My new to me camper.

RobG wrote:
Your camper looks awesome! You've done a great job cleaning it up.

I'm looking at your weight slip... 8060 on the drive axle. Look at the sidewalls of your new tires and see what the weight rating is. I looked it up on Tire Rack and it's 3415 per tire at 80 psi. That's 6830 lbs for both tires. You're 1200 lbs overweight.

It's one thing to be over your axle weight (I do that every time I load my camper), but I NEVER exceed the tire ratings. I hate to be the one to break the news, but you need a dually or a much smaller/lighter camper. Your tires are overloaded, and despite being Michelins, will eventually blow out even if you keep them at 80 psi. They aren't meant for that kind of weight.

I've weighed the truck empty and with the camper on the truck dry and loaded with water and everything else.

Minus the trailer and ATV I'm only a few hundred pounds over the rear axle GVW.

Certainly not enough to warrant a dually or a different camper.

11,640 lbs, 4-6500 ft, 72 mph - 9.72 mpg. I'm happy. ;)

adamis wrote:
My first camper was a Lance with almost the same layout (except a Dry bath). I didn't end up creating a lot of memories in it as it ended up having a lot of dry-rot damage. I put $3000 into her before giving up and selling it for something different.

I see that you are working on sealing the roof which is the right place to start. Seal it all and also check the seems on between the roof and the walls (that is where my water damage came in mostly). Also check the skirts at the rear / bottom of the camper to make sure they are sealed well. It is just a piece of plywood that I think had a metal trim piece covering up the leading edge. It didn't fully protect the edge of the plywood from spray from the tires when it was raining.

Lastly, not sure if it matters to you or not but the upper cabinets above the dinette do turn into a bunk, or at least did on mine. A feature I wish I had on my Bigfoot today (apparently it was an option???).

Happy trails and keep the pictures coming!

Thank you. My last camper was full of of dry rot so its going in the garbage as soon as I'm done taking what I want and need off it.

A close friend was a Lance distributor and walked me thru my inspection via phone. I'm very pleased with what I bought and have ended up with.

Yep, the cabinet above the dinette folds down into a bed, something I'll never use as its just me.

The skirts already have some water damage and I'll be addressing that soon.

Its needed a lot of "updating" but its structurally sound.

It does have a wet bath but that's OK with me. It has a lot more room in there than the shower in my other camper did.

My first camper was a Lance with almost the same layout (except a Dry bath). I didn't end up creating a lot of memories in it as it ended up having a lot of dry-rot damage. I put $3000 into her before giving up and selling it for something different.

I see that you are working on sealing the roof which is the right place to start. Seal it all and also check the seems on between the roof and the walls (that is where my water damage came in mostly). Also check the skirts at the rear / bottom of the camper to make sure they are sealed well. It is just a piece of plywood that I think had a metal trim piece covering up the leading edge. It didn't fully protect the edge of the plywood from spray from the tires when it was raining.

Lastly, not sure if it matters to you or not but the upper cabinets above the dinette do turn into a bunk, or at least did on mine. A feature I wish I had on my Bigfoot today (apparently it was an option???).

Happy trails and keep the pictures coming!

RobG - The scale weighed the rear truck axle and trailer axle together to get that 8K lb result.

Your camper looks awesome! You've done a great job cleaning it up.

I'm looking at your weight slip... 8060 on the drive axle. Look at the sidewalls of your new tires and see what the weight rating is. I looked it up on Tire Rack and it's 3415 per tire at 80 psi. That's 6830 lbs for both tires. You're 1200 lbs overweight.

It's one thing to be over your axle weight (I do that every time I load my camper), but I NEVER exceed the tire ratings. I hate to be the one to break the news, but you need a dually or a much smaller/lighter camper. Your tires are overloaded, and despite being Michelins, will eventually blow out even if you keep them at 80 psi. They aren't meant for that kind of weight.

Looks like the CAT-Scale didn't know I was towing a trailer. ;)

New generator, its alive!!

I got my new generator installed today.
I replaced the original Onan with a new Onan. I'm pretty sure the new one was made in China but not by Onan.
The exhaust is caddy corner to where the original exhaust was and the electrical connectors are different. Onan does make a harness adapter that connects the old to the new.

The new generator cost double what it would have cost to repair the original one and because the original was 25 years old I just went new.

I'm quite pleased with how everything has turned out.

Thanks.

Not sure if you call them improvements or upgrades.

I just found nicer stuff to replace all the old worn original stuff.

It has turned out pretty nice to me.

Wow, you are giving me many ideas for improvements to my 2000 Angler. Thank you for the information and photos!