Little Guy Silver Shadow Offroad Teardrop

[nater]

All,

As you may have seen in my other thread (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/137560-What-am-I-forgetting-Little-Guy-Build), the wife and I ordered a little guy teardrop, and have finally received it. I wanted to start a new thread for the trailer now that it is in our possession, and hopefully detail some of the work we are doing to it to make it our own.

The wife and I have been looking at teardrops for over a year, looking at adventure trailers, moby, etc, but having run across a few little guy builds, we felt like they offered us the most for our money. In addition, they are built in Ohio just 2 hours away from where we live, so it was easy to visit the factory and make sure all was being built according to spec. The ordering process itself was very simple, they have built a few of these rough rider/silver shadow combos for other people (a few here on expo portal), and so generally the factory knew what was going on. We worked through our local dealer (Haydocy RV here in Columbus), and would recommend them to anyone looking to custom order a little guy. Very easy to work with, and the pricing was thousands better than other dealers. If you want more details about the dealer, PM me.

The trailer was ordered both with options we saw here on the forum, and via our thread "What am I Forgetting Little Guy Build." The options were as follows:

5x10 silver shadow body - Sink, no stove
Rough Rider frame, and rough rider tongue setup including full skid plates
Max Coupler
USB and Power outlets in headboard
34x10.5r17 tires and wheels to match my FJ cruiser

The estimated delivery date was about 10 weeks from ordering, and they came fairly close at about 13 weeks. They did experience some delays due to the tire size and sourcing fenders that fit, but overall, it was a very smooth transaction, and they kept me in the loop throughout.




Up next - First few modifications and outfitting for our first trip...

 

[Yulli]

Welcome to the Teardrop club!

Would love to see some pics of the interior and galley.

 

[Scott B.]

Looks nice!

I look forward to seeing your modifications.

 

[nater]

Looks nice!

I look forward to seeing your modifications.

Thanks Scott, your little guy really put us over the edge on which direction to go! In fact, when ordering, we mentioned your setup, and it really helped them understand what we were looking for!

 

[MountainD]

That is one slick looking trailer behind your yota!

 

[Colin Hughes]

Nice. There's a 2012 for sale up here but with baby moon hubcaps and those retro fenders. Hum, drop a new frame underneath is to look like this

 

[nater]

Some interior pictures, all pretty standard stuff at this point.




In other news, we have decided to give it a dry run at a local camp ground. As neither my wife nor I have spent a night in a teardrop, we decided a few quick local trips would help us get a feeling for what we need and what we dont need. We spent a few hours this past long weekend shopping for containers that fit in the different storage spots, and we lined the shelves with foam anti-slip mat. The container store was a blessing for this, they have so many different containers, that we were able to find some stuff that fit really well and added to our storage. We have packed the trailer with everything we can think of, and still have a ton of room... I am sure we will find a way however to fill it all!

 

[Yulli]

I love the headboard storage. That's one thing I wish the SoCal TD offered. The stargaze window is cool too. I found a pop up storage container thing at Costco that I think would fit in one of the cubbies on my TD.

What did you do as for bedding? I know the TD mattresses can be odd shaped and hard to find stuff for it that'll fit.

Trailer looks great. I love how cozy they are.

 

[nater]

I love the headboard storage. That's one thing I wish the SoCal TD offered. The stargaze window is cool too. I found a pop up storage container thing at Costco that I think would fit in one of the cubbies on my TD.

What did you do as for bedding? I know the TD mattresses can be odd shaped and hard to find stuff for it that'll fit.

Trailer looks great. I love how cozy they are.

The bed is a standard size queen, so the wife determined that one of our old sets of sheets would be good to leave the house and move to the trailer. We are debating if we want a memory foam topper or not, I guess the choice will be made after spending the first full night in it.

The headboard storage is great, and we have 12v and USB charging outlets installed inside of it for easy phone/tablet charging. We tend to watch movies on our tablet, so decided to add chargers there, and omit a TV.

The Stargazer window is great, it is nice to lay there and be able to look out, it really makes the whole thing feel less confining.

 

[Scott B.]

We are using our Therm-a-Rest pads under the mattresses. The mattresses were a little thin when lying on your side.

 

[Yulli]

The bed is a standard size queen, so the wife determined that one of our old sets of sheets would be good to leave the house and move to the trailer. We are debating if we want a memory foam topper or not, I guess the choice will be made after spending the first full night in it.

Nice. My mattress is odd shaped. It still holds 2 people but it's a 53"x78" So finding a set of sheets is a bit hard to find. I will eventually figure something out.

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Nice Color, looking forward to your built, I am selling my trailer and considering a Little Teardrop at this point!

 

[nater]

A quick snapshot of the galley from this weekend while we were out. We spent 2 nights in the teardrop, and are overall very pleased. I do want to build a slide out drawer for my camp partner stove, and change around the storage a bit, but overall, very nice. The wife loved the sink! I know many dont like it, but she found it very nice for cleaning up after dinner.

 

[nater]

An update on our little guy. We have had it out twice so far, and the updates are as such:

- Wife wanted a memory foam topper, an amazon order later we had one for under a hundred bucks, and so far based on our first trip with it on, it makes a big difference on the comfort level. Not that it was bad before, but now it is squishy and nice for the wife.
- I am going to build a slide out drawer for our Camp Partner stove. Right now we have it stored under the sink when not in use, but I think having it on slides would be a huge improvement for cooking.
- It sleeps cold with the fan going. Normally I am not much of a blanket person, but even in the summer, I need one to remain comfortable throughout the night
- I need to move the battery. Right now it is on the front of the tongue, which prevents my rear door from opening fully. I will move it back to the the rack. Will most likely add a truck box to the front of the trailer, and place the batter inside.

We will also be adding a roof rack and an ARB awning to the setup. When it rains, the only option is to either get wet, or hide in the trailer. Neither option is really great for extended rain, so a side room that is easy to deploy and put away is going to be added. I *think* we will go with the factory roof rack option, but I am still looking into what we can use. The factory rack is rated for 300lbs, which should be more than enough for an awning.

We also have some leakage issues. Both side doors let in a bit of moisture after driving down the freeway in horrible rain. I did not think much of it until we got to our spot for the evening and discovered the bed was wet on either side from the leakage. I already have an appointment set up with our dealer, and they seemed very willing to resolve the issue.

 

[4x4x4doors]

When they go after the door leaks, I would appreciate details on what they do and how successful. I have the same issue and some thoughts on fixing it but haven't yet determined if its primarily a loose fit on the doors/gaskets (mine are 10 years old) or just a wicking issue because soft stuff migrates to the area against the doors.