Teal Camper History

Lawrence Drake, Inventor

In the summer of 2009, my daughter asked my wife and I to go camping with her and her young family in Rocky Mountain National Park. Since I no longer "do camping" on the ground in tents, I looked around for an alternative. We could borrow a pop-up tent camper, but my little Chevrolet HHR only has a 1,000 pound towing capacity and the tent camper weighed in at over 2,000 pounds empty. Sleeping two in the back of the HHR was out of the question. It was long enough with the seats down, but it would have been crowded.

A couple of years ago I sold my pickup and opted for a small 4' x 8' utility trailer that I could haul behind the HHR. It has worked out great. One day I looked at the trailer and thought, wouldn't it be great if I had a small, light camper I could slip onto the trailer when I wanted to go camping and still use the trailer for hauling when I needed it. With that, the idea for the Teal Camper was born.

The first step was to set design objectives for the camper. Here is the list of the original objectives:

• Fit on a typical utility trailer or ATV hauler, as well as a pickup bed
• Weigh approximately 300 pounds, with a combined trailer weight of less than 700 pounds
• Towable by four cylinder vehicles with towing capacities of 1000 pounds or greater
• Low profile to reduce wind resistance
• Sleep two comfortably
• Plenty of windows for view and light
• Seating for at least two at a table
• Ceiling height typical of a small SUV with a possible popup to six feet
• Cabinet storage
• Accept typical four-wheelers and small motorcycles
• Modular for do-it-yourself assembly with minimum or no tools
• Easily customizable with a shopping cart of options such as colors, windows, skylights, exhaust vents, cabinets
• Foam-filled plastic for insulation, weight and sound proofing
• Shippable by standard UPS
• Inexpensive

The next several months were spent in design, which went through a lot of changes. The design process also meant research and many conversations with various plastic molding companies to determine the best and most economical method of achieving the strong foam-filled parts that make up the basic structure of the camper.

Once the design was fairly firm, a mockup was built to see how the size and shape fit the concept. I spent a lot of time sitting on buckets inside the mockup skeleton imagining what the finished product would look and feel like. I would sit and sketch up details and then get back on the computer to modify the virtual model I had created in a 3D CAD program.

Having been interested and involved in home built aircraft most of my life, I took a lot of pointers from the experimental aircraft technology that has produced extremely light and strong airplanes. Using foam and a fiberglass or plastic skin results in a very lightweight but robust structure that could be formed into not only a functional structure, but a pleasing shape as well. Work began in earnest on the camper prototype in the fall of 2009 using these techniques.

A prototype not only proves out the concept, but provides a physical product to cut, paste, change and modify to make it fit the real world. 3D computer models are great, but there is nothing like hands-on to make sure things will work as intended. Over the winter the prototype took shape and a lot was learned. What emerged was an exciting little camper that is not only functional, but attractive and comfortable.

The camper prototype met all the original design objectives with some additional bonus features like a swing out window design and slip-in modules for cabinets. Its modular design allows it to adapt to several size utility trailers or pickup beds. And it is definately light weight. The prototype weighed in at just a little over 300 lbs. With my 330 lb utility trailer, the total empty weight is 630 lbs.; well within the 1,000 lb towing capacity of my little Chevy HHR. A patent was filed in February 2010 on its unique modular design and it was christened the Teal Camper after the Teal duck because of its small, light features and good looks that belong in the outdoors.