My family and many friends have spent most of their lifetime perfecting the art of camping. That means anything from hiking and backpacking overnights to car and tent camping, to small to midsize SUVs and trailer camping. Today, I’ll skip past the hiking/backpacking idea; while we’ve remained hikers, we have aged out of the desire to do any serious backpacking — apologies to you serious backpackers.

This column will capsulize our adventures and experience in these five key areas, namely: comfort, economy of operation (gas mileage, camp site costs, insurance), up-front costs, practicality and panache.

For our ratings, five points is best, one point the least.

I’ve taken our 2017 Escape, and with scrap 3/8” plywood, elevated the floor by 7 inches (with backseat folded flat) which allows storage of four plastic storage containers underneath, miscellaneous camping equipment and provides a sleeping area 6-feet, 2-inches long by about 4½ feet wide, cozy for two people. 

Here we include roof-top outfits and free-standing tents connected to SUVs. They have exploded in popularity in recent years. We have a number of trips planned across the country, and plan motel stays or friends overnights for much of those trips, with the idea of using our SUV for occasional camping stops.

We purchased a Napier Backroadz SUV Tent, about $240, and have used it several times. It provides a 10x10 room tent addition, nicely connecting to the open back hatch of our Ford Escape. And, we can disconnect the tent, leaving it in place, while we take the SUV to run errands or go exploring.

Note: We have not yet tried out the folding roof top units, which range from $1,200 to about $2,500, and my wife would not be happy to climb ladder six feet to the top of an SUV.

We currently own two classic trailers, a 1958 Scotty teardrop trailer, totally rebuilt by West Virginian 10 years ago, and a 1964 Scotty Sportsman, which I rebuilt four years ago. 

More:Time for a small travel trailer to sate your wanderlust?

Teardrop trailers: Teardrops are typically the smallest, with the trailer measuring 4 to 5 feet wide, 8 to 10 feet long and 4 to 5 feet in height. They are generally the smallest, lightest and most affordable of all the trailer family.  

Small trailers: Our '64 Scotty Is larger and heavier, the trailer compartment measuring 6-foot, 4-inches wide, 10 feet long front to back, and tall enough for my wife to stand up inside, but weighs about 1,500 pounds loaded, requiring a more serious tow vehicle (we tow with a four cylinder turbo-charged Ford Escape, featuring a 3,500 pound tow rating). Newer small trailers, like T@B, Casita and R-Pods, are somewhat larger/heavier.

For more information, shop Craigslist or eBay, local trailer dealers, websites of your favorite classic or new trailers. 

Reach Tim at tviall@msn.com; happy camping!