From the mid-‘60s through the early ‘80s, I was an avid camper, first in tents, then in both soft and hard topped pop-ups and finally, a pick-up camper. Last year, I decided I wanted to try camping again, but I didn’t want the hassle of having to set up something (tent or pop-up) or be restricted to the camp site with a pickup camper. And, on a retiree’s budget, a motor home was definitely out. That left the hard-bodied camper trailer as the only option that I’d consider.

Most importantly, my return to camping needed to be done at a reasonable cost. I could have bought a used tiny travel trailer (TTT), but I didn’t want to end up with someone else’s problems, so I considered building my own camping trailer.

I needed a light camping trailer, as my truck at that time was a Nissan Frontier with the 4 cyl and auto trans which had a towing limit of 2000 lbs. I considered the Teardrop Camper as I've always been intrigued with them as my Dad had one when I was just a kid. But, the teardrop wasn't quite what I needed. As I’m in my late 60s, I wanted something a little larger with room to stand up in it. After viewing many designs for small campers, I couldn’t settle on just one as several had features I liked. So, I decided to design and build my own.

I spent 4 or 5 months working out the design and creating a set of plans. I finally started to build my TTT in late January, 2006. It was about 90% complete in 4 months. I live in south-central Florida, and by late May, I consider it too warm and humid for camping or building, so I slowed down and worked only a few hours a day. By the end of June, it was nearly complete except for curtains and some outside graphics. Since you won't have to go through the trial and error periods that I did, your build time may be much shorter.

I want to stress the fact that I am not a carpenter or cabinet maker and have never built anything this complex before. I did build a jon=type fishing boat some years ago, and since it was very sturdy and held up very well, I employed similar techniques and materials in building my Squidget. I consider my woodworking skills to be at the "intermediate" level. What I do have is the determination to do anything that I decide to do, and, if necessary, to learn what I need to know to finish what I start. You can see the results of my efforts in the photos in the Gallery.

I had to start from scratch, with only some ideas to guide me, but, you have only to follow the detailed, illustrated plans that I've created. If you have average woodworking skills and basic woodworking power tools, you can build this trailer. Check out the Features page, and if you have questions, the FAQ page should answer most of them.