mbloof
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Re: Ordering a Chev 3500 (Oct 2023)
cptqueeg wrote: mbloof wrote: My heart goes out to those that have to resort to ordering from the factory and waiting. - Mark0. It's actually kinda fun ordering, and I've already waited 3 years anyway. Yeah, I get that. By the time I had finally convinced myself to get a new truck it was kinda like "better get it NOW before the idea/feeling passes" LOL!! IMHO: ordering is not exactly compatible with "impulse buying" even if it took years to become "impulsive"... ;) - Mark0.1.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Ordering a Chev 3500 (Oct 2023)
When I bought my 1st 'camper hauling truck' back in 2001 the 'new' market pricing made me dizzy and the 'used' market was so all over the map it was almost beyond confusing. Here patience paid off and after a period of months I finally found a used truck worth purchasing. Almost the same could be said ~20yrs later when I finally decided to replace that truck with something newer. However THIS time while the new prices were astronomical much of the used market was crazy high as well and at the time I could afford a new truck. Then comes the problem of 'buy off the lot' (*actually finding* what you want already built and ready for sale) or resorting to ordering from the factory. As luck would have it within 300 miles of my location a whole whooping ONE truck met my needs/wants/desires and I bought it. My heart goes out to those that have to resort to ordering from the factory and waiting. - Mark0.1.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Charging House Batteries
Back in the day, 'solar' (for JUST the panels) cost $10-20 a Watt! (Current cost ~$1-2 a watt) The charge controllers have come down as well, while sometimes 'free' as a package deal with some panels, they can cost anywhere from $40-400. However, the #1 problem with solar is not the cost it is with the availability of LIGHT - sunlight that is. Forgetting for the moment that you will NEVER see the rated output of ANY solar panel you purchase, solar works best with the most unobstructed (no shade!) view of the sun as it moves across the sky from sun-up to sun-down. So if your in the desert with no mountains or trees it will work much better than (for example) in a dense forest it won't work well or at all. As an example, there are places that I park where my battery will be fully charged by 12:00 noon (if not by 2PM) and others where I get NO charge at all. IMHO: Considering the cost of a Generator $400-2000 tossing ~$200 for some solar can be cost effective. - Mark0.1.3KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Now that's a heavy camper!
notsobigjoe wrote: mbloof wrote: Wow - just wow. I've often thought that the 'Ausies' got to have all the fun with their setups and rigs and finally someone in the US made a 'camper' for a flatbed. - Mark0. I wonder if it's a start of a trend. The small popup, tiny house type of TC has pretty much been done. Hundreds probably available. But the big boys haven't had a remake in some time. I think the last one was the mammoth but not sure. The floor space is literally doubled with the flat bed set up and structurally, to me it has to be more sound taking a wall straight down rather than trying to make it fit in the bed of the truck. I wonder if it changes the center of gravity forward a bit with the extra room? Also how about the height. If you don't have to have a full floor across the top of your bed rails I would think it would be lower and closer to the ground even though it's raised in the flat bed. Definitely an interesting concept and incredibly livable and beautiful. I could easily full time in this rig. Joe If we take into consideration how tall and heavy the current (and recent past) crop of 'PU Truck Campers' designed to fit into a 'standard USA bed' which by many accounts really require a >=550x series truck to haul, forgoing the PU bed for a flatbed design makes sense to me. The flatbed could reduce overall height even if they still employed a 'basement' which could be almost the entire width of the truck rather than the 4' between the wheel wells and above them. - Mark0.1.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: 1991 Lance 900 11.3’ weight
Not to be "Dan Downer" here but it ought to be mentioned that... "catalog", "manual" and "marketing flyer" listed weights should be considered at best "ball park estimates" and the actual camper might weigh >= 500-1000 more than whatever numbers that are listed. :) However as others might mention that almost any 1T DRW ought to be able to haul it. - Mark0.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: How do you handle no toilet in Pop Up?
mkirsch wrote: Grit dog wrote: ^What he said. No bathroom, very little water storage and a very dinky fridge/freezer sort of defeats a lot of the purpose of a camper. Esp the OP who hasn’t ever alluded to being a tent camper or bucket shitttter and has had a TT for a long time. But alas, some of the questions here still land somewhere between entertaining and amazing. … like “Where do I poop without h no toilet in my camper?” If it "defeats the purpose" then why do they sell such useless units? Nobody should ever want one. Hence the phrase 'everybody is different' and as such camp in different ways and has different objectives and priorities to their camping equipment. Personally it goes something like this: - no need to setup/take down a tent (everything remains dry) - no need to setup/take down a bed (time+comfort saver) - many/most items already packed and ready to go - toilet a few feet away in dry & enclosed space - heating system - refrigeration (+ability to MAKE ICE) so YES, I did count/list the toilet above heating and refrigeration however I'd guess that others list's will surely have a different order(s) as the above is just MY own personal reasons of owning a truck camper. - Mark0.1.6KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Bigfoot 2500 Front Fiberglass Delam Repair Questions
adamis wrote: Thanks for the great insight. Do you have any links you can point me to that would show some of these other repairs? Would be great to get some ideas on what others have done. Sorry but no. You might check the different groups on Facebook. I've seen a number of posts in both the NL groups there and on a search see there is a 1/2 dozen or more BF groups there that may (or not have) posts about it. Since I don't have a BF I've never joined one of these groups. - Mark0.1.6KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Bigfoot 2500 Front Fiberglass Delam Repair Questions
Ahh... this sort of thing happens to both Bigfoot and Northern Lite campers - the area you have circled is part of what folks call the "T-Wall". Forgetting for the moment that fiberglass with the proper thickness and properly saturated with resin all the way through (it is my understanding that both companies "blow" fiberglass and spray resin into/on the insides of their molds - not an exacting method) is "HARD like a boat hull" and would rather BREAK or CRACK rather than "bubble" or "bulge", both Bigfoot and Northern Lite at times (~1/2 dozen NL's have reported the issue over the years) seem to have difficulty getting enough fiberglass+resin in this critical vertical section of their molds resulting in just that - ether what owners describe as a "bulge" or "bubble" in the front vertical wall of the lower section of their campers! There have been a number of different DIY "fixes" or "work-a-rounds" for this issue posted in the various forums over the years generally involving removal of the 'pass through window' and most/all that is directly behind the wall and ether injecting resin or glue and/or adding plywood/metal sheet and/or using clamps through the window to squeeze both sides until the resin/glue cures and reassembling the inside of the camper and reinstalling the window. One owner was able to snake a tube to dispense resin/glue into the wall section (between the fiberglass and insulation) and was able to clamp the bulge so that it was flat and then upon removal of the clamp was able to reassemble without to much of a tear down disassembly of that area of the inside of the camper. I think one owner was still within their structural warranty period and took their camper to the factory for repair. Thankfully both companies are generally good at fiberglass+resin coating their molds and out of the all the units ether company has shipped over the years there have not been a large number of campers having this failure. - Mark0 (owner of a 2014 NL 9.6)1.6KViews0likes0Comments
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Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Apr 19, 201944,027 Posts
