Pindrop Travel Trailers first started in 2018 with a focus on self-sufficient travel

OutdoorX4’s contributing author, Bob Theobald, recently visited with Tim Elinski of Pindrop Travel Trailers to learn more about Pindrop’s beginnings, their use of raw materials from rural Arizona and building a camp trailer in the U.S., and his personal experiences on backcountry travels.

OX4: Tim, tell me about Pindrop Trailers and what makes Pindrop unique?

Tim: Pindrops are unique because they are solar powered, self-contained, micro campers that have many different options and configurations of accessories that can be added at any point in time to compliment your outdoor experience. Our base model, called the Vintage, is solar powered, has a queen-sized mattress, full kitchen, and 12 gallons of fresh water storage. You can scale that all the way up to what we call the Scout, which has roof rack on which you can attach mountain bikes, kayaks, fly rod case or you name it, 2 awnings which can each have an enclosed room that can sleep up to 2 people, a kitchen with a fridge, 44 gallons of fresh water storage, an air compressor, I mean, you name it! They are fully adaptable and really just whatever you want to suit your camping preferences, we can offer it.

OX4: How did it get started?

Tim: So, Pindrop got started because I was a general contractor for 25 years in the trades, my whole life from a family of trades, and my wife and I really enjoyed camping. So, we would go out camping in a little vintage camper we had, and over the years I would try to modify it, soup it up a little bit, just because we couldn’t stay out as long as we wanted when we were camping. And so, I was always thinking of a better way to design a camper to sustain us longer in the outdoors.  We were getting ready for a family trip up to Montana. We were going to take 3 weeks and drive up there from Arizona. I decided I would lock myself in my workshop and build sort of the camper of my dreams. We had a family of four at the time but I felt like I could make it a tear- drop style camper that could accommodate all of us and I did! It was a prototype, what we now call the Prototype, and was a little bit rough around the edges, but it was very functional. And on the road it drew a lot of attention and that’s when we realized we could start our own company building these micro campers that are super-efficient, well insulated, comfortable, adaptable and that’s just what we did five years ago.

OX4: How did you get into vehicle-based and overland travel? You mentioned how you got to having Pindrop, but why are you using the camper and not just throwing tents up?

Tim: Well, at my heart, I am a traveler. I lived overseas for a while and hitchhiked across Eastern Europe, Turkey, and Egypt and other places. And so, I lived out of my backpack, and when living out of the backpack, of course you try to minimize everything and just pack what you need, because it all has to be on your back. So, I think that experience and just being able to see really remote beautiful places has just always stuck with me. So, travel is really important to me. When you have a family, obviously, you need to expand a little bit. The camper was a way to do that, and I think it’s still trying to keep it as minimal as possible so that I can take my family out to very remote and rugged places but still have those creature comforts – things that you kind of need to have a comfortable camp and make it a good experience for the kids– and a nice place to cook from, very comfortable mattress to sleep on, well insulated cabin so you’re not freezing cold or super hot, and then being able to bring all the gear you want so can provide a great outdoor experience for your kids and inspire that love for nature in them as well.

OX4: How many kids are you hauling along on your travels?

Tim: Two, two kids. Yeah, my wife, two kids, and a teeny tiny dog, but like I said, you really can sleep six comfortably in Pindrop Travel Trailers, so the awnings have attached rooms – you can put cots in them, and we do that with our girls. You can also put a roof-top tent atop of our Pindrops, so you can sleep more up on top there. We loaned one out to the Arizona Trail Association, and they supported their trail crew with our Pindrop. I think they brought that thing out on some really rugged roads and yeah it was a big hit. I think the team really enjoyed just the comforts of the Pindrop and I don’t know how many slept in them, but I imagine they slept quite a few in that loaner.

OX4: Pivoting here a little bit, but to talk more about why you’re manufacturing trailers in Miami, Arizona, in a 110-year-old building, but yet you live a couple hours away in Cottonwood, Arizona. So, what made you want to decide you want to manufacture the trailers in Miami, in the old downtown that’s really a lot of vacant, but cool, buildings?

Tim: I’m a sucker for mining towns. I’m born and raised here in Arizona and my uncle is one of the original hippies that moved up to Jerome, Arizona, so I think folks probably thought he was crazy when he first moved to Jerome and started to build his business up there. But I love mining towns – I fell in love with my wife in a mining town! I mean there’s an allure that unless you know, you don’t know, I guess. I think Miami has a ton of potential. The town has been great to work with. The building, when I first saw it, I saw a ton of potential. It’s just a 12-in thick concrete shell that has been so many different businesses throughout its 110–115-year history that you can’t recreate what we have here. There’s so much history, it’s a really thrilling place to work. Just because as I work here in this shop, I can imagine all the other folks that came before me, all the other enterprises, the dreams and the aspirations, and we’re just part of that story.

And I think building here we are definitely off the beaten path. I think that adds to our story, and in addition to that, you know Miami, although it used to be a huge economic driver for the State of Arizona, it’s really sadly emptied out for several generations. The populations declined significantly, a lot of the industry has left the area, mining is still active here but the workforce does not live in this community.  I really wanted to try to revitalize this corner of our state and I think manufacturing Pindrop Travel Trailers is a great way to do that. The town has been very supportive, the sales tax revenue potential flowing towards the town is immense, and I think it’s really going to help the town position itself more strategically in hiring their Economic Development Director, which is one of their goals. Just really putting Miami on the map. I think we really want to be a part of that story and get in early and help the town achieve its goals and help us achieve our goals.

OX4: I want to talk about something you mentioned. You mentioned backpacking through Europe and other areas in the Middle East a little bit. What kind of other adventures have you done?

Tim: (Laughs) Life adventures, like travel adventures?

OX4: Yeah, travel adventures!

Tim: Well, I can tell you that my wife and I owned a 1952 Happy Home Travel trailer built in El Monte, California. I bought it for 200 bucks behind the Beeline Cafe in Payson, Arizona and I mean it was definitely at the end of its life. But I bought it, did some work on it, and we drug that thing everywhere and it went all the way up to Washington, down the coast, been all over hell and back, and across Arizona. I mean we drove to places that we shouldn’t have gone and we had so many great adventures just in that one camper.  My wife and I have shared our stories, and then now that we have our daughters, I just can’t wait to hear their stories when they’re older. So, we’ve brought them again all the way across the Western United States and into some really really rugged remote places, and I wish I could be there on Monday, when they share their stories with their friends, “What did you do over the weekend?” “Well, I played video games, what’d you do?” “Well, I went to Hell’s Canyon and I went to…” you know I what I mean, they’ve been all over the place. That’s just some of the adventures we’ve had.

OX4: Nice! So, Outdoorx4 has positioned itself as an editorial that not only highlights the vehicle as a subject but more importantly the vehicle as a tool to get out and explore, whether on four wheels, two wheels, by foot, a kayak, or any means to get in touch with the natural world. How has Pindrop Travel Trailer positioned itself to attract broader outdoors?

Tim: We want to be the first trailer manufacturer that comes to mind for eco-conscious travelers so we are a very sustainable company. That’s why everything we do, everything we manufacture, is solar powered and self-contained. We try to design our trailer so that you can head out into a remote location and if you have enough water – again, 44 gallons on our trailer– if you have enough water and food stuff you can be out really as long as you can manage it. The solar power will keep you out indefinitely, you’re just going to be limited by water and your food stuff. So how have we positioned ourselves to – what’s the question again?

OX4: To attract the broader outdoor segment?

Tim: The outdoor enthusiast will really be attracted to our trailers because they’re extremely simple to tow and very easy to maintain. They’re low-fuss, lightweight, very navigable, nimble, you can get them into very tight spaces, so they really appeal to those who really want to seek adventure in remote locations. They also appeal to folks who just want to go bird watching or go fly fishing, who don’t necessarily want to be rock crawling to get to the peak that no one has ever been to before, but just want to experience nature in a in a low impact shell that you don’t have to have a huge vehicle to tow it, and you don’t need to pay for storage. It’s self-contained, lightweight, easy on the environment, so if you just hop from National Park to National Park, you know you’ll also find great value in our Pindrops. Did I answer it?

OX4: Yes, thank you. So, I noticed on your wall, you’ve got a big fancy check for winning the 2023 Moonshot Pioneer Pitch State Finals Business Planning Competition, so tell me about it, how did you get into that?

Tim: Well, I was encouraged to pitch to compete here in the Globe/ Miami area. The timing wasn’t exactly right for us, we had a couple of big projects going on, but I committed to doing it, and I wanted to follow through. So, we were coached, we pitched, we took Globe/ Miami and of course then, the plan was to move on to the state. Again, a lot of preparations, a lot of coaching, huge shoutout to Moonshot Scott Hathcock, his entire team, they really did a great job getting us prepared for the pitch. There were 9 other competitors up there, all with amazing business plans and amazing products and we did our best and I’m humbled that we won. I think I don’t know really what helped the judges in their decision-making process, but I can say a big focus for us is really focusing on opportunities in rural Arizona and that’s really what we’re trying to provide here. It would be a lot easier for us, as a manufacturer, to relocate our company to Phoenix, Arizona. It’s just over the hill for us, greater access to materials, easier for folks to visit us, it would just make a lot more sense from a business perspective, but we’re really focused on our community perspective and I’m building opportunities in the rural area and I hope that’s what the judges considered when they awarded us the prize. But again, we are humbled and pleased that we won.

OX4: Another little interesting note is that you’re the mayor of Cottonwood!

Tim: Right, yeah!

OX4: How do you balance time being a mayor and driving a couple hours to build trailers?

Tim: Yeah, time management is the biggest challenge for sure. A lot of people think it is crazy that I’d be a mayor in this community and have a business in this other one. Honestly, it would work out really well if I had this business up in Cottonwood, but it would be challenging to get through the day without being constantly interrupted. So being able to come down and completely separate myself from my political life is great. I can really focus on work and focus on building what we’re doing down here, but yeah, it’s a challenge for sure. One thing that really has helped is Zoom. “Thanks” to the pandemic, Zoom has really helped out a lot. I can still attend meetings while I’m down here and get things done. And that drive in between Cottonwood and Miami is a great way to collect all my thoughts, get prepared for my political life back home, and vice versa. When I come back down to work, I use that time to design things in my head, and I’m constantly thinking about ways to improve our product, and that time is spent in my head just seeing how things, doing a lot of trigonometry, and design work, and when I get here, I am ready.

OX4: Much of our experience is not just the journey, but also what we do once we are there, and the camaraderie along the way. Talk tales, kicking back, telling stories, have a laugh with friends and family. So, what is your favorite fireside beverage, and your favorite campsite meal?

Tim: Wow, uh, well let’s start with food. First night at camp, we usually do something very simple, like salmon quesadillas, with some fresh salsa. It’s a really simple meal to get out if you’ve been on the road for a long day. It’s quick and easy. But what we really like to do is drag out our Dutch ovens and we’ll bake bread. If we are going to post up somewhere for a while, we go all out and bake bread for sandwiches for the day, a lot of green chili. That’s another big hit. So green chili, roast them on the fire, and make a nice green chili with potatoes and carrots; a whole nice stew. In the summertime, a lot of fish tacos. That’s what’s nice about our kitchens, it’s a real pleasure to cook in. As far as drinks go, I’m kind of a bourbon guy, so just on ice does it for me. We do make a special drink, we call it The Factory Finish, that’s Bourbon poured over a thin slice of orange, add a little bit of vermouth and some bitters, stir it in some ice and that’s called a factory finish, it’s how we close out the day. Here at the factory and just one would finish you, so that’s its name, But it’s good for camping, too.

OX4: Nice. Alright, we have already tapped on the surface of the experiences that led you to be the founder of Pindrop Travel Trailers for those who are interested in learning more about you and how Pindrop can complement their adventures what’s the best way to contact Pindrop and where can they see your products in person?

Tim: The best way to contact us is to call, text, email us – everything is on our website. We have a factory showroom, so anytime you want, you can call us, we’ll make an appointment and you come out and see where and how we manufacture it here in Miami, Arizona. We normally have a floor model that’s available for viewing. You can also rent from us. That’s a really great way to try out our products. There’s a link right on our website to rent one and we have a partner in Phoenix, Arizona who rents her Pindrop out that she bought from us a couple years ago. She’s based in Phoenix, Arizona, and if you’re in the metro area and you want to see a Pindrop, call her up, and she would be more than happy to walk you through it. You can also rent that unit and take it out and see how you like the product. Social media, we are all over that. You can check us out on social media and we have YouTube videos on our website as well, so there’s a lot of ways to engage with us. But, I’m kind of a handshake type of guy so just call me, text me, let’s meet up!

Learn more about Pindrop Travel Trailers by visiting their website at www.pindroptraveltrailers.com.

OutdoorX4 Magazine – Promoting responsible vehicle-based adventure travel and outdoors adventure