What have you done with your tailgate?

[RamblinAnne]

I've been fulltiming in my Bigfoot for almost a year now and I'm still undecided on what to do with my tailgate for my Ford. It's currently sitting in my moms garage in New York. I'm out West with no plans to drive back East anytime soon. And even if I did, I still wouldn't be able to take the tailgate with me as long as the camper is on. I'm unsure what to do with it. I know I should probably keep it for resale value but I wonder if it'll even be worth it because I imagine shipping a huge and heavy tailgate would cost more than just buying a new one wherever I am. And I could probably get more money from selling the tailgate while it's still relatively new.

I'm wondering who has sold theirs and if they regret it, and what the fulltimers without a sticks and bricks home/a storage unit do with theirs?

[jimh406]

Cool, thanks.

[work2much]

jimh425 wrote:
How much solar do you have?

Jim, here is a post on my build.

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29476636.cfm

[jimh406]

How much solar do you have?

[work2much]

jimh425 wrote:

work2much wrote:
We haven't plugged in or run a generator in over 10 months in the camper, most of those months with a pretty basic system.

That is impressive for boondocking. What AC appliances do you use?

In our old camper we ran croc pot, coffee maker. In our new camper we run everything through a whole house inverter. We run a 1600 watt electric oven daily, electric blankets at night, ice maker, croc pot, dehumidifier, TV and all the little stuff like rechargeable batteries for my wife camera equipment, drone, computers. We have also run the AC but so far on this trip it has been coolish to say the least in the southwest.

[jimh406]

work2much wrote:
We haven't plugged in or run a generator in over 10 months in the camper, most of those months with a pretty basic system.

That is impressive for boondocking. What AC appliances do you use?

[work2much]

jimh425 wrote:


Also, it's going to be long time before solar replaces generators for everyone. I wouldn't expect it to happen in the rest of my lifetime for those using AC appliances. That being said, I've gone entire weekends without running the generator, and I don't have solar while boondocking.

Gosh, I hope you live longer than that! I give it 10 years tops before high powered solar/battery options are available from most manufacturers.

We haven't plugged in or run a generator in over 10 months in the camper, most of those months with a pretty basic system.

[stevenal]

adamis wrote:
Unless memory serves me poorly (truck and camper are in storage) on my Bigfoot, the tail gate could probably stay on as the bottom of the camper is flat save for the exhaust pipe for the genset. The exhaust pipe could be a bit of a problem but I can think of a couple of ideas to solve that. With newer LiPo batteries coming on the market combined with solar I think gensets are going to be on their way out soon anyway.

It's not the gate, it's the cables. Remove just the cables, and there is no interference. I wouldn't advise it though.

[adamis]

RamblinAnne wrote:

adamis wrote:
Unless memory serves me poorly (truck and camper are in storage) on my Bigfoot, the tail gate could probably stay on as the bottom of the camper is flat save for the exhaust pipe for the genset. The exhaust pipe could be a bit of a problem but I can think of a couple of ideas to solve that. With newer LiPo batteries coming on the market combined with solar I think gensets are going to be on their way out soon anyway.

Ooh! Curious if other bigfoot owners have ever tried this! I sold my genny and installed solar so I don't have that exhaust pipe to worry about. I just assumed the weight on the tailgate would destroy it. Hmm.. this would be so ideal if I could keep it on there.

No reason for the tailgate to actually carry much if any weight at all. I have to lift my camper about 3" to clear the cab anyway so I would probably just add a bit of padding between the bottom of the camper and the tailgate but make it not quite the full 3" to ensure there wasn't much stress on either tailgate or camper.

As far as rock chips are concerned, getting a good final wrap should take care of that problem as much as I would be concerned about it. I think the biggest concern would be the impact if we were towing something.

[jimh406]

Besides Alaskans, virtually no other TC is designed to be carried around on a tailgate. So, not a great idea both due to the potential weight and ensuing damage from rocks, etc. That's if it actually will clear your TC.

Also, it's going to be long time before solar replaces generators for everyone. I wouldn't expect it to happen in the rest of my lifetime for those using AC appliances. That being said, I've gone entire weekends without running the generator, and I don't have solar while boondocking.

I think selling it is probably the best choice especially if it doesn't have a camera in it.

[RamblinAnne]

adamis wrote:
Unless memory serves me poorly (truck and camper are in storage) on my Bigfoot, the tail gate could probably stay on as the bottom of the camper is flat save for the exhaust pipe for the genset. The exhaust pipe could be a bit of a problem but I can think of a couple of ideas to solve that. With newer LiPo batteries coming on the market combined with solar I think gensets are going to be on their way out soon anyway.

Ooh! Curious if other bigfoot owners have ever tried this! I sold my genny and installed solar so I don't have that exhaust pipe to worry about. I just assumed the weight on the tailgate would destroy it. Hmm.. this would be so ideal if I could keep it on there.

[adamis]

Unless memory serves me poorly (truck and camper are in storage) on my Bigfoot, the tail gate could probably stay on as the bottom of the camper is flat save for the exhaust pipe for the genset. The exhaust pipe could be a bit of a problem but I can think of a couple of ideas to solve that. With newer LiPo batteries coming on the market combined with solar I think gensets are going to be on their way out soon anyway.

[352]

Indiecognito wrote:
Gave mine to a guy who made it into a coffee table. I didn't have anywhere to easily store it. There are plenty of people who would buy my truck without a tailgate if something unexpected happened and I needed to sell it. Not worth the energy of worrying about it to me.

Thanks. The coffee sitting is beautiful.

HERE

[Indiecognito]

Gave mine to a guy who made it into a coffee table. I didn't have anywhere to easily store it. There are plenty of people who would buy my truck without a tailgate if something unexpected happened and I needed to sell it. Not worth the energy of worrying about it to me.

[Grit_dog]

Naw, if you really don't have somewhere to keep it and won't need it for the long haul, sell it.
You have a white super duty. There's probably 100 people in NY or wherever that need a white SD tailgate. It's worth $3-500 assuming it's not scratched up.
200 tailgates for sale on CL here. Saw 2 brand new white SD tailgates for sale.
It's not a deal breaker for selling the truck either.....at all. Or buy one later if needed.