HISTORY WORTH PRESERVING
TRAILORBOAT RESOURCES
A growing collection of Trailorboat history, research, communities and resources.
One of the challenges of researching Trailorboats is that the information is scattered everywhere. Original advertisements, old photographs, newspaper stories, surviving campers and boats, vintage trailer communities, and the memories of people who encountered them can each contain another piece of the story.
I’m collecting the resources I’ve found useful while researching and restoring #132 here—not as a complete archive, but as a place to start. As I discover more, I’ll continue adding them.
A Facebook Group for Trailorboat owners, collectors, restorers, and fans to connect, share photos, ask questions, exchange restoration information, and help keep track of surviving Trailorboats.
Whether you own one, are restoring one, are searching for one, or simply love these rare campers, everyone is welcome to join and share.
Great Autos is the largest LGBTQ+ automotive club on the West Coast, with more than 1,000 members who share a love of automobiles, LGBTQ+ community, charitable giving and visibility on the open road.
Based in Southern California, the club was founded in 1983 as Great Autos of Yesteryear—or GAY—a name that reflected an era when the LGBTQ+ community had to find creative ways to identify and build community while protecting their privacy and safety.
Tin Can Tourists is one of America’s oldest camping clubs, dating to 1919. It serves as a nationwide community for vintage trailer and RV owners and enthusiasts. They host rallies and gatherings and publishes Tin Can Tales, its member newsletter.
A great resource for the vintage camping community, with free camper and trailer classifieds, a Vintage Trailer Bluebook, restoration and historical information, news, events and resources for buying, selling and preserving vintage campers.
FiberGlassics is an online community and archive dedicated to preserving the history of classic fiberglass boats, especially the pioneering designs of the 1950s and 1960s. Founded in 1998, it brings together owners, restorers and enthusiasts while documenting the manufacturers and people who helped shape early fiberglass boating.
A great resource for research and restoration, with an extensive Glassic Library, forums and decades of archived discussions, restoration information, galleries, events and “Glassifieds” for boats, parts and trailers for sale.
“Trailorboat Made in Ephrata” is a 2018 Columbia Basin Herald article by Dennis L. Clay exploring one of the lingering mysteries in Trailorboat history: whether the campers were briefly manufactured in Ephrata, Washington, after production in California.
The story follows Trailorboat owner Dan Morley, whose camper carried “Trailorboat — Ephrata, Wash.” markings. Morley believed Trailorboats were made in California between 1961 and 1963 and possibly in Ephrata around 1964, but the article leaves the question unresolved—making it an interesting lead in the continuing search for Trailorboat history.