One packing or unpacking tip I read about and used in our Teardrop was to place a small strip of green painter's tape on everything. Well except maybe your cutlery! Then, over a camping season each time you used something you removed the tape. At end of season you remove anything that still has tape on it. We often pack stuff we don't need, just in case. Don't remove your recovery gear even if it still has tape on it!
Good one! Yours is the solution I would use. Another method I have heard. Bring nothing then get exactly and only the things that are used at that time and leave them in the camper. Need to start in like the driveway to get started. In a short time have 90%. Couple of trips have everything. The people that use this method (I never could) talk about the incredible minimalist clean setup they end up with. Exactly the pan they needed. Exactly the stove they needed. Exactly the food and clothing they needed. Being a hoarder and planner for everything (pack too much), I admire the people who can do this.
Great tip! Also great tip on the recovery gear. We have actually been doing something recently that is NOT a good idea. To free up space in the rooftop box for an additional inflatable boat, the Clam tent, and more fishing gear we have been leaving the teardrop spare tire at home. That is definitely going to bite us in the butt one of these days. I really need to set aside some time and mount it to the tongue now that I have a vehicle that can handle that sort of tongue weight. This is why I loved meeting Jordan at Valiant trailers and hearing from him how he helps his customers match the tow vehicle wheels to the trailer wheels so they don't have to carry multiple spares. I am guessing the chances that you blow both the tow vehicle and the teardrop tire in the same trip would be pretty low.
Okay, we wish we came up with that idea Mike, but honestly this is accidentally what we just did with the teardrop. And it has been great! As we are now in fall we are shutting down the Shasta and moving over into the teardrop well 90% moved over and that is due to the insulation the teardrop has. We started by removing everything from the teardrop and just taking it out for a picnic. The next time we used the teardrop it was only for a 2 day trip, which is very unusual for us. Now we have taken it out on the long trip and found we didn't need to add anything else. It feels like it is running bare, it even looks bare which you may see in a future video but so far there hasn't been anything we missed. However, when bug season starts up again there will be a few new items that enter it though.
@@PlayingwithSticks Ha! I actually accomplished the wheel/tire thing this summer. All four vehicle tire/wheels, both spares and the two trailer wheels are exactly the same. Might never need it but I have a real sense of calm as I set out down some long abandoned industrial road here on northern Vancouver Island. Couldn't road trip because of the plague so spent the money on that...thank Allah for an understanding wife.
@@metaxaanabeer There are not a lot of comments that get us jealous. But...now we are JEALOUS! Good on you for doing that. That is high up on our wish list.
I love that you said to get thrift store gear for your camper...I have done this a few times or myself and friends. Its the best adn for $50 bucks you can be set.
I am loving your videos. I spent a few years living and traveling around in a 15 foot 1977 sunline trailer. It was a 6 and 1/2 by 12 foot box. The whole trailer without battery or propane weighed 1645 lb. It listed at 2500 lb capacity so I could carry 900 pounds worth of junk. I didn't carry that much but the extra capacity came in handy when I wanted to carry additional freshwater propane or anything else. I kept reading about people full timing and saying you had to have a minimum 25 or 30 foot RV. You do not. I bought it for $500 including a refrigerator, a furnace with no fan so there was no battery necessary. The fridge run on propane as well. It was easy to charge the laptop and my phone and that was all I had to do. I used a lot of the tricks that I see in your videos but I see you have some more. It makes me happy to see that Shasta. If you ever get a chance for a sunline take a look. It might not handle the rough roads with the 13 in tires and a very low clearance underneath. I also cracked the floor on one giant pothole in Philadelphia. But it was fantastic for on-road use and of course I took it off road anyway. Just on dirt roads. I currently have a 5 by 8 cargo trailer that I have been thinking about either converting or using for camping. I like it better than the bed of the truck because I can have a permanent set up that I can just hitch up and drive away with also a 6-foot bed is pretty small but still useful for some trips. I am enjoying your videos immensely please keep them coming. I'm adapting the ideas for small trailer camping with the cargo trailer. Though it doesn't have the same classic design it's effectively a small camping trailer. I found that the 6 and 1/2 by 12 was almost too big. And I didn't really need that much space although it was nice to have. I just slept on the foam seats that made up mattresses that were there for the trailer. I had to switch from the couch to the bed table every other night but it worked. Sorry for the long post. He brought back a lot of memories. Incidentally when I was camping it was only 10 years ago so that 1977 was still pretty old. But what a great camper it had a 12 volt and 110 volt system. Which I thought was better than any inverter. And it had none of the modern systems that keep going wrong in the new RVs. Thanks for reading and thanks for the great videos.
Love this post! The sunline trailer is new to us. But, we have seen similar shaped campers up here. Great little design. As for the cargo trailer, you may be glad to hear that we own one as well! We just picked it up last fall. Had planned on doing a full conversion. But, after adding a bed to the rail system our thoughts instantly changed. It is the perfect little do everything trailer now. We call it the bunk house. So quick to convert it to a utility trailer, but when camping has so much useable space for bringing all the toys. We absolutely love it! And are really excited to share it with everyone.
@@PlayingwithSticks @Playing with Sticks I've been thinking the same thing about converting. I don't want anything in there that would be permanent because having clear open space and just a big room sound so appealing. Of course big is a relative term. Mine is only 5 by 8 and about 5 feet high. But I was thinking of adding a bed / bench and maybe a drop-down table on the other side with the ability to have a queen size bed in there. But I want everything to fold up against the wall so that the whole space could be used for cargo. I'm sure other viewers feel the same but I would love to see what you're doing with your cargo trailer. And thanks to your ideas all I have to do is put food in it drive away with my boat camping equipment and tricycle and bikes ready to go. One of the best things about the sun line was that it was a truly a lightweight camper. We're and only weighed about 1,600 pounds and could carry 2500 I could carry any supplies that I needed and still the way under the load capacity whereas most trailers now but they seem to call lightweight are at 4,000 pounds and like other RVs have almost no additional weight capacity. I've seen some that could only carry an extra 200 to 300 lbs or so. Meaning you couldn't keep your water tanks full you have to empty your black and grey tanks before you hit the road. And now it would be the same with the cargo trailer.
Was just looking at melamine plates from target for $50+, went to thrift and got very similar plates in the colors I wanted for about $5... WITH matching tumblers 👍
I am from South Africa and it is quite obvious that we camp in different environments, nevertheless I enjoy your videos tremendously! Your vids are to the point, concise and much may be learnt from it. We do not have bears here but predators like lion and hyena may be encountered. None of the mentioned animals are more or less dangerous than the other but nature is to be respected. It is very educational to see how you guys camp in Alaska. Warm regards and happy camping!
Love this comment. So fun to hear this info is helpful even in your neck of the woods. Lions and hyenas are not even in my vocabulary, unless we are talking Disney's Lion King :) Can't imagine how fun it must be camping down there. Do you all carry deterrents like bear spray or horns? You all have such amazing small camper trailers coming out of your country as well. Many, that we hope someday soon make it over here. Seems like they all head over to Australia.
The majority of my Dedicated camper gear, especially kitchen items actually came from decluttering my own home. It was incredible how many duplicate or even triplicate items I had and really didn't need in one space. I was able to stock my camper with a ton of basics prior to heading to the thrift store to fill in the gaps. It saved so much money but also as you stated, having dedicated gear is essential to easing the burden when prepping a trip. When you are already set up to go life is good. Now I don't have dedicated clothing etcetera but essentially everything else is. I only pack clothes, additional toiletries and electronics. At some point either just after or just before a trip will do a quick inventory on shelf stable foods, toiletries & cleaning products to see if they need rotated or topped off. I also end my trips with a good clean up and laundry for all bedding/towels so the camper is good as new and our next trip is no longer a huge stressful ordeal.
Dedicated items helped us out a lot. One thing we've started to do to make packing easier is establish a standard camp menu with quantity of each necessary ingredient to make each item once for all of us. The camp menu is limited to a handful of items that are easy to prepare in camp. Our current menu has 3 breakfast options, 2 lunch options, and 4 dinner options. The limited menu means we can keep our cooking utensils and cooking vessels limited to just those necessary to make the things on our menu. Once you've figured out your standard camp menu its easy to stock up the night before. Decide from the menu how many of each meal you want, and do simple math to figure out how much of each ingredient to get so you don't have too much, or too little of an ingredient. Fancier version could probably be made on a spreadsheet to spit out a shopping and packing list.
That is a great idea David! We have moved to prepping most of our food at home. But we still scurry around trying to decide what to make. Your idea is much more efficient. This way we can still do that at home prep, but have it limited to a handful of meals. Basically like we said in the video, get it down to "a science." And yes, a spreadsheet would be a great idea. Sounds like it is time to come up with our 8-10 favorite meals. Also sounds like that would make a great video topic. Thanks David.
David, this sounds like a GREAT idea; one that solves so many problems while camping (esp stress from "trying" to decide what to have; AND, do we HAVE the ingredients). Gonna add that to my To-Do list, indeed. Y'all Be Safe!
With you living in Alaska, nearly everything you talked about applies to us in the Pacific Northwest! Labeling: Great idea! Aesthetics: People, YOU'RE CAMPING! It's not a glamor trip! Ha ha ha ha! Love the compression sack idea! Love the Tail-Gater table! Thinking about building one. Love having the guide's in the camper. Tie downs! Amazing, great idea! Good video!
Lowe’s hardware took over the Craftsman series after Sears went under. They sell the black foam rubber mats for their tool boxes. A roll is around $15-20 but you could cut it to size and use that for your drawers. A roll would go a long way in a small teardrop or even something bigger.
Just went camping (tent) and this topic is so true. Not much fun “working” so much just to run out of time, then pack it up again. I learned this on my trip and currently working this out.. not in a mini camper. . Don’t have a garage or yard
I think the car camping world and mini camping world are pretty similar. Most of the tricks work for both, you just have to be a little more organized for car camping. For us our favorite aha moment for car camping was living out of plano totes. It really helped us get more organized and moved all the gear from the car to the campsite where it belonged.
Old video but still very helpful. We are currently moving from a 34’ Class C to a 5x13 teardrop. We had dedicated gear in the class C, but some things are just too big for our little Willie (named for our late pup who hated but loved camping.) Organization is key and we’re going so far as to weigh everything going in or on, like the awning with a luggage scale and maintaining a list.
May I offer a couple of suggestions for the toilet situation? One is get one of those one man pop up tents and use a collapsible toilet in it. It's the same principle of the bucket you are using but offers privacy and the ability to collapse the entire toilet system, including the bucket. Also, for an emergency pee system at night, you can use some of those bedside hospital urinals. They are small and even have lids to prevent smells from overpowering the bucket. You can even keep one or two of those in the pop up toilet tent for disposal at your convenience instead of finding that private little place right away. The only thing is, the pop up tent would have to be put up outside because they can take up some room when popped up. But they are compact when folded down. I camp out the old fashioned way when I get a chance but your tips and ideas can still be used by someone like myself. Great video!
Great video. I just bought some flat clear bins for in the under-floor storage in my teardrop. My tip is to annotate your master gear list with where you stored things. Some of my storage is hard to access, so it’s good to know the extra blankets are deep behind the headboard before I start digging everywhere.
Darn, you just reminded us that we accidentally took out the portion of the video where we mention annotating the master gear list. Thank you so much for sharing this with others. You are exactly right, some of my most frustrating camp moments is trying to find something for the little guys when the baby is fretting and you have thrown everything all over the camper trying to find the item.
You are right on the mark. We travel in a small nucamp t@b 400 bdl and when we started, it was so stressful packing. It seemed like we always took too much. What helped us was making lists. We started listing things we didn't use, what we wish we had, list on where things go, what stays in the camper when we're home and what comes out. We are now at the point where when we decided to go, we just load the camper with food and clothing. Our must have boxes; we have three and they are labeled - electric, water, accessories (this box holds picnic table cover, outdoor bug candles, skewers for the fire, and a drying line) are stored in the cargo area of the camper at all times. Our TV is a Jeep Grand Cherokee and inside we load our ARB freezer. The t@b's fridge just isn't big enough. Our spare tire is accessible from inside the cargo area. Jeep created the spare tire space with extra storage areas where we keep a tire compressor, t@b jack, and a robust first aid kit. On top of the Jeep goes our Thule. Inside we have two awnings, two lawn chairs, and an indoor / outdoor carpet. These are all store in the Thule when it's off the jeep and in the garage. We can now be ready to roll in no time. Less stress going and coming home. Organization is key and identifying what you need rather than what you want is a must.
This is a great comment! Hoping more people will get to read it. As far as how you use your Thule it sounds almost identical to what we store in our Yakima. We are a bit jealous as we appreciate the Thule much more in terms of build quality.
Great content as usual. I didn’t even think of using that roll up drying rack as a cutting board and trivet! Thank you!!! You’re the first TH-cam who’s shirt design I like. Well done :)
My bf and I have been camping in a tear drop trailer for the past 7 yrs and it was great but we need an indoor bathroom now. We get our new micro lite trailer in 3 weeks and I can’t wait to use so many of your great tips. Thanks 😃
Congratulations. Sounds like a great little upgrade. Did you sell the teardrop, or keep it in the family? I know it is a tough decision letting go of a teardrop.
Dedicated items - brilliant! Shopping the thrift stores for camp clothes, kitchen items. Indeed, everyone should be doing this. Thanks for a great camping vlog ☺
I need to look at shop towels. I use the Walmart big economy packs of washcloths. Stacks of them. Slightly color coded (white for dishes). I use them as dish washing/drying towels, hand towels, washcloths, and the marginal ones are used as rags, vibration dampeners, and dust covers. The big benefits are storage space clean and dirty, always tons of clean dry towels available, and ease of washing. I need to look at shop towels for their tight weave, larger area, and maybe better longevity. Or have both😃
Speaking of shop towels I forgot to mention in our Shasta Interior Renovation I accidentally picked up the wrong ones. They make a lint free version and we accidentally bought the "definitely has lint" version and we got it all over the exterior when prepping for paint. After the first round of paint went on I realized there was lint everywhere. Love your idea of color coding. This way you don't get the cross-contamination. One more use, well at least for us, stuffing gaps where mosquitoes are coming in :)
Great information, you hit all the high point. You are absolutely right, organization is a big part of fast and easier packing and unpacking and knowing what you do and dont have. Great video.
Thanks Scott. Funny it took us way too long to figure this all out. We are excited to hear what tips others have on here so we can keep building our little system.
Hey Teresa! Where are you now and how are you doing? Thanks for the sweet words. Blessings! I retired in 2010 and we now have 14 grandchildren and just celebrated our 40th anniversary. I got hooked on trail ultra running and have done 100 miles once, 50 miles several times and a lot of 24-hour races. And I was almost killed in a car wreck in 2014 - T-boned with a ton of pelvic fractures and more, but - spoiler alert - survived and went back to do more ultras. : ) Very blessed and I had a zillion great students like you in my 37-year career. Good hearing from you!
Charles Moman I am still in Seymour. Married, two kids and a miniature schnauzer. We just got our first camper, usually we would sleep in the back of Eric’s truck, tents or a truck tent. So I have been looking at camping videos and was thrilled when I came across this one and he mentioned your name. Sorry about your accident but thankful you survived and thrived. Take care of yourself and those 14 grandkids. (Teresa Branaman-Meyers) 😀
Teresa Meyers Thanks for the reply! I wasn’t sure which Teresa you were, but when you said Branaman I can picture you 100%. You would think in a town of our size we would eventually run into each other at Walmart or something. Maybe that will still happen! Be safe and be blessed.
Such great tips, thanks! I'm a Type A and definitely one who likes to stay organized, but what resonated with me is don't worry how 'pretty' it is. it HAS to be functional, especially because we also like boondocking/dry camping. Watching all of your videos :)
Glad to hear this was helpful. The "doesn't have to be pretty" has been hard for us. We like things neat, orderly, matching, and typically white. But over time we have learned that really doesn't enhance our travels on the road. It made it MUCH more difficult. Glad to hear you are enjoying the videos Kelli!
We are still working on living out that statement, but it truly gets faster each year and the stress seems to be mostly behind us. Glad you enjoyed the info Raquel.
Totally agree on having dedicated camping gear inside the camper. All we have to do is add food and clothes and we are good to go! Everything that we pack into the truck is in a bin too, like your Plano ones. So we have a shower bin, an outdoor kitchen bin, etc. We grab as needed and go. That was so nice of Charles to send you that table. I’ve been watching his van build. We are hoping to get a runaway one day to add to our camper collection lol.
We probably need to work on our shower bin. Our parts are in multiple areas of the trailer. Thanks for reminding us. The new bins have been such a blessing. Would have been great to have the last few years. Yes, Charles is probably the friendliest most helpful guy we have ever online or in real life. We follow a lot of small camper channels that are 3,000 or less subscribers. We run into Charles on there channels giving them great advice and helping them out wherever needed. We would love a runaway as well. Such a simple little trailer. And now that they have the composite fiberglass design on some or all of the models ( I am not quite sure on that) they really are intriguing.
Get a set of those dividers from the DT or 99 store. Can also buy the little rubber place mats to go in drawers instead of the expensive drawer liners. Although, around Back To School time, they both have the drawer liners as well. They also have the vacuum storage bags in multiple sizes.
Three years later, watching this episode and wondering how you pack more than one live plant into the big orange bucket without damage to them? Thanks for being so thorough in your subject matter!
Dollar tree sells rolls of rubber backing. I think it's about 15 ft but I cut mine in strips I don't have to use a whole 10 by 12 piece and it works. I also purchased two metal 6 or 10 inch cake pans from Dollar tree to use as our full plates. We also have the plastic ones from walmart. But I like the metal ones because they wiped clean Great video. I'm loving learning from you
i dont have a trailer, dont want one, but i do have 2004 toyota prius, which is about the same size if not smaller. i like to pop the hatch and car-camp. your videos on trailers are directly analogous to my car, so thanks a heap for that. keep on truckin'.
We will admit thought, not a whole lot of brilliance coming from Drew's head. The majority of great items and ideas we have picked up along the way have come from everyone here in the community. It is one selfish reason we keep putting out these videos because we love getting all the tips from everyone that come out of the comment section. And we don't even have to leave this channel to peruse forums anymore! It all is in one centralized place for us!
Hi Drew and May! Great video! I wish we had more storage in the way of drawers in our teardrop kitchen... Inside the camper, we use the slim packing cubes for our socks, underwear, and pajamas. We also use Ikea bins and containers that fit perfectly in various places in our camper. ... this season we started setting up a wash station using the 2.5 gal water container with a spigot that Walmart sells for around $7.50. I would not use it inside the house because it can leak a tiny bit if the spigot isn't tight... but works great outside. I keep foam soap (washes off faster - so uses less water needed) and a hand towel there. We use your method of adding boiled water to the water container to warm things up... makes hand and dish washing so much nicer when the water is warm! We have also switched to a couple of the plastic drawer sets ... seems I'm rummaging less for things... Great episode! Enjoy autumn camping! The leaves are just starting to change here in the northeast. We're camping every chance we get! Blessings to you and your beautiful family ~ Maria
Thanks for sharing Maria. We are looking at getting some small water containers as well. 2.5 gallon sounds just about right. We just had our 5 gallon leak in our galley this week. No damage, but time to get a new container, so a great time to get two small ones. Completely agree on taking the edge of the cold water! Especially up here as it always seems to be quite cold at room temp. Just had an amazing autumn camping trip this week. Found a boondocking site that has alluded us for over 2 years and it was even more incredible than we thought it would be. Glad to hear your leaves are changing. From the photos I have seen, nothing seems to beat a northeast fall in terms of pure beauty. Blessing to you all as well. Thanks Maria for this great comment!
@@PlayingwithSticks It's so wonderful that you can find boondocking sites... Chris and I haven't ventured away from state campgrounds yet... Maybe we should try to get Cosmo to share some of his favorite boondocking spots LoL * * * Drew & May... I love your t-shirt designs! Are you offering any V-neck shirts? ~ Maria
I painted an old liquid laundry soap jug flat black and leave it on the roof of my service van while working. At the end of the day I have warm to hot water for washing hands.
What a great set of tips! I love the idea of using shop towels to cut down on paper usage. We have been using Frontrunner Wolf Pack boxes, each one dedicated to a specific purpose. They are expensive, but very durable and strap down well to the roof rack on our jeep.
Great idea on the Wolf Pack boxes! That is why we went with the Plano boxes as well. Having the ability to strap them down as they have attachments for that is such a blessing. Also most of these boxes like yours in this price range have an attachment for you to add your own lock to them as well, which can be very handy.
Great Tips, thanks for posting. Those field guides are great for camping, my parents always carried several of them and I do as well. Not only are they great for identifying and learning about wildlife, flowers, trees, and fish, these also work as a good rainy day activity to read through.
This is the tip we needed. We honestly had no idea there were grommet tools. Makes sense, obviously because grommets are on everything. I guess we just assumed it was from some high end factory press. Just this week a grommet was torn from our tarp in a high wind situation. The tarp is still in great condition just missing the corner grommet. Time to get ourselves a grommet tool.
Playing with Sticks, Love both my grommet tools from Walmart and Harbor Freight. Basic. Just put the two halves in position with a tool and hit it with a hammer. The grommets are a bit light. Would like to find more heavy duty grommets. The tool is plenty heavy duty. I put extra grommets in my tarp to get better positioning, or when chop the tarps up for box covering for the bungees.
Isn't that a good one. I think we picked that one up a few years ago from the Tiny Yellow Teardrop blog. Since then we have seen multiple teardrops have them. We often say we are going to do it, just for folks to see on the channel. But honestly, up here we really don't need one. Even most the boondocking sites don't have strong runoff, so we really don't even have to worry about rain and mud on the boots either. A week straight of rain at most of our favorite sites here and our shoes are bone dry.
Hard learned lesson, put holes in the bins... I have no idea how it rained hard enough sideways to fill my bin but it did. Lids made it more trouble than it was worth.
Hey Drew... you did it again! Another great and informative video. We already utilize most of your ideas but we still haven’t been able to nail down our wardrobe. Sometimes we’re at the north coast (50-60) degrees and sometimes on the central coast ( 65-80) degrees... having said that, their is not enough room in our Teardroper for all that clothing. Maybe we can have 2 bags each for different weather stored in our garage.
You nailed it. So what we do, which I wish I showed in the video. In that vertical storage bin was all our cold weather clothes. We have a special bag for them so we can easily get them in and out of the trailer based on need. Even here it gets pretty extreme as it is near 100 in the interior and then can get down in the 40s at night in other places in Alaska during the summer. If you have absolutely no space like us we highly suggest the compressible packing cubes. Annoying in that you have to zip them up, but great for clothes that you don't use often. In one of our future videos we are going to have to demonstrate the difference between the sack regular and then compressed. It is crazy how small you can get them. Now with winter gear compressing it that far in theory would cause you down to lose loft over time and not give you 100% of the warming properties. But, today our family uses almost entirely synthetic down and we keep our jackets and synthetic down blankets in there all year and they feel great. I think the synthetics aren't impacted near as much as the down when they are stored tight. Just pull them out, fluff them up, and you are good to go. Glad you enjoyed the video by the way!
Familiar set up with the Shasta and the liberty. Had similar for years! Jeep Liberty diesel and 71' Shasta compact. Shasta is gone now, sold when I bought my next tiny trailer a little guy Mini max! So, still need packing hacks. Love your channel.
Love this! I was glad to see that we have thought of most of these tips and are working through them. But I LOVE the laundry idea of doing only your camp clothes. I make the mistake of putting other clothes in the same load and it ALWAYS leads to items not making it back into the camper. Thanks for this awesome video!
Glad this was helpful. I'm really excited to see what other tips we pick up this summer as we will be forced to live in a cargo trailer full time. I am assuming these will lead to a part II of this video.
One more I love: Walmart Ozark Trail 50 Can Insulated Cooler Tote. $5. Like a taller skinnier HD zippered gym bag with mylar and fabric insulation. HD straps. Has a utensils pocket I never use. I have a bunch of these for food and cooking supplies. At $5 they are top of my list for any other kind of storage that would fit. Note: I think Walmart may have an affiliate program.
We will have to check this out. Our favorite soft sided cooler is an Ozark Trail cooler. Also will need to look at the affiliate program as we find many of the products we suggest to people come from Walmart and can't be found at Amazon. Thanks Mike!
I tow a little trailer with a jeep liberty and not sure the proper name but you can get an extended ball mount. mine is long enough it clears my rear mounted tired. allows me to open the back gate 1/2 to 3/4. Very important since I have dog crates. like your channel, keep posting small trailer & TD videos
I use those LED headlamps all the time. A word of advice find a way to keep the batteries out of the lamp. LED lights will drain your batteries. It would suck to get to camp in the middle of the night and your light is dead. Just rubberband them to the lamp.
Didn't realize the drain problem, Justin. Though, I ran into this prob; some small LED flashlights I keep in the house were dead (use for emergency); couldn't figure out WHY they were dead! Thanks for the headsup! Y'all Be Safe!
I love what you did with your vintage trailer! We are now in the process of actively look no for a small travel trailer for next year and these tips are so helpful. :)
Thanks for the shoutout Drew! I am now starting a new van build series on our recently purchased 2018 Ford Transit 250 - 148" - medium roof - cargo van. The first introductory episode is now up and several more will be available next week. Moman Van Build Series Episode #1 - th-cam.com/video/V_wC9PbUrX0/w-d-xo.html
I see you now have a 13’ trailer! We just bought a 14’ Rove Lite. 1682 pounds dry!! Love the tiny footprint it will make compared to our 37’ fifth wheel we sold several years ago.
Congratulations Julie! I have a feeling you are going to love it. It takes a tiny adjustment at first, but once you get your systems in place you’ll never want to go back. The only suggestion I have is to bring along an outdoor shelter. Having a larger indoor space like an instant up canopy is the perfect combination with a little trailer like that.
Great idea with the dirty cloths into ziplocks (they make some big ones too)! First time I have even heard of the topic. I had thrown my dirty cloths gym bag in the back of the pickup under the bed cover, but I was afraid to open the tailgate after that for fear of olfactory assault 🤢
We love it for the clothes, but what we really appreciate is how it was the transition for us into the dirty rag pile. So nice bringing a ton of rags out. Makes cleanup so much faster and way less gross. Haha on the gym bag. We run into that a lot up here, but it is with hockey gear, turning green just thinking about it :)
That is great to hear. Just wondering, why did you quit the vlog? I see/heard you like Christian Leblanc. Have you ever watched Cody Wanner. Very inspiring guy. I think he just started his daily vlog back up again. Thought you may like his channel if you have never seen it.
Playing with Sticks Thanks man, for the heads up about Cody. I’ll definitely check him out. As far as the vlog goes, I’m actually in the process of trying to sort of rebrand. One of the hardest parts for me before was developing consistency and I think that a large part of that was due to not having a real sense of direction. I mostly felt like I was throwing darts and just waiting for something to stick and I’m not sure that’s a good recipe for success long term. So I’m actually going to take things in the direction of my interests outdoors. I mountain bike, climb, hike, go off-roading, etc.. so I’m actually about to start creating videos centered around these interests, as I think that y it will make things easier from a planning perspective as well as being more consistent with uploads. So yeah, that’s where I’m at. Going camping in a couple of weeks and planning to get a ton of content so hopefully there will be new videos up in the coming weeks. Not sure if I’ll create a whole new vlog or simply change the name of this one. Either way I’ll keep you posted. So yep, thanks again for the heads up and I can’t wait to get the hoodie in the mail. Love you guys’ channel, keep up the awesome job. 😃✌🏽
I have rubbermaid box that I keep especially for the trailer. When it is time to winterize, I put anything that I can keep in the trailer during the winter. Bring the bins inside in the spring and put everything back inside after washing everything. Nothing break, no mice dropping/spider. Save space in my house.
That is a great idea. We tried something like that this winter, but accidentally mixed the items from both of our campers. Now we have to divvy them up this spring. Lesson learned. Two boxes next year.
Love your organization system! Bins are great we have large gear bins that we use. Might get more smaller ones than 2 large ones. I need to go with see through ones instead.
We keep going back and forth. Such as the car for example some years we think small bins are better, other years like this year we like having just 2 larger bins. Small is nice because it helps you maintain an inventory better. Larger is nice because it is so efficient just to grab two bins and go!
@@PlayingwithSticks -- Loved the vid and the storage ideas. If you remove the totes from the camper (for some reason), have a dedicated storage area where ALL of the "camp totes" live (e.g., back room, garage, basement). Then when you pack you don't have to look all over the place. Espec like the idea of keeping specific clothing, galley supplies, tow veh related items IN THE CAMPER! Keep up the good work, guys! Y'all Be Safe!
Charles just sent our family a CD he made with his local church. He is so multitalented. When I first turned it on it was funny hearing that TH-cam voice that we all know singing songs 😄
Ahhh, you weren't supposed to do that. We truly owe you them. Guess we will have to make new ones for the holidays so we can get you some free shirts. We appreciate it though Mike!
Playing with Sticks, Thank you for the thought! It has been My pleasure! I have learned a lot. But besides that, people enjoy being recognized by your requests to participate and your replies - that their voice counts or even exists. What a nice rare gift indeed! Your channel recognizes peoples’ comments, and I think it is one of your “value added,” and a contributor to your success. I hope I can continue to participate. What great fun! Thanks!
It’s so funny. It is just so hard to let go of some of our items. The systems do make it a little easier though as it makes it very obvious when you’re not using something. Somebody once said on here that if you take two trips and find you don’t use the item it probably doesn’t belong in the trailer. Good advice, hard to follow.
Like you, we are completely amazed by the amount of storage. As you could probably tell based on how much we had in our bins there is actually more space than we currently use. I have a feeling that will change quickly though as the boys start growing :) Glad you enjoyed the ideas.
Yeah! I was just going to comment about the incredible Shasta storage too! Amazing! Seems so much better laid out and accessible than similar size Scamp!
@@mikemead2315 Truly is. We thought about showing our pantry, floor storage, and accessing the storage from the outside. But, thought wow this is turning into a 20 minute video. Probably should save that for the walkthrough video if we ever get that little Shasta decorated inside.
Love it! We just got a comment from someone two days ago who said "drawers are overrated." I told my wife either he has never had drawers or he doesn't know what a drawer is. Haha.
Frank you are one of a kind! Clicked on your channel today to watch a video and it told me to watch out, the content may be too intense for my eyes! Of course it is. We wouldn't expect any less from The Frank! Enjoying these great comments of yours.
Great video! We are just designing our packing process! Perfect timing! Thank you! When are you going to add the journal as just part of the packing process 😊 Blessings 🙏🏽
Playing with Sticks wow!!!! Congratulations!!! Write the stories of a lifetime!!! We really hope to meet you and your family someday! We are getting out travel trailer in November!!! Let the fun continue and the enjoyment and love of Mother Nature!!! 👏👏🙏🏽
We do have spiders, but we tend to find most of them near our homes. Finding a spider in your shoe here would be a pretty rare occurrence. And for iit to be poisonous you would probably have a better chance of being struck by lightning.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, we have wasted way too much time being unorganized. We had to make a change or we were going to go crazy this year with two different trailers in operation.
I've tried many things with the teardrop because I don't have much space, but just me and dog. My dog takes the back seat. I tried plastic drawers in the back of the Xterra, but they flop open and I tried things to keep them closed, but were too small anyway. Nesting boxes still fall over on corners. I found an old cheapie table to put in the back with stuff over and under. I now have see-through boxes on the table. One with dog stuff, one with miscellaneous, one with food. I screwed a thin board onto the table to keep the boxes up there. Under that table is an 11 pound propane tank, dog water jug, Luggable loo. My tire table doesn't fit in very well, not sure I will use it. I can fit in a Mr. Buddy heater and whatever else. The cabinets in the teardrop have clothes and necessities, some in small packing cubes. One thing that is not well organized yet is all the cords to charge various things, they are shoved in clear zipper bags. All cooking utensils are in the galley. I lightened the load in the galley some because I feared my cast iron would cause sagging. Some day, I'll get it right, maybe. One thing I don't have room for is a small ladder to reach the roof basket, so it doesn't get used much.
Love that idea! It was a little more expensive than I thought it would be. But still fairly affordable for most folks. Definitely worth the investment to protect your trailer and help you store a lot more gear.
SLAM BOY, Yeah, I use the 1/4” thick 233lb $1.50 Harbor Freight D-rings all over. Plenty strong and affordable. The bigger 1/2” thick will hold 3,333lb! Hold 1/2 a truck!
Hey Drew, Are your hoodies and shirts still available? I’d love to order some as we will be new teardrop owners in a month!😍 Can’t wait!! My husband and I have learned soooo much and we enjoy watching all your videos when you cast them out! Keep it up! God bless!
Welcome to the club!!!!! And yes. They typically can be found in our TH-cam storefront which is below every video. But here is a direct link www.bonfire.com/store/playing-with-sticks/
Glad you enjoyed Maykou! Definitely one of our favorite locations and favorite trailers out there. There is just something magical about all trailers that are 13 feet long!
Nice shirts. Ordered hoodie and a shirt. Not that i dont feel its worth the price but a little spendy. I only wish they would remain available longer so i could get a few more later. I didnt see the link to how you manage fishing gear a struggle im having now....
We agree on the price. As you may know we are pretty frugal folks. This was the suggested base price and we went all around looking at other shirts to make sure we were pricing at the average rate. I did notice yesterday that T-spring, the main company here on TH-cam below the videos is sometimes a couple of dollars less on the shirts, but then more on the hoodies. We may have to look into finding somewhere to keep these shirts up full time if folks are into them. So far there has been much more purchased than we thought there would be. We ran the limited run thinking there wouldn't be many purchased and that it wouldn't be worth purchasing them in bulk. Sorry about the fishing link, we had buried almost near the bottom of the description. Here is that link. th-cam.com/video/2OaGT_9PuT0/w-d-xo.html
Such a good video! Lots of good advice. I did Love the comment about doing all of your camp clothes in one load maybe not being the most economical or environmentally friendly ha ha! We’re a family of eight… We’re lucky to fit all of our camp clothes in just two loads if we go more than one night… #somanykids!
I can't imagine how fun it must be to camp with a family of 8. We get jealous sometimes when we drive by a campsite with this type of action. Makes us miss our childhood when we camped more in groups with close family members and friends.
Best tip my parents taught me was to always stop by a laundromat on the way home. One, you leave all the dirt of the trail behind. Two, you don't arrive home after a relaxing trip with work to do.
Ooh, we love this tip! I am going to add to that and suggest the car wash as well. Thank you for sharing this Justin. Never would have even thought of this. And, at least in Alaska, almost all the RV parks have laundry. So you could just swing by there from your boondocking or regular campsite and get it done out in the middle of nowhere.
We had a very similar rig, a 2006 jeep commander and an old 60s tin 15ft camper, even the color was similar. How's the jeep holding up? Ours was a repair nightmare
So far so good. But, we are always nervous. Like your comment we have heard quite a few stories. But, for this model when I research it it seems to mostly be around the power windows. And we have had most of them go out at some point or another.
I know, we feel a bit guilty! We try to justify it by saying at least it is all from a thrift store😂 Yes, it has been the biggest change for us in terms of packing and unpacking, a world of difference. However, for some of the high dollar items like jackets we only have one of them that stays in a bin that bounces around between the two trailers and our car when adventuring without the trailers.
@@PlayingwithSticks I think it is a very smart idea!!!! I am going to make a plan to do the same...it might take some time but will be worth it! Thank you for sharing! My husband and I enjoy watching your adventures with your beautiful family!
@@jameschiavaroli893 Of course. One of our favorite things is checking out what other creators are doing. So fun seeing people like you doing what they love on here.
I had to explain to my "city boy" husband the difference between taking a can of "pecans" with you camping....and taking a "pee can!!!" We still laugh about that one.
Duplicate camping items and plastic bins are very functional. When I was a young, my dad made drawer openings in the van and camper that exactly fit the drawers in the house, so we just needed to move the drawers back and forth. The pop-up was preloaded. Van got a rear cabinet just set in from the back that held the drawers. Plastic bins did not exist.
I like your dad's way of thinking. We still are trying to custom build something like that. We have been trying to make a system where we could move around items from the 13', to the teardrop, to the car for car camping, but we haven't formed a good system yet. Our ideal scenario would be building a "chuck box" camping kitchen that stays in the tow vehicle. One of these days! Thanks Mike as usual for sharing. In our next video we give you a shot out about getting a free shirt for helping so many people on here. If you take a look at our shirts and find a style you like let us know and we will send it your way.
Playing with Sticks, Thanks! 😃. I appreciate the offer! However I need to thank YOU and your family for the great topics, the vehicle for me to participate, and your well thought out replies! What fun! What great fun! Thanks again! There is one area you can help me out. I have looked all over for your email address mentioned in your “about” page , and I can’t seem to locate it. Admittedly, I sometimes can’t find my keys in my other hand, so I am sure your email address is around somewhere. Thanks!
@@mikemead2315 Of course you would say something like this. You are a standup guy Mike! As for email it is connect@playingwithsticks.com However, sometimes we wonder if our email server isn't working correctly. We may update our email address in the next 2 to 3 months. We have quite a few creators from the camping community who reach out to us for some pointers around TH-cam and camera stuff. Many times when we write them back we never get a response. We are starting to think that is because something isn't sending/receiving right. So if for some reason you don't hear a response from us, please let us know.
Thanks for all the tips. Great Ideas on how to store stuff so you can get out as fast as you can. I do have one tip for you and I hope I don't come across as being too preachy. I kind of cringed when I watched your kid bending over the water. It only takes a second for them to slip in. I pulled a little 2 yr old girl face down out of a lake after looking up and seeing her mom preoccupied with her phone. Outcome may not have been so good if I hadn't looked up when I did .Based on all your videos I've watched you guys appear to be terrific parents. Just thought I'd mention it.
We appreciate you watching out for us. We also had a feeling someone would mention this. If you look really closely in the shots you can see May's movement. She is actually right there watching over his shoulder behind the camper. We placed her just out of shot, but allowed East to do his thing. You also can see in the shot where I try to show the fish, the water is about 4 inches deep for about 5 feet out and then drops to less than 2 feet. But, yes like they say a child, especially a baby can drown in the smallest amount of water. May is the hyper-vigilant parent and she was definitely on high guard. But, again thank you so much for watching out for us. We try our best, but are still learning everything in this parenting world so anytime you see something please let us know. Amazing your story with the 2 year old child. So glad to hear you were there. Scary.
How is sleeping in a teardrop with 2 small kids? Were thinking about getting one and cosleep with our 6 month old and 2 year old, but I worry about all 4 of us sleeping in a 6x8 area.
Like you we are co-sleepers. What we like to remind co-sleepers is that you gain a little extra room for sleeping when you have walls. Meaning on our queen bed at home nobody likes to sleep on the edge in fear of falling off. So all four of us are cuddled in tight to the center. In a trailer your mind allows you to roll to the edges knowing you won't fall off. So if you have a 6X8 it is going to feel pretty spacious. Now here is what we have discovered with our little 4x8 teardrop. When we had 1 kid it was magical. When we had two it got a little tight. Once the kids were 1 and 3 I spent a majority of the nights out in the side entry tent. If I had a 6X8 sleeping area we would be sleeping together for the next few years! Our video thursday talks about the bed in our vintage trailer. You can see us hanging out in it. It really is quite spacious beings it is a King.
One packing or unpacking tip I read about and used in our Teardrop was to place a small strip of green painter's tape on everything. Well except maybe your cutlery! Then, over a camping season each time you used something you removed the tape. At end of season you remove anything that still has tape on it. We often pack stuff we don't need, just in case. Don't remove your recovery gear even if it still has tape on it!
Good one! Yours is the solution I would use.
Another method I have heard. Bring nothing then get exactly and only the things that are used at that time and leave them in the camper. Need to start in like the driveway to get started. In a short time have 90%. Couple of trips have everything. The people that use this method (I never could) talk about the incredible minimalist clean setup they end up with. Exactly the pan they needed. Exactly the stove they needed. Exactly the food and clothing they needed.
Being a hoarder and planner for everything (pack too much), I admire the people who can do this.
Great tip! Also great tip on the recovery gear. We have actually been doing something recently that is NOT a good idea. To free up space in the rooftop box for an additional inflatable boat, the Clam tent, and more fishing gear we have been leaving the teardrop spare tire at home. That is definitely going to bite us in the butt one of these days. I really need to set aside some time and mount it to the tongue now that I have a vehicle that can handle that sort of tongue weight. This is why I loved meeting Jordan at Valiant trailers and hearing from him how he helps his customers match the tow vehicle wheels to the trailer wheels so they don't have to carry multiple spares. I am guessing the chances that you blow both the tow vehicle and the teardrop tire in the same trip would be pretty low.
Okay, we wish we came up with that idea Mike, but honestly this is accidentally what we just did with the teardrop. And it has been great! As we are now in fall we are shutting down the Shasta and moving over into the teardrop well 90% moved over and that is due to the insulation the teardrop has. We started by removing everything from the teardrop and just taking it out for a picnic. The next time we used the teardrop it was only for a 2 day trip, which is very unusual for us. Now we have taken it out on the long trip and found we didn't need to add anything else. It feels like it is running bare, it even looks bare which you may see in a future video but so far there hasn't been anything we missed. However, when bug season starts up again there will be a few new items that enter it though.
@@PlayingwithSticks Ha! I actually accomplished the wheel/tire thing this summer. All four vehicle tire/wheels, both spares and the two trailer wheels are exactly the same. Might never need it but I have a real sense of calm as I set out down some long abandoned industrial road here on northern Vancouver Island. Couldn't road trip because of the plague so spent the money on that...thank Allah for an understanding wife.
@@metaxaanabeer There are not a lot of comments that get us jealous. But...now we are JEALOUS! Good on you for doing that. That is high up on our wish list.
I love that you said to get thrift store gear for your camper...I have done this a few times or myself and friends. Its the best adn for $50 bucks you can be set.
I am loving your videos. I spent a few years living and traveling around in a 15 foot 1977 sunline trailer. It was a 6 and 1/2 by 12 foot box. The whole trailer without battery or propane weighed 1645 lb. It listed at 2500 lb capacity so I could carry 900 pounds worth of junk. I didn't carry that much but the extra capacity came in handy when I wanted to carry additional freshwater propane or anything else. I kept reading about people full timing and saying you had to have a minimum 25 or 30 foot RV. You do not. I bought it for $500 including a refrigerator, a furnace with no fan so there was no battery necessary. The fridge run on propane as well. It was easy to charge the laptop and my phone and that was all I had to do. I used a lot of the tricks that I see in your videos but I see you have some more. It makes me happy to see that Shasta. If you ever get a chance for a sunline take a look. It might not handle the rough roads with the 13 in tires and a very low clearance underneath. I also cracked the floor on one giant pothole in Philadelphia. But it was fantastic for on-road use and of course I took it off road anyway. Just on dirt roads. I currently have a 5 by 8 cargo trailer that I have been thinking about either converting or using for camping. I like it better than the bed of the truck because I can have a permanent set up that I can just hitch up and drive away with also a 6-foot bed is pretty small but still useful for some trips. I am enjoying your videos immensely please keep them coming. I'm adapting the ideas for small trailer camping with the cargo trailer. Though it doesn't have the same classic design it's effectively a small camping trailer. I found that the 6 and 1/2 by 12 was almost too big. And I didn't really need that much space although it was nice to have. I just slept on the foam seats that made up mattresses that were there for the trailer. I had to switch from the couch to the bed table every other night but it worked. Sorry for the long post. He brought back a lot of memories. Incidentally when I was camping it was only 10 years ago so that 1977 was still pretty old. But what a great camper it had a 12 volt and 110 volt system. Which I thought was better than any inverter. And it had none of the modern systems that keep going wrong in the new RVs. Thanks for reading and thanks for the great videos.
Love this post! The sunline trailer is new to us. But, we have seen similar shaped campers up here. Great little design. As for the cargo trailer, you may be glad to hear that we own one as well! We just picked it up last fall. Had planned on doing a full conversion. But, after adding a bed to the rail system our thoughts instantly changed. It is the perfect little do everything trailer now. We call it the bunk house. So quick to convert it to a utility trailer, but when camping has so much useable space for bringing all the toys. We absolutely love it! And are really excited to share it with everyone.
@@PlayingwithSticks @Playing with Sticks I've been thinking the same thing about converting. I don't want anything in there that would be permanent because having clear open space and just a big room sound so appealing. Of course big is a relative term. Mine is only 5 by 8 and about 5 feet high. But I was thinking of adding a bed / bench and maybe a drop-down table on the other side with the ability to have a queen size bed in there. But I want everything to fold up against the wall so that the whole space could be used for cargo. I'm sure other viewers feel the same but I would love to see what you're doing with your cargo trailer. And thanks to your ideas all I have to do is put food in it drive away with my boat camping equipment and tricycle and bikes ready to go.
One of the best things about the sun line was that it was a truly a lightweight camper. We're and only weighed about 1,600 pounds and could carry 2500 I could carry any supplies that I needed and still the way under the load capacity whereas most trailers now but they seem to call lightweight are at 4,000 pounds and like other RVs have almost no additional weight capacity. I've seen some that could only carry an extra 200 to 300 lbs or so. Meaning you couldn't keep your water tanks full you have to empty your black and grey tanks before you hit the road. And now it would be the same with the cargo trailer.
Was just looking at melamine plates from target for $50+, went to thrift and got very similar plates in the colors I wanted for about $5... WITH matching tumblers 👍
I am from South Africa and it is quite obvious that we camp in different environments, nevertheless I enjoy your videos tremendously!
Your vids are to the point, concise and much may be learnt from it. We do not have bears here but predators like lion and hyena may be encountered. None of the mentioned animals are more or less dangerous than the other but nature is to be respected. It is very educational to see how you guys camp in Alaska. Warm regards and happy camping!
Love this comment. So fun to hear this info is helpful even in your neck of the woods. Lions and hyenas are not even in my vocabulary, unless we are talking Disney's Lion King :) Can't imagine how fun it must be camping down there. Do you all carry deterrents like bear spray or horns? You all have such amazing small camper trailers coming out of your country as well. Many, that we hope someday soon make it over here. Seems like they all head over to Australia.
The majority of my Dedicated camper gear, especially kitchen items actually came from decluttering my own home. It was incredible how many duplicate or even triplicate items I had and really didn't need in one space. I was able to stock my camper with a ton of basics prior to heading to the thrift store to fill in the gaps. It saved so much money but also as you stated, having dedicated gear is essential to easing the burden when prepping a trip. When you are already set up to go life is good. Now I don't have dedicated clothing etcetera but essentially everything else is. I only pack clothes, additional toiletries and electronics. At some point either just after or just before a trip will do a quick inventory on shelf stable foods, toiletries & cleaning products to see if they need rotated or topped off. I also end my trips with a good clean up and laundry for all bedding/towels so the camper is good as new and our next trip is no longer a huge stressful ordeal.
Thank you for sharing this. This is great. I think we still need a better system for inventorying our food.
Dedicated items helped us out a lot.
One thing we've started to do to make packing easier is establish a standard camp menu with quantity of each necessary ingredient to make each item once for all of us.
The camp menu is limited to a handful of items that are easy to prepare in camp.
Our current menu has 3 breakfast options, 2 lunch options, and 4 dinner options.
The limited menu means we can keep our cooking utensils and cooking vessels limited to just those necessary to make the things on our menu.
Once you've figured out your standard camp menu its easy to stock up the night before.
Decide from the menu how many of each meal you want, and do simple math to figure out how much of each ingredient to get so you don't have too much, or too little of an ingredient.
Fancier version could probably be made on a spreadsheet to spit out a shopping and packing list.
That is a great idea David! We have moved to prepping most of our food at home. But we still scurry around trying to decide what to make. Your idea is much more efficient. This way we can still do that at home prep, but have it limited to a handful of meals. Basically like we said in the video, get it down to "a science." And yes, a spreadsheet would be a great idea. Sounds like it is time to come up with our 8-10 favorite meals. Also sounds like that would make a great video topic. Thanks David.
David, this sounds like a GREAT idea; one that solves so many problems while camping (esp stress from "trying" to decide what to have; AND, do we HAVE the ingredients). Gonna add that to my To-Do list, indeed.
Y'all Be Safe!
Coolest freaking table! On a tire!🤯💞
With you living in Alaska, nearly everything you talked about applies to us in the Pacific Northwest! Labeling: Great idea! Aesthetics: People, YOU'RE CAMPING! It's not a glamor trip! Ha ha ha ha! Love the compression sack idea! Love the Tail-Gater table! Thinking about building one. Love having the guide's in the camper. Tie downs! Amazing, great idea! Good video!
Lowe’s hardware took over the Craftsman series after Sears went under. They sell the black foam rubber mats for their tool boxes. A roll is around $15-20 but you could cut it to size and use that for your drawers. A roll would go a long way in a small teardrop or even something bigger.
Love the high rim plate idea. We love then at home and will now buy for teardrop
Just went camping (tent) and this topic is so true. Not much fun “working” so much just to run out of time, then pack it up again. I learned this on my trip and currently working this out.. not in a mini camper. . Don’t have a garage or yard
I think the car camping world and mini camping world are pretty similar. Most of the tricks work for both, you just have to be a little more organized for car camping. For us our favorite aha moment for car camping was living out of plano totes. It really helped us get more organized and moved all the gear from the car to the campsite where it belonged.
Old video but still very helpful. We are currently moving from a 34’ Class C to a 5x13 teardrop. We had dedicated gear in the class C, but some things are just too big for our little Willie (named for our late pup who hated but loved camping.) Organization is key and we’re going so far as to weigh everything going in or on, like the awning with a luggage scale and maintaining a list.
So happy to just find your channel. May Jesus continue to bless you and your family
May I offer a couple of suggestions for the toilet situation? One is get one of those one man pop up tents and use a collapsible toilet in it. It's the same principle of the bucket you are using but offers privacy and the ability to collapse the entire toilet system, including the bucket. Also, for an emergency pee system at night, you can use some of those bedside hospital urinals. They are small and even have lids to prevent smells from overpowering the bucket. You can even keep one or two of those in the pop up toilet tent for disposal at your convenience instead of finding that private little place right away. The only thing is, the pop up tent would have to be put up outside because they can take up some room when popped up. But they are compact when folded down. I camp out the old fashioned way when I get a chance but your tips and ideas can still be used by someone like myself. Great video!
Being organized is definitely key!!
Great video. I just bought some flat clear bins for in the under-floor storage in my teardrop. My tip is to annotate your master gear list with where you stored things. Some of my storage is hard to access, so it’s good to know the extra blankets are deep behind the headboard before I start digging everywhere.
Darn, you just reminded us that we accidentally took out the portion of the video where we mention annotating the master gear list. Thank you so much for sharing this with others. You are exactly right, some of my most frustrating camp moments is trying to find something for the little guys when the baby is fretting and you have thrown everything all over the camper trying to find the item.
You are right on the mark. We travel in a small nucamp t@b 400 bdl and when we started, it was so stressful packing. It seemed like we always took too much. What helped us was making lists. We started listing things we didn't use, what we wish we had, list on where things go, what stays in the camper when we're home and what comes out. We are now at the point where when we decided to go, we just load the camper with food and clothing. Our must have boxes; we have three and they are labeled - electric, water, accessories (this box holds picnic table cover, outdoor bug candles, skewers for the fire, and a drying line) are stored in the cargo area of the camper at all times. Our TV is a Jeep Grand Cherokee and inside we load our ARB freezer. The t@b's fridge just isn't big enough. Our spare tire is accessible from inside the cargo area. Jeep created the spare tire space with extra storage areas where we keep a tire compressor, t@b jack, and a robust first aid kit. On top of the Jeep goes our Thule. Inside we have two awnings, two lawn chairs, and an indoor / outdoor carpet. These are all store in the Thule when it's off the jeep and in the garage. We can now be ready to roll in no time. Less stress going and coming home. Organization is key and identifying what you need rather than what you want is a must.
This is a great comment! Hoping more people will get to read it. As far as how you use your Thule it sounds almost identical to what we store in our Yakima. We are a bit jealous as we appreciate the Thule much more in terms of build quality.
Great content as usual. I didn’t even think of using that roll up drying rack as a cutting board and trivet! Thank you!!! You’re the first TH-cam who’s shirt design I like. Well done :)
My bf and I have been camping in a tear drop trailer for the past 7 yrs and it was great but we need an indoor bathroom now. We get our new micro lite trailer in 3 weeks and I can’t wait to use so many of your great tips. Thanks 😃
Congratulations. Sounds like a great little upgrade. Did you sell the teardrop, or keep it in the family? I know it is a tough decision letting go of a teardrop.
@@PlayingwithSticks We sold to an individual via Facebook marketplace. I’m not going to lie we shed some tears when we sold it.
Dedicated items - brilliant! Shopping the thrift stores for camp clothes, kitchen items. Indeed, everyone should be doing this. Thanks for a great camping vlog ☺
Glad you enjoyed this one.
I need to look at shop towels. I use the Walmart big economy packs of washcloths. Stacks of them. Slightly color coded (white for dishes). I use them as dish washing/drying towels, hand towels, washcloths, and the marginal ones are used as rags, vibration dampeners, and dust covers. The big benefits are storage space clean and dirty, always tons of clean dry towels available, and ease of washing.
I need to look at shop towels for their tight weave, larger area, and maybe better longevity.
Or have both😃
Speaking of shop towels I forgot to mention in our Shasta Interior Renovation I accidentally picked up the wrong ones. They make a lint free version and we accidentally bought the "definitely has lint" version and we got it all over the exterior when prepping for paint. After the first round of paint went on I realized there was lint everywhere. Love your idea of color coding. This way you don't get the cross-contamination. One more use, well at least for us, stuffing gaps where mosquitoes are coming in :)
Playing with Sticks, 🤣 Good recommendation. I will avoid the “definitely has lint” labeled shop towls🤣. Kidding aside, good call!
I binged your videos last week and now im building my own teardrop thanks for the inspiration !
That is great to hear. Glad they are helpful. Can't wait to hear about your build progress!
Great information, you hit all the high point. You are absolutely right, organization is a big part of fast and easier packing and unpacking and knowing what you do and dont have. Great video.
Thanks Scott. Funny it took us way too long to figure this all out. We are excited to hear what tips others have on here so we can keep building our little system.
Mr. Charles Moman was my music teacher in elementary school. He is an amazingly talented individual as well.
Hey Teresa! Where are you now and how are you doing? Thanks for the sweet words. Blessings! I retired in 2010 and we now have 14 grandchildren and just celebrated our 40th anniversary. I got hooked on trail ultra running and have done 100 miles once, 50 miles several times and a lot of 24-hour races. And I was almost killed in a car wreck in 2014 - T-boned with a ton of pelvic fractures and more, but - spoiler alert - survived and went back to do more ultras. : ) Very blessed and I had a zillion great students like you in my 37-year career. Good hearing from you!
@@joemomma3770 Acoustic guitar.
Charles Moman I am still in Seymour. Married, two kids and a miniature schnauzer. We just got our first camper, usually we would sleep in the back of Eric’s truck, tents or a truck tent. So I have been looking at camping videos and was thrilled when I came across this one and he mentioned your name. Sorry about your accident but thankful you survived and thrived. Take care of yourself and those 14 grandkids. (Teresa Branaman-Meyers) 😀
Teresa Meyers Thanks for the reply! I wasn’t sure which Teresa you were, but when you said Branaman I can picture you 100%. You would think in a town of our size we would eventually run into each other at Walmart or something. Maybe that will still happen! Be safe and be blessed.
Small world! This comment is so cool.
Such great tips, thanks! I'm a Type A and definitely one who likes to stay organized, but what resonated with me is don't worry how 'pretty' it is. it HAS to be functional, especially because we also like boondocking/dry camping. Watching all of your videos :)
Glad to hear this was helpful. The "doesn't have to be pretty" has been hard for us. We like things neat, orderly, matching, and typically white. But over time we have learned that really doesn't enhance our travels on the road. It made it MUCH more difficult. Glad to hear you are enjoying the videos Kelli!
I'm calling dollar store options for quite a few things... Love the Ziploc bags and suction cup caddies
Wish we had an affordable Dollar Store around here!
Great info! Anything that gets me outside faster and stress free is always the best!
We are still working on living out that statement, but it truly gets faster each year and the stress seems to be mostly behind us. Glad you enjoyed the info Raquel.
Totally agree on having dedicated camping gear inside the camper. All we have to do is add food and clothes and we are good to go! Everything that we pack into the truck is in a bin too, like your Plano ones. So we have a shower bin, an outdoor kitchen bin, etc. We grab as needed and go.
That was so nice of Charles to send you that table. I’ve been watching his van build. We are hoping to get a runaway one day to add to our camper collection lol.
We probably need to work on our shower bin. Our parts are in multiple areas of the trailer. Thanks for reminding us. The new bins have been such a blessing. Would have been great to have the last few years. Yes, Charles is probably the friendliest most helpful guy we have ever online or in real life. We follow a lot of small camper channels that are 3,000 or less subscribers. We run into Charles on there channels giving them great advice and helping them out wherever needed. We would love a runaway as well. Such a simple little trailer. And now that they have the composite fiberglass design on some or all of the models ( I am not quite sure on that) they really are intriguing.
Get a set of those dividers from the DT or 99 store. Can also buy the little rubber place mats to go in drawers instead of the expensive drawer liners. Although, around Back To School time, they both have the drawer liners as well. They also have the vacuum storage bags in multiple sizes.
Three years later, watching this episode and wondering how you pack more than one live plant into the big orange bucket without damage to them? Thanks for being so thorough in your subject matter!
Dollar tree sells rolls of rubber backing. I think it's about 15 ft but I cut mine in strips I don't have to use a whole 10 by 12 piece and it works.
I also purchased two metal 6 or 10 inch cake pans from Dollar tree to use as our full plates.
We also have the plastic ones from walmart. But I like the metal ones because they wiped clean
Great video. I'm loving learning from you
i dont have a trailer, dont want one, but i do have 2004 toyota prius, which is about the same size if not smaller. i like to pop the hatch and car-camp. your videos on trailers are directly analogous to my car, so thanks a heap for that. keep on truckin'.
100's of channels that I've subscribed to. Just found my new favorite #1. Love your content! Can't wait to watch more!
Every time I watch the channel I'm buying something and saying "Drew your brilliant!"
That is great feedback to hear! Those are the type of channels we love as well.
We will admit thought, not a whole lot of brilliance coming from Drew's head. The majority of great items and ideas we have picked up along the way have come from everyone here in the community. It is one selfish reason we keep putting out these videos because we love getting all the tips from everyone that come out of the comment section. And we don't even have to leave this channel to peruse forums anymore! It all is in one centralized place for us!
Just got one of your simply lovely & meaningful “Big is all around us...” t-shirts! I hope others will support you as well!! All the best 💐💐💐
Thank you so much! That means a lot to us.
Hi Drew and May! Great video! I wish we had more storage in the way of drawers in our teardrop kitchen... Inside the camper, we use the slim packing cubes for our socks, underwear, and pajamas. We also use Ikea bins and containers that fit perfectly in various places in our camper. ... this season we started setting up a wash station using the 2.5 gal water container with a spigot that Walmart sells for around $7.50. I would not use it inside the house because it can leak a tiny bit if the spigot isn't tight... but works great outside. I keep foam soap (washes off faster - so uses less water needed) and a hand towel there. We use your method of adding boiled water to the water container to warm things up... makes hand and dish washing so much nicer when the water is warm! We have also switched to a couple of the plastic drawer sets ... seems I'm rummaging less for things... Great episode! Enjoy autumn camping! The leaves are just starting to change here in the northeast. We're camping every chance we get! Blessings to you and your beautiful family ~ Maria
Thanks for sharing Maria. We are looking at getting some small water containers as well. 2.5 gallon sounds just about right. We just had our 5 gallon leak in our galley this week. No damage, but time to get a new container, so a great time to get two small ones. Completely agree on taking the edge of the cold water! Especially up here as it always seems to be quite cold at room temp. Just had an amazing autumn camping trip this week. Found a boondocking site that has alluded us for over 2 years and it was even more incredible than we thought it would be. Glad to hear your leaves are changing. From the photos I have seen, nothing seems to beat a northeast fall in terms of pure beauty. Blessing to you all as well. Thanks Maria for this great comment!
@@PlayingwithSticks It's so wonderful that you can find boondocking sites... Chris and I haven't ventured away from state campgrounds yet... Maybe we should try to get Cosmo to share some of his favorite boondocking spots LoL * * * Drew & May... I love your t-shirt designs! Are you offering any V-neck shirts? ~ Maria
I painted an old liquid laundry soap jug flat black and leave it on the roof of my service van while working. At the end of the day I have warm to hot water for washing hands.
What a great set of tips! I love the idea of using shop towels to cut down on paper usage.
We have been using Frontrunner Wolf Pack boxes, each one dedicated to a specific purpose. They are expensive, but very durable and strap down well to the roof rack on our jeep.
Great idea on the Wolf Pack boxes! That is why we went with the Plano boxes as well. Having the ability to strap them down as they have attachments for that is such a blessing. Also most of these boxes like yours in this price range have an attachment for you to add your own lock to them as well, which can be very handy.
Great Tips, thanks for posting. Those field guides are great for camping, my parents always carried several of them and I do as well. Not only are they great for identifying and learning about wildlife, flowers, trees, and fish, these also work as a good rainy day activity to read through.
Awesome video I’m in the process of buying a small tear drop and this was some good advice
I like the door hanging “shoe” storage 24 pocket matrix. I cut it in half and added more grommets for attachment (love my grommet tool too).
This is the tip we needed. We honestly had no idea there were grommet tools. Makes sense, obviously because grommets are on everything. I guess we just assumed it was from some high end factory press. Just this week a grommet was torn from our tarp in a high wind situation. The tarp is still in great condition just missing the corner grommet. Time to get ourselves a grommet tool.
Playing with Sticks, Love both my grommet tools from Walmart and Harbor Freight. Basic. Just put the two halves in position with a tool and hit it with a hammer. The grommets are a bit light. Would like to find more heavy duty grommets. The tool is plenty heavy duty. I put extra grommets in my tarp to get better positioning, or when chop the tarps up for box covering for the bungees.
Yes! Really like the idea of shoe bins under the camper with brackets while stopped! Nice!
Isn't that a good one. I think we picked that one up a few years ago from the Tiny Yellow Teardrop blog. Since then we have seen multiple teardrops have them. We often say we are going to do it, just for folks to see on the channel. But honestly, up here we really don't need one. Even most the boondocking sites don't have strong runoff, so we really don't even have to worry about rain and mud on the boots either. A week straight of rain at most of our favorite sites here and our shoes are bone dry.
Hard learned lesson, put holes in the bins... I have no idea how it rained hard enough sideways to fill my bin but it did. Lids made it more trouble than it was worth.
Hey Drew... you did it again! Another great and informative video. We already utilize most of your ideas but we still haven’t been able to nail down our wardrobe. Sometimes we’re at the north coast (50-60) degrees and sometimes on the central coast ( 65-80) degrees... having said that, their is not enough room in our Teardroper for all that clothing. Maybe we can have 2 bags each for different weather stored in our garage.
You nailed it. So what we do, which I wish I showed in the video. In that vertical storage bin was all our cold weather clothes. We have a special bag for them so we can easily get them in and out of the trailer based on need. Even here it gets pretty extreme as it is near 100 in the interior and then can get down in the 40s at night in other places in Alaska during the summer. If you have absolutely no space like us we highly suggest the compressible packing cubes. Annoying in that you have to zip them up, but great for clothes that you don't use often. In one of our future videos we are going to have to demonstrate the difference between the sack regular and then compressed. It is crazy how small you can get them. Now with winter gear compressing it that far in theory would cause you down to lose loft over time and not give you 100% of the warming properties. But, today our family uses almost entirely synthetic down and we keep our jackets and synthetic down blankets in there all year and they feel great. I think the synthetics aren't impacted near as much as the down when they are stored tight. Just pull them out, fluff them up, and you are good to go. Glad you enjoyed the video by the way!
I love how your gear and trailer gets larger as your kid grows. 😆
Familiar set up with the Shasta and the liberty. Had similar for years! Jeep Liberty diesel and 71' Shasta compact. Shasta is gone now, sold when I bought my next tiny trailer a little guy Mini max! So, still need packing hacks. Love your channel.
Sounds like we have a lot in common. Big fans of the Mini Max as well. Great little camper.
@@PlayingwithSticks LOL, except age, will be retiring next year! The plan is to travel with jeep and mini at least to the south every winter.
@@jansprout That sounds like a great plan!
Love this! I was glad to see that we have thought of most of these tips and are working through them. But I LOVE the laundry idea of doing only your camp clothes. I make the mistake of putting other clothes in the same load and it ALWAYS leads to items not making it back into the camper. Thanks for this awesome video!
Glad this was helpful. I'm really excited to see what other tips we pick up this summer as we will be forced to live in a cargo trailer full time. I am assuming these will lead to a part II of this video.
Those Superstore green bin, lifesaver. Great for shoes, toys etc. Easy to clean.
Love your video
I just googled this. I have never seen one in Alaska. Those would be great to have!
Amazing video, time to implement all of these tips! ❤❤❤
Thanks for the tips. We ordered a couple of the cool shirts. Waiting to see more.
You are most welcome! And thank you for the shirt purchase. We appreciate it.
One more I love: Walmart Ozark Trail 50 Can Insulated Cooler Tote. $5.
Like a taller skinnier HD zippered gym bag with mylar and fabric insulation. HD straps. Has a utensils pocket I never use. I have a bunch of these for food and cooking supplies. At $5 they are top of my list for any other kind of storage that would fit.
Note: I think Walmart may have an affiliate program.
We will have to check this out. Our favorite soft sided cooler is an Ozark Trail cooler. Also will need to look at the affiliate program as we find many of the products we suggest to people come from Walmart and can't be found at Amazon. Thanks Mike!
I tow a little trailer with a jeep liberty and not sure the proper name but you can get an extended ball mount. mine is long enough it clears my rear mounted tired. allows me to open the back gate 1/2 to 3/4. Very important since I have dog crates. like your channel, keep posting small trailer & TD videos
Thank you All this gear is good for prepping
I use those LED headlamps all the time. A word of advice find a way to keep the batteries out of the lamp. LED lights will drain your batteries. It would suck to get to camp in the middle of the night and your light is dead. Just rubberband them to the lamp.
Didn't realize the drain problem, Justin. Though, I ran into this prob; some small LED flashlights I keep in the house were dead (use for emergency); couldn't figure out WHY they were dead! Thanks for the headsup!
Y'all Be Safe!
A plastic snack bag for the batteries and a rubber band....awesome hack! Thanks for that!
Thanks for sharing this Justin.
I love what you did with your vintage trailer! We are now in the process of actively look no for a small travel trailer for next year and these tips are so helpful. :)
Thanks for the shoutout Drew! I am now starting a new van build series on our recently purchased 2018 Ford Transit 250 - 148" - medium roof - cargo van. The first introductory episode is now up and several more will be available next week. Moman Van Build Series Episode #1 - th-cam.com/video/V_wC9PbUrX0/w-d-xo.html
Love this channel!
I see you now have a 13’ trailer! We just bought a 14’ Rove Lite. 1682 pounds dry!! Love the tiny footprint it will make compared to our 37’ fifth wheel we sold several years ago.
Congratulations Julie! I have a feeling you are going to love it. It takes a tiny adjustment at first, but once you get your systems in place you’ll never want to go back. The only suggestion I have is to bring along an outdoor shelter. Having a larger indoor space like an instant up canopy is the perfect combination with a little trailer like that.
@@PlayingwithSticks I actually have the one you listed, in my cart at this minute! Thanks for all the great suggestions!
Great idea with the dirty cloths into ziplocks (they make some big ones too)! First time I have even heard of the topic.
I had thrown my dirty cloths gym bag in the back of the pickup under the bed cover, but I was afraid to open the tailgate after that for fear of olfactory assault 🤢
We love it for the clothes, but what we really appreciate is how it was the transition for us into the dirty rag pile. So nice bringing a ton of rags out. Makes cleanup so much faster and way less gross. Haha on the gym bag. We run into that a lot up here, but it is with hockey gear, turning green just thinking about it :)
Just grabbed a navy blue hoodie....can’t wait to get it!!!😃✌🏽
That is great to hear. Just wondering, why did you quit the vlog? I see/heard you like Christian Leblanc. Have you ever watched Cody Wanner. Very inspiring guy. I think he just started his daily vlog back up again. Thought you may like his channel if you have never seen it.
Playing with Sticks Thanks man, for the heads up about Cody. I’ll definitely check him out. As far as the vlog goes, I’m actually in the process of trying to sort of rebrand. One of the hardest parts for me before was developing consistency and I think that a large part of that was due to not having a real sense of direction. I mostly felt like I was throwing darts and just waiting for something to stick and I’m not sure that’s a good recipe for success long term. So I’m actually going to take things in the direction of my interests outdoors. I mountain bike, climb, hike, go off-roading, etc.. so I’m actually about to start creating videos centered around these interests, as I think that y it will make things easier from a planning perspective as well as being more consistent with uploads. So yeah, that’s where I’m at. Going camping in a couple of weeks and planning to get a ton of content so hopefully there will be new videos up in the coming weeks. Not sure if I’ll create a whole new vlog or simply change the name of this one. Either way I’ll keep you posted. So yep, thanks again for the heads up and I can’t wait to get the hoodie in the mail. Love you guys’ channel, keep up the awesome job. 😃✌🏽
This is a fantastic and very detailed vidoe. :) great tips and tricks
Shoes in a bin, I'm totally stealing that for tent camping!
Hey Drew! Nice meeting you today. Watched a few of your videos. Lots of great info.thanks! Good luck.
Very neat I will defently be using these in the future!
Glad it was helpful!
I have rubbermaid box that I keep especially for the trailer. When it is time to winterize, I put anything that I can keep in the trailer during the winter. Bring the bins inside in the spring and put everything back inside after washing everything. Nothing break, no mice dropping/spider. Save space in my house.
That is a great idea. We tried something like that this winter, but accidentally mixed the items from both of our campers. Now we have to divvy them up this spring. Lesson learned. Two boxes next year.
Love your organization system! Bins are great we have large gear bins that we use. Might get more smaller ones than 2 large ones. I need to go with see through ones instead.
We keep going back and forth. Such as the car for example some years we think small bins are better, other years like this year we like having just 2 larger bins. Small is nice because it helps you maintain an inventory better. Larger is nice because it is so efficient just to grab two bins and go!
@@PlayingwithSticks -- Loved the vid and the storage ideas. If you remove the totes from the camper (for some reason), have a dedicated storage area where ALL of the "camp totes" live (e.g., back room, garage, basement). Then when you pack you don't have to look all over the place. Espec like the idea of keeping specific clothing, galley supplies, tow veh related items IN THE CAMPER! Keep up the good work, guys!
Y'all Be Safe!
Love Charles Moman - and the table. I have to invest one of them!
Charles just sent our family a CD he made with his local church. He is so multitalented. When I first turned it on it was funny hearing that TH-cam voice that we all know singing songs 😄
Ordered two Hoodies: “Playing With Sticks” in grey, and “Big Is All Around Us” in navy. Thanks!
Ahhh, you weren't supposed to do that. We truly owe you them. Guess we will have to make new ones for the holidays so we can get you some free shirts. We appreciate it though Mike!
Playing with Sticks, Thank you for the thought! It has been My pleasure! I have learned a lot. But besides that, people enjoy being recognized by your requests to participate and your replies - that their voice counts or even exists. What a nice rare gift indeed! Your channel recognizes peoples’ comments, and I think it is one of your “value added,” and a contributor to your success. I hope I can continue to participate. What great fun! Thanks!
Nice tip when you go pic nicking. Use a toothbrush holder to put in your kitchen knife. So you don’t cut yourself when it is in your bag or cool box
Great recommendations! Thanks for the all the tips!
You are so welcome Carrie!
I love your system.. Thanks for your good advices ❤️❤️❤️
So nice of you. Glad you enjoyed it!
too true! I pared down our packing by 60% and found I still had more than enough :)
It’s so funny. It is just so hard to let go of some of our items. The systems do make it a little easier though as it makes it very obvious when you’re not using something. Somebody once said on here that if you take two trips and find you don’t use the item it probably doesn’t belong in the trailer. Good advice, hard to follow.
Can you do a video for winterizing small trailers?
That is a good video idea. I think there is a video on Our Scamp Life already created about this. Let me see if I can find it.
Yes, they made a video called How to Winterize a Scamp in 4 Minutes th-cam.com/video/1VpuJkaZFww/w-d-xo.html
Lots of great ideas. I used to have a Shasta Compact and it's amazing the amount of storage space they have.
Like you, we are completely amazed by the amount of storage. As you could probably tell based on how much we had in our bins there is actually more space than we currently use. I have a feeling that will change quickly though as the boys start growing :) Glad you enjoyed the ideas.
Yeah! I was just going to comment about the incredible Shasta storage too! Amazing! Seems so much better laid out and accessible than similar size Scamp!
@@mikemead2315 Truly is. We thought about showing our pantry, floor storage, and accessing the storage from the outside. But, thought wow this is turning into a 20 minute video. Probably should save that for the walkthrough video if we ever get that little Shasta decorated inside.
I totally agree drawers are just magical. I have just 1 in my 320s and I wish there were more. HMMM how can I convert the big cabinets to drawers?!
Love it! We just got a comment from someone two days ago who said "drawers are overrated." I told my wife either he has never had drawers or he doesn't know what a drawer is. Haha.
So PUMPt for this content!!!! The FranK would love to score a sweet BuFF popUP one day!
Frank you are one of a kind! Clicked on your channel today to watch a video and it told me to watch out, the content may be too intense for my eyes! Of course it is. We wouldn't expect any less from The Frank! Enjoying these great comments of yours.
@@PlayingwithSticks all good and BUFf! Thanks for understanding the FraNk! He means no harM!!
Great video! We are just designing our packing process! Perfect timing! Thank you! When are you going to add the journal as just part of the packing process 😊 Blessings 🙏🏽
You will be proud of us. The first thing we packed yesterday was the journal for East!
Playing with Sticks wow!!!! Congratulations!!! Write the stories of a lifetime!!! We really hope to meet you and your family someday! We are getting out travel trailer in November!!! Let the fun continue and the enjoyment and love of Mother Nature!!! 👏👏🙏🏽
can you link where you purchased
I think I just found the links. They have a link in their drop down description area above and another one on the community tab.
Of course. We thought if we can't find the shirts we want, why not make them :) www.bonfire.com/store/playing...
Thanks for all the tips!!!
You are most welcome! Thanks Tina.
It's like you were in my mind when I saw the shoes under the camper. I was like NO WAY would I do that! Lol. Are there a y spiders up there?
We do have spiders, but we tend to find most of them near our homes. Finding a spider in your shoe here would be a pretty rare occurrence. And for iit to be poisonous you would probably have a better chance of being struck by lightning.
Had similar thought, Adre, but, I like the idea (espec if you can find small-ish totes to put them in and put lids on the tote.
Y'all Be Safe!
What a great video, it's all about organization. So much time and energy is wasted on searching for your items.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, we have wasted way too much time being unorganized. We had to make a change or we were going to go crazy this year with two different trailers in operation.
Getting helpful info, great job!!!
Thank you. Thanks for being here when it released. It is always fun to know someone in the community is here watching with us at the same time.
I've tried many things with the teardrop because I don't have much space, but just me and dog. My dog takes the back seat. I tried plastic drawers in the back of the Xterra, but they flop open and I tried things to keep them closed, but were too small anyway. Nesting boxes still fall over on corners. I found an old cheapie table to put in the back with stuff over and under. I now have see-through boxes on the table. One with dog stuff, one with miscellaneous, one with food. I screwed a thin board onto the table to keep the boxes up there. Under that table is an 11 pound propane tank, dog water jug, Luggable loo. My tire table doesn't fit in very well, not sure I will use it. I can fit in a Mr. Buddy heater and whatever else. The cabinets in the teardrop have clothes and necessities, some in small packing cubes. One thing that is not well organized yet is all the cords to charge various things, they are shoved in clear zipper bags. All cooking utensils are in the galley. I lightened the load in the galley some because I feared my cast iron would cause sagging. Some day, I'll get it right, maybe. One thing I don't have room for is a small ladder to reach the roof basket, so it doesn't get used much.
Как же красиво !!!
Thank you!
Great video, starting to look for a small camper or a teadrop.
Thank you. Let us know what you end up going with. Always fun hearing what everyone ends up choosing.
Run L track top and bottom the length of booth. I have it all over my van.
Love that idea! It was a little more expensive than I thought it would be. But still fairly affordable for most folks. Definitely worth the investment to protect your trailer and help you store a lot more gear.
@@PlayingwithSticks If it is just bikes and stuff get some cheap flush mount D ring tie downs for the vertical booth boards.
SLAM BOY, Yeah, I use the 1/4” thick 233lb $1.50 Harbor Freight D-rings all over. Plenty strong and affordable. The bigger 1/2” thick will hold 3,333lb! Hold 1/2 a truck!
Hey Drew,
Are your hoodies and shirts still available? I’d love to order some as we will be new teardrop owners in a month!😍 Can’t wait!!
My husband and I have learned soooo much and we enjoy watching all your videos when you cast them out! Keep it up! God bless!
Welcome to the club!!!!! And yes. They typically can be found in our TH-cam storefront which is below every video. But here is a direct link www.bonfire.com/store/playing-with-sticks/
@@PlayingwithSticks Great! Thank you! Will be placing an order soon!😁
Ordered! Looking forward to our PWS threads!😍
Great video! Love the Shasta and the location!
Glad you enjoyed Maykou! Definitely one of our favorite locations and favorite trailers out there. There is just something magical about all trailers that are 13 feet long!
Nice shirts. Ordered hoodie and a shirt. Not that i dont feel its worth the price but a little spendy. I only wish they would remain available longer so i could get a few more later. I didnt see the link to how you manage fishing gear a struggle im having now....
We agree on the price. As you may know we are pretty frugal folks. This was the suggested base price and we went all around looking at other shirts to make sure we were pricing at the average rate. I did notice yesterday that T-spring, the main company here on TH-cam below the videos is sometimes a couple of dollars less on the shirts, but then more on the hoodies. We may have to look into finding somewhere to keep these shirts up full time if folks are into them. So far there has been much more purchased than we thought there would be. We ran the limited run thinking there wouldn't be many purchased and that it wouldn't be worth purchasing them in bulk. Sorry about the fishing link, we had buried almost near the bottom of the description. Here is that link. th-cam.com/video/2OaGT_9PuT0/w-d-xo.html
Such a good video! Lots of good advice. I did Love the comment about doing all of your camp clothes in one load maybe not being the most economical or environmentally friendly ha ha! We’re a family of eight… We’re lucky to fit all of our camp clothes in just two loads if we go more than one night… #somanykids!
I can't imagine how fun it must be to camp with a family of 8. We get jealous sometimes when we drive by a campsite with this type of action. Makes us miss our childhood when we camped more in groups with close family members and friends.
Best tip my parents taught me was to always stop by a laundromat on the way home. One, you leave all the dirt of the trail behind. Two, you don't arrive home after a relaxing trip with work to do.
Ooh, we love this tip! I am going to add to that and suggest the car wash as well. Thank you for sharing this Justin. Never would have even thought of this. And, at least in Alaska, almost all the RV parks have laundry. So you could just swing by there from your boondocking or regular campsite and get it done out in the middle of nowhere.
Love your sweater!
Thanks Oscar! We were hoping it would speak specifically to you teardrop owners out there.
We had a very similar rig, a 2006 jeep commander and an old 60s tin 15ft camper, even the color was similar. How's the jeep holding up? Ours was a repair nightmare
So far so good. But, we are always nervous. Like your comment we have heard quite a few stories. But, for this model when I research it it seems to mostly be around the power windows. And we have had most of them go out at some point or another.
Love your videos! You have dedicated clothing just for camping?
I know, we feel a bit guilty! We try to justify it by saying at least it is all from a thrift store😂 Yes, it has been the biggest change for us in terms of packing and unpacking, a world of difference. However, for some of the high dollar items like jackets we only have one of them that stays in a bin that bounces around between the two trailers and our car when adventuring without the trailers.
@@PlayingwithSticks I think it is a very smart idea!!!! I am going to make a plan to do the same...it might take some time but will be worth it! Thank you for sharing! My husband and I enjoy watching your adventures with your beautiful family!
Great advice! Happy journeys forward!
Glad it was helpful Sheridan! Happy journeys to you as well.
Because of rain take extra paper towels and cloth towels with extra 13 gal. Bags to bring your wet stuff home.
first and this is super helpful
You definitely are first! Glad it is helpful. Looks like you have a really fun channel there. Keep putting those videos out!
Playing with Sticks yo this is so cool I’m glad you noticed my comment and my channel that is supper neat
@@jameschiavaroli893 Of course. One of our favorite things is checking out what other creators are doing. So fun seeing people like you doing what they love on here.
Playing with Sticks that’s so cool I will be looking forward to 2 Thursdays from now!!
I had to explain to my "city boy" husband the difference between taking a can of "pecans" with you camping....and taking a "pee can!!!" We still laugh about that one.
Duplicate camping items and plastic bins are very functional.
When I was a young, my dad made drawer openings in the van and camper that exactly fit the drawers in the house, so we just needed to move the drawers back and forth. The pop-up was preloaded. Van got a rear cabinet just set in from the back that held the drawers. Plastic bins did not exist.
I like your dad's way of thinking. We still are trying to custom build something like that. We have been trying to make a system where we could move around items from the 13', to the teardrop, to the car for car camping, but we haven't formed a good system yet. Our ideal scenario would be building a "chuck box" camping kitchen that stays in the tow vehicle. One of these days! Thanks Mike as usual for sharing. In our next video we give you a shot out about getting a free shirt for helping so many people on here. If you take a look at our shirts and find a style you like let us know and we will send it your way.
Playing with Sticks, Thanks! 😃. I appreciate the offer! However I need to thank YOU and your family for the great topics, the vehicle for me to participate, and your well thought out replies! What fun! What great fun! Thanks again!
There is one area you can help me out. I have looked all over for your email address mentioned in your “about” page , and I can’t seem to locate it. Admittedly, I sometimes can’t find my keys in my other hand, so I am sure your email address is around somewhere. Thanks!
@@mikemead2315 Of course you would say something like this. You are a standup guy Mike! As for email it is connect@playingwithsticks.com However, sometimes we wonder if our email server isn't working correctly. We may update our email address in the next 2 to 3 months. We have quite a few creators from the camping community who reach out to us for some pointers around TH-cam and camera stuff. Many times when we write them back we never get a response. We are starting to think that is because something isn't sending/receiving right. So if for some reason you don't hear a response from us, please let us know.
Playing with Sticks, Thanks!
Thanks for all the tips. Great Ideas on how to store stuff so you can get out as fast as you can. I do have one tip for you and I hope I don't come across as being too preachy. I kind of cringed when I watched your kid bending over the water. It only takes a second for them to slip in. I pulled a little 2 yr old girl face down out of a lake after looking up and seeing her mom preoccupied with her phone. Outcome may not have been so good if I hadn't looked up when I did .Based on all your videos I've watched you guys appear to be terrific parents. Just thought I'd mention it.
We appreciate you watching out for us. We also had a feeling someone would mention this. If you look really closely in the shots you can see May's movement. She is actually right there watching over his shoulder behind the camper. We placed her just out of shot, but allowed East to do his thing. You also can see in the shot where I try to show the fish, the water is about 4 inches deep for about 5 feet out and then drops to less than 2 feet. But, yes like they say a child, especially a baby can drown in the smallest amount of water. May is the hyper-vigilant parent and she was definitely on high guard. But, again thank you so much for watching out for us. We try our best, but are still learning everything in this parenting world so anytime you see something please let us know. Amazing your story with the 2 year old child. So glad to hear you were there. Scary.
@@PlayingwithSticks Your kids are fortunate to have you two as parents.
@@oldmillrd8153 Aww, thank you. We are trying. Still making mistakes, but learning from them and having a blast with the little ones.
How is sleeping in a teardrop with 2 small kids? Were thinking about getting one and cosleep with our 6 month old and 2 year old, but I worry about all 4 of us sleeping in a 6x8 area.
Like you we are co-sleepers. What we like to remind co-sleepers is that you gain a little extra room for sleeping when you have walls. Meaning on our queen bed at home nobody likes to sleep on the edge in fear of falling off. So all four of us are cuddled in tight to the center. In a trailer your mind allows you to roll to the edges knowing you won't fall off. So if you have a 6X8 it is going to feel pretty spacious. Now here is what we have discovered with our little 4x8 teardrop. When we had 1 kid it was magical. When we had two it got a little tight. Once the kids were 1 and 3 I spent a majority of the nights out in the side entry tent. If I had a 6X8 sleeping area we would be sleeping together for the next few years! Our video thursday talks about the bed in our vintage trailer. You can see us hanging out in it. It really is quite spacious beings it is a King.
I wash my gear separately because I only use Nikwax tech wash for the good ($$) stuff, and want to make sure it never gets touched by fabric softener.
That is a good idea. Thanks for sharing.
@@PlayingwithSticks Just recently found your channel and really enjoying it!!