a rare 1963 Avalair RA22.

Dorothy in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

We put in a new floor, Allure Vinyl Plank

Phoebe, our Italian Greyhound/Whippet Mix

This used to be a non working, scary heater which we removed and added shelving.

 The Long, Long Trailer

After camping in Dorothy for several years we started thinking about getting a second trailer; something a bit larger with dedicated beds for longer trips.  We were starting to travel more and go out one to two weeks at a time and converting the beds every night on longer trips was tedious.

Again I searched Craigslist for something vintage and I found "Petunia" a 1972 Holiday Rambler still in the hands of the original owners.  I have to say I was not intending to get that long of a trailer, I had been looking for something around 24 to 26 feet (Dorothy is 19') but when I saw Petunia I fell in love with all 31 feet of her.

Petunia in Vega State Park, Colorado

Petunia in Sylvan Lake State Park, Colorado.  That's the original Carefree Awning.

Original crushed velvet sofa and pinch pleat drapes.  We installed the same flooring we used in Dorothy.

We had to remove the original shag carpeting.  I was keeping the 70's vibe but this was just too much!

A real bedroom with super comfy beds!

Huge kitchen.

One thing I love about vintage trailers, all the huge windows!

The Pop Up

Fast forward a few years, we have Dorothy for shorter trips to developed state park campgrounds (she has pretty low ground clearance and is a bit more delicate) and to vintage trailer meetups. We have Petunia for setting up for a week or two at the lake or a state park or getting off the beaten path.

 But Petunia is really long so even though we did an axel flip, there are a lot of primitive areas we can't get into.

In Colorado there is fierce competition for camping spots and many forest service campgrounds and state parks fill 6 months in advance.  With a 31' long trailer you have fewer options for primitive campgrounds.  So we start thinking about something small that can fit anywhere for quick weekend outings and decided to find a pop up (aka tent trailer).

Back to Craigslist and we find a 1970 StarCraft StarMaster also from the original owners.  This is a basic pop up, little more than a tent on wheels, very small and very light.

Near Crested Butte, Colorado

By the Taylor Reservoir in central Colorado

We did a few renovations to the pop up but it was in good shape.  I recovered the cushions and Rob added some LED lighting.  I love the original stove and sink in orange!  I painted the front outside panel and the back bumper to match (Rust-Oleum Farm and Implement paint, Husqvarna Orange).

We would remove one of the tables and use it outside for more floor space.

Orange!

Big Cimarron, Colorado

The crew

The pop up served us well for three years but there were a few things we decided we didn't like:

Having to raise it every time we needed to load and unload gear or left something in there was inconvenient.  There is assembly required when you get to your campsite.  It's not overly difficult but it does add work and time before you can relax with your post drive beer.

Camping in the Rockies often means storms and the canvas could be loud in windy weather.  Also cold for late season camping. Climbing onto the bunks to get to the beds was awkward. Not great or easily accessible storage.

It only had 13" tires which is small for boondocking around here.  (We could have done an axel flip and upsized the tires to address this had we decided to keep it.)  But most importantly, the dogs didn't like it!

Cargo Trailer Camper Conversion

We sold the pop up and started thinking about what small trailer would work better for us.  We looked at Aliners (basically hardsided pop ups) but they still had a lot of the features we didn't love about the tent trailer.  We looked at really small Scamps, Casitas and Burros.  

Then we started looking at teardrop trailers.  I liked how small they were, basically just a comfortable bed in a cozy little clamshell.  But they would be really cramped for both of us and the dog pack.  Also a lot of the teardrops don't have the clearance to get off road.  They are perfect towed behind a beautiful vintage car but not rugged enough to get into the Colorado backcountry.

I came across off road teardrops, now we were getting somewhere!  There are quite a few companies that make some amazing off road/rugged teardrop style trailers.  Of course many of these carry equally amazing price tags.  

We found a local Colorado builder, Hiker Trailers that had some great features with a more reasonable price tag but their wait to get one built was 18 months!

Then Rob, in his infinite brilliance, told me to check out cargo trailer conversions.  After some research we decided this would give us the ability to build a camper customized to our individual needs.  

There are many sizes of cargo trailers, we wanted something that was small; like a cross between a teardrop and a mini toy hauler.  So now we are in the process of converting a 5x8 CargoCraft.

2013 CargoCraft cargo trailer