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?

Here is an example...

 

Now the outside temperature.

 

Now the temperature inside the RV. No the clock on the thermostat is wrong it has been changed forward yet... (D'Oh!)

 

So now if the solar panel where on the roof. There would be ZERO solar charging. So the RV would have to be parked out in the direct sun like my main house is and then suffer through 80*F temps inside the RV but you'd have solar power on the roof. This is the huge reason I will not mount the panels on the roof of the RV. Because like right now as the main house get hot for the day I can retreat to the RV and take a after noon nap if I wish or just watch DVD movie out there... Nice and cool and I've got power!

I decided that I might as well go with a 100W panel just because the price difference really isn't much.  Mounting will be mobile so I can throw it on the roof or lean it on a box on an extension chord.  

 

Father in law dropped off a generator that I am mulling over what to do with.  it's a 1000W unit, about 69 DB and too loud for my liking.  Too big to fit nice so I dunno.  I might use it or give it back.  

If the panel has a good aluminum frame you should be able to create some sort of folding legs with basic hardware. Then you'll be able to set it just about anywhere to catch the daylight for charging. Like this afternoon in the heat of the day went out and watch a DVD movie for about hour and had the water heater turned on to give the dog a bath with the outside shower. Last time I check the voltage I was still 13.2 with everything still running. Day before with everything shut down and just the panels out there is was bounce off the regulator cycling up and down at about 14.5 volts. I know it would be nice to have just a wee bit more power but when I go out boondocking I really don't need much typically there is no over the air TV, rare that I might watch DVD movie, but keeping the fridge, powered up is easy. Some use of lights at night is typically recovered in the morning hours. Water pump and furnace would be you biggest eaters. But you don't have fan forced heat nor do you have a full bath so you power requirement should be easy to cover with at 100 watt panel. I'll admit I'm a bit tight at times with mine would be nice to have 100w (7.1 Amps @ 14.0 volts) compared to 45w (3.2 amps @ 14 volts)

the price difference is less than $40.  

 

My wife is sleeping so maybe I will place an order 

I decided I better clean my radiator before this weekend's camping trip since the truck has been getting up to 210 pretty easy as of late.

 

I didn't wanna drain coolant so I just pulled the fan and the shroud and went to town on it while it was installed. 

 

A good bit of junk came out and I am happy to report that I can now just leave the tuner turned up and cruise up the pass without any heat issues.

 

25psi all the way up the pass doing 45 in 3rd.  Truck ate it up

 

Well a bit of a report on temps. 

 

Prior to cleaning, taking the camper up the pass, at 90* f ambient , would get coolant temps of 215-220*f

 

After cleaning, same route, same load, same temp, coolant sat right at 200*f 

Impressive change. It would do even more if you took it out and cleaned it  

Nah,

 

I just used very aggressive cleaner and some semi high pressure water.  It really blew out a lot of junk.

http://www.shopwurthusa.com/wurthstorefront/Chemical-Product/Cleaning-and-Care/Degreasers/Citrus-Degreaser-18-Fl-Oz/p/0890924

 

This stuff is worth it's weight in gold

Edited June 20, 20168 yr by Me78569