Tiger Owners

Re Tigers off-pavement: Take a look at these trip reports.

Jefe4x4's Sierra XTC, which included my Tiger on the first part of the trip: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27277376.cfm

My own trip report from the Eastern Sierra, especially first and last segments: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27270054.cfm

The TC folks were surprised at how well the Tiger did. Most problems I had were caused by my inexperience, not by the Tiger. I had never driven any road as tough as the one into Coyote Flats. Getting over some of those patches with the big rocks and ruts required a spotter to guide me through.

pnichols - I was referring to threads like this one: Tiger vs. Earthroamer in which various members here dismissed Tigers as they did not have pivot subframes. My Malayan does, but I am not sure that that is really necessary for bad road use. My Tiger has a raised suspension, uprated shocks and Tires, etc., but its off road abilities are still limited by weight and weight distribution. And I would certainly agree about center of gravity. My goal was not to go rock crawling, but rather to survive miles and miles of bad, but passable roads. My background is Africa and South America.

Provan was founded by David Rowe, one of the founders of Four Wheel Campers. He founded Provan in Colorado after leaving Four Wheel and his first Tiger was a cutaway '77 Chevrolet van with a pop-top. (You can see it at Provan today.) He later sold Provan to the present owner, Mark Guild. Dave's son makes pop up campers under the name of Phoenix.Phoenix

For those of you who own newer Tigers: I'm a little concerned about the new all-electric refrigerators. On one hand, it's nice that they don't have to be level but, on the other hand, they will run only so long on batteries alone. How has it worked out for you? If you had no solar input, how long could you camp in warm weather before your fridge gave out?

pnichols wrote:


It was a 1969 chassis-mount Chinook motorhome based on a GMC 3500 dually pickup truck. Our family had a great time in it exploring CA and OR.

By the way just thinking outloud, I can't see why Tiger RVs need take any guff from the 4X4 offroad pickup crowd ... if a Tiger owner wanted to take them on. I've read plenty of offroad pickup articles and don't really see why a 1-ton 4X4 Tiger PU RV couldn't be all jacked up and sporting a highly modified suspension system with rugged oversize tires so as to do just about anything a non-RV 4X4 pickup could do offroad - even including mild pickup-style rock crawling. A Tiger also should be able to be built-up for better offroad use than any truck camper because of the inherently lower center of gravity of the various Tiger models. :W

Exactly!

DiploStrat wrote:
pnichols - as Tigers are much older than Earthroamers, you might say that an Earthroamer is an oversized Tiger.

For what it's worth and to keep things just-for-fun in perspective, here's our first RV - well before Tiger existed and kindof the same concept. I doubt that the Tiger designers even knew it was available years before Tiger Adventure Vehicles were:



It was a 1969 chassis-mount Chinook motorhome based on a GMC 3500 dually pickup truck. Our family had a great time in it exploring CA and OR.

By the way just thinking outloud, I can't see why Tiger RVs need take any guff from the 4X4 offroad pickup crowd ... if a Tiger owner wanted to take them on. I've read plenty of offroad pickup articles and don't really see why a 1-ton 4X4 Tiger PU RV couldn't be all jacked up and sporting a highly modified suspension system with rugged oversize tires so as to do just about anything a non-RV 4X4 pickup could do offroad - even including mild pickup-style rock crawling. A Tiger also should be able to be built-up for better offroad use than any truck camper because of the inherently lower center of gravity of the various Tiger models. :W

Jim, "The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense."

:B

We had a rear-view camera in our Foretravel DP but, then, we didn't have a rear window. I mostly use mirrors but when towing my toad it's nice to see that it's still there. :)

Handbasket wrote:
I've used the stick-on Fresnel lenses before on my class B's. Not bad, but I much prefer the backup camera that I installed on my Tiger. It's up high, right under the center clearance light, and is aimed down so the view starts right at the rear bumper to give a useful view when backing. I've added fisheye mirrors to the side mirrors. That makes them fine for driving, but I had a 1/2 million mile rehearsal in my misspent youth driving blind to the rear pickups for a courier outfit. I can see out the back window of my CX in the center mirror, but rarely find it useful.

BTW, Diplostrat, _nifty_ unit!!! Hope you enjoy it in years to come as much as I have my old CX!

Jim, "The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense."

Funny how unlike a regulat car these 'class b' clones actually are...all the electronics to see behind...maybe not much advantage over a 'gross rubber-roofed POS' class c

I've used the stick-on Fresnel lenses before on my class B's. Not bad, but I much prefer the backup camera that I installed on my Tiger. It's up high, right under the center clearance light, and is aimed down so the view starts right at the rear bumper to give a useful view when backing. I've added fisheye mirrors to the side mirrors. That makes them fine for driving, but I had a 1/2 million mile rehearsal in my misspent youth driving blind to the rear pickups for a courier outfit. I can see out the back window of my CX in the center mirror, but rarely find it useful.

BTW, Diplostrat, _nifty_ unit!!! Hope you enjoy it in years to come as much as I have my old CX!

Jim, "The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense."

Are you in for a surprise when the chevy/ford/dodge dealership says they will not lift your 10,000 lb pickuo for service/recall work.

I can see out the rear window of my 2006 CX. I use a stick-on lens to enhance the view. It's still not great. The trend seems to be toward back-up cameras.