Birth of My Kimberley Karavan

shellb

Adventurer
Very cool Brad. Like others, I look forward to your first trip report when work calms down for you!

Does the longer bench seat fold flat to make an additional place to sleep? That would be a great option for us with kiddos that are still camping vs. the outside tent extension.
 

Tucson T4R

Expedition Leader
No, the bench seat doesn't fold down into into a bed. I agree it would be a great option. The bench is big enough for a younger child but nothing more. You could come up with a platform off the bench that slept a couple young monkeys. :sombrero:

I spent about 4 hours today installing the inverter. The pain was the the small area to work in and the need to install it upside down in the roof of the cabinet.

i-Pkwqfjm-L.jpg


The good thing is it's done. :victory: Now just pack up my stuff and go play.

The first trip will just be a short check out run in the local mountains this month. The first decent trip will be in October when I support my son in a triathlon at Lake Powell. Following that, my wife and I will spend a week up in Southern Utah.
 
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Tucson T4R

Expedition Leader
Maiden Voyage

Pam and I finally got to take the Glamper1 out on it's first camping trip. We just went up to the back side of Mt Bigelow on Mt. Lemmon which is only about a 1 hour drive from our house. It was nice to get out of the summer blast furnace and enjoy the cool 70's in the pines.

I loaded it to the max with 50 gallons of water and two generators in the front cargo box even though I didn't need them just see how it would tow with full weight. I definitely noticed it back there more than my old Kamper but it wasn't bad at all and the 4Runner had no problem towing it up the mountain. It felt great on the back roads and easily maneuvered in tight quarters when the road got narrow or I was snaking my way through the trees to get to our campsite.

The Karvan worked flawlessly and Pam loved all the creature comforts.

Too get a more isolated campsite we ended up camping on a hill with a pretty good slope. I had to add some large wood blocks for the rear stabilizers to reach and the slope made the outside kitchen rather high for my height challenged wife. :sombrero:

I dragged in a couple large rocks to ensure we didn't go rolling backwards down the hill in the middle of the night.:Wow1:

Lesson learned. Next time I'll put a higher priority on finding a more level campsite.

Here are a few photos from the trip:

Glamper1-20-L.jpg



Glamper1-25-L.jpg


The wood supports t reach the rear stabilizers:
Glamper1-39-L.jpg


Suspension:
Glamper1-56-L.jpg


Glamper1-4456-L.jpg


Glamper1-108-L.jpg


Glamper1-131-L.jpg


Glamper1-133-L.jpg


Glamper1-134-L.jpg


The rest can be seen in this gallery: Mt Lemmon Glamping
 
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Titanpat57

Expedition Leader
HOLY FRIGGIN" :Wow1:


I see Mom even got all gussied up for the Glamping photo op...




Nice setup, much luck and endless fun!!

Pat



(p.s. deep down, I really hate you:ylsmoke:)
 

Tucson T4R

Expedition Leader
Thanks Pat.

Yep she knew I was going to be throwing her pictures all over the internet so she had to fluff up a bit.

I do believe there will some fun trips with this puppy in the future.

I really liked the diesel hot water heater. It only takes about 3 minutes to be ready to supply endless hot water. That combined with the outside shower off the back of the trailer is a most enjoyable way to clean up at the end of the day. I may never use the inside shower unless the weather was really bad or something.:elkgrin:
 

spressomon

Expedition Leader
Super duper Brad (and Pam ;))! So how was it to sleep in compared to the Kamper? Do you have their new coil spring mattress?
 

Tucson T4R

Expedition Leader
Thank Dan.

Yes it has their new coil spring mattress. Luckily we checked it out in our driveway and found it to be a bit too stiff for us. The pocketed springs do a nice job isolating movement but for comfort we added a synthetic mattress pillow topper that's a few inches thick. The combo of the firm mattress with a soft topper is great.

I was concerned about the thickness when closing down the trailer but it turned out to not be a problem at all.
 

CLK Foxhall

Adventurer
Looks Great Brad!

Glad to hear it towed/travelled well.

If you ever get a chance to put it on a scale, while fully loaded, would love to hear what it weighs in at (also tongue weight, if possible).

Unfortunately,... I don't think I could safely tow it, without a weight distributing hitch & sway bars.

Again - Congrats on a wonderful setup!


Cheers!
~CLK
 

Tucson T4R

Expedition Leader
OK, now that I have the Karavan figured out it's back to how many local folks want to come by to check it out?

Post up if you your interested and depending on if it's 2 or a dozen we can do a couple of different things. If it's just a random few then just PM me and we can find a good time for you to swing by if you want. If a bunch of people want to check it out then it might be better to set up a morning when it cools off a bit and we'll set out some bagels and coffee for a group get together.

So either post up or PM me and we'll see what the interest is.
 

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