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550 / 560 Why Buy A Camp-inn – Musings Of A Buyer

Cary said:
But, all stuff I still need to be hush hush about. Some are a ways off and some not so far. A couple of them are being field tested right now by Jenn with her sworn oath of secrecy. Another good reason to bump into Jenn on her travels, get a peak at top secret Camp-Inn R&D projects.
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A bunch of people (some CI owners & some owners of non-CI tears) got a chance to see & play with a prototype of one of the options last February. Feedback was definitely positive!

:cool:
 
After my initial interest was piqued by seeing a T@B in Mesa Verde National Park I started doing the research and found out that T@B was no longer being produced. Back to the web and further research on small trailers. We wanted something that could be stored in our garage without having to pay a monthly storage fee.

After years of camping, going from tent camping to backpacking to a 26 foot trailer, we no longer wanted to lie on the ground, nor did we want to spend a fortune pulling a full sized trailer. With the T@B no longer in production at the time, further research led us to teardrops.

We considered all of them at some point in time; one of the companies went out of business while they were under consideration which caused some concern since many of the builders were relatively small operations, so aside from quality and functionality of the trailer, company stability actually entered the picture. No matter what we looked at on the web we always came back to CI.

It was a quality product built by a group that took immense pride in their product. However, one obstacle was cost in that it was one of the more expensive trailers out there. On January 11 of this year I signed up on the forum, and believe I read every post submitted in a 2-3 day period, I also checked other teardrop sites and I found something very interesting, not one negative comment about quality, or workmanship anywhere, only superlatives in describing the product.

We decided that cost be damned, for once in our lives we were going for the best that money could buy, CampInn it would be. It took several weeks of torture deciding between a 560 or 550, but based on our style of camping we decided that the 550 would do the job. Initially we were going to go for a Classic with a few options, then the reality of the delivery schedule hit us and that was the fact that if we ordered the trailer in late February or early March (I was thinking a 6-8 week lead time) we would not be able to use it until August at the very earliest, the loss of an entire camping season loomed.

During my web surfing I had come across an actual dealer located in Maine, Poplar Hill RV. I got on their web site and as I recall they had a number of units on their site which did not have a SOLD sign. Upon contacting Alan he had a 550 Ultra that was going to be available for a late April delivery. Perfect! I sent him a deposit and on May 2nd we drove from New Mexico, to Necedah, Wisconsin to pick up our unit, this saved Alan a pickup and us a long wait.

We did not see a CI in the flesh until we hit the factory, the first time in my life that I have ever done this. This product was purchased based on the comments found on this website, and the effectiveness of their website. Janene and I consider it one of the best purchases we have ever made.
Leo
 
Cary said:
There are actually two versions of the new hinges. The standard hinge is being replaced with a different one of our own design. The Ultra models are getting something extra special though. This is what AJ and Ken are both going for (I know Gary got a peek at it too, so I am sure he is nodding in approval right now). These are pretty cool and you will have to wait to see the pictures as soon as we get them on AJ's (this will be pretty soon).
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Although we won't have the honor of getting trailer #500, we'll take great pride in knowing those are our hinges for all to see on your website. :)
 
Jenn,
When in New Mexico look us up in Bernalillo just north of Albuquerque and we will be happy to show you some real Southwest Hospitality as well as some pointers as to where to camp,eat, etc. our driveway is free and comes with hot showers (No quarters required)and shore power. We have had a cold spell in the north got down to 6 the other night but things are starting to warm up again. Send a pm and will pass along our contact info if you are comming our way.
Leo and Janene
 
Jenn,
I know the gritty sound you are talking about. Every time I wash our TD I spray straight down through the hinge. I try to avoide spraying into from the side soas not to force water in past the door seals. It takes a lot of rinsing to get rid of the grit. I also wipe some WD 40 on the hinge with a rag after it dries. Don't know about anyone else but it works for me.
 
ghaynes said:
Having followed and read through most of the postings on the forum after I had stumbled over an article about teardrops while buying something at Camping World, I realized that I hadn’t seen any posting about what got people to make the buying decision. Lots of enthusiastic posts but nothing that might help an outsider understand the passion about Camp-Inn that is evident by the forum members.

So here’s a stab based on my experience.

I got interested in teardrops after seeing a magazine article about a Little Guy/Pahaque get together while standing in the checkout line at Camping World. I was picking up something for the utility trailer I use for art shows. Timing was fortuitous since I was just back from 10 days of camping in southwest Colorado on my annual fall photo trek. Camping in rain/sleet/snow wasn’t a ball of fun. So light bulbs started going off when I saw the article. Read it standing in the store. As soon as I got home I hit the Internet.

I don’t know how a company like Camp-Inn would have grown at solid rate without the Internet. Marketing costs without the Net would have limited their growth, or the growth of thousands of other companies. Makes it much easier to learn about products offered by various companies.

As all of you know the list of company built teardrops is rather small. As I looked at each site, trying to understand the differences, I started to quickly narrow down the list of what appeared on the surface to be the differences.

As a buyer I am willing to pay for value and quality. An example, I shoot with a 39MP camera and often a single image will be a stitched panorama of 3-7 images. Total size 600mb to 2 gigabytes. Big images, big sizes. And when I sell prints the buyers can see the difference in quality. Value is easy to establish as my prices support the quality but are not outrageous.

So just looking at the images and details of the various offerings it was pretty easy to start stack ranking the various players.

Then there are the forums like this one or others like Tear Jerkers and Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers. Lots of good information on TJ and T&TTT but somewhat geared to those that want to build their own dream.

But even on these sites a few things became evident. CI owners are passionate. If there is something they don’t like the factory responds. The factory participates on the forum. Check out the forum for the other guys. Pretty quite over there. Number of topics, discussions and replies is considerably less than the CI forum.

The search got narrower.

So I narrowed it down to CI. Looked at the website end-to-end. Probably drove the hit counter through the roof. Ordered an owners manual. (Cary said that was a bit unusual). Did some more research. Measured the garage. Measured the tongue height on the Yukon. Made a list of questions after building a spreadsheet with options and pricing. Asked buyer questions on the forum (thanks to all who responded).

Then called and spoke to Cary. Talked about what I thought that I wanted. Went through my short list of questions and had him send me a completed order form so that I could lock in the 2011 prices. Then I made an appointment to visit Necedah.

If you are reading this as a potential buyer of any type of gizmo, toy, device or whatever and you have the opportunity to visit the place it is made take the time to do it. I’ve owned a couple of airplanes (Mooney) and for one of them was able to make three trips to the factory while it was being built. Got to write my name on the inside of one of the skin panels that will be on that airframe for its life. By making the trip you get to meet the people, see what is that they do, see if they have passion or are they just cranking out work.

Think of it this way. If you have ever had a house built did you just sign the papers and then on moving day just move in? Or did you take trip to watch the progress and marveled at how it all came together? I’m in the latter group.

So on Friday, November 18th, 2011 I met with Cary in the town of Necedah (population 916) in the middle of cranberry farms and Air Guard bombing ranges. If you go a warning. Time flies when you meet someone that loves what they do, are proud of the product they are building and the people they work with it. It shows in Cary, Marty, Chris and the others that I met at CI.

Cary and I have lots of similar life experiences. Both of us fly airplanes, ride motorcycles, are inquisitive tinkerers and love history. So we didn’t start looking at trailers until we had been talking for an hour or more.

And then we got to the lookin’ part. I had not seen a CI, though there are several owners in Colorado. Just to busy with work. So here are my impressions.

My impressions

1. Pictures don’t do justice for the space inside and outside on a CI. The 560 was higher than I had imagined. The interior was larger than expected. Even though I know what a queen bed looks like in some ways the interior seemed larger than that. The ‘couch’ is really a couch. It IS comfortable. You can easily imagine sitting reading a book or watching a DVD on a rainy day with the rain drumming on the roof.

2. Quality of the finish is remarkable. In a former career I sold wood working equipment for Shopsmith. I’ve built some nice stuff in my time that I still treasure. But here’s one of the huge buying points for me. The quality isn’t just in the details that you can see. Yes the interior is spectacular. The exterior fit and finish are excellent. But it’s what you don’t see without making the trip to the factory that makes the product exceptional.

a. Wood Patterns – most places, shoot even some furniture companies, are not good at pattern matching. Think about two pieces of finish grade plywood. Put them face to face and see if the grain pattern is the same on the two pieces. If you laid them down on a tabletop would they complement each other? Highly unlikely EXCEPT if they were built by craftsman. Next time you are inside your CI take a look at the grain pattern on the left and right walls. Chances are the patterns match. That is a solid sign of quality and attention to detail.

b. Wood Finish – Ever notice how the wood that you see in the cabin and in the tail space has a depth of color? A good wood craftsman, and the folks at CI, get that look by spraying all of that stuff you see with multiple coats of finish. But one of the keys to making it look GREAT is to sand the piece between finish coats. That sets a craftsman apart from others who simply spray a single thick coat. But if you go to the factory, or the next time you are putting something in the front storage compartment, shine a nice bright light in there and you will find that it also has been spray finished. Could CI get away without it? Sure. It would cost less in labor and materials. Better yet look at a body still on the jig after it has come out of the spray/finish area and before it goes onto a frame. Look inside all of the corners and areas that get covered up during the build process. Quality….

c. Fit – Stuff like doors on cabinets, etc. fit exceedingly well. Again the attention to detail but also attention to reducing production time and effort. Look at something like the face of the cabin cabinets. Look at the grain patterns. Seem to match don’t they. Doors are made by a water jet cutter (think laser but using water). Computer controlled and makes a very fine cut. Position all of the hinges, number everything and at the end all of the pieces match and fit.

d. Fixtures and wiring – If you ever get a chance to tour an aircraft factory you will understand these comments. In an aircraft, space is at a premium. Weight is critical. Repeatability of installing wiring and components is critical to a smooth production process. Now look at the CI. Items like the wiring layout on the right rear wall area with the battery. Or the plumbing for the sink on the left side. How about the wiring for electric brakes? Easier to simply zip tie it to the under floor area but that exposes it to the elements. Look where CI put it. What about all of the wiring to things like interior and exterior lights? How do they do that and keep the sides aerodynamically smooth? At the CI factory look at something as simple as the thought and detail that went into providing a solid anchor for the license plate light and bracket. You won’t see most of this unless you see it in process on the production floor.

3. Innovation – As a buyer, for me it is important to see that a company is innovating. Similar to the saying of ‘publish or parish’. Talking with one of the guys in the spray area we started talking about HVLP sprayers. His enthusiasm over the system used at CI, how it allowed them to do a better, higher quality job and the investment made to make that possible was contagious. You can see innovation is small things, like taking suggestions from folks on this forum and turning them into optional products, to the innovation of a small gas engine powered wheelchair that has, in my humble opinion, a great opportunity for supporting and enriching the lives of returning wounded warriors.

After almost 5 hours of talking with Cary (seemed like only minutes) I made my deposit for a 560. I saw a company dedicated to making the best product they could, constantly working to make it better for the customer, innovating not just on the current product line but on an item that can make a difference in other lives. I found folks that were passionate about what they did. Paying a for a premium product when you can see, feel, touch the quality and craftsmanship to me is a no brainer. No wonder that like Airstream trailers you seldom see a CI on the used market. And if you do it is gone in a matter of days if not hours.

I look forward to a long friendship with Cary, the team at CI and other CI enthusiasts.

This and much more is why I bought a Camp-Inn.
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Wow, thank you !
 
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