Building a custom ultralight trailer - Part I - Introduction
Building a custom ultralight trailer - Part I - Introduction
About a year ago, husband and I embarked on a journey to design and build our own custom teardrop/tiny trailer within some very specific design constraints. We backpack a lot and want to stretch our range further, as tent camping at trailheads isn't always possible, and having a trailer to come back to after a hike to shower and rest would be amazing. However, both of our cars have limited (or no!) towing capacity. Did you know a Subaru Crosstrek with CVT has a rated towing capacity of 1500 lbs? I didn't!
So, we wanted an ultralight trailer that was going to be better in all ways than what we could do with tent camping. That means:
- Max towing weight (loaded) 1500 lbs, preferably 1200 lbs
- Interior bathroom including shower and toilet facilities
- Interior kitchen space
- Table and seating
- Comfy bed
- Tall enough to stand up in the middle/in the shower
Cue a ton of designing, redesigning, and investigation of construction techniques and materials. I will get into the details in upcoming posts!
That's a hell of a weight constraint; if you absolutely have to have running water you could probably cut your trailer weight by carrying the watter in the back of the subaru and use a battery pump to pump it into the trailer; grey water would still beed to be collected along with sewage, but if you are camping at places with sewer hookups you could go straight to the drain with no holding tank I suppose.
Yep, it is a tough requirement, but companies like Scamp are almost there anyway with their smallest trailers. Combined with some other techniques and thoughtful choices for, e.g., water use, I think it's achievable
We don't plan on using this trailer for weeks on end, nor for using RV parks. The design requirements are more for about 2-3 days out at most and like a campervan conversion.
Doesn't towning capacity include weight in the car as well? I'm not personally unsure as it's been a while since I've towed anything but last time I checked my cars capacity I thought I saw something say that total capacity include weight in the car.