911Camper is the name I have given to my teardrop trailer. Now you might be wondering what a teardrop trailer is.
It is basically a small, compact, towable type of RV that you can pull with your car or even bike. It’s exterior looks like a teardrop - round on one side, and tapered on the other. You can customize the interior as per your need, and budget. I was pretty sure from the onset that mine definitely needs to have a kitchen, and a bed!
It is ideal for solo travellers and couples who want to travel to offbeat locations or people like me who want to read outdoors for an indefinite amount of time at whichever place that strikes our fancy. Under a random tree on the highway, or on the banks of a river. I can park my teardrop trailer at that spot, prepare food in it, or have a quick nap inside between reading.
One day while searching for places to travel, I landed on lonely planet’s website, a travel guide.
On the homepage, there was a feature about a camper designed by two French designers. It had the shape of a boat, and was named as carapate - https://www.carapate-aventure.fr/. I was hooked onto the design, and wanted to read more.
I visited their website, and there I came to know that it was a teardrop trailer.
I started reading blog articles, and watching videos on it. I then checked whether there were any teardrop trailer manufacturers in India. There wasn’t.
But, in this age of DIYs, who needs readymade products anyway? I started watching DIY videos on YouTube on how to build a teardrop trailer.
Meanwhile, I got my friend San onboard for some outside perspective. She helped me to gain clarity on what I needed for building it, and how to be smart about it.
I started researching fibreglass manufacturers who can help me build the outer cover. I inquired about it in several art shops across Bangalore.
One day, I went to an art shop in HSR layout, and asked the owner about it. He wanted to know why, and when I told about the teardrop trailer, he got pretty excited.
He narrated to me his experience of modifying his car by himself, and gave me some contacts that could help me in building the trailer.
Parallely, I came to know from my friend that there is a person in Yelahanka who had imported a luxury trailer from the US and was renting it out for tourists in Bangalore. I requested him for a tour of his trailer, and got some ideas after seeing it
I also posted in travelling forums, youtube videos and reached out to people who had teardrop trailers. I also spoke to interior designers, and anyone who I felt had the remotest interest to listen to my ideas, and help me out.
When you are trying to do something from the ground up, you are going to need lots of helping hands. I am lucky that I have so many of them in this journey.
My first step was to get the chassis manufactured. My research, and contacts led me to Shashank who manufactured Industrial Trailers. My project was very small for him, but he agreed to build it as the project excited him. He finished building the chassis in mere weeks, and the final output exceeded all my expectations! It was a true reflection of his years of experience, and keen attention to detail.
My next lucky find was Akshay, whom I consulted to design the interior of the tear-drop. He was recommended to me by one of my close friends. I conveyed to him my vision of how it should look, feel and what features I want inside. He effectively brought all my ideas to life!
Next step was to fabricate the outer body. As the design was unique, no automobile manufacturer would take it up for doing one piece. Found Rayyan, who is passionate about art work, worked his magic and built it with care.
There is still a long way to go in this journey. I will continue to sketch it out here.