TC observations and questions, and Labor Day

[sleepy]

Looking at our truck camper future: and wonder how long it will be before it can no longer be used.

Labor Day is the traditional end of summer.... how many of you are going to have your campers out this weekend... how many during the fall?

How long has it been since you used your camper at all, on the truck, and traveling or camping?

As we travel around the country we see truck campers up on saw horses or jacks that have been there for years. Are they too damaged to use? or has the owner just given up the RV lifestyle?

Some of the people use them in place to store extra hotdog wieners and beer but haven't had them on their trucks for years.

Campers deteriorate just as fast parked in front of the garage as they do when being used camping....

Our camper has been wonderful but it is taking a lot of tape to keep going. Sooner than later I have to come up with a fix. I am 75 years old I don't want to buy a new one.... The inside of the camper we have is in great shape.... everything works perfectly... it's that dadgone FILON skin that is failing.... it is 13 years old...

... worse still I don't see a need for "saving" a truck camper under the weather safety of our carport just to say we have it.

What will we do with all of the wonderful insides when the skin falls off?

We managed to get out 64 nights this year and are still planning the "next" trip. We have enjoyed 1245 nights totol in our Lance 1161.... we are just not ready to quit yet. But at least we feel like we are close to getting our moneys worth.

Maybe a Linex over spray would hold it together! All suggestions appreciated.... there just might be a spark in even the weirdest suggestion. Like... I'd go for one of Lances new nose cones if I could fit it on the front of our camper.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Labor's Day weekend in your camper doing fun things with family and friends.

Sleepy

[deltabravo]

trailgranny50 wrote:
.. Besides that I have some kind of nasty bug making me really loopy, dizzy,more than normal, and nauseated....

At lease you are at home when the bug hit. Sorry to hear it hit you though.

I caught a similar bug out camping once (2007 I think). That was the last time I ever drank water out of my fresh water holding tank. 😞
I felt miserable all day. Next day I was fine.

[deltabravo]

sleepy wrote:
Labor Day is the traditional end of summer.... how many of you are going to have your campers out this weekend... how many during the fall?

I didn't make it out with mine this weekend - I've been gone all week transporting RVs. On my trip towards Boise, ID yesterday I stopped at Thunder RV in LaGrande, same city where the Northwood (AF, Wolf Creek) factory is located and looked very closely at the AF 865.

sleepy wrote:
How long has it been since you used your camper at all, on the truck, and traveling or camping?

This is the first summer that my camper hasn't spent all summer on the truck, thanks to some idiotic technicians at a local Chevy Dealer. I keep having to take the camper off to take the truck in to the dealer's collision center to fix stuff they screwed up, and to get them to acknowledge the damage they did, which they still deny.

About 11am, I spotted Bedlam headed west on I-90 as I was heading east.... this was just east of Sprague, WA.

[TCINTN]

Have just returned from over ten weeks of trout fishing and site seeing in Colorado,New Mexico,Tennessee and Arkansas.Had a great time but we did get home for July 4th so as not to be on road for holiday.That is one of the reasons home now .Just like being home and away from the rush during holidays. Being retired allows us that luxury. Also came home for muscle surgery on right eye.
Right now we are planning on leaving out again on October 5th for somewhere.Right now we are looking at heading West for around six weeks.
Life is good in a truck camper.

[woodhog]

We started out yesterday with great expectations with the bird projects, got 40 miles down the road and front brake rotors started to overheat, came back home and parked in your spot !!

COOL salt air here must have finally caught up with the caliphers...

No service available until this coming Thursday so we are shut down, we will be doing day hiking with the car up and down the shore until the truck is fixed up, then going with the camper until the birds shut down in October.

All the best to you and Janet...

If we ever buy another camper I would seriously look at Northern Lite with the fiberglass shell or do my own conversion with a Ram Promaster
front wheel drive van affair...

http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/ram_promaster/

[bigfootford]

Bummer about the Filon. When we decided to replace our old SixPac aluminum sided camper which was falling apart, bought it used for $500 to see if we wanted to do a camper again.
So when we started looking around in 1999 for a new camper or new used we did not want Aluminum for sure 2 other campers and 1 motorhome that leaked from the seams even with attention to the windows, seams and lights. We looked at the campers with the filon and I absolutely did not want anything to do with that kind of siding... Working with Fiberglass for years I did not like any of the techniques for adhesion etc back then. So we saw a Northerlite and the wow factor started.... Then we went to the Pleasanton RV show in the Bay Area... We saw the BigFoots and DW said, " I want one", that's all it took. We later purchased our current BigFoot with the thought that it would be the last RV we will ever have... It is 16 years old and still looks like new inside and out. It has been on 2 trucks and traveled almost 200,000 miles.... What a great decision it was for us.
Sleepy, I can feel your pain!

As for labor day we are sitting here at DW's sisters home near Guerneville, Ca for 4 days.... A yearly get together for the 4 sisters and husbands... We always have a great time..... Yesterday was wine tasting at some of the exceptional wineries nearby Guerneville... Westside road....



Jim

[GoinThisAway]

No Labor Day weekend camping for us. It's too hot and the roads are too crowded. We'll wait until fall when it's cooler.

In regards to the filon, wonder if there would be a way to skin it with aluminum? Always did like the way one can work on an aluminum skinned camper.

[soos]

Christl wrote:
I am truly envious of you folks who have started early enough in your years to have TC camped for over ten years already. I am just getting started, 2 years ago with a wonderful 50 day trip to Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Eastern US in our Palomino Bronco. Sold that and are now upgrading to a Lance 1181 and GMC 3500 and our next trip is Alaska for 80 to 90 days to see the northeast corner of our North American continent. We will be taking a short one week trip in the new rig end of Oct, this fall to iron out bugs before winterizing it and spending the winter planning our Alaskan trip in 2016. We just spent a whole week re-caulking all the seams on the walls and roof of the Lance 2005 to help make it last our next 10 years of adventures - got 3 more corners of the continent to see yet. cheers christl

You will LOVE Alaska in a truck camper. We did it last year and traveling in the TC allowed us to get off the beaten path. We stayed all summer, did the Kenai, Juneau, Denali Highway twice, and all the way up to Prudhoe Bay on the Haul Rd. That was one of my favorite parts.
My blog has an index on the right, and one of the labels is Alaska Trip. Try to stay late enough, end of August ish to see the Northern Lights. Amazing!!

here are a couple of summary posts

My thoughts on Alaskan trip highlights erc.

Truck camper travel in AK

My cat's thoughts on spending 5 months in a truck camper


We are already in the camper for the weekend. Since we've been staying in Hades Hot Havasu, we try to escape to higher elevations every weekend.

[Vinsil]

Leaving in less than one hour!!!

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

We're giving the camper a rest this weekend after 2 weeks of camping 🙂 But I plan to camp until the snow flies 🙂

[trailgranny50]

No holiday this Labor Day as we have a 40' tall fireplace chimney that needs finished, dried and sealed before rain and return of skytrack. Besides that I have some kind of nasty bug making me really loopy, dizzy,more than normal, and nauseated. So we'll be staying home and praying the old fart doesn't catch it. Did get new fresh water tank and valve installed prior to present condition. Laying here designing a rod holder/case for ladder. Idle time gets me into more work. Have a great weekend everyone.

[campn4walleye]

We forego all holidays. We will be going to Lake Winnebago a week later. We usually camp into early Nov. That's the latest we can do as we store it in our neighbor's shed with a few others. It has to go in first.

We didn't get as many days so far but will try for a lot of fall camping. Our favorite!

[Buzzcut1]

Working a horse show on Sunday out of my TC....just like most of the weekends this past year. My camping season is going to be late fall and all winter this year. New Years in Death Valley or thereabouts is the plan

[lap527]

Ours is all clean,loaded up and almost ready...gotta hook up the boat. We won't be leaving til Labor day while everyone is coming home we will be going. Hopefully, have some fishy pictures to share soon!

[WVbassmistress]

I'm sad to say we are not camping this weekend. We have family coming in (so I MAY stay in the camper in my own backyard just to escape!!!!!) We will be doing some boating though

Sleepy, we have a trip planned down your way in mid-September. Going to stay on Lake Norris for 4 days. Then we are going to try to hit at least 1 weekend on the Blue Ridge Parkway in a few weeks...maybe 2 so we can see more.

Happy Travels to all! Be safe!

[Christl]

I am truly envious of you folks who have started early enough in your years to have TC camped for over ten years already. I am just getting started, 2 years ago with a wonderful 50 day trip to Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Eastern US in our Palomino Bronco. Sold that and are now upgrading to a Lance 1181 and GMC 3500 and our next trip is Alaska for 80 to 90 days to see the northeast corner of our North American continent. We will be taking a short one week trip in the new rig end of Oct, this fall to iron out bugs before winterizing it and spending the winter planning our Alaskan trip in 2016. We just spent a whole week re-caulking all the seams on the walls and roof of the Lance 2005 to help make it last our next 10 years of adventures - got 3 more corners of the continent to see yet. cheers christl