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Thanks! I should say that I do think the Karavan is a worthy consideration — it has the advantage of the triangular tongue front hitch connection, which I think is a bit more durable than the single bar tongue on the small HF trailer described in the manual (and perhaps the Trailex as well) — you are likely trading some weight for the added sturdiness, but I think the added security of the stronger attachment is worth it. I suspect there are valid arguments in the other direction as well, but that’s my thought on it.
A follow-up thought. Based on my experience, the tongue doesn’t need to be lengthened unless you are planning to install the front storage box. CLC says that the front box’s dimensions are: 24 inches deep, 33 inches wide, and 19 inches tall. There wasn’t room on my trailer to install the CLC box without moving the teardrop back on the trailer, and it was already mounted, so I bought a triangular box that does fit (that is, won’t pinch in a tight turn) and that seems to work well enough. In other words, the above could be an argument for moving the teardrop back a little bit on the trailer, if you are planning to install the CLC front box, which assuming you do install the box, could still keep the trailer appropriately balanced I would guess.
My teardrop is mounted on one of the longer, more heavy-duty Harbor Freight trailers, with the back of the trailer frame sticking out a bit more from the camper shell than yours appears to in the picture. At first I thought I might trim that back, but so far have left it. Now, I am thinking: a) It does offer a bit of bumper that extends (in my case) out a little bit more than the rear of the camper shell, and b) it also offers a place were I could install a sort of knee-high counter area for temporarily setting things on while camping with it — water jug, or dishes, a loaf of bread, or whatever I want to set there for a while perhaps to clear a little more work surface on the galley flat when preparing a meal. I suspect there are good counter-arguments I haven’t though of, but there is one observation.
As for mounting to the wood slats, the following are just very rough thoughts: I would think you would want to thoroughly weatherproof that wood to avoid having the base rot out well before the camper does and to minimize wood movement from swelling and shrinking with the weather, which could (maybe?) stress the camper shell. I would also think that some elevation from the surface would be important for airflow/moisture control underneath unless you are going to fuse them all together. If it were me, I might spend some time thinking about elevating enough to somehow use the under space for storage, but I suspect I would realize that I was over-complicating things and ultimately not do that.
Update: I have been reading through all the forum posts and came across this one today:
The page didn’t appear when I searched for “mattress” or something similar earlier, but it does shed some light on the subject as well, so worth a read for those with this question. I haven’t made a decision yet, but am leaning toward a tri-fold.
Just to be clear, the description of the CLC mattress sounds like it is inflatable, but I am not entirely sure. I should probably just call CLC with the question but I am leaning toward the tri-fold mattress idea because I am concerned about having something that works like an air mattress, meaning eventually it will leak. Is that the case with the CLC mattress? I really appreciate the help.
Thank you for the tip! I think I’ll look at the 6 inch as well as a tri-fold that is four inches thick I just discovered, but the concept looks like a good way to go. (My logic on the four inches is that it will leave a bit of room to add ensolite padding under it for added insulation if I think that might be necessary.)
Background: I just bought a well-used CLC camper (studied how-to-build my own for months, concluded that my single car garage that is wet half the year just wasn’t going to work, so began looking in the pre-owned market). It has a mattress that is pushing 8 inches thick, which felt too crowded to me. I have spent one night in it — camping on my journey bringing it home — in temperatures that went below freezing. I was pleased with the performance, but do want to get more leg room! The teardrop was built almost 5 years ago and will need a fair bit of restoration work — I am familiar with wood, epoxy, and fiberglass work, but certainly have a lot to learn. Again, thanks for the tip!
