post up your camping pics

[Zoomad75]

Maiden voyage with the FWC camper on the K5. Nothing but confidence trying it out for the first time over 1000 miles from home. From the Mojave road CA.





On the AZ strip


Tuweep, north rim of the grand canyon.


I'll pull the whole trip together over here after I get the report completed.

[Billhilly]

Great pic's Rob! I think the only way it could be better would be if it was a '72 Blazer With one of Larry's big blocks in it! Looking forward to the rest of the pictures!

[Average Joe]

Greats pictures guys! Thanks for sharing.

[dieseldawg142]

finally got around to finishing the roof on my camper. two coats of Alsan RS, stuff i brought home from work, a two part PMMA resin. added about 7 or 8 lbs to the camper, but roof is 100% for the next 30 yrs or so....one less thing to worry 'bout....ever
still need to replace the ceiling panel in the overhead, escape hatch got ripped off and wrecked in a storm, ceiling panel got a little wrinkled. at least i still had the old hatch cover (it was just grungy) so i put it back on for now. ceiling will haft to wait, heading out next week for 10 days....ya-hoo

[dieseldawg142]

love Alsan...almost half a inch of rain last nite
doing exactly what it's supposed to, keeping everything dry...see how the water just beads up.....barely on and put to the test already..lol

[GSP7]

What kind of roof is that rubber, metal

My Lance Camper had a thick aluminum sheet metal roof on top of solid ply wood, like it was made to use as a deck.
Lance built a high quality Camper

I just did my 5th wheel roof, rubber, a few weeks ago

[dieseldawg142]

my camper roof is a sheet of aluminum over plywood, the Alsan is neither rubber or metal, but an extremely hi-performance 2 part PMMA resin.

it's properties are beyond me, i'm not a chemist, but i know it DOES work, and works well.
some info on PMMA roof coatings

http://rci-online.org/wp-content/upl...11-goodrum.pdf

easy to mix up (just like bondo), easy to apply-brush or roller app only, hardens but stays flexible, is good to go after about 15 mins drying time, can be applied to just about any kind of surface, is practically indestructible once fully cured-impervious to chemicals, oil, gas, can be applied practically anywhere (even vertically and upside down)
foot traffic, and even vehicle traffic does not affect or hurt it.
down side, it's not cheap....but nothing good ever is...it only cost me some time, we have Alsans at our shop, but i prob used about $50-70 bucks worth of it if i had to go buy it...speaking of, you will most likely never find this stuff at your local hardware or builder store. usually it will have to come from a dedicated roofing supplier

we did a "floating" roof over a poop tank at the sewage plant couple yrs ago. we put down a 2-ply torch-on membrane, then spent $35 000 (ya, that's not a typo..) coating it with 2 layers of Alsans.
the Alsans was put over the torch-on to protect it when the floating roof gets all the "clinkers" (poop particles) pressure washed off the roof....without the Alsans, the pressure washers would strip the torch-on membrane like nothing in no time. according to the engineers, the roof should have at least a 30-40 yr life span with constant pressure washings
my camper roof is for all practical purposes, "done for life"

this stuff is great for rv roofs where there is lots of protrusions thru the roof (screws, vents, roof racks, skylites, AC units, fridge vents, etc, etc.....) nothing out there that is better or easier to seal these protrusions than Alsans.
a 25 lb pail, i used about 1/4 of it to do two heavy coats- i figure about 6-8 lbs or so up on my roof

[Benjamin]

Looks like a fun trip Rob.

[dieseldawg142]

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by dieseldawg142

Attachment 1798238Attachment 1798239Attachment 1798242Attachment 1798243Attachment 1798244

With no less than 5 active wildfires going on right now in Colorado, the idea of a fire at camp like that might find you locked up if they caught you. We are so dry here a minor spark can have the ability to burn thousands of Acres and it's only the beginning of July. One entire forest in the soutwest part of the state is completely shut down to any recreational activities. Camping, wheeling, hiking, fishing is not allowed. You can't even drive or walk in without a signed permission from the local forest rangers.

I fear our mountains might look like a bunch of burnt matches by the end of the summer if the drought keeps up.

[Zoomad75]

Did a quick overnighter with my buddy Bill to a cool trail here in Colorado. Red Cone pass is listed as extreme, not really a rock crawling trail although there is some of that on it. It's extreme due to the climb and descent to the summit. Tops out at 12,801ft above sea level. The trail runs right up the ridge or spine of the mountain to the top. So you get the thrill of drop offs on BOTH sides of the truck, not just one. Oh and the Descent down is way worse than the climb up.



Lots of time in the trees while climbing is tight for a full size. Even worse when running with a house on the back. But coming out of the trees is the trail to the top.


The dots you see on the trail are Jeeps. The climb gets steep here. All I could see was hood and sky.


Closer.


An idea of the sheer drop out the driver's side window. That's a long way down.



Up top.


The downhill run. To give an idea of the steepness, coming down I had my seatbelt locked and was leaning forward into it from gravity. Otherwise I'd be under the steering wheel. The last section had me standing on the brake pedal with BOTH feet and the truck was still lurching down an inch or two at a time. Hydroboost is in my future for sure. My gopro was running as I was too busy to take pics as I had my hands full.


Still a great trail to run. We took some easier stuff for the way home. Good way to beat the heat of the front range.

[Zoomad75]

Bummer on the fridge. I'm happy I dumped the original fridge in my camper from 1982. I plugged it into 110 and it seemed to start working, but it was right where I wanted my seat to lean back to. So it had to go.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

Bummer on the fridge. I'm happy I dumped the original fridge in my camper from 1982. I plugged it into 110 and it seemed to start working, but it was right where I wanted my seat to lean back to. So it had to go.

don't find it tough out in the hot sun with no cold drinks? or do you have some other way of cooling? we are open to any kind of suggestions...
biggest dilema we're facing is wether or not to replace it....paid $1500 for the camper about 10 yrs ago, do i really want to spend $1500 for a fridge?
i would in a heartbeat if...if we had'nt outgrown it. my wife and i used to sleep in the overhead and my son would sleep in a cupboard flip down above the table, but this yr he has grown much too big to fit up there, so he got the overhead and wife and me got the table fold down bed...prob is the table fold down is only 5' 5", and i'm just under 6', as is my son, so putting him down there still causes child abuse...lol.... normally i look forward to sleeping in the camper, i always seem to sleep like a baby out in the bush, but not this time...got to the point i was opening the door in the middle of the nite and letting my feet hang outside...only thing is we all got eated by skeeters...
we might just try find a reasonable used fridge and then sell it and get something with a little more room. easier to sell with a working fridge than a non-working...

have'nt popped the wheel off my son's quad yet, but here's my tailpipe off the stepper. was a Flowmaster cat-back system i put on there in '04, guess i can't really complain, got almost 15 yrs of service out of it for it got rotten..


and when we were putting the quad trailer away, this happened to my trailer dolly...ever try to push a 1600 lb trailer over gravel with just the little plastic wheel on the leg?...maybe it's time to go climb under a rock until Murphy gets the heck outta my business...lol

[Greenlee]

Looks like an awesome trip (even with the mechanical failures)!

[3757chevy]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

[Zoomad75]

don't find it tough out in the hot sun with no cold drinks? or do you have some other way of cooling? we are open to any kind of suggestions...
biggest dilema we're facing is wether or not to replace it....paid $1500 for the camper about 10 yrs ago, do i really want to spend $1500 for a fridge?

Right now I use a roto-molded cooler. Keeps ice for 7 days in the camper. I will be getting a 12v/110v chest style fridge though. My cooler was $100 at wally world.

As you found the 3way fridges are problematic. I'd go with a straight 12v or 12v/110v unit. Check these guys out https://www.truckfridge.com/truckfridge-models/ They mainly sell fridges for over the road trucks, but with some careful measurements, you might be able to match one up. Not sure about the exchange rate to Oh-Canada, but prices are pretty fair. I'm strongly looking at the chest fridges they have as they are half of what my buddy paid for his Snomaster we brought on the desert trip.

Kids do have that pesky problem about getting bigger/taller over time. If bears aren't an issue I'd get him a tent and let him sleep in the great outdoors! Either that or it's time to start shopping for a bigger camper.

[dieseldawg142]

can't really complain about the service i got out of it Rob!, 10 yrs with zero probs 'till now, and it is 30 yrs old...turns out too many ruff roads did it in, i found a crack where a tube goes into the boiler...just having a hard time justfying dropping $1500 for a new fridge into a camper that we outgrew...

well, after looking at all kinds of fridges and the money they command, i think i found a solution to my problems. i only paid $1500 for my camper orig. and prob only have another $2-300 in it over the yrs, so i don't want to spend lots, and i could only find a couple used rv fridges up here, and only 1 will fit and it's 600 miles each way away.....
then i came across this and am going to check it out on sat...


our camper is an 8', '89 Travl-Mate, this camper is a 8', '88 Travl-Mate-it's an exact match in every detail, right down to the upholstery, same layout-everthing, even has the same red stripes as ours had before i re-did them green, which is pretty rare as Travl-Mate's were made in the Okanogan and they did'nt make a lot of these ones. as you can see it has some serious damage where the jack used to be, but the fridge and all other appliances work perfect. besides the fridge (direct drop in, exact match) there is a bunch of other stuff we can salvage from it, and the guy wants 400 clams firm for it, less money than the 600 mile away fridge i was looking at.
going to ask the guy to fire up the fridge on fri before i come, if it's good, i'll need to borrow a truck from work, would'nt trust jacking that thing up the 46" needed to clear my crewcab bed....lol
a good sign though, they still use it, damage and all


wife and i have decided to sell our old faithful, we plain outgrew it, but a $400 investment could pay off, easier to sell and worth more with all the appliances working than with a frapped fridge.
we have decided to sell it cause were looking at this.........

[dieseldawg142]

...it's a '91 Lance, 9' 6", and it's in real nice shape, i like the awning..
wife really likes it, but we have to make sure the table fold down bed is longer than 5' 5"!
guy is looking to get $4500 for it...

[Zoomad75]

That Lance looks nice. Makes my little FWC seem like a clubhouse in comparison.

But, I'm 6 foot tall and can sleep in the overhead or lower bench. The overhead is actually a few inches wider than I am tall, so I have lots of room up there.


No sink, no crapper, no stove inside, but the trade off in size pays off that I can drive mine deeper into the sticks and camp anywhere I want.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

No sink, no crapper.

you must have a very good wife!
the one concession i have to make to wifey when rv shopping, it's got to have a toilet...myself i could care less, i'm like a bear when i'm in the woods, the miss'us, nope, nada, no way....which kinda sucks, i like a 8 foot camper so i can shut the tailgate, but a bathroom in a 8 sure eats up the room...

ya, our overhead is like yours, plenty-o-room, but the fridge cuts the table bed down to 5-5. and i'm a realist, i know my rig is pretty big out in the bush, but it gets us to where there is "no people around for miles aroma". it's the width that i find can be annoying, height and length ain't a problem, a wide full size camper in the bush is...and we still got the quads to get further out when needed.
my wife and me used to sleep in the back of my K5 25 yrs ago, but there is no way in hake she will do it anymore. but my son and me unloaded the camper yesterday, we're thinking putting the canopy back on the truck and grabbing the tent and going out next weekend...


last time we had this on the truck was before we picked up the camper-many, many years...

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by dieseldawg142

you must have a very good wife!
the one concession i have to make to wifey when rv shopping, it's got to have a toilet...myself i could care less, i'm like a bear when i'm in the woods, the miss'us, nope, nada, no way....which kinda sucks, i like a 8 foot camper so i can shut the tailgate, but a bathroom in a 8 sure eats up the room...

She's ok with somewhat primitive camping. We've tent camped a lot, but most of the time we were really car camping at a lake with her sister's family, so it was in a campground with decent facilities within walking distance.

Last year's run to Pearl pass was the first time since College that she's gone wheeling/camping with me. That's going on 20+ years ago. As things happen, she can't take the heat of staying on the front range camping at any lake when the temps are high and little to no chance for air conditioning. (heat can trigger her MS to flare up ugly) But last years trip proved she could still camp, not get hot as it's easily 20degrees cooler in the higher elevations. The only issue on Pearl pass was actually getting cold because it dipped deep into the 40's to high 30's at night and we didn't have heavy enough bags to sleep in. The idea of a camper with a furnace where she didn't have to sleep on an air mattress and freeze her tail off was instrumental to me getting the FWC camper in the first place.

She won't go on every run, but we can also do some closer runs just to get into the hills for the weekend and be less "wheeling" and more camping/hanging out and relaxing.

We've got another trip planned with the two families we went over Pearl Pass with the weekend after next. We won't be hitting any hairy trails like last time, but it's still in a great area and fun to go through. It will be in the central mountains in our normal go-to wheeling spot, but this time we'll hit Pomeroy Lakes, Hancock lake & pass and possibly Tomichi Pass with a return on Old Monarch pass. They are fun trails, but some of the group not as used to the off road stuff voted to take it easier this time. (hopefully, they don't look up details on Tomichi pass as it's a narrow shelf up and down)

[MTCK]

Pre-camping pic. Been catching up on maintenance. Fridge needs a new thermostat, removed the lift jacks, cleaned and treated the rubber roof and touched up a bunch of the seals with silicone.

At least the fridge is stuck in the compressor always on state. If I drink the beer fast enough it won’t freeze.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Pre-camping pic. Been catching up on maintenance. Fridge needs a new thermostat, removed the lift jacks, cleaned and treated the rubber roof and touched up a bunch of the seals with silicone.

At least the fridge is stuck in the compressor always on state. If I drink the beer fast enough it won’t freeze.

nice looking pop-up MTCK!
what kind is that?
we actually looked at a pop-up last mon, a 9' Palamino...but unfortunatley it had no toilet so wife scratched that one off the list...

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Pre-camping pic. Been catching up on maintenance. Fridge needs a new thermostat, removed the lift jacks, cleaned and treated the rubber roof and touched up a bunch of the seals with silicone.

At least the fridge is stuck in the compressor always on state. If I drink the beer fast enough it won’t freeze.

dang MTCK! i keep looking at your set-up...
now i'm wanting a pop top, liking how they look on a crew, do you have a pic of it folded down too?

guy with the lance is on holidays so cant do anything till next week sometime, also might go look at this Bigfoot. it's in pretty nice shape


and seeing how i have to empty the poop tank (even though i never use it...) this toilet i might actually use-i like the window, room wit a view...


also spotted this gem for sale....only problem is it came from where my crewcab came from, in fact not too far down the road from where i bought my crew. other thing is, it is almost a 900 mile round trip....it cost me over $400 in fuel bringing my crew home...and gas was waaaaay cheaper 20 yrs ago..........
wish it was closer...


and to keep the wife happy, also included...


could'nt really belive my eyes when i ran across this......thing
and i thought my camper was too big in the bush...really liking the carpeted stairs to the "upper level deck"...
you mite need polysporin for your eyes after seeing this....
https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rch/...643627353.html

[MTCK]

PS get the lance, DD!