Time to revive this monster - :wavey:
I just returned from Moab and spent 7 days off road with the truck and camper. I'll be putting up a more detailed trip thread up in the Completed Expeditions section, since the Utah trip was definitely expedition-esque. Here, I'll highlight the impressions, both positive and negative of the camper after a week on the trail.
For a point of reference, the first day was spent in Arches NP. The second and third days were spent in the Maze District of Canyonlands NP. Day four was spent on Beef Basin and along the Dark Canyon Wilderness Area, then into the Needles section of Canyonlands NP, including a run over Elephant Hill. On the fifth day, we ran Lockhart Canyon and Hurrah Pass then made a fuel and ice stop in Moab. Day six and seven were spent on the White Rim Trail in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands.
I was not solo on this trip. On the first day I met up with cool Darren, of
MyColorado.org fame. Later in the week for the White Rim Trail run, we were joined by everyone's favorite snake charmer, Chuck (Urisade69) from New Mexico. Three guys, in three different colored Toyota 4x4's, from three different states meeting up in a fourth state. The only thing missing was maybe a
white Toyota, maybe from Arizona or something.....
On the 4WD trail of Arches, I was very cautious and moved slowly through several easy off camber spots and deep ruts. With the tires aired down to 19 PSI, I floated in the sand like I was driving Ms. Daisy. The camper is not really noticeable due to the bulk of its weight being below the truck's bedrails and the center of gravity is dead centered over the rear axle. I would say by the end of the second day I had my speed up and a good idea how the truck was going to react ascending and decending the many steps on the trails. When in the sand, I let all of my Parnelli Jones daydreams come true and thrilled at how well the truck and camper worked together.
Throughout the week, I found myself only concerned with the camper when we came to low overhanging rock outcroppings and trees. After several uneventful passes through off camber spots of varying degrees, the height concern and thoughts of being top heavy proved to be pointless. Other than the occaisional lug while getting the vehicle rolling up an incline, the camper's bulk proved to be a non-issue.
I used the heater the first morning, but that was the only morning I needed it. I made coffee most mornings and cooked a little something for dinner most evenings. The propane held out and never gave me a problem. I'm nervous around propane, so I double and triple checked the valves everytime I cooked something. I also regularly checked the LP bottle and it's mounting system to insure that it wasn't being battered around its little compartment while we were rolling. The system worked great.
I used the auxillary battery sparingly. Instead of the overhead lights I often used my headlamp or moved around in the camper at night by the full moonlight. I had a small portable solar panel to charge the battery, but didn't wind up needing it. About the most I used the battery was the evening Darren and I checked out a bunch of my pics on my laptop. I plugged in to the camper and we spent about an hour looking at pics. The battery did great powering the laptop and my plug-in rechargable camera batteries.
A big, "Wow, I can't believe it!" started to settle in at the end of the week, when I noticed the cab of my truck had a fine layer of red dust everywhere. However, the camper had none, other than what I tracked in on my boots. But the counters, bedding, windows, all surfaces had no sign that it had just done hundreds of off road miles in Utah. This was not the case last fall on my trip to Utah, with a camper shell on the back of the truck. Everything from coolers, tow straps and bedrolls was covered then but not now. I still can't believe it and I'm dreading the hours of detail work getting the cab clean.
The bed slept fairly comfortable. I slept kitty-wampus (you may not get that if you're not from the right part of the US) and still could occaisionally feel some poking on my hip when I slept on my side. The cushions have plenty of give to them still, but I'm a poor sleeper. There were a few warm nights that I slept all night with the windows open and I loved the feeling of a screened breeze, while I slept on top of my sleeping bag. The big downer to this bed set up is that you cannot make coffee while still in bed. The bed must be slid back to its closed position to access the stovetop. This was only annoying the first days until I started getting a morning routine down. You know, it's all about routine till the coffee kicks in. I soon realized that I don't have to pack my bedroll just to close the bed. I soon had a routine where I was boiling water for coffee while putting away the bedroll and transfering gear back into the cab for the day. I would like to work on a different cushion solution in the future though, maybe a memory foam like Vince has.
The ice box fridge was the only real bummer. This is not a powered fridge, but like a cooler, throw in a block of ice and other items to be kept cool. It has a drain hose to allow water from the melting ice to drain outside of the truck. This drain hose reaches my drivers side rear brake light area and as Chuck so keenly observed, it often looked as if my truck were taking a leak while going down the trail. The ice box will be better used for dry storage with some other option for keeping drinks and food cold. It just didn't keep anything cold and a block of ice lasted barely a day. Also when it initially cooled, there was so much condensation built up inside, that it would drain out the front of the ice box onto the camper floor. A better solution than ice blocks that melt and need to drain would be frozen plastic water jugs. Also the door is divided into sections that should hold cans of pop or some condiments, but nothing fit and the restraining bars, across the inside of the door, fell out several times on the trail, even though it wasn't holding anything at the time. A stand up fridge is just not efficient, compared to a chest style cooler or fridge. A solution will have to be put into place before another multi-day off road trip.
How about we break for the evening with a few pics? -
