Bay Area Dad Turns Garage Project Into Teardrop Trailer Business

Matt Bettman spent years living on boats before he and his wife settled into a traditional house in Redwood City with their two children. The boats had taught him something he never forgot: how to make small spaces work beautifully. When he finally had a garage of his own, the industrial designer couldn't resist the pull of a project. He decided to build a teardrop trailer.

The trailer took years to complete, but when it was done, it was exactly what his family needed. A queen-size bed fit snugly inside, with an outdoor kitchen attached to the back. The whole thing weighed just over a thousand pounds—light enough to tow behind a vintage VW bus, sturdy enough to handle the road, and built from sustainable materials that would last. His family started camping everywhere: up and down the California and Oregon coasts, through the Sierra Nevadas, across the Mojave Desert, and into state parks closer to home. His brother-in-law Matt Shivers watched it happen and marveled. "These guys have twin 14-year-olds, and they've been camping more in the last 10 years than my wife and I have in the last 20, and we don't have kids," Shivers said.

When Bettman sold his first trailer to friends, he and Shivers saw an opening. Two years ago, they launched All Good Equipment Co. in a workshop in San Carlos, betting that other families wanted what Bettman's family had found. The price tag is $22,500 per trailer. The Bay Area's brutal rental costs mean their workshop can only accommodate three trailers at a time, so they build in batches of three, then stop and sell before starting again. It's an unconventional way to run a manufacturing business in one of the country's most expensive regions. "It's asinine to start a manufacturing company in the Bay Area," Bettman acknowledges, "but that's where we live. You have to work with what you've got."

Teardrop trailers themselves are not new—they've existed since the 1930s—but they've never quite caught on in the Bay Area the way they have in the Pacific Northwest or Colorado. Bettman thinks that's about to change. To help people decide if the trailer is right for them, All Good Equipment Co. rents out a demo model through Outdoorsy.com, a platform for RV and camper rentals. The rental option lets potential buyers experience the lifestyle before committing.

What Bettman discovered through his own camping is that a trailer like this changes how you travel. Because it's always ready and always there, you can leave on short notice. You can camp during the shoulder seasons and winter months when popular campgrounds have open sites. You can be flexible in ways that traditional camping, with its coolers and tents and scattered gear, doesn't allow. "I'm confident that if I wanted to go camping tonight, it's no big deal," he says. "I'd just hook up the trailer and go."

There's something else too. Having a dedicated space for camping gear means his family invested in better outdoor cooking equipment—real plates instead of paper ones, quality supplies instead of disposables. It sounds small, but Bettman sees it as part of a larger shift in how we think about being outside. "Adventure doesn't have to mean discomfort, and comfort doesn't have to dull adventure," he writes. For him, fall camping in a teardrop is about the contrasts: crisp air and cozy shelter, raw season and supreme comfort, the grandeur of nature and the intimacy of a space designed for exactly three days away. Everything has its place. Nothing is wasted. The trailer is built for the kind of trip most working people can actually take.