Cumberland Camper Story 1

Cumberland started with a concept for a tent camper that would be easy to tow, have a large living volume relative to its weight and towing size and be a comfortable tent for enjoying the outdoors. We then designed it and built a few prototypes.

The design was CAD based. CAD was particularly useful for generating tent surfaces and patterns. Though much thought and effort went into the design, it had to be proven in the field and tested in as many different conditions as possible to see what worked well and what didn't.

We had a serviceable trailer box with the first prototype, but the first couple of tent prototypes, done by a shop far away, provided some lessons but were then discarded. A local sewing shop was found that wanted to sew the tent and we got a useable prototype. We learned that engineering and prototyping/production have to be collocated.

The first prototype that made it into the field for testing worked fairly well. The concept looked like a winner. But shortcomings were revealed that had to be fixed.

Here are a few highlights to give you a feel for what we consider important in your tent camper.

The third day of field testing the 1st prototype was in far west Texas It produced high winds forecast to reach 65mph - which was unusual. That was actually a bit of good luck because we learned quickly how wind resistant our prototype was. It did fairly well, but it motivated modifications to the tent that presented a smoother, more aerodynamic exterior, increased the stiffness of the tent, and eliminated the need to anchor the awning guy lines with stakes driven into the ground (so that the Cumberland can be set up on bare rock or a concrete pad). In the process of doing this an easier, faster way to raise the tent on top of the trailer was developed.

One morning in Wyoming, we had to fold up the camper with temperatures in the 20s and ice on the cover. A couple of setup/take down tasks had to be done without gloves. That lead to changes that eliminated the gloves-off operations and shortened setup time by about 5 minutes.

These changes, driven by field testing, make your camper more weather resistant and easier to set up.

The trailer box has a table with seating and table space that is comfortable for 4 adults. There is a lot of counter space with cabinetry for storage underneath as well as space for placing things like a heater, a large cooler (or portable refrigerator), and a portable toilet.