June 10, 2010 Hitched and Legal

We had visitors for the first week back from the mini adventure so not much progress on the teardrop front. We arranged for a hitch install so finally on June 10 we were off to Thunder Bay with both vehicles for the hitch installation and trailer inspection. We dropped the Jetta off and went to Canadian Tire for the RIV inspection. I believe it took longer for the paperwork completion than the inspection.

Off to the licence bureau to licence the trailer, get an Ontario registration and pay the provinicial sales tax. I would think come July 1, 2010 you will just pay the HST once at the border. So now we are legal to travel in Canada with our new teardrop trailer.

We received email confirmation from  RIV that they had received the inspection report. We will receive a Canadian compliance sticker in the mail to affix to our trailer.

It will be inteersting to see how the Rascal affects our TDI Jetta's mileage. We normally get well over 55  mpg(Cdn) on the highway. When towing with the Silverado we only lost about half a mile per gallon and got about 22 mpg. A nice change from the 10-14 mpg we would get towing the Funfinder!

We are busy fitting out the new trailer - our next trip will be next weekend when we are going to Trowbridge Falls Campground with our daugher and grandaughter(Shannon and Kaelynn). We will come home on the Sunday and then we head out for a month on the road with the Little Guy! We are heading through the States to the East Coast and up to New Brunswick - not sure of the route home yet but it will unfold as it should!

Are teardrop trailers for everyone? Not likely - you have to remember we are using this to replace a tent - a very small tent (a MEC TGV 4 season). We went with about as small as you could go - our Rascal is light enough to be towed by a larger motorcyle and has a small towing profile so as not to present much frontage to the wind behind the Jetta. We still don't know what kind of mileage to expect with the Jetta - stay tuned. Teardrops come in many types from homemade trailers that adhere to the 30's and 40's craftsman style to commericailly made ones like ours. You can outfit them with full galleys with stove, refrigerator and shelves and tv radio and DVD's inside or very basic like ours which is a bed with some storage.

One last thing - be prepared for lots of people stopping and wanting to see your trailer and ask lots of questions! We had people stop by everynight at the campgrounds.