The CrowsWing - Offroad Teardrop Trailer

Jr_Explorer

Jr_Explorer

Explorer
Love the build, the thread, the light mount... Pretty much damn near ALL of it! Great job!

Now go WEIGH IT!!! Inquiring minds want to know! :wings:
 
Glenn

Glenn

New member
Awesome book.....two thumbs up! The craftsmanship you and your wife put into it is phenomenal ! You cut no corners and had it well planned out. Your "learn as you camp" additions are even high class as well. You guys will have Many years of joy out of using it. My hat's off to the both of you!
 
jim65wagon

jim65wagon

Well-known member
We were invited to camp at Piney Woods group campground at North Bend Park on the Kerr Reservoir a few weeks ago. This was mainly a Camp Inn trailer gathering but they included us, a Serro Scotty, and a newer Tab trailer with a teardrop style kitchen in the back hatch. One of the Camp Inn guys has a video channel on Youube and asked to film our trailer. Against my better judgement here is the result:

[video=youtube;6PKB6G9NKXw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PKB6G9NKXw&feature=share&list=UUAyOw7kbew M5satUYtLrfpA[/video]

Youtube channel is DOGGORUNNING. You can check out his other videos if you like. He's got a sweet looking Camp Inn 560 Ultra "Raindrop" Teardrop

This is his film of our weekend camping trip. Camp Inn trailers are pretty sweet, and the TAB is the very first one of its kind with a Teardrop style kitchen.

[video=youtube;7aLF_Ghgob0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aLF_Ghgob0&feature=share&list=UUAyOw7kbew M5satUYtLrfpA[/video]
 
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P

Presto88

Adventurer
Very cool, Jim. I think you and your wife did a great job of showing off a VERY awesome trailer! You should be very proud of that rig, it's really beautiful!
 
W

Wilbah

Adventurer
I will echo everyone else here on a great build truly customized for what you want and need. And than you for sharing it with us all. I know its not easy to document everything like you did.

I have a question about the trailer now that you have used it for a while. Are you finding that it is holding up as you had hoped? Many people have had parts of their manufactured campers start to come apart as most are not really made for off road, even many of the so called "off road" versions use cheap particle board etc. I am wondering if your build has stayed as tight as when you first made it?

Also knowing what you know now are there things you would have done differently in the build? Any features you wish you had that you left out?

Trust me I am not looking to nitpick in ANY way....a truly awesome build. I just know I always look back on projects and say "I wish I had done..." and I am curious what those things might be? Thanks!
 
jim65wagon

jim65wagon

Well-known member
Wilbah said:
I will echo everyone else here on a great build truly customized for what you want and need. And than you for sharing it with us all. I know its not easy to document everything like you did.
Click to expand...
Your welcome, and you are correct, documenting a build is time consuming and tiresome, but I'm really glad we did.
Wilbah said:
I have a question about the trailer now that you have used it for a while. Are you finding that it is holding up as you had hoped? Many people have had parts of their manufactured campers start to come apart as most are not really made for off road, even many of the so called "off road" versions use cheap particle board etc. I am wondering if your build has stayed as tight as when you first made it?
Click to expand...
The simple answer is: Everything we built is holding up splendidly. The trailer has just over 6000 miles (a lot of highway - some of which was horribly rough, quite a lot of gravel forest roads, and some very rough forest roads) on it, and we've spent 32 nights in it. The 2 items that have failed are ones we had no control over.

The MaxxAir fan had its circuit board fail and was temporarily wired straight to the motor with an On/Off switch (no low speed, just full power), it was an old version of the fan and no spare parts were available. We've since replaced it with a new version (and hopefully more robust) of the MaxxAir. I still prefer this fan over the Fantastic Fan, as it has a rain hood as part of the fan (can operate in the rain, hood open) and has 10 speeds with low being just a slight whisper of air movement.

The other failure was probably the worst thing that could have failed: The trailer tongue. Yes the tongue. It slowly bent in the first summer of use (of course the warranty on the trailer was out by that point), we managed to straighten it (with the truck and a floor jack) enough to slide a piece of 3/16" steel inside it and finished the season. We watched it throughout this season, and while it did not bend any further the original aluminum tongue continued to flex enough to crack completely around the circumference. After our trip with the CampInn trailer crowd we had to do something about it and found a trailer company in Maryland that did aluminum trailer repair.

I'll be doing a post on the tongue, both old and new to show what happened to the old tongue, why it happened, and how it was repaired.

Wilbah said:
Also knowing what you know now are there things you would have done differently in the build? Any features you wish you had that you left out?

Trust me I am not looking to nitpick in ANY way....a truly awesome build. I just know I always look back on projects and say "I wish I had done..." and I am curious what those things might be? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Honestly? Very little would be changed.
The batteries would not be in the tongue box, they would be just ahead or behind the water tank so they're not adding nearly so much to the tongue weight.
Our Gazebo storage would also be moved back to just ahead of the water tank. Hindsight being 20/20 we realized that the 40 or 50 lbs of EZ Up could just as easily had it's storage bin to the rear of the basement as opposed to the front of the basement.

Of course trailer number 2 will have these improvements...lol
 
Every Miles A Memory

Every Miles A Memory

Expedition Leader
Jim, I'd just like to say that after following your build since the beginning, THANK YOU for documenting it for so long and so detailed. I know how time consuming it is to document these type of builds, but I also know how valuable it is for those wanting to learn how much a thread like this is worth as to what they can learn from it.


Basically, thanks for taking the time to document this so much and help everyone else out
 
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