Having camped off and on since I was a child, I learned very early that tent camping is not for me! A few years ago, my then girlfriend decided we were all going camping. Me and my 2 kids, her and her 4 kids, and my 2 dogs. I ended up finding a decent priced coleman pop-up and put it behind her chrysler mini-van, and I figured out what a horrible mistake it is to haul that much weight through the mountainous back-roads of California.
Fast forward 3 years, I have since broken up with her (sold the trailer for more than what I bought it for), and for a few reasons have begun camping very regularly. From camping in Humboldt for a marathon and local hiking to quads at Sand Mountain in NV, to relaxing by the lake at Bowman or Lyndsey lake. Each of these trips reinforced my hatred of tent camping. I had tent poles break, air mattresses leak, a river of rain water through my tent (right where my clothes were stored). Every trip was riddled with issues and discomfort.
My situation now is this: I am wanting to go out to these places, but I dont want an RV, and a trailer would work, but that limits me to bed storage for motorsports etc. I could get a toy hauler, but thats extreme for my needs and isnt nimble enough to get to some of the camp sites we will be frequenting.
I decided the best solution for me is a new truck (I went with a low mileage 08 Tundra 4x4 double cab trd), a cabover camper (I found a nice '99 Lance 945), and a standard 16ft flatbed trailer to haul my toys when I want them.
I did a lot of research prior to making my purchases so I knew what I was in for when making each purchase, and adjusted my buying accordingly. I bought the truck first, it needed a few mods and repairs to make it camper ready. I went with the torklift tie downs as i wanted to be able to "hide" it when the camper wasnt in the truck. At the same time, I ordered an airbag kit, my only wish was that I had installed them BEFORE buying the camper. Other repairs are minor, such as removing the broken antenna stud and replacing the antenna, a little bit of paint work to make it look better (PO used some crappy blue rattle can paint to try to cover some scratches).
Once I got the tie-downs installed in the truck (PITA!!! had to cut and shave then a bit to get then to fit) I went looking at campers. I found a local guy asking $5000 for this one, and evidently had so many tire-kickers and people who had no clue about these that he was willing to come down to $4000. It doesnt have some features like AC or 110v but that was fine with me. Upon making a deal I ran into the first couple issues. Number one was camper depth versus bed depth... Luckily the RV storage where it was at was in an industrial park and I was able to find a couple pallets to get it loaded. Once it was in the bed I discovered the running lights werent working. Yesterday I discovered that the Tundra has fuses and relays for all of the trailer lights and one of the fuses was blown, phew, easy fix!
I have spent this morning searching, researching, shopping, and buying to fix a few of the concerns I have about the setup and to get fully prepared for an upcoming camping trip.
Cordless drill and jack attachment bit. I have been needing a good cordless drill, this gave me a great excuse to buy one. I have loaded the camper into my truck and unloaded, and this is going to be a must have for me.
I ordered an 18" hitch extension, which should put the hitch (and the steps when installed) right where it needs to be.
The camper was converted to a 7-way trailer connector and the PO included an extension in with the purchase, but this presents an issue because my trailer uses a 7-way as well. I looked around and for ~$180 I could buy a splitter/extender, but I was still presented with the issue of my trailer being 18" further back. My solution is this: I have ordered a 24" 7-way extension, I am cutting the male end off and then splicing this new piece into the camper extender. I also purchased a mount so I can permanently attach the 24" extension to the hitch extender. My plan is to be able to hide everything under the camper when in storage, and when I pull under the camper, I just have to attache the 7-way to my truck, put the hitch extender in, and I am ready to go. My idea it to add some kind of bracket underneath to support the hitch extender. I have thought of ways to get around this, but since I need the hitch extender to use the steps, it makes sense to me to always have it with the camper. I know there are other step solutions, but a large majority of the time I will be using the camper, I will also be hauling the trailer.
I ordered a voltage monitor (comes with a 12v power port and a USB charger port). I am planning to mount this in the kitchen area. I was worried about this being constantly on, even though the draw is very minimal, so I found one with a power switch. Along with this upgrade I decided to convert everything to LED.
I am considering either adding a battery (in the compartment where I have seen generators installed, back lower right corner) in addition to the battery already in the camper, and replacing the existing battery with a deep cycle, or removing the current battery entirely and go with a couple 6v golf cart batteries. Either way I go, I am going to be adding solar panels. I have not decided on how to go about this yet, whether permanently mounting them on the roof is a good idea, or doing something like the flexible mat ones that I can roll up and store during travel.
So, thats what I have planned for the next 2 weeks before my next camping trip. Any tips or ideas are more than welcome.
