teardrop trailers

One of the more intriguing campers in the modern surge of adventurous teardrop trailers, the Escapod Topo combines rugged construction, compact design and killer graphics. A few months after discovering it last year, we took one out for a long weekend to see what the teardrop craze is all about.

We've seen a number of angular teardrop styles, from the fairly common squaredrop to the much rarer faceted polygon. French startup Carapate Adventure tries something different with its eponymous mini-caravan — a rolling wooden trapezoid with rounded corners, vibrant color and plenty of style.

Earth Traveler is developing a different teardrop trailer, a skeletal archway made of lightweight composite. The range-topper will be carbon fiber, but the more interesting version will use a composite made of chicken feathers, for a trailer that's featherlight.

Teardrop trailers are natural head-turners, but an Australian camper startup takes things to a new level. Making the already curvy teardrop even curvier before splashing it with bright paint, Cool Beans builds a teardrop that simply refuses to be ignored.

The Volkswagen badge is inextricably linked to #vanlife and open road adventure. In a slight departure, VW is parking the van and hitting the road with a different style of adventure rig. The all-new Atlas Basecamp Concept pulls the road trip off-road, unearthing tracks and trailheads less traveled.

No matter how many teardrop trailers we cover, there's always another startup with its own variation. Evolve is the latest to mosey across our radar, offering teardrops with a bit of extra curvature, doors with full-size windows, and off-grid power with roof-mounted solar.

Large US RV makers have been slowly releasing small trailers, but startups lead the way when it comes to smart, stylish teardrops. Polydrops Inc. is the latest, revealing a polygonal take on the teardrop. Built from wood and skinned in aluminum, the Polydrop moves seamlessly from city to mountains.

If you squeezed between the block-long motorhomes and fifth-wheels at last week's RVX show, there were also some small, affordable trailers. And though they were smaller in size and number, the light, compact towables punched above their weight in innovation, styling and cool features.

We look at many camping trailers at many events throughout the year, but one place we did not expect to see a single camping trailer on show was CES. But BMW's design arm has teamed with The North Face to create the collapsible Futurelight teardrop trailer concept.

New Atlas ventured to the 2018 Sand-Water-RV Expo last weekend in search of watercraft, off-roaders and campers. We'll look at the "sand and water" in our next gallery, but first, the very interesting range of RVs, from small off-road "squaredrops" to massive fifth wheel campers and toy haulers.

We can't recall another teardrop quite like the BRS Sherpa, a distinctive off-road trailer built to tackle near-impassable tracks. After a long day of rolling over rock and dirt, the Sherpa pops its doors and raises its roof-top tent in minutes, inviting the family in for a very comfortable stay.

The InTech RV Luna Lite is already one of the more impressive small camping trailers out there, a distinctive, little 1,500-lb (680-kg) teardrop with a panoramic front window and comforts like an available TV and air conditioning. InTech has now updated it into a more proper tow-anywhere off-roader.