Quantcast

Campers

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,938
13,133
Portland, OR
Sportsmobile makes some sick van conversions. Now they use the Sprinters and Ford Transit to make some sick rigs for way too much money.

<edit> They make a Lopes 55 special. :rofl:

 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,838
6,145
Yakistan
And it STILL looks like a bargain compared to an Earthroamer.
Yeah like a 1/4 of an Earthroamer. Yikes.

I'll keep my pickup canopy, sheet of plywood, and rei inflatable sleeping pad. Maybe in another Era I'll be able to cough up the dough and have enough time to utilize such a treat.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,938
13,133
Portland, OR
So the wife and I are nearing ready to pull the trigger on a smallish one. A friend has a gently used R-pod we could likely get a sweet deal, but she thinks it is just a little too small. I have drawn the line at 22 feet unless we do end up using it as a business, then I'll go to 26. With just the 2 of us, we don't need much. But if we are looking at 7+ day trips, something a little bigger would be nice.
 
Having finally installed a voltmeter and recorded its readings over about a week, I have decided that batteries probably want replacement next spring.

Under whatever the base load is, battery voltage seems to drop by about 0.1 V/day.

When on, the converter should charge the batteries, then drop down to trickle charge at 13.2 volts, but has now remained in normal mode at 13.7 V for two days.
 

BadDNA

hophead
Mar 31, 2006
4,257
231
Living the dream.
Solar charging system FTW.

I think the base load in mine included some small always-on appliances like the gas detector, etc. The battery that came in my rig was drained after sitting in my driveway the first week I owned it. The sticker said it was the original battery, installed in 2011, so I replaced it and then, to maintain my system while off the grid, installed 200W of solar panels with a controller. No issues since.
 
Towed the R-Pod roughly 2,200 miles to Brevard, NC and back over the course of a week. Had the coupler separate from the hitch in Huntingdon. PA, amazingly with no significant damage. Eammon and I are still discussing probable cause.

The camper was a very comfortable, albeit cramped, residence.Learned a lot about whether or not to make site reservations, and benefited from a National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Senior pass.Translate that into a 50% discount on site fees.

The rig has a spray head in the black water tank, idea is you hook a garden hose up to a port in the side of the trailer, turn it on, and it cleans the tank. Tried that before, it seemed to work. Tried it today and discovered that there's a check/vacuum break valve installed in an inaccessible area that's prone to misinstallation or failure, which proceeded to spray water in the wall rather than direct the water to the spray head in the tank. Of course, it did that; I'm trying to decide where/how to cut a hole in the wall to address the issue. :rant:
 

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,504
In hell. Welcome!
Towed the R-Pod roughly 2,200 miles to Brevard, NC and back over the course of a week. Had the coupler separate from the hitch in Huntingdon. PA, amazingly with no significant damage. Eammon and I are still discussing probable cause.

The camper was a very comfortable, albeit cramped, residence.Learned a lot about whether or not to make site reservations, and benefited from a National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Senior pass.Translate that into a 50% discount on site fees.

The rig has a spray head in the black water tank, idea is you hook a garden hose up to a port in the side of the trailer, turn it on, and it cleans the tank. Tried that before, it seemed to work. Tried it today and discovered that there's a check/vacuum break valve installed in an inaccessible area that's prone to misinstallation or failure, which proceeded to spray water in the wall rather than direct the water to the spray head in the tank. Of course, it did that; I'm trying to decide where/how to cut a hole in the wall to address the issue. :rant:
Try it nao?
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,187
13,446
directly above the center of the earth
John go to an RV place or WalMart and get a toilet wand. PVC with 4 holes at the end and a shut off valve where it connects to the hose. Its about 3 feet long. You insert it into the toilet and use it to spray out the inside of the black tank. Also Filling the tank with water ice and salt then driving around a bit after dumping will really clean it out
 
Last edited:

junkyard

You might feel a little prick.
Sep 1, 2015
2,601
2,303
San Diego
When ever I look in my tank after dumping it looks clean, what I can see at least. Is this really something I should be doing?