Sedro F. Woolley
New member
My wife and I have had a 200 Ford Ranger Extracab 4wd truck and a 1991 Jayco Sportster pop up for around 12 years now. We have really enjoyed camping with the rig in out of the way places across the western US and BC, but have probably put the truck and camper both through more abuse than they were meant to take, especially on rough back roads. The truck seems to be hanging in there fine, but with the 3.0 L v-6, it has always been way under-powered with the camper on it. The camper has a variety of issues including a slightly bunged-up roof (from an unfortunate encounter with a low-hanging eave at a drive-through coffee place), a partially failed crank-up lift system (long story there involving a missed roof latch late at night, repair of the system, a second failure, etc.), and areas of rot in the frame. We love the coziness of the camper, especially combined with the more tent-like, connected to outside feel you get with the fabric sides. We aren't up for doing a complete rehab on the Jayco, though, and it wasn't built for the stress and strain of rough roads in the first place. So, we're looking at upgrading.
Right now we're looking at buying a 2009 Tacoma 4wd with a 2011 Finch Four Wheel pop up. From looking at the rig itself and all we have read about both the truck and Four Wheel campers, it seems like a pretty ideal combo for us. It's kind of a stretch for us financially, though, and we want to make sure it's the right choice before we shell out. So we have some questions we'd like to run by folks out there who have experience with the Finch and/or other Four Wheel or similar campers. Rather than putting them all in one post, I think I'll post one at a time, or at least by one general subject area at a time. I'm thinking I'll post them on Wander the West as well, so apologies to those who frequent both sites.
First, questions about the bed, especially for couples who own, have owned, or have used campers such as the Finch with the fore and aft/north-south bed configuration. How has that worked out for you? Not looking for salacious details here (and not that the moderators would allow them anyway), just wondering how you find getting in and out, especially in the middle of the night. Did it take some getting used to? If you have also used campers like our Sportster with an east-west bed configuration, what is your preference?
Another difference between the old Sportster and the Finch is that with the Jayco, we could just leave the bed made up while we were traveling. With the Finch, though, you have to pull out a bunch of the cushions that form the mattress when you slide the platform back in and it doesn't seem like you can leave much of anything (bedding, for example) on top of the remaining cushion when you drop the lid. Not sure about the latter, so there's a question in itself. Beyond that, we're really curious as to what "short cuts" people may have come up with to mitigate the tedious need to make up and unmake the bed every day. Sleeping bags seem like one fairly obvious solution, but they can get kind of hot and sticky in warmish weather. We were thinking we could maybe take a couple of queen-sized top sheets and sew the bottom edges together so we could just spread them out on top of the cushions without having to tuck them in, then, depending on how cold it is at night, chuck a blanket or two and/or a comforter on top of that. Anyway, we're hoping someone has come up with some creative alternatives to making and unmaking these beds and would love to find out what they are.
More questions to come. Thanks in advance for "entertaining" them.
John
Right now we're looking at buying a 2009 Tacoma 4wd with a 2011 Finch Four Wheel pop up. From looking at the rig itself and all we have read about both the truck and Four Wheel campers, it seems like a pretty ideal combo for us. It's kind of a stretch for us financially, though, and we want to make sure it's the right choice before we shell out. So we have some questions we'd like to run by folks out there who have experience with the Finch and/or other Four Wheel or similar campers. Rather than putting them all in one post, I think I'll post one at a time, or at least by one general subject area at a time. I'm thinking I'll post them on Wander the West as well, so apologies to those who frequent both sites.
First, questions about the bed, especially for couples who own, have owned, or have used campers such as the Finch with the fore and aft/north-south bed configuration. How has that worked out for you? Not looking for salacious details here (and not that the moderators would allow them anyway), just wondering how you find getting in and out, especially in the middle of the night. Did it take some getting used to? If you have also used campers like our Sportster with an east-west bed configuration, what is your preference?
Another difference between the old Sportster and the Finch is that with the Jayco, we could just leave the bed made up while we were traveling. With the Finch, though, you have to pull out a bunch of the cushions that form the mattress when you slide the platform back in and it doesn't seem like you can leave much of anything (bedding, for example) on top of the remaining cushion when you drop the lid. Not sure about the latter, so there's a question in itself. Beyond that, we're really curious as to what "short cuts" people may have come up with to mitigate the tedious need to make up and unmake the bed every day. Sleeping bags seem like one fairly obvious solution, but they can get kind of hot and sticky in warmish weather. We were thinking we could maybe take a couple of queen-sized top sheets and sew the bottom edges together so we could just spread them out on top of the cushions without having to tuck them in, then, depending on how cold it is at night, chuck a blanket or two and/or a comforter on top of that. Anyway, we're hoping someone has come up with some creative alternatives to making and unmaking these beds and would love to find out what they are.
More questions to come. Thanks in advance for "entertaining" them.
John
