Campers
- Thread starter johnbryanpeters
- Start date
Not much clearance from those tires to the wheel wells...
My Brother has decided to get his own Camper. He is getting a friends family's Bills Tailgate camper. Its a Winnebago. Its in good shape. It has a big motor and can pull my Camper when I pull the trigger...
Am I doing this right?
Co trip has been easy as pie for 1300ish miles, but the last 2” have been a royal PITA.
Pro tip, if you have a father in law, don’t listen to him, it doesn’t end well
“So do we turn there?”
“No, go up that little hill”
little hill is an ice skating rink, 4 low locked just meant all 4 were spinning
Got pulled out, did a loop and ended up right back where I wanted to turn anyway, then it got interesting
That headlight, don’t worry about that headlight....
Co trip has been easy as pie for 1300ish miles, but the last 2” have been a royal PITA.
Pro tip, if you have a father in law, don’t listen to him, it doesn’t end well
“So do we turn there?”
“No, go up that little hill”
little hill is an ice skating rink, 4 low locked just meant all 4 were spinning
Got pulled out, did a loop and ended up right back where I wanted to turn anyway, then it got interesting
That headlight, don’t worry about that headlight....
The carbon monoxide detector in the R-Pod started squeaking, turns out it's end of life, ordered another.
So how many midwest , east coast winters with rock salt before that's a half million dollar pile of rust
I bet adding audio to my rig that says it's about to blow up would keep it pretty safe from being broken into.
That camper was a real Blast
If that happens, take the box off and stick it on a new sprinter chassis.
there are these things called tire chains
The plan was to just stop and either turn around or wait it out if the conditions were bad enough to need chains. I’ve been through some serious winter storms in the Taco on ATs, and honestly, never had an issue, and having owned my chains for like 15 years, have used them a grand total of zero times, so I left them at home. Will probably bring them along next trip, one day I may even use them.
Definitely confirmed a couple issues I knew where there with the camper. 7500lb leveling jacks should be here this evening, and definitely adding a second battery, and looking at how I want to do the solar upgrade. Being off grid the single battery lasts a out 24 hours using the heater, and the 100w panel didn’t even come close to recharging it. Need some insulated panels for the windows around the bed, lots of cold radiating from those, and will add tank heaters at some point before camping in such cold weather again. Got a thin layer of iced around the fresh tank after day of mostly freezing temps abd a 19 degree night. Hit it with a halogen work light for 20 minutes and melted the bit blocking the fresh water pick up, after that it all thawed pretty quickly. Brake controller seems to be shitting the bed, it works one time after driving for a bit, then it’s either full brakes or nothing, oh well, now that I actually own a trailer it’s probably worth getting a decent one.
Otherwise, trailer was fine, truck was mostly fine, never dropped below 50 going uphill, but the headwinds on the flats were a bit rough. Need to wash everything, replace the shitter dump elbow I left at the KOA in Kingman and head back out soo
Having your own mobile, heated dining room for lunch stops is pretty prime.
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Go get a 25' roll of refletix at HD or Lowes cut it to fit door, windows and skylights. attach with industrial double lock velcro. The renogy moncrystalline 100 watt panels work well and will run you $198 and I am assuming your controller should be able to handle it. I have two group 31 agms and two of those panels and I almost never need my generator. I had to chain up all four wheels to get out of Yosemite after the roads iced over to get Ruth to the hospital after she slipped and broke her ankle. I never leave those sucker at home in the winter.
What brand and type of chains?
Laclede Heavy duty camlocks with heavy duty spider tensioners
my friend is using some Thule chains on his Transit.
Which of the many types that they offer?
check out faroutride.com he's got an article about them somewhere.
Thanks for this useful info. Getting ready to pull the trigger on new batteries for our Sprinter and may give these guys a shot. Any experience with Fullriver vs. Lifeline?
I've currently got two of these: Fullriver DC224-6 Deep-Cycle AGM Battery (FREE SHIPPING) | Battery Guys
By most accounts I've had super good luck, I've gotten more than 6 years out of them and they're just starting to fail. I'm thinking of bumping up to the DC250 for a little more juice. Pricing is about the same as Lifeline and I hear rumors they all come from the same manufacturers, but curious if you have any thoughts one way or the other. Definitely want sealed AGM's, they're not easily accessed for regular maintenance. Thanks!
You can have a look at https://www.rollsbattery.com/
They are far from cheap, but high quality. Mine is now 7 years old and no signs of loss of charge.
I just got 10 years of service from 2 lifeline group 31agms. I replaced them with two more AGMs from lifeline. Bought them from the battery guys too.
OOOOhhh fun time. I get to go play with the stinky slinky
not a Vanagon though. LT40 4x4 is my dream RV.
Replaced end of life CO detector with BRK CO250B.
The Sprinter's a 2019 3/4 ton 4WD cargo van, my tow and gear vehicle.
The CO detector was in the R-Pod.
ahhh....brainfart....distracted thinking...
Trailer peeps:
I want to box in the bottom of the frame on a casita. That's one of the fiberglass eggshell things, just has a basic I-beam steel frame on the bottom. The reason is winter insulation just to provide an air pocket between the frame and the floor.
I'm wondering what to use panel-wise. I know there's tons of sandwich board construction out there but this would be on the underside so it needs at least one side of it to be pretty burly for gravel, mud etc.
whatchoo got?
I want to box in the bottom of the frame on a casita. That's one of the fiberglass eggshell things, just has a basic I-beam steel frame on the bottom. The reason is winter insulation just to provide an air pocket between the frame and the floor.
I'm wondering what to use panel-wise. I know there's tons of sandwich board construction out there but this would be on the underside so it needs at least one side of it to be pretty burly for gravel, mud etc.
whatchoo got?
Thin marine grade plywood treated with bedliner to protect from road debris and moisture.
What's your budget?
I'd wager any of that sandwich board material would hold up fine if you painted the exposed side with a bedliner like Herculine or Line-X. Both are pretty tough in my experience.
Otherwise, a thin-ish sheet(s) of uhmw would certainly do the trick. Not the lightest option, but it would be great for impact resistance.
Not doing anything wood because I don't care how much it's treated salt water (winter here, salted roads) doesn't dry and just does weird things to wood, and always gets in there. People still frame snowmobile trailers with treated wood and that shit always gets weird. Considering this will be on the bottom it's just going to exacerbate things.
Not sandwich board but looking at something like this as well
www.corelitecomposites.com
uhmw on one side of a sandwich would be perfect
Not sandwich board but looking at something like this as well
CoreLite® Board - High Density Foam Board
CoreLite® Board is a high quality foam board engineered to provide high physical properties. Ideal for applications that require excellent screw retention.
www.corelitecomposites.com
uhmw on one side of a sandwich would be perfect
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