In the competitive recreational vehicle market, a new contender has emerged in the form of Dropy, a light and compact travel trailer designed with the aim of serving as a reliable companion for outdoor adventurers.
Nature lovers like to spend time outdoors but they also seek convenience and comfort while exploring their surroundings, and travel campers are an ideal choice for them. Compact, lightweight travel trailers that can be towed behind many cars or small SUVs are the biggest trend in outdoor living at the moment, making the RV lifestyle accessible to any generation.
Teardrop trailers, in particular, are enjoying tremendous popularity, mostly driven by their overly versatile form factor, minimalist yet efficient interiors, and the promise of allowing anyone to become weekend adventurers.
The new Dropy was designed and developed in Barcelona, Spain, by Drop Campers, a manufacturer of high-performance teardrop trailers and campers for exciting adventures. It boasts a distinctive tear/squaredrop shape that strays away from the soft curves of classic teardrops, adopting a more angular design and exploring new ways to keep things simple with an interesting layout.
Photo: Drop Campers
For starters, the designers eschewed the conventional tailgate kitchen in order to maintain a compact footprint and spacious cabin. However, this does not mean campers won't be able to cook up their favorite meals on the road. Drop Campers replaced the clunky liftgate with an unconventional yet efficient combination of fold-down rear traction board table and stove slide-out that offer ample space for all your culinary adventures.
The Dropy camper is built on a welded galvanized steel chassis with torsion bar axle and measures 13 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 6 feet high. It is offered in three different versions, including Crossover for
road trips and smooth dirt roads, SUV for more challenging secondary dirt roads, and Offroad for daring expeditions on any paved, dirt, or rocky road. As such, it comes with standard all-road/all-season tires, with customers able to upgrade to BFGoodrich KO2 mud-terrains, and the company also offers leaf springs and independent suspension options.
Built to allow you to explore the outdoors with confidence, it boasts a rugged appearance highlighted by a sturdy aluminum composite-skinned birch body insulated with Kaiflex closed-cell rubber and finished with a durable Line-X coating. The exterior boasts a side hatch door, sliding windows, and a skylight to keep the interior well-lit.
Despite the lightweight construction, the Dropy camper is engineered with durability in mind, and with its rugged appearance, it looks like it's ready to take on any off-roading challenge you throw at it. At the same time, the compact yet functional design is focused on accessibility and easy maneuverability to allow adventurers to embark on outdoor explorations at a moment's notice with minimal preparation.
Photo: Drop Campers
The kitchen setup is what makes this travel trailer stand out from the crowd. It's a two-part expandable kitchen that is neither bigger nor better than a traditional galley, but it's definitely different. It is still located in the rear and accessible from the outside, but instead of hiding inside the tailgate, it comprises elements that unfold and spread out.
It is basically made up of a food prep area that comprises bright-orange traction boards mounted to an available fold-down tabletop (yeah, those boards that get you unstuck and keep you rolling when the road gets rough) plus a side slide-out section with a stove and collapsible sink basin. Fresh water comes from a piped faucet that hooks up to the available Yakima RoadShower overhead.
Despite the unconventional configuration, this compact galley still offers everything you need to make a meal. Moreover, the folding table can double as a workbench or a simple table for those moments when you just want to sit and enjoy the views.
Photo: Drop Campers
Moving on to the creature comforts inside, thanks to the kitchen setup, there is more room in the sleeping quarters. The cabin is still snug (it's a compact teardrop, after all) but roomy enough for a 53 x 78-inch (135 x 197 cm) double foam mattress, storage cubbies, overhead cabinetry, and a full-width shelf. With extra features like gooseneck lights and a skylight overhead, campers will bask in comfort while enjoying the beauty of nature. There are side doors with sliding windows.
Droopy also comes outfitted with a 100-Ah AGM battery for powering up the lighting and outlets (a lithium battery is available as an upgrade), and owners can further customize it with solar panels, a compressor fridge, interior diesel heat, a Cadac BBQ, a Primus dual-burner stove, a front storage box, and various other gear carrier solutions. You can equip it with a closed-side tent with an enclosure awning and a portable folding cabin for a shower and outdoor toilet to enhance the camping experience.
The basic travel trailer starts at €21,500 (approximately US$23,500), and Drop Campers offers an extensive list of options you can choose from to scale up the utility of the Dropy. Of course, the final price will considerably go up, too.
After spending a few years as a copy editor, Ancuta decided to put down the eraser and pick up the writer's pencil. Her favorites subjects are unusual car designs, travel trailers and everything related to the great outdoors. Full profile
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