The Hunt for the Perfect Camper
It all started when I got my Jeep Wrangler in May, which came with a tow package. The wanderlust started to kick in and this time it wasn’t going to be satisfied by moving to a new city.
For whatever reason, I started searching for campers, and the first ones I noticed were the teardrop style from an ad for Bean campers. All images in this post are pulled from the company’s website and do provide links to them. I also want to clarify that use the term Camper. Others will refer to them as RVs or Trailers.
Black Bean by Bean Trailers
I became obsessed with watching the videos, looking at the different options, and learning more about Tear Drop campers. I allowed myself to dream, really, for the first time since Covid locked us all down.
I could tell these guys made campers for the truly hard-core weekend campers. What I’ve learned since doing my research is that “teardrop” campers are what people move up to from tent camping. They afford more comfort and security for boon-docking and Bean makes several options to fit the type of camping they look for.
I will talk a lot about fiberglass campers, Bean shell is made of fiberglass. If I wasn’t planning on being a full-timer, Bean or NuCamp would have stayed longer in my sights.
TAG 320 S by nuCamp
Another company I came across that sold in the “teardrop” category was nuCamp. These campers fall in the tear-drop category and seem to be made for the people who want to do a bit more “glamping” vs. truly hard-core boondockers.
nuCamp makes many other camper types, whereas Bean focusing in on solid, heavy-duty “beds on wheels”, with Kitchens. There are a number of companies in the Teardrop category just Google and you’ll get them all. What I liked about this camper is it seemed to have fewer seams. There was a single piece that covered the top and the sides looked pretty secure.
Teardrop is a term used for the design/shape of the camper. You will notice a difference between a Bean and a nuCamp shape. They tend to have their kitchen in the rear outside of the camper. Traditional teardrops don’t have bathrooms inside and typically are just a bed on wheels.
nuCamp and others like them, have built campers with bathrooms and are on the roomier side I suspect going after a broader market, but still considered small enough to be a teardrop; though I suspect the true die-hards wouldn’t want their campers in the same class as the larger teardrops.
Just like with the Bean, I spent hours on the nuCamp site reviewing each of the different campers, imagining myself in one and what type of camper I’d be. Watching videos over and over was the moment when I thought about really purchasing a camper and living in it as my tiny house.
I talk about two brands here, but do your research there are lots of options in the teardrop category.
The Path to the Molded Fiberglass Camper
For years I’ve casually looked at campers. I’ve always been fascinated by how they put so much into a small space to make something livable for people.
In 1994 I owned a small apple orchard in Wisconsin and purchased a camper while we decided what a more permanent solution would be. I lived in the trailer on and off for a couple of years while working the orchard, and since then, I’ve been interested in campers; I suspect it’s the tiny home syndrome.
Whenever I would look, Airstream was my go-to. It was beautifully built, classic looking, and never seemed to go out of style. They are extremely expensive, so dreaming was as far as I ever got.
Several months ago, I came across an ad for the Happier Camper. It piqued my interest, so I clicked on the ad and checked them out. I loved the shape, very similar to Airstream, and there were multiple sizes; one big difference was they were made of fiberglass. As I dug deeper into it, I thought I could tow it with my Jeep Wrangler 4xe (max tow 3500 lbs).
I started to learn more about fiberglass campers, and the more I learned, the more I liked them. They tend to be much more watertight, and lighter, and best of all, they seem to have a great resale. So I started to Google “fiberglass campers”; this opened my world to them, and haven’t looked back.
There are differences in the fiberglass category ones I mainly focused on were in the “molded fiberglass” category. Molded fiberglass is basically two pieces of a shell that fit together which makes the out shell of the camper. The other type is where they still use a frame and instead of aluminum siding they use fiberglass. They tend to still be boxy, whereas the molded fiberglass has more of a retro style.
Below are the fiberglass campers I considered
This is not a complete review of the campers, but my thoughts on them during my journey to the brand I landed on. I did extensive research and looked at hours of videos online; this was the way I discovered more molded fiberglass campers.
My discovery wasn’t as sequential as the list below. Once you view one video, others are offered up and I watched and compared them. Went back and rewatched videos, and did more thinking and as I learned more it allowed me to refine the list down.
HC1 by Happier Camper
The first camper I looked at was the Happier Camper. They have a 13’ or 16’ fiberglass camper with a very cute and retro design.
What I found with this camper it seemed to be for the weekend worrier who wanted a bit more comfort than a tent. Happier is known for its module layout and recently added a 16’ called the Traveler to allow for the added wet bath.
At first, I was excited about this camper, I loved the design, but as I dug deeper and discovered other brands, it became clear that this wasn’t right for me. I think it came down to the layout inside. I didn’t think it would satisfy me for long-term camping. Don’t get me wrong, it took a lot of investigating and comparing before I moved away from this camper as one of my choices.
I was excited about this discovery also. Unlike the Happier, this afforded more layout options and was built for longer-living capability, and they have 13’, 16’, and 19’ 5th wheel options.
At this point, I hadn’t expected to replace my tow vehicle. I had just bought my Jeep Wrangler and was trying to find campers I could tow with it and Scamp would allow me to do just that. The inside also has molded fiberglass, but this limited the configurations options. As I looked more into Scamp and as I thought more about working full-time in a Scamp, I didn’t see myself being able to have a full-time bed and a big enough “other’ workspace. Also, the inside just didn’t modern, it looked like they hadn’t changed the interior design in forever.
This company has been around for many years, and people who own them love them, but the layout just wouldn't work for me…on to my next find.
Casita is very similar to Scamp. They’ve been around for many years. they only have two sizes 16’ and 17’ that comes with a wet-bath.
Like Scamp, Casita is a very lightweight camper and like Scamp they really haven’t changed their interiors that much over the years; they have carpet on the walls as insulation. They have a few different layouts and each layout has two options with or without the wet-bath.
I can’t really tell you why, but Casita started to take over Scamps’ place at the top of my list. Thinking back, it was the reviews, Casita just got better overall reviews. They did offer more configurations for the 17’. I also tried to convince myself I could overlook the carpeted walls.
I took a pivot here and allowed myself to re-look at nuCamp TAB 400, but don’t worry, I come back to fiberglass soon enough.
TAB 400 by nuCamp
Even though this wasn’t a fiberglass camper, I really liked the design. It had solar embedded on the roof and this was much roomier than other teardrop campers, it had a wet-bath, kitchen area, and separate sleeping and dinette area.
This was ticking all the boxes. Not that Scamp or Casita didn’t, this camper just seemed more interesting. One drawback, with the added options, was hitting my tow limit.
I started to do more research into tow capabilities, and was realizing that my Jeep Wrangler probably wasn’t going to be able to tow the type of camper I saw myself in, ok add one more thing to investigate.
Onto my next discovery.
This company has a history in the marine industry and over the past couple of years ventured into the camper space. This 17’ camper is the only size they have at the moment.
This was the first double-hulled fiberglass camper I came across and was immediately taken with it. I liked the clean look inside and the resemblance to a boat. The bathroom was great and they included pretty much all the options you’d need with the base price.
This zoomed to the top of my list, for a while anyway. At the end, why I didn’t choose this camper? It was the options, they didn’t have Solar or the ability to have a full-time bed and dinette for a workspace. if I was working full-time, I didn’t want to have to take the dinette down to make the bed and do the reverse in the morning.
What’s next?
21NE by Escape Trailers
Before I considered it, I had looked at Escape, but initially, the weight was more than I could consider; in my head, I was trying to convince myself that my Jeep could tow one of these. They have a 17’, 19’, 21’, and a fifth wheel and most have several floor layouts, this company is known for is customizations
It was about this time in my search that I decided to join the Facebook pages of the campers I was interested in.
If I was to give you one bit of advice, it would be this, join as many FB groups to really learn the in-and-outs of the campers you’re interested in. The people in these groups are very passionate about their campers and are very helpful in answering questions.
Over time, Escape went to the top of my list. When I watched videos on the “best” fiberglass campers, Escape always was rated toward the top, if not the top. They had the most configurations and customizations in this class of campers.
A lot of the fiberglass camper companies don’t sell their campers through dealers, they are direct from the factory. To look at one there are two ways. Go take a factory tour; sounds awesome and second find an ambassador who’ll show you theirs.
I read everything on the FB group and watched as many videos to compare Escape, Casita, and Scamp. I did my own comparisons between Casita and Escape. Kept picturing myself working full-time in one. How could I have a full-time bed and a separate workspace? What amenities each offered etc and it always came back to Escape and I have to say, what pushed me over the edge was the ability to have a compost toilet; yes there I said it. How you manage poop is very important in owning a camper.
Now, how to convince myself how I could tow it…I had to accept the fact that I needed to get a different tow vehicle, I already had in the back of my head which one, I now had to figure out how to get out of my brand new Wrangler and into a new Jeep Gladiator.
Towing, It’s not so simple, or is it?
Just purchased it in May 2022. I’ve wanted this vehicle for quite some time, the plug-in hybrid. Max tow capacity is 3500lbs. I love Jeeps, I’ve had two previous to this Wrangler. A 2 door Wrangler and a Liberty.
I basically understand how towing works in terms of towing weight. But there was so much I didn’t know about the dry weight, max weight, and tongue weight of the trailer. Then there is the vehicle’s ability for towing, max tow weight, and payload. Once again, Google and Youtube did their magic.
For the 17’ campers I was looking at they had a dry weight of between 2200 - 2700 lbs and from what I read, you want to stay within 80% of the towing capacity of the vehicle. Dry weight is the base weight of the camper without any upgrades, liquids in its tanks, or items we put in it while being towed. For my Wrangler, that means I should stay below 2800 lbs for the camper, there was really no wiggle room and in the end, it just wasn’t going to work.
I had decided on the Jeep Gladiator for my replacement vehicle, but even that didn’t go so smoothly. I knew the other types of trucks would do the job, but the Gladiator was the one I had my eye on. When I went to the website, their base tow capability was @4500 lbs; I thought this was a joke. How could Jeep make a truck that couldn’t tow anything? So back to Google and Youtube.
Escape Camper Sizes
When I decided on Escape as my camper, they had several sizes to choose from. Of course, towing capabilities of the two rig is important; I bring this up a lot because it’s what every new potential camper owner needs to understand and is asked a lot in the forums.
The 17’ was the initial size I looked at after I decided to get rid of my Wrangler. I like the size of it and as someone who hasn’t actually pulled a camper, I thought this would be reasonable to start with.
17’ Camper
I would be a solo RVer so wasn’t too concerned with the size of the bed, but in the 17, the width of this layout’s permanent bed was 30”. I knew I could get by with this as my sofa is 28”s and have slept on that many nights. There is also an option to switch the layout and put the permanent bed in the back and have the dinette in the front. This would give me a full-size bed, but the dinette which would be my workspace would be small and to me, that would be important to have a decent size workspace.
I now had more wiggle room for towing capacity, I looked at the 19”.
19’ Camper
There were a couple of different floor plans as you can see. I really like the size of the larger dinette and it could be configured into a u-shape dinette. I could convert the front dinette into a full-time bed; it was 44” vs. 30” in the 17’. and the bath area was 3” bigger, which helps when the bathroom is already super tight. I thought what are the other possibilities?
The 19’ could definitely work for me and have come back to look at it several times. I talked to several people before deciding and they said the layout is key. It’s going to be your home, it’s got to work for you. I then took a look at the 21’, the largest camper Escape at the moment; they do have a 23 in the prototype phase.
21’ Camper
I checked the weight of this camper and it fell within my capabilities. I’m a bit nervous about hauling a 21’ camper with never hauled anything before, but I had to move beyond my fear and get the right camper for my needs and this one was it.
They have two-floor plans and below is the one that I landed on; though I still have time to change my mind; I think. I love the full-time bed space and the full u-shape dinette area. I like the dinette in the front, it will give it more of an open feel. It comes with a larger fridge and more counter space in the kitchen area.
images used from the Escape websiteThe waiting begins. It will take roughly 6month to a year to get it so in the meantime, I’ve been busy picking out the options, every day I learn something new that leads me to change my choices.
I’m also now trying to figure out what this will all mean living full-time in a camper. Giving up my home that I’ve lived in for 12 years here in Berkeley. I don’t see myself keeping this place and having a camper. I guess that will be another blog post.
I only showed the campers I became interested in due to my ability to tow. There are other fiberglass campers I looked at along the way if for nothing else, to see what they were like. I think all of them are fine campers and fulfill the needs of their owners. One thing I discovered is that all brands have issues; mostly due to the appliances they use, so expect to have problems, but it’s part of ownership. The enjoyment that comes with one seems to outweigh any issues that arise.
Other fiberglass campers. Snoozy2 Oliver Trailers Bigfoot Northern lite (truck camper) Armadillo Outback Meerkat