I have put my foot down and finally got approval to buy a camper.  I am tired of packing for camping.  I am tired of loading random bins into the truck to go camping, but mostly I am sick of tents, I am sick of sticky small tents haha. 

 

I have been looking into used Truck bed campers of the Popup variety.   We do a lot of off the beaten road camping so a large camper isn't going to happen.  We also have goals of getting a horse trailer at some point and going places to ride for a weekend. 

 

So that leaves me with the popup slide in style.  Am I off base here?   We have ~$2000-$3000 budget for this.  I have been looking on Craigslist for a few weeks now and spotted a few that would work, anywhere from $700-$5000.   Most have good roofs and canvas, but beyond that I am not sure what I am looking for.  Anything I should be looking for?  Any brands that I should be avoiding?

Ah here you go... Local outfitter. Small bones Eh? It's still a trout... Steelhead...

5 hours ago, Me78569 said:

Terrible terrible fish that ain't good for nothin other than their small bones getting lodged in your throat.

I won't eat them but they are the only thing you can catch in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. So it's catch and release for me.  

22 hours ago, Me78569 said:

Well I am happy to report that we made it through the night.

 

I will without a doubt have to buy a dehumidifier though.  Way to much moisture for my liking.

Won't the combustion process of a ventless heater make humidity worse?

Yep it will.

 

 

However we opened each of the windows last night about 1" and there is no longer a moisture issue.

Battery held strong at 12.2-12.3v after 2.5 days of lights, radio and charging devices.  Pretty dang happy with that.

 

burned about 1/2 bottle of propane heating the camper for 2 days / nights in near 0 temps. 

 

Couple of issues, broke the overhead vent thanks to the lovely 11 mile res winds.  Also the front vinyl window is pulling out.   It was glued in, but that is not working.    Gotta figure out how to get that window back in place permanently.  

What's wrong with a little 100 MPH tape for both problems? ☺

100 mph tape?

 

 

The handy mans secret weapon

Duct tape

Nothing wrong with it is there?

 

Edited February 15, 20169 yr by Mopar1973Man

I was going to tell you to be very careful buying a popup for the reasons you listed, but I see you already pulled the trigger!! :-)

Looks like a nice setup and I bet you can't wait to use it.

 

I do have a couple questions thou..

Why don't you want to use 12V power when camping?

Why remove a forced air furnace? Cold weather camping will be less enjoyable without one and a canvas walled camper, even if you keep it cool in there.

Why not use a good 120V 3 stage converter? They are smart chargers that provide all the 12V power you need as well as properly charge/maintain the battery.

 

 

You may have answered some of those in the course of the thread but the website is not cooperating right now and I cannot get all the pages to load.

Edited February 15, 20169 yr by AH64ID

23 minutes ago, AH64ID said:

I was going to tell you to be very careful buying a popup for the reasons you listed, but I see you already pulled the trigger!! :-)

Looks like a nice setup and I bet you can't wait to use it.

 

I do have a couple questions thou..

Why don't you want to use 12V power when camping?

Why remove a forced air furnace? Cold weather camping will be less enjoyable without one and a canvas walled camper, even if you keep it cool in there.

Why not use a good 120V 3 stage converter? They are smart chargers that provide all the 12V power you need as well as properly charge/maintain the battery.

 

 

You may have answered some of those in the course of the thread but the website is not cooperating right now and I cannot get all the pages to load.

I think he is bored and is modifying it for the sake of modification... If a page won't load for me it will if I reload while on that blank page.

Edited February 15, 20169 yr by CSM

I am running 12v power.  the old converter was a 6 amp converter so I upgraded that with a Server power supply that puts out 26 amps at a stable 12v.  I have a group 31 that worked well last weekend. after a full weekend of camping with running the radio and lights I measured the battery when I got home and showed 12.3ish

 

I removed the forced air system because it takes 12v to run.  I installed a ventless heater that requires only propane.  Keeps the camper toast even well below 32*F.  worked really well this weekend.

 

If / when I do plug into 120v it will still work the same, but I don't care to charge the battery.  I have a smart changer already that I can just plug in and have it charge the battery, but I would rather not install that into the camper as I need it for other things.

A stable 12V? Is that 12.0?

Does the battery charge when hooked to the truck?

12.3 isn't bad, nearly depleted but still just above 50%.

 

A vent-less propane heater will work well until you get wet, then it will be very difficult to dry anything.

Using 12V when camping isn't a big deal.

The converter puts out exactly 12.0v

 

Battery does not charge via 120v --> 12v convertor.  I have the battery wired with a kill switch that allows me to plug into the 7 pin trailer wiring and charge on the road when driving then disconnect the battery from the truck so as to not drain the truck batteries. 

 

everything I have read shows 12.1 as %50 am I reading things wrong? 

 

Heater worked very well and dried off my VERY wet boots overnight. 

Gotcha, it's a power supply for when on 120V, but won't charge anything.

 

I always understood 12.2V as 50%, unless things have changed recently? I am not sure why they would thou.

 

Did the battery charge on the drive home?

 

The heater may dry something directly in front of it but propane exhaust contains water so humidity is hard to fight.

 

 

exactly converter for when on 120v source, otherwise 12v from the battery.  

 

No idea on the volts per usage.   I guess we will see.  

 

I made my 7 pin cable too short so no it didn't charge, but that was cause it wasn't plugged in  feel kinda stupid.

 

Yea the propane puts off some moisture, had to keep most windows cracked, but it stayed dry the 2nd day after I changed the window openness.

5 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Nothing wrong with it is there?

 

Haha! Looks like a 24 hours of Lemons car!

Well the Wife and I, most wife with my encouragement, have decided to replace the canvas.  Figured it held up good for almost 30 years, we might as well give it a fresh start.  

 

Taking the canvas off showed a couple issues that I need to take care of.   About $20 worth of wood needed and some time spent.  

 

I am going to spend some time resealing the roof corners and the corners of the bottom ledge of the canvas.  Things actually look a little better than I was expecting.

Pictures... Come on Nick this is worthless without pictures...