At a cross roads.

[Mo4130]

I am at a cross road. With my work schedule I need the ability to literally get home from work and turn around and go explore. Especially now being stationed on the east coast, that is even more of a requirement. I feel at this point that a sportsmobile is the only vehicle that would let me do what I want, in terms of exploring the back country on a moments notice. BUT here is the problem. The wife........one day she'll be all for tent camping, so we will load my my frontier and head out, but then the next day she'll be like "I really dont like to tent camp, (thus why we have a 16 foot travel trailer) and want to have a shower/toilet, but I also don't want to camp in a campground" But the issue is, who gets the trailer ready, filled with water, stocked with food and hooked up to the truck???? Me. I try to explain to her the limits of towing a trailer both in wear and tear on the truck and the fact that trailer would self destruct if taken on any real terrain, and why it isn't really conducive to what we like to do but she just doesn't get it. I get home after a patrol and the camper is disconnected and she is concerned with power usage of trickle charging the batteries, thus in all essence rendering the camper useless until it charges back up and totally going against everything I am trying to do.

She loves to ski and hike, but just cant seem to grasp the concept of keeping everything a ready to go condition. Due to my job in the Coast Guard, I trully understand the requirements for keeping A. everything is a ready to go status and B. everything needs to have a specific place. Every time I try to talk to her about it, she always gets super pissed and will be like "can't you be happy with what you have?" And I am just left there like ******. "You like to hike, camp and ski, but you don't like to sleep in a tent but also don't like to drive with a camper.... We both have hectic work schedules thus a sportsmobile would literally fit the bill of making it easy to just get up and go. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO CONVINCE HER!?!?!?!?!?


Rant off sorry about that.

 

[fog cutter]

$149.99 Las Vegas divorce? you could always stay friends.

 

[calicamper]

LOL just wait till you have kids you can toss your quick unplanned escapes out the window. Given the cost of a Sportsmobile and I'm Assuming your not the Chief of the USCG and unless your wife is the CEO of a company I'd shelve the Sportsmobile idea for some time in the future after the kids college fund is covered and the house is nearly paid off. Thats just me and my wife sits between the CEO and CFO and I'm not exactly the low man on the pay scale either. I told my wife no Tesla till she takes the CFO or CEO role at that point I really don't care what she drives ha ha.

If you have a pickup already take the wife to a RV show and have her look at the popup lighter weight campers without too much sales pressure from you. Simply point out that no towing is required the camper can sit on the truck loaded ready to go and that it would let you guys boon dock away from the crowded car park campgrounds. The quickest rigs I see to split town and set up at the other end that are more budget friendly and probably easier sell to the wife are the pickups with campers on them.

As for camping we made 4 trips this summer!! It started with my wife asking what I wanted for Christmas I told her camping trips this summer she laughed and I said no I'm serious! We hadn't been camping since my oldest now 6 was 2yrs old! So Christmas morning she hands me a box and in it was a home made Gift Certificate signed by my wife that said 6 day camping trip. I told her we needed to do one or two quick local trips to shake out the cobwebs in the gear and make sure we had everything she was cool with that. So two trips locally quick weekend trips which were allot of fun. Then our big trip which she was grumpy about and totally not into till about the 2nd day when we did a hike to some high elevation Sierra Lakes and she was just floored, after that she was into it. We did one more local trip with some friends. She commented that if we do more we need to start looking into ways to stream line our set up and tear down which case our current rig its as stream lined as it gets with that rig. Which means next step would be upgrading to a rig that has a onboard outside kitchen set up etc. I can see us moving to a FWC camper on a pickup and having a chow wagon / RTT gear trailer we tow to improve our set up time and tear down time.

 

[Mo4130]

hahahahahahahhah :********:

 

[Mo4130]

I try to explain the need for quick tear down set up time, and the excuse she always gives me is, we don't camp enough for that to be an issue. I then respond with we don't do it cause its a pain in the ***, women........

 

[fog cutter]

it's just like car-topping a 100-125# boat. it can be (and i have) done, but the preparations take so long that there are times when you won't use it at all. if it was already in or near the water, it's "ship ahoy".

 

[screwball48]

Take her to overland expo east this year. Let her walk around and check out all of the camping set ups.
If that doesn't work then sell your truck and come home with a vehicle a few years older with the steering wheel located on the right hand side. Then try to explain that even though you just bought it you still need to spend $$ on it to make it right.
Serious about an overland expo trip. One day at the Biltmore house for her, and one day at expo for you. She may understand keeping gear ready better after seeing some rigs at expo.


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[rlyoung112]

If you aren't going to take the plunge and say "Hey, I'm selling the trailer and buying this ____", then I would work on the smaller issues first. I'll not get into the whole stand up for yourself argument, it's moot.

But seems like you could really handle a few items to make your experience easier.

Explain to her how the draw from keeping the batteries trickle charged on the trailer is negligible. Not enough? Buy a solar setup and you're ready all the time.

ANY form of camping is going to take some preparations. You're still going to have to stock up on food whichever vehicle you take/own. And hooking up to the trailer is a matter of minutes really.

Wear and tear on the truck? Blah. You have to pay to play. A few cheap upgrades to the trailer/truck and you're in there. If the terrain is just terrible find a camp spot and then go explore in the truck. You said she doesn't like driving with the camper....why? Is she driving? Or just riding?

 

[Gtdad]

Well thankfully my wife is a little easier going...
That said , she will not camp in a tent either.
I bought a pop top camper like the sportsmobile last summer. I have it packed with gear and organized , converted all lights to led and whole bunch of little improvements. I am chef and like you I am a place for everything and everything in its place.
She loves how fast setup is, just pack food and clothes and whatever toys (bikes etc), She is totally happy with it now.
Sell your truck , camper etc and get a sportsmobile

 

[jdharrin]

just came here to second the comments on kiddos, get your setup dialed now cause let's just say they add a ton of variables. Also, 1 random thing i noticed, hitting the grocery on the way out of town tends to be so much easier then a pre-trip visit cause you're already "on vacation."

 

[carlo muro]

Sounds like you married a........woman.

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[davebsmb]

Sounds like you married a........woman.

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There's a big difference between a trailer with reasonably sized creature comforts and a compact vehicle like a SMB.

Each person has their preferences so before spending the big bucks I'd try to rent something similar to what you want to buy.

Both have to be happy and a Sportsmobile is a pricey vehicle. I'd also be factoring in what kind of weather you frequent. SMB + hot and muggy weather might be a deal breaker for some...it is for me anyway. Also the bathroom facilities in a Sportsmobile are a bit limited IMO. Small water tanks and virtually no gray water space keeps usage on the low side or you have to fill up/dump more than you would with most trailers. FWIW a porta pottie is not my cup of tea. I actually prefer the old backpacking method or an outside privy and bags... the shelter doubles as an outside shower in the warmer months. YMMV.

There are times where I wish I had a larger vehicle or trailer to use as a base camp. In my Sportsmobile, leaving camp means stowing everything prior to heading out. Not a big deal IMO but the thought of prepping a trailer and dragging it around makes me appreciate my SMB. Being able to just pull over and camp w/i minutes definitely has its advantages. I also use it as a daily driver so it's not like an RV that sits around for most of its life. I had considered a pop up camper but I need my pickup to haul stuff and setting the camper up prior to use or pulling it off so I'd get my camper back was a deal breaker for me.

 

[ofrod36]

take some time

Seriously, does she have mood swings? Take it to serious talk and find out what both of you will do.

 

[Arctic Travelller]

Some trips my wife loves, others not so much (harder 4 wheeling) Our van is perfect for those quick get aways to remote spots, but some of them don't interest her. Our easy solution is for her to only do the trips she likes, and let me do the others. Works for us (and were still happily married)

 

[Accrete]

; ) I cheated.

Not on my wife... but I shared with her the advantages of having a Van Conversion over our then TACO build + trailer. . . and told her the van and all its bling could double as her daily driver. She's never been happier with a vehicle purchase. And keeps it stocked with two weeks of food/water at all times so it is ready for adventure at all times.

Now my only van-related issue is keeping the dinner dates and roses going her way so she doesn't run off with the next guy who begs her to sell the van to them.

Cheers,
Thom