From the Jay Peterman Co. Catalog:
“We arrived at the Refuge du Gouter high in the French Alps sometime in the late afternoon. The sun setting, orange light refracting off the blue glacial ice making it look as though it had burst into flames. Here, at these alluring heights, I now knew what Dante’s hell looked like, a gelid inferno, some call it Alpenglow. We followed a rocky footpath, on one side a sheet of ancient ice and snow, the other, a sheer drop into oblivion with nothing but stainless steel poles connected by wire and adorned with Buddhist prayer flags keeping you from leaving this mortal coil. The Refuge gleamed in front of us, reflecting the orange light against its aluminum panels, towering up and jutting out of the mountainside. It looked more like the lair of a James Bond Villan than a hostel. We entered and all of a sudden we were greeted with warm knotty pine, almost white but dotted with the dark bases of limbs. Light streamed in through the many windows and the hardships of our climb up melted away like the glaciers below marching to their finite doom. The smell of hot cocoa and heavy cream danced in the air with a compeer of cinnamon and nutmeg. We could not rest.
Much like the Refuge du Gouter, the TC Teardrop, allows you to venture into the unknown, the wilds of this earth, but return to warm and inviting space. Let yourself be enveloped in warm, clean and soothing maple with hints of spalting and quilting. Rest your head safely and with peace of mind behind 3/4 lightweight plywood sheeted against the elements with powder coated aluminum. Our single piece, diamond plate aluminum roof, insulated and reinforced, will assure that you stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
TC Teardrop 5×9 Offroad Edition trailer (No. 53448) Something familiar and adventurous at the same time.”
Ok, Seriously, that didn’t come from the Jay Peterman Co. Catalog but I’d sure give Elaine Benes a run for her money. Down to the truth, and that is yes, every word of that is true except for the Refuge part, I just googled that. Another thing we fell in love with on this teardrop is the use of maple veneer that TC Teardrops uses in all their trailers. I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside some amazing furniture makers and the veneer in our trailer is beautiful and in some places what you would find on a high-end piece of studio furniture. Our galley table has a quilted pattern on it and the inside of the galley and cabin has spalting, something I love in maple. We opted to have ours left unfinished and after we arrived home, we sanded it, oiled it with clear tung oil and coated it in a waterproof clear polyurethane, sanded and repeated for a smooth finish.
Now from what I understand, TC Teardrop has been updating their lighting and offering different options so I can’t speak of anything new Todd, Carol and the boys have got cooking up there in Wisconsin but we wanted LIGHT. Like God creating the heavens and earth kind of light. In my best “God” voice, “ENTER SUPER BRIGHT LEDS.COM“. I’ve been using these guys since I bought my truck back in 2015 and they make some killer bright and durable lights, specifically their 12v waterproof adhesive packed light strip series. These lights are available in different colors, lengths, warmth, backing colors and lumens.
My first step was to pull up the ole’ Amazon Prime and order 2 6 packs of an aluminum channel with a pop in plastic cover. Yes, if you order the waterproof lighting the cover is a redundancy for protection and it will cut down on how much light actually gets through but the translucent covers will defuse the light, creating a nice soft, even glow instead of a harsh, direct light. If you don’t mind that or you prefer that style of light, you can stop reading this paragraph and skip below. Once we got those, I cut them into multiple lengths. In the galley, there are 2 on the top shelf meeting in the center, one under each of the other shelves and 2 on the door, on each side. I used a high strength epoxy to mount the channels on the door because the wood is only a 1/4 inch and I didn’t want to run the risk of punching a hole in the outer aluminum. Under the cabinets, I used the mounting hardware that comes with the aluminum channel. In the sleeping area, I used 6 pieces: 2 pieces along the back, 2 in the middle (to the left and right of the center light) and 2 pieces under the cabinets (these are mainly aesthetic). The inside was all mounted using the epoxy.
Once the channel was all cut, in place and measured, I ordered the lights according to the lengths I needed. Not going to lie, this gets tricky and if you are one of those clock making elves or geek squad computer gurus that knows how to properly solder to a circuit board, you will be in better shape. I ordered lengths that could be cut, yes you can cut the lights with a pair of scissors, and fit with at least one end already soldered to wires from the factory. It did cost me a little more, and yes, I do have some leftover lighting but I have had NO luck with those clip-on connectors and strip lighting. Moving on from that craziness, I chose the “NASA Splice” as the internet calls it, for making all my connections. I’ve used it for years and when covered with a marine grade heat shrink with heat-activated glue, it’s basically like one wire. You don’t need the marine grade heat shrink, the normal kind will work just fine, I just like spending money and going overboard. Other wire connections will work also but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE…one more time, PLEASE, don’t use the twist on wire connectors. Those are for commercial and residential use, they are not meant to vibrate and will work themselves off even with electrical tape.
Instead of running more switches I simply used the existing lights and their switches provided by TC Teardrop as my switch. The red light/white light is cool, not gonna lie, kinda wish I had that in my truck. It reminds me of the MRAPs overseas or that scene in Rambo when he jumps into Vietnam out of that cool black jet. However, we found we just don’t need the red light and the white light is perfect for a nightlight. I disconnected the red side and wired in all the new lights. Now when you want comfortable, cozy Refuge du Gouter light, you push the switch one way, the other way you get a smaller light source perfect for not waking your partner when nature calls at 2am. In the galley, it operates the same, switch one way and you get a single light source, good for campsites where you don’t want to disturb the neighbors and switch it the other way if you want to wake them up with an early sunrise.
The lights in the cab or sleeping area, are in all honesty, aesthetic and bring a sense of comfort and warmth to the beautiful wood. They make for great reading lights and are nice to sit inside, doors open, hot cup of tea, snuggle with the hounds and watch a movie before bed. The true usefulness of the modification is found in the galley. I spent some time in the food service industry and if a light went out over my station, stop whatever you are doing and get that damned thing fixed! With our current lighting set up, we can see everything, read every label, cook and eat, bathed in clean, no heat, low energy LED light. This is a fairly cheap modification weighed against a solar set up or a Dometic refrigerator and has made a huge impact on teardrop camping and living. As always, if you have any questions about the lighting set up, please hit us up using the “contact us” page of the blog and we will get back to you ASAP.
-Will
“Life in the right lane, holy crap did you just see that buffalo”?
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