New to us Conqueror Compact

[Power Wagon Family]

This is Mills Canyon NM awesome secluded location tight little shelf road leading to the campground so not to many visitors.
Another pic

 

[Hilldweller]

This is Mills Canyon NM awesome secluded location tight little shelf road leading to the campground so not to many visitors.
Another pic
View attachment 189210

Cool; I'll have to put that on my list.
We've camped on the Marietta Baldy and along the Rio Chama. Also around Las Cruces, Bandolier, and Ruidoso but never in that area.
Which leads me to a question. Why does it always snow when I go to Ruidoso? I mean always...

 

[Power Wagon Family]

Hill,
Question for you
Our compact came with a 12x16 green heavy tarp like thing with brass grommets around the outside. Is this a shade of some sort that goes over the tent on the trailer? In one of your pics (don't remember where i saw it) it looks like you had one on yours. Was yours round or rectangle like this one?

Thanks
Corey

 

[Hilldweller]

We had a form-fitted square, about 20x20'. It was sewn in a way that it fit over the tent perfectly.
Not really hard to put up and kept the tent bone dry.
For traveling light and fast though, major drag. Putting it away properly was never a very fast enterprise, especially wet...

I had to dig this one out of moth balls.
Notice the technique for heavy rain. Pitch the corners low to keep water from pooling and bringing the bit-top down.

 

[Power Wagon Family]

Thanks for the reply, ok yeah you have something different then what I have mine is a 12x16 rectangle. Going to try and see how it fits this weekend. I will post a pic or too.

 

[mtnbike28]

I think I have the 12x16. It's easy to deploy. Re-fold it in the yard before you go. Laid out, the long side has 2 seams that line up with the edges of the tent, fold each side over in thirds and roll up. After you set up the tent, stand on the kitchen side wheel well and "throw" the roll over the tent and let it roll down the other side. Then pull back the kitchen size to desired overhand and start setting up poles. I set the 4 middle ones first including the lines and then move to corners. I can do this this all by myself. Another hint, go to Lowes/Home Depot and buy rubber feet. If rain threatens, rather than laying the poles at angles like Bill has in his picture, just break the holes and cover the end of shortened pole. I usually set my lines so I can slide the length for full pole height and short height without re-stacking. I hope that makes sense.....

 

[Hilldweller]

... Another hint, go to Lowes/Home Depot and buy rubber feet. If rain threatens, rather than laying the poles at angles like Bill has in his picture, just break the holes and cover the end of shortened pole. I usually set my lines so I can slide the length for full pole height and short height without re-stacking. I hope that makes sense.....

I see what you're saying.
I bought telescopic poles and also did the shortie thing like you ---- but with my huge tarp, the angle thing actually worked better and allowed faster fine tuning. When the big rains came, they came fast, hard, and windy.

We were in SC camping with Kenny & Rachel and got some 60 mph winds and insane lightning/rain. They didn't have their big-top deployed and got about 3" rain inside the "tub" of the tent. Their EZ-Up also got mangled.

Here's their trailer in good weather:

Here it is after the storm:

 

[Power Wagon Family]

Mtnbike,
Thanks for chiming in! So glad to hear you have the same cover I do. The wife and I will prepare the cover as you recommended and then pack it away to try it out this weekend! The cap idea for the poles is great, we get more wind then rain here but good to have a plan.

 

[Power Wagon Family]

Hill,
Did you flip your storage boxes to the kitchen non tent side? I think it would work better for us on that side. I thought I read somewhere that someone did this.

 

[Hilldweller]

Hill,
Did you flip your storage boxes to the kitchen non tent side? I think it would work better for us on that side. I thought I read somewhere that someone did this.

I kept the Wolfpacks on the tent side. We'd take them out and put them on the floor of the tent; they stored clothing. We used them as seats inside the tent.
It turns into a royal hassle trying to open the tentside door from inside the tent. You have to close the bed, etc. We were much happier removing the boxes and declaring victory.

I built a shelf in back above the fridge; it held 4 Tupperware containers with dry food.
The slide housed the fridge and heater. The heater came inside the tent with one of the propane bottles when temperatures warranted it.

And I built a series of shelves on the open side. One fit the stove very tightly. The others fit the pots/pans/grates and other cooking wares that didn't fit by the dishes.

 

[alia176]

We had a form-fitted square, about 20x20'. It was sewn in a way that it fit over the tent perfectly.
Not really hard to put up and kept the tent bone dry.
For traveling light and fast though, major drag. Putting it away properly was never a very fast enterprise, especially wet...

Well Corey, what we played with yesterday on your trailer looks nothing like what's in this picture! However, our wives were amused and disappointed at the outcome :coffeedrink: Hopefully, you can order the correct awning from the vendor.

 

[Hilldweller]

One other thing about the "big top", the edges were boxed and had a huge Velcro patch the entire length. There were walls available to attach to the top ---- doors, windows, screens, etc. You could turn the thing into a fairly big apartment.

 

[alia176]

One other thing about the "big top", the edges were boxed and had a huge Velcro patch the entire length. There were walls available to attach to the top ---- doors, windows, screens, etc. You could turn the thing into a fairly big apartment.

I saw this "big top" setup on a friend's Conqueror few years back at Pismo. He had it setup in the manner you described and it was a great way to get out of the wind. That big top is pretty sweet if you're staying put for a few days.

We experienced heavy winds over the weekend and I wonder if the big top would've fared well. Where we were camping, there was no wind break so our Kamparoo was rocking pretty heavily one night.

 

[Power Wagon Family]

Yeah definitely not the correct tarp/cover here are a few pics of the compact on its second outing.

 

[alia176]

Here is a picture of the tarp that we had to work with. Yup, it was a head scratcher!!