Northwest man builds tiny trailers

If the thought of backing up a 35' fifth wheel makes you queasy, if imagining maneuvering traffic in a 40' motorhome breaks you out in a sweat, maybe we have an answer. It's less than 12 feet long, only 70 inches wide, scales in at under 1,000 pounds and sleeps two. Tow it behind your whatever and take it just about anywhere. It's Jack Gerber's baby--and he'll sell you one, too. It's a Tiny Trailer.

Jack confesses that he wanted to be a hippie, but never did. But the teardrop trailers that Jack builds are better than a VW "hippie bus." With a Tiny Trailer you can sleep inside, but as he says, "Cooking, dining, bathing, changing clothes--it all takes place outside." Jack and his trailer building firm in Ardenvoir, Washington recently got a lot of press, courtesy of the Wenatchee World newspaper.

Jack's "other life" was that of a cabinet maker by trade. He built a lot of fancy custom cabinets for clients in the Seattle area when the economy was booming. Before it went bust, he and his family moved to a much slower-paced and quieter area in Eastern Washington. He took on a "dream job," teaching high school students wood shop craftsmanship.

But one day his wife presented him with a projected she wanted: A tear-drop trailer. Using the standard four-by-eight plywood sheet as the basis of his work, Jack started on the family's own prototype. At six-three, he knew he'd have to think big in a compact space, and he managed it. After building his own, Jack started his own one-man production line: He builds about four at a time.

A visit to Jack's web site, tinytrailers.com, shows the real beauty of his creation. Think Airstream on a Lilliputian scale.

If you're yearning for small and have about $10,000, Jack can build you one.