Venture Off Road With This Exclusive Teardrop Made By Oregon Trail'R
The Christianson brothers spent their childhood camping in teardrop trailers. After growing up, they decided to follow their childhood passion and construct a couple of teardrop trailers to take on camping excursions in the great Northwest.
Jon worked in metal; Sawyer worked in wood.
“The one my brother built – his came out very different than mine,” said Jon Christianson, who co-owns Oregon Trail’R with his brother. “His was like a high-end cabinet with the traditional wooden tear drop design.”
On the other hand, Jon’s forged his teardrop out of steel. It was more like a roll cage, made for the heavy duty rigors of off-road over-landing, as he recently described it. That was about a decade ago, and the brothers each had constructed a suitable camper, but in some ways, each was lacking what the other teardrop had.
They realized that they could marry the concepts, and make a hardcore trailer that was heavy duty and ready for any wilderness adventure, while retaining the fine woodwork and style of a traditional teardrop. That was the genesis of Oregon Trail’R, a company that operates today out of Eugene, Oregon and fabricates custom teardrops – or to use their term: Terradrops.
“It is a really fun experience. I feel that people are wanting to ‘camp again’,” Jon explains. “A lot of the people who have large RVs and fifth-wheels – a lot of the time you’re out there you end up spending a lot of time inside. I think there is more of a shift today, where people are saying, ‘I want to experience the area that I have come to visit; on the other hand I don’t really want to sleep on the ground.’ ”
The fully-realized concept of the Terradrop makes it possible to travel deep into the wilderness, on rough roads, riding on reinforced suspension and off-road rubber, and then camp out at night in relative comfort. Because of their respective skills, the Christianson brothers have a penchant for building vehicles that retain the style of teardrops and the capabilities of an off-road vehicle.
Jon said the company can produce six trailers every four or five months, and they typically hammer them together at the same time on the floor of their Oregon shop. While that may seem like a lot, they are actually receiving quote requests for as many as a dozen a day. Jon said he regularly turns away customers who want the trailer faster, because Oregon Trail’R is upfront about their yearlong lead time.
Jon said they pick customers who are a good fit, who can [obviously] wait for the finished product, but also those who can part with their down payment for as many months. “We are just as choosy with our clients as they are with us – we want to have a long term relationship,” Jon said.
The Terradrop is base priced at $13,500, and for that the customer gets all the basic functionality and the base systems. But the price is usually in the low $20,000s, and a fully loaded Terradrop is going to cost more than $30,000.
So what are some of the options that push the Terradrop price up?
The buyer can order an off road suspension package for a cool $999. An electric braking system runs $619. Heavy duty off-road tires will set you back $299 a pair. A tongue box, which adds extra storage, costs $1,199. LED porch lights, which are mounted under the body to illuminate the camper’s feet at night, cost $229. And there are many other options.
The Terradrop has a steel chassis for strength, but the brothers try to keep the weight down so almost any vehicle with a tow package can pull it. The basic model, according to Jon, weighs about 1,200 pounds
The wood used in the Terradrop is Baltic Birch, sourced from Russia. A high-quality treatment is applied to make the vehicle basically submersible. Jon called it marine quality wood, coated with UV protection for ultimate water resistance. When the brothers started the company five years ago, they made durability one of their highest goals.
Russian Baltic Birch is superior to imitation wood coming out of China, Jon explains, and superior to the soft core plywood made in the States. It has “veneer quality” interior plys, which makes it stronger but also heavier. The increase in weight remains manageable, since the trailers are relatively small. However, the material allows for a boost in strength, durability and quality.
“Top of the list: we want these to be heirloom quality trailers,” Jon continues, noting that the heavy rains of the Northwest have been a fruitful proving ground for the weather-tight seams of the Terradrop.
To keep it weather tight, Jon said he won’t mount solar panels to the top of the vehicles, because solar technology is coming along so fast that newer panels might not fit the old mounts in the future. But the buyer can order an external plug to be installed for solar power, and run a long line out from under the trees canopy to find the light. After all, the best camp sites are usually in the shade.
Many of the company’s customers are new retirees, but the strongest interest in the off-roading models comes from younger campers. Some of them are even living in the little trailers, traveling to the remote reaches of North America in search of a grand adventure. That said, ultimately, the Terradrop is all about getting into the wilderness and having some comfort when you get there, pulling up a chair and sitting around the fire, planning to go deeper into the great expanse tomorrow.
David Irvin
A graduate with a Masters Of Science from the University Of North Texas, David has written on many beats including crime and business for such outlets as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Montgomery Advertiser & USA. He enjoys RVing and surfing the Internet.
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