TM has this ex-NASA designer beat!

**kempert** · 05-26-2019, 10:49 AM

I guess the guy who designed this trailer has never seen a TM. Or has he? It seems he's incorporated a number of ideas that have been in TMs for decades. I wouldn't trade my 2720SL for his trailer.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/adv...camper-mantis/

He basically reinforces the concepts already used by TM. I got a big laugh when it hit me that most of the knowledge that he'd developed while at NASA was already being used by Amish in South Dakota.

Larryjb · 05-26-2019, 12:39 PM

Was William Hulsey Amish? I know he was a metallurgical engineer.

I get your point though.

**kempert** · 05-26-2019, 02:41 PM

I don't think he was Amish.

For those who don't know, the company he founded in East Tennessee has been sold twice and the newest owners and manufacturers belong to the Hutterite communal group in South Dakota.

When I get a chance, I will write about my visit to their site last month.

tentcamper · 05-26-2019, 03:05 PM

William Hulsey, or the current owners of Trailmanor are Amish .

What I was told when I stopped at the TN plant years ago. If memory serves me right, the founder William Hulse had PHD in either metallurgical engineering or mechanical engineering and work at Oak Ridge National Lab when he went on his quest to build a better camper.

BrucePerens · 05-27-2019, 09:57 PM

The Hutterites, who now own Trailmanor, are an Anabaptist Christian sect. They are not Amish, and would probably be bothered if you called them Amish. They live communally, while Amish, Mennonites, and most Anabaptists do not. They base their lives on the Sermon on the Mount, as Anabaptists mostly do. They are the result of a tree of schisms after Martin Luther (some would say after Abraham), that have resulted in many communities with differing religious practices. This continues, as Hutterites and the Bruderhof have split during the last century on various differences.

- Bruce, the ethnically Jewish Secular Humanist :-)

BrucePerens · 05-27-2019, 10:38 PM

I'm sure these guys have seen Trailmanors, but they are addressing a different market.
These trailers are both more rugged and more lightweight, incorporating tent components for expansion, and with a milled plywood decor inside. They did exhibit at the national RVX dealer show, while Trailmanor did not. I found them all sort of Mad Max looking. If you look for my pictures from the RVX show, there are lots of interior photos.

**kempert** · 05-28-2019, 08:11 PM

Bruce, good point -

I misspoke in my first post on this thread. The people at the TM plant (the Upland Colony)reminded me a lot of the Mennonites back home. The two groups dress similarly & both do quality work. (The latter group built a hay shed for us that's stood up against severe wind shears.) I did notice the communal housing near the TM plant and did not see a single "buggy" while in SD.

From www.hutterites.org:
"Our Beliefs
The Hutterian Brethren or Hutterites are a faith group stemming from the Radical Reformation of the 16th century (Hutterite History).
Hutterites and Mennonites (and thus the Amish who are of Mennonite descent) share common roots. Both of these groups are Anabaptists and both of these movements trace their beginnings to the same era, to the same movement, during the Reformation."

**wbmiller3** · 11-03-2019, 03:31 PM

While strolling through the Houston Heights one day we came upon one of these trailers. While we were looking at it, a lady came out and talked to us. She was the wife of the guy that designed it and we were at their house! We chatted with her for a while since we had the NASA connection as well as the camping trailer connection.

After that I signed up for the TAXA mailing list and I've kept up with them. If we ever have to replace the TM, I'll think about one of these trailers, but it probably wouldn't be what we go with. They are interesting though.