I know what you mean. I am sooo looking forward to spring and fair weather in general. The short days kill me.
I didn't do much work on the camper this weekend, although I did put in a solar day/night roof fan on the aluminum cap. It is like the ones used on sailboats. I'll post some pics this week.
I do the same with vehicles; slightly used, one owner, dealer serviced, warranty, low miles and you save significant $$$ to spend on toys and upgrades.
I accessed the sub floor of G-ronimo today. Under the 3/8" rubber is 3/4" marine grade plywood so rebating and anchoring the tied downs should be straight forward.
Good idea on the tent awning on the rear. Come spring I will need to do my awning. I prefer to be outside in fair weather. I have to figure out a way to make the stove easily detachable so I can use it inside and out. I don't want to have to carry two. I have a much nicer stove that I might use, all stainless with a grill.
I'm still getting used to having a fridge. The problem is that it is smaller and the food takes up most of the space. No more beer, just mixed drinks from now on and maybe some wine. Yum, a nice chilled white with some fresh caught stream trout and asparagus (both cooked directly on the coals of the fire, a spritz of lemon).
The expedition off-road trailers these days are becoming pretty awesome and they hardly limit where you can go. I'm interested to see how yours works out.
Do you get to the US much? You'll have to do a trip across the pond some time and come camp/adventure with all of us Expo folks. We'll show you a good time. A 20' shipping container to Houston and a plane ticket is all you need. You should do it while business is slow, once it picks up its too much work and not enough play. Rommel wants to conquer the southwestern USA!
William
I need to look at solar panels as well for battery charging. I've seen some nice looking film-thin panels which you can move around for optimal efficiency and stow them when on the move.
Good idea with a detachable stove, it's a nuisance cooking inside but very nice on a really cold day when the snow/rain is horizontal. That's my plan on the trailer too. For cooking outside I find that extra side panels (quite high) on the stove for wind protection save a lot of cooking gas and speeds up the cooking. It would be nice to see a pic of your stove with that grill option.
The Entdeckers carry two big fridges. I guess those guys really want both plenty of chilled wine/beers and food. I'll be having a regular size fridge on Rommel and a big one on the trailer. That should hopefully be enough for my needs and for the occasional sharing with friends you meet on the way.
That trout idea sounds very tasty! A friend of mine's brother is a marine biologist and he does research on trout and salmon. He worked for many years at a Californian University but now he's back to his native Spain. Anyway, he's a great guy and his name is Manu Esteve, he has posted some vids on YouTube. Manu did some research on autochthonous Moroccan trout species and that really got me going. I had no idea there were trout naturally in the Moroccan lakes and streams. Next time in Morocco I'm bringing a rod and getting a fishing permit!
The Australian camper trailer Conquerer is my inspiration. I wrote them asking whether it would be possible to tie down a dirt bike on top of their mid size trailer but they never wrote back. That's when the idea of converting the dirt bike trailer arose.
i used to go to the US often a few years back. I owned a business in Jacksonville FL and I have good friends in NY and Mexico so those three places would be my tour when I went west over the pond. Some day I'd like to accept your kind invitation, thanks! It would be great to see Arizona, New Mexico, Montana and Colorado - just to name a few places of really beautiful American outback. Like you say, America is just a 20' container away! So are Southern Europe and Africa. Come over some day! The fast ferry which connects the two continents is only a 30min ride! I take the two hour ferry to Morocco cause it gives me time to do immigrations which they conveniently have installed onboard to save the tourists some time. On the return trip I take the half hour ferry. Lots of overlanders, dirt bike adventurers and road bikers from all over Europe go all year round but the summer is way too hot IMO. Me and a couple of friends from my classic sports car club are planning on going. From what I've heard there are some quite prestigious classic car rallies in Morocco. It is one of the few places in Northern Africa you can still go to without getting into trouble. I hope it remains a peaceful place to visit for years to come.
Morocco is like a mixture between California and Spain in a setting from the sixties.