Newbie with a Bijou camper on a Sierra 1500 HD
My girlfriend and I looked at renting an RV for our summer vacation and then realized a very basic rig wouldn’t cost much more than a 2 week rental.
We found even Class B motor homes a bit big for our needs and taking up space when we wouldn’t be using it seemed a waste. But having a pickup available is another story…
RV Net became my main reading at this point.
I started looking for a half-ton, as simple as possible, 2WD, standard cab, auto (Suzanne may have to drive it in a crunch) and a small V8 (no Rockies yet) and a small camper probably needing some maintenance. Can’t be much different from renovating the house.
I bought a 2002 Sierra 1500 HD standard cab with the 4.8 L V8 and auto tranny, more kilometers than I would have liked (225,000 or about 140,000 miles… hmmm sounds a lot better in miles!), but well taken care of and overall very clean. Brakes and wheel bearings replaced recently and almost new E rated tires.
We then found a 1989 Bijou camper (built here in Quebec) in need of some TLC at a reasonable price. It is about 7’2” long so fills up the 6.5’ box and just hangs a couple of inches over the tailgate.
Before setting off on the over 500 Km (300+ miles) round trip to pickup the camper I built “belly bars” front and rear to hold the camper on, with oversized nylon ratcheting tie down straps. I was a little nervous how all this would hold together, but made it home with no troubles and am quite happy with my setup.
The suspension accepted the extra weight with aplomb and the trip home was uneventful… the truck definitely feels like it has a load on it but was stable and handled well. Just under 17 mpg empty and just under 14 mpg coming back with the camper, that’s US mpgs.
I am now working on the camper. It needs strengthening of the front jack mounting points, and there is water damage in nose around the window. The structure looks intact but I have to replace the veneer paneling that is flaking off. The frame of the sky light was broken, next time it rains I will see if my repair has solved the problem.
I have no idea what all this weighs; I am trying to find a scale in my area where I can check the Sierra with and without the camper.
Costs? The Sierra was $2300 and the little Bijou was $1450, hopefully we will hit the road for our first test outing in the Spring with about $4500 “invested”. Meanwhile the project is keeping me busy and out of trouble.
We found even Class B motor homes a bit big for our needs and taking up space when we wouldn’t be using it seemed a waste. But having a pickup available is another story…
RV Net became my main reading at this point.
I started looking for a half-ton, as simple as possible, 2WD, standard cab, auto (Suzanne may have to drive it in a crunch) and a small V8 (no Rockies yet) and a small camper probably needing some maintenance. Can’t be much different from renovating the house.
I bought a 2002 Sierra 1500 HD standard cab with the 4.8 L V8 and auto tranny, more kilometers than I would have liked (225,000 or about 140,000 miles… hmmm sounds a lot better in miles!), but well taken care of and overall very clean. Brakes and wheel bearings replaced recently and almost new E rated tires.
We then found a 1989 Bijou camper (built here in Quebec) in need of some TLC at a reasonable price. It is about 7’2” long so fills up the 6.5’ box and just hangs a couple of inches over the tailgate.
Before setting off on the over 500 Km (300+ miles) round trip to pickup the camper I built “belly bars” front and rear to hold the camper on, with oversized nylon ratcheting tie down straps. I was a little nervous how all this would hold together, but made it home with no troubles and am quite happy with my setup.
The suspension accepted the extra weight with aplomb and the trip home was uneventful… the truck definitely feels like it has a load on it but was stable and handled well. Just under 17 mpg empty and just under 14 mpg coming back with the camper, that’s US mpgs.
I am now working on the camper. It needs strengthening of the front jack mounting points, and there is water damage in nose around the window. The structure looks intact but I have to replace the veneer paneling that is flaking off. The frame of the sky light was broken, next time it rains I will see if my repair has solved the problem.
I have no idea what all this weighs; I am trying to find a scale in my area where I can check the Sierra with and without the camper.
Costs? The Sierra was $2300 and the little Bijou was $1450, hopefully we will hit the road for our first test outing in the Spring with about $4500 “invested”. Meanwhile the project is keeping me busy and out of trouble.
