From Casual Turtle Campers

Peter at Casual Turtle Campers has come up with a great new design in a minimalist caravan.  I have posted his earlier work here a couple times and this new design is worth a look..  This model looks like it would work well as a base camp for one or two people who don’t need a substantial kitchen or keep the cooking gear in the tow vehicle.  The low profile will certainly appeal to people who drive lower vehicles as well.

It has his signature roof-line as found on his other designs.  The compound curved roof is a nice, artistic touch.

I wouldn’t be able to do it justice so here’s the description that Peter sent along:

The Hatchling – Here’s a new model that I’ve been wanting to build for a while.  It’s sort of in the size and tradition of a teardrop, but in Casual Turtle Campers style – dead simple, cedar, domed roof, lots of windows, etc.  In fact, it’s quite a bit roomier than most teardrops – and by leaving the entire trailer area as living space, the cabin feels damn near palatial!  Not really, but it is a nice little space that two people and a couple dogs could be perfectly comfortable in.

As an unsolicited build, I had planned to insulate and finish out the interior myself – but then I thought it might appeal to someone looking for either a dead simple, lightweight little camper, or someone looking for a project.  One could add nothing to it and have a very comfortable, capable, simple camper – or features could easily be added to their desires – storage, gear hooks, bed platform, etc.  And I’m perfectly happy to discuss building out an interior for someone. 

Here are some of details… It’s built on a very nice, custom 5’x8′, fully boxed trailer frame with 13″ tires from a great manufacturer here in northern Colorado.  The cabin’s frame is mostly western Hemlock, with Western red cedar siding.  The bottom of the cabin has a 90 mil PVC membrane covering, and the roofing is a fully adhered, 60 mil, ivory-colored TPO membrane – thermally welded at the seams.  It has four opening windows with screens, and two large fixed windows (forward bulkhead and door) for pretty good through-visibility.  It weighs 840 lbs, with about 110 lbs of tongue weight.  There are more specifications/details on the website –casualturtlecampers.com.

I really like this camper, and I can see using it just as it is – or with a more developed interior.  Either way, its a great platform for someone looking to get into a very easily towed, comfortable, unique little camper.  At 840 lbs, this model could work with a wide variety of tow vehicles.  The forward bulkhead is short enough (66″) to tuck in well behind most crossover and small SUVs.  I even towed it around town with our little Subaru Impreza.

I’m 6’2″ and 195 lbs, for scale.  As a shell version, the walls and roof assembly are left open, showing the OSB roof deck’s bottom side – though it could easily be insulated and closed in.  If anyone has any thoughts/ideas/questions please email me at casualturtlecampers@gmail.com.  I’d be happy to discuss this camper or something similar/different that you might be interested in.  And I’m also happy to discuss full or partial delivery from Fort Collins, CO for a rather nominal, mileage-based fee.

Thanks for having a look – and please share it with anyone you think might find it interesting.  I’m tentatively calling this model the Hatchling, but any other ideas for a model name would be welcome, too!

Price – $6,250

And he obviously has good taste in literature:

“I had to go alone…a kind of casual turtle carrying his  house on his back.” – John Steinbeck, from Travels With Charley.