Some here may recall that I have a "teardrop trailer" ("6-wide Little Guy") for camping that I keep in storage near the mountains. The manufacturer just sent an e-mail announcing their latest model - the B.O.S.S. (acronym for "Bug Out Survival Shelter").

Thought many here might enjoy it. Here's a link to a YouTube video of it done at an RV show (audio is uneven):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjZZZtsDLfM


Below is the text of what the manufacturer (Little Guy) sent me:

Little Guy's BOSS Camper Wins Award

Talk about the right concept at just the right time! Little Guy's longtime marketing guru Matt Williams made a trip out to Las Vegas a few months ago to check out the 2012 Survival Expo. We've been kicking around the idea of an "Evac Unit" teardrop trailer for five or six years now, but Hurricane Sandy spurred us on to breathe life into this project. Matt met up with Tim Ralston and his team from Gear Up Center, and things came together much more quickly than any of us ever thought possible.

Tim Ralston is the International Spokesperson for The National Geographic Channel's hit television reality show Doomsday Preppers, and he is a longtime survival expert who owns a store in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The BOSS Trailer is based on a Little Guy 6-Wide Rough Rider platform and comes is an extended 36-inch platform, external 66-foot automatically retractable hose reel, gear box, ProRac roof rack, externally mounted propane tanks, sink, stove, and much more. It even has hidden compartments in the floor where you can store gear.

Little Guy is offering this special edition Bug Out Survival Shelter (BOSS) with an expertly assembled complement of survival gear including [i]7-day Tim Ralston Bug Out Bag, medical kit, 3-month supply of 25-year shelf stable food, water treatment supplies, solar panels, solar oven, repelling gear, Crovel, Nax, and much more! There is simply no other product like this on the market anywhere. This is the ultimate survival camper.[/i]

Manufacturer website:
http://www.golittleguy.com/teardrops/

That's cool, Dagny! I wish I could afford one. Maybe some day. Thanks for sharing!

Whoa! "repelling gear" - Whatever might that be, precisely? One conjures up visions of AK-47s, razor wire, stink bombs, land mines, really bad body odor. The possibilities are vast.

Perhaps the brochure means to indicate "rappelling gear" - the ropes and devices used to descend steep places. If so, mere equipment used only for rappelling is not optimum. You want the sort of stuff that will allow you to ascend, as well as descend, and travel safely with deliberate speed through tricky terrain. That would be better for many survival situations.

Pardon an iconoclastic view, but it seems more like it is designed for the well-heeled wanna be, but is impracticable.

1) weight: from the video, it seems they are proposing it could be towed by a bicycle, or at least by a bicycle with at power assist with batteries. OK, how much does it weigh, and where are the solar panels to recharge to bicycle batteries? How far can you actually tow it? If you tow it with a car, there are a lot of alternatives, many more practicable.

2) it seems to be set up for 1 person, (the bunk inside) (maybe 2, but not clear).

3)Where are the solar panels to charge the batteries for the lights, even if not the batteries for the tow bike?

4) why do I need a kayak? I can think of a lot of more useful things in a survival situation...

It really seems more a marketing concept than a functional piece of Bug out or equipment . . .

The B.O.S.S. teardop is designed to carry a bicycle or Rokon Motorcycle mentioned, it is not designed to be pulled by one.

Frankly, I think a smallish pickup truck, loaded with a tent and assorted goodies wouls be more versatile, less cumbersome, and less complicated - all desirable attributes in an emergency.

Other than owning a store, what makes this guy an expert?

Teardrops are actually designed to be an affordable RV option for average people. The most expensive ones around - the Camp Inns - start around $8k and go up to the teens.

They are designed to be pulled by vehicles - there's a hitch receiver on the back of the trailer where a bike rack could transport the bike. A normal 5-wide would weigh around 900-1100 pounds. This is a "5-wide" meaning five feet wide (queen size bed) so sleeps two adults comfortably. I love sleeping in my teardrop (which is 6-wide, a king-size).

For those who love to camp but don't want to deal with a full-size RV or sleeping in a tent, the teardrops are a great compromise.

And, yes, they are terrific options for certain bugging out scenarios such as a hurricane when hotel vacancies may be scarce.

Little Guy is just finally manufacturing from the get-go what many of their customers have done through modifications.

Teardrops have been around for several decades - first becoming popular as do-it-yourself projects during the 1930s Great Depression when people were more apt to move around the nation looking for work. They are still popular do-it-yourself projects.

Here's my teardrop, pulled by a Honda Element.

That makes absolute sense to me. Maybe I misunderstood the video, but, it sure looked like they had a bicycle or trike hooked up to the front to tow it. The set up you have offers a lot of flexibility; it seems much more practical in almost any situation.

Yeah, that was not the greatest video. Would have been better to have one of the normal salesmen talk about the teardrop first and not just the accessories.

I'd rather outfit my own. We could come up with a pretty good variation on this forum.

I bought mine stripped down. I put the Owens tool box on the front ad bought my own mattress. I got it without the cabinetry because that stuff weighs a ton and I prefer to cook over the fire or my Weber Smokey Joe.

Will look for more pics of my setup.

People build these things for pretty cheap. The first teardrops were 4' wide because that was the width of a plywood sheet. Nowadays 5' is most common because that's a queen-size bed.

Check out the Teardrops & Tiny Travel Trailers Forum. You can get blueprints here:

http://www.tnttt.com/


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