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How do I cook if it rains?
Camping with a Camp-Inn is similar to tent camping. Personally, I have a quick set-up type
canopy that I can place over the kitchen area. Screen-tents can be modified to fit over the
kitchen area as well. You can store all this extra equipment in the Camp-Inn's sleeping
area during travel. P.S. It works well for sun too.
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Why not put a dinnette inside?
Unlike other compact travel trailers, a teardrop bed does not double as a dinnette.
It is possible, and there have been teardrop builder that have tried to do it,
but it has a couple of major drawbacks.
You would have to unmake and make the entire bed every time you wanted to use the dinnette.
The foot area would have to be lowered to make comfortable seating. This would reduce ground clearance and eliminate under-floor storage area.
Although it would be nice to have during bad weather, due to the compactness of the teardrop, you would have to stand outside to set-up the dinnette or make the bed.
Home builders that have included a dinnette, use it once or twice, and decide it is too much trouble.
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What do I do with my shoes?
There are a few options:
Reserve a spot on the duffle shelf. You can line it with plastic or have a bin for them.
Have a plastic bin that you can put them in and close and slide under the trailer.
Get one of our side entrance tents.
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Why not put a deck for hauling stuff on the tongue?
The teardrop design is a design of efficiency. It balances well and is aerodynamic.
If you add a deck to the front for hauling firewood, ATV's, motorcycles, etc...it throws off the balance.
Putting a deck on the front forces you to extend the tongue and thereby increase the tongue-weight.
If you load anything onto the deck, most of the weight is put directly on the tongue.
If you put a 400 lb. ATV on the deck, you would add about 250 lbs. to your tongue-weight.
If the empty trailer had a 150 lb. tongue-weight, this would make your total tongue-weight about 400 lb.
You would need a large SUV or truck to safely carry that tongue-weight.
If you moved the axle to adjust the tongue-weight, the unloaded trailer would be improperly balanced.
Adding a deck to the rear does the opposite. Adding too much weight to the rear, makes tongue-weight too light and causes the
trailer to sway and handle unsafely.
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How do I tell if this is really for me?
Trust us...It's for you. Seriously...The Camp-Inn Teardrop Camping Trailer is not for everyone.
The Camp-Inn is a step between tent camping and RV camping. It has some of the benefits of both.
| TENT CAMPING | CAMP-INN | RV CAMPING |
| Sleep on rough ground. | Sleep on mattress. | Sleep on mattress. |
| Lots of setup. | Little setup Required | Little setup Required |
| Spend more time outdoors. | Spend more time outdoors. | Spend some time outdoors. |
| Picnic Table IS kitchen | Large set-up Kitchen | Small set-up kitchen |
| Haul everything in car | Haul most in Camp-Inn | Haul everything in RV |
| Car available for day trips | Car available for day trips | No car, unless you drag one along |
| Wet Canvas in Rain | Wind/Rain proof | Wind/Rain proof |
| Stores on shelves | Stores in Garage | Stores in BIG Garage |
| Looks like a Tent | Great Styling | A Big Box with Wheels |
My personal opinion on motorhomes/travel trailers...
If you have to bring along a vacuum cleaner...It's not camping.
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It looks so small, and I'm kind of claustrophobic!
The Camp-Inn is actually bigger than it appears. The cabin holds a queen size bed and has 3 1/2 feet of head room.
Someone 6'5" tall can sit on the bed and still have plenty of headroom. It is similar in size to the inside of a mid size car. (without the seats)
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Does the air conditioner or AC outlets run off the battery?
Short answer: No. Long answer: Since the air conditioner and many AC appliances (toasters, coffee makers, hair dryers, etc..)
require large amounts of energy, we would need huge batteries just to be able to run them for a short period.
These batteries would add several hundered pounds to the trailer and use up valuable storage space.
Also, it would require the use of an inverter (see next question below)
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Do you install inverters?
Inverters are electronic devices that convert DC power (battery) to the AC power we use in our homes to power appliances
like toasters, hair dryers, or air conditioners, to name a few. So, it would seem logical to include an inverter in a teardrop.
The problem with AC appliances is they use alot of power. For example, if you were to run the air conditioner off the trailers
battery, It would drain a fully charged battery in less than 1 hour.
If we did install an inverter, the size would be critical. It would be too big for some people and too small for others.
For example, if we put in an inverter large enough to run a hair dryer, it would be like putting a V8 engine on a skateboard for the person
who wants to recharge his cell phone.
Hair dryers use more power than the air conditioner. Using the hair dryer for ten minutes would use about 1/3 of the battery capacity.
If we installed a medium size inverter, some people would overload it and it would still be overkill for others.
We could install a smaller inverter, to run laptops, recharge cell phones, etc... These smaller inverters are inexpensive
and readily available at auto parts stores, electronics, hardware and department stores.
They are made to plug in to the cigarette lighter port in your car (and the DC ports in your Camp-Inn trailer).
We recommend about a 100W inverter.
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What about heater or air conditioner?
HEATER: We have found that a Camp-Inn teardrop doesn't require a heater unless the temperature is very cold.
They are insulated and weather tight, so usually body heat is enough to make it comfortable within a short time.
In cold weather, bring along an extra blanket and you will be surprised how warm you stay.
In most cases, a small DC heater is more than enough to take the chill out of the air. If you camp at campgrounds with
hook-ups you could bring along an electric heater or even an electric blanket.
That said, we have designed a heater option for those who do cold weather camping and want to make sure they have a warm, dry place to sleep.
Go to the Options page for more information on this option.
AIR CONDITIONING: A teardrop, tent or automobile sitting in the sun will get hot inside. Since you usually won't
be sleeping when the sun is out, the main issue is hot nights. With both side windows open,
you get cross ventilation. With the sunroof option, you get even better ventilation.
If you decide you still want AC, we have designed the air conditioner option. Go to our Options
page to view pictures of this option.
The air conditioner is mounted inside a drain pan that has a drain pipe plumbed through the cabin and out the bottom of the trailer.
This allows any condensation to drain safely out of the trailer. This drain pan also drains out any rain water or wash water that
gets into the external air conditioner vent area.
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Can I get it with a shower or toilet?
Yes and No.
We do offer a portable shower that you can use at your campsite. Please call us for details.
There is only so much room to fit it all in and the toilet is one thing we had to leave out.
Also, we decided to leave it out since most campsites have some type of toilet.
Camper toilets are a smelly nuisance at the best of times,
and worse if not maintained and serviced properly. You can take a Port-a-potty with you, if necessary.
Consider our Side Tent Option for a private place for the port-a-potty.
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Can I get a built in fridge -OR- Are those coolers under the counter?
We are often asked these two questions and they are so similar that I will answer them together.
No, those aren't coolers under the counter. We decided to not build in a cooler or fridge for
several reasons;
First, it would take up valuable storage space. If the cooler was built in, you would lose
that space for other items such as pots, pans, or food. By using a portable cooler hauled on the
countertop, the cooler can be moved to make more counter space. The same area serves double duty.
Second, built in coolers are hard to clean. A portable cooler can be taken out, dumped upside down
and hosed out if necessary.
Third, Portable coolers are... well... Portable! If you want, you can take them in the car for a day trip, or
into a park for a picnic.
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Can I use a DC cooler?
We offer a DC Refrigerator/Freezer. It can run off DC or AC power. When using our fridge or other DC coolers consider the following:
DC Fridges draw alot of current and will drain your battery quickly. Since most of these coolers use
0ver 7 amps, even if you have a larger battery (72 Ah) it will only run for 8-10 hours on a charge.
Most DC coolers have an AC adapter, so, If you have the AC/DC option and are at a campsite with hookups,
you can run your cooler on the AC outlet. During travel, you can run the cooler in your tow vehicle -or- if you
have the tow vehicle charging option, you can run the cooler in the teardrop kitchen.
Our cooler area is sized to fit several of the more popular DC cooler/fridges.
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What size cooler will fit?
Our cooler area is sized to fit most of the more popular coolers, and DC coolers/fridges.
Because of the sloped rear hatch, we can't give a single dimension.
The best approach is to draw the
outline, shown here, on a piece of cardboard. Then hold the cardboard pattern up to the end of your cooler.
If your cooler fits inside the outline, and is 24" long or less, it will fit.
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How do I determine ride height?
The standard ball height for a Street model is 14 inches.
The standard ball height for a SUV package model is 17 inches.
Ideally the tow vehicle's hitch should be at approximately the same height.
Add about 150 lbs to the trunk or rear of the tow vehicle to simulate the tongue weight
before measuring hitch height.
If your hitch is within two inches of the ride height, (12-16 inches Street, 15-19 inches SUV)
it will be close enough to make the trailer look level. More or less will make the
trailer ride nose high or nose low. This doesn't hurt the trailer, but it doesn't look as good.
If you have a receiver type hitch, different offset hitches are available to help adjust hitch height.
Contact us if you would like a non-standard ride height.
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How does loading affect ride/tongue weight?
It depends where you add the weight.
Using the picture above, imagine you were hauling a 50 lb. box of rocks*. The following
table shows approximately how much effect that 50 lb. load would have on different points on the car and trailer.
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| | | Weight Added or (-xx) Removed |
| Hauling Location (50 lb. box of rocks) | Trailer Axle | Hitch/Tongue Weight | Car Rear Axle | Car Front Axle |
| A | Roof top carrier | 0 lbs. | 0 lbs. | 30 lbs. | 20 lbs. |
| B | Car trunk | 0 lbs. | 0 lbs. | 50 lbs. | 0 lbs. |
| C | Front storage | 17 lbs. | 33 lbs. | 44 lbs. | (-11) lbs. |
| D | Cabin area | 33 lbs. | 17 lbs. | 22 lbs. | (-5) lbs. |
| E | Cooler or Footwell
(above trailer axel) | 50 lbs. | 0 lbs. | 0 lbs. | 0 lbs. |
| F | Under counter storage | 62 lbs. | (-12) lbs. | (-16) lbs. | 4 lbs. |
As you can see, where you add the weight can affect the ride of the car and trailer. Since a Camp-Inn trailer is
rated for 500-1000 lbs. of cargo carrying, you should use it to haul all your heavy gear. The best place to haul heavy
items is to slide them into the footwell area of the bed (inside the cabin). As you can see from the table above, it
will not affect the tongue weight or load the rear axel of the car. Putting heavy items in the under counter top
storage area will actually take off tongue weight.
*(If you are wondering why you would be hauling a BOX of ROCKS, get the movie "The Long Long Trailer" With Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and watch it.)
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Where is the battery?
We locate our battery under the countertop at the rear of the trailer on the curb side.
This location is near the axle so it does not add tongue weight. It is behind a removable access panel for protection.
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Why would I want an 11 lb. propane tank?
The question is often asked...Why would I get the 11 lb. propane tank if the 20 lb. tank is the same price?
There are several reasons:
A full 11 lb. tank weighs about 15 lb. less than a full 20 lb. tank. Since the tank is mounted on the tongue of the
trailer, almost all of it adds to tongue weight. With smaller tow vehicles, this is a very important consideration.
We have found that cooking 2-3 meals a day and washing dishes once a day, you will use slightly over 1 lb. of propane.
So. an 11 lb. tank should last 7-9 days.
Our tank mount bracket will fit either tank. For longer trips, just swop the 20 lb. tank off your barbecue grill at home.
That way you can exchange it along the way, rather than refilling. You can take the 11 lb. along for a spare or leave it at home to save weight.
Styling. The smaller tank is more proportional to the size of the trailer. Its just cuter!
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Why is the Storage Cover so expensive?
This is the most often question we get about the storage cover. We have the storage cover custom made
to fit your trailer. It is made of high quality material. It is UV, mold and mildew resistant. It is waterproof but still breathes.
It is the best material on the market for this application.
We had to choose whether to make a more expensive, high quality cover or try to make a less expensive one of lesser quality.
Since the sewing labor costs the same, regardless of material cost, reducing the material price by half will only reduce the
finished price by 20-30%.
Plastic tarps do not breathe and cause condensation inside. This will cause that musty smell from mildew. Cotton covers
do breathe but are not waterproof. Neither plastic nor cotton covers are durable over the long term.
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What if my question isn't on this list?
Contact us, Please! We would be happy to answer any questions.
Email to: camp.inn@tds.net
Phone:(608)565-7443
Petenwell Industries LLC
555 Kucirek St.
Necedah, WI 54646
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Why haven't I bought one yet?
We don't know...You have to answer this one for yourself. If you figure it out, let us know maybe we can help.
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