Hi fellow MINIacs! Last summer, I realized one of my long time dreams: get a tiny teardrop trailer and tow it from Oregon and up to Alaska behind my MINI. I'll follow up with a few more pictures from this trip, but for starters, here is introducing Tiny, my 1998 Quicksilver teardrop:



I bought Tiny used (they don't make these anymore), and fixed her up a bit. Painted fenders in the Lightning Blue to match Tess (my '13 MCS). Cleaned her up, added solar power. Tiny weighs under 450 lbs. Got a MiniDoMore hitch and eTrailer electric package.

Tiny has a twin mattress inside, and a chuck wagon style kitchen hatch in the back:



More pics to follow!

 

How was the trip?

 

That's awesome I'd love to do that.
Wow after some research there no way I could afford one of those.

 

I'm as jealous as it gets!

 

That's awesome! More travel pics please!

@bavmotors, you could build one. Much cheaper that way. Although good luck hitting 450 lbs... That's friggin amazing.

 

Very cool! It's a little smaller than my Motorhome

 

How much did it cost to create the trailer? And how much to install the hitch? This might be the way to go. Nice photos and idea.

 

That is absolutely amazing! I bet some enthusiasts start searching classifieds and junk yards for these to fix up for a summer project.

 

They sell a build your own kit for a lot less.

 

The trip was awesome, in so many ways!
I visited some friends I met on online teardrop fora (tearjerkers) in the Okanagan Valley in BC, Brian and Sandy. Brian builds amazing cars including his custom teardrop Miss Piggy:



the front is from a Studebaker:



and the rear from a Simca Vedette:

 

Very cool custom trailer.

 

Along the Cassiar Hwy in BC:



On the 'Top of the Wolrd' Hwy in Alaska:


you can stop and sleep anywhere, but almost more important for me, I am towing my own cafe. Espresso in the middle of nowhere anyone?

 

The mighty Yukon:


and how we got across:

 

Heading to Valdez:


Motoring! I love motoring adventures. Tess is a real trooper and takes me everywhere:


There is a downside to motoring. 100 years ago this glacier tongue was twice as long:

 

Cool pics, thanks for sharing.

 

Very nice pics.

 

Just to clarify, I bought the trailer used, it was not a kit. Then I fixed it up some, glue, paint, electric, etc.. All in all, with purchase and fixes it cost me a little over $6.5k, excluding hitch. The MiniDoMore hitch can be had for around $200-250, a very similar design is also available from Curt via e-trailer. The MiniDoMore seems a bit stronger, but it was not an easy fit, I had to do some cutting to get it to fit. I did the install myself:


Not too hard on the whole. Requires removing rear bumper and the bolted on structural cross-member - see above photo. The hitch slips in between the cross member and main frame, actually a very nice design idea. Theoretically fit and re-bolt, but again, I had to do a little cutting as the coupler receptacle extended too far back. Had to cut it down a bit. You'll also need a torque wrench and dremel tool to cut out a whole in the rear black bumper insert.
Careful when selecting the proper kit from MiniDoMOre or Curt, there are about 6-8 different variants depending on model/year MINI. The Curt ones don't come for all models but can probably be made to fit. The wiring requires a bit of work because the color coding and instructions on the MiniDoMore kit don't match. That's where NAM came to the rescue, there are some good and very helpful posts on the topic!

 

Here's another pic, from the Bell II Lodge on the Cassiar Hwy - very pretty, nice place to stop over. Some hobbit style cabins with plants on the roof:


This was actually from the year before, where I drove from OR to AK and then back down with Tess (my MINI) but w/o Tiny (teardrop).

From these trips I would recommend to take lots of time and avoid the Alcan Hwy. The teardrop itinerary was the best:

Newport, OR, Portland, Bellingham, Abbotsford crossing, Hwy 1 to Hope, Hwy 5 to Merritt, 97c to Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops, the Hwy 5 via Clearwater, Blue River, onto Hwy 5 past McBride, past Prince George onto Hwy 16 all the way to Kitwanga, up Hwy 37 (aka Cassiar Hwy) all the way to where it joins the Alcan (Hwy 1) near Liard. Then I took Hwy 1 to Whitehorse, and from there Hwy 2 to Carmacks. In hindsight, I now wish I would have avoided the Alcan alltogether and instead from Liard/Watson Lake taken Hwy 4 straight to Carmacks. Maybe next time, and that's way back in the boonies, a very long stretch of Hwy with nothing there for support. Anyway, from Carmacks I took Hwy 2 to Dawson City, and there took the little ferry across teh Yukon, and then followed the 'Top of teh World' Hwy (Hwy 9) across the border (check opening dates and hours!) to the settlement of Chicken, then on to the Tetlin Junction with the Alaska Hwy. The top of the world Hwy is gravel, but in better shape than the AK Hwy between Whitehorse and the US Border, which looks like it is straight out of Apple Maps with gigantic frost heaves and pavement displacements, and sections where you can't even sustain 40 mph. ToW is better!
From Tok I went to Glenallen and from there down to Valdez.
From Valdez, back to Glenallen and over to Anchorage.

 

From before the trip, a peek into Tiny:

 

Just out of curiosity, how does one get a shower while on the road?

 

Read a long thread somewhere about someone who built one...
Toyed with it for a bit...as a project, since the original ones are so darn $$$.
Drove the Alaskan highway from Kenai down to the US, leaving Canada and entering the us near Regina if I recall back in '99... kept driving to NH...did it in 6 days...
Would love to do it again at a slower pace!! I zipped through some beautiful areas pretty fast...
Good thing was it was late in the season...early fall...and most of the motorhomes were gone...so I could make great time...

 

What a great itinerary. I may be brave enough to try it myself someday!

 

Truck stops are about $10-15, but campsites often has them if you pay , often have them...
Or if in AK...you jump in a freezing cold Creek....

 

This is awesome! I'd fit in there nicely.

 

This is the coolest thing for a mini I have seen!!! Looks like so much fun, I know what I'll be wanting next!