Into the final countdown now...

[Hopeless Diamond]

My only complaint so far is having to spend time back in the real world and not be out using it. Here's a couple of pictures, not very good at showing it though, at some point I need to get in there with a nice wide angle and good light (hard to come by here on the wet side of WA).

We kept things pretty basic, figured we can adapt and adjust as we use it more. We did opt for an oven, it's small but adequate for a few chocolate chip cookies every so often . It's been ~25+ years since we had a truck camper, use to have an 8' NCO Alaskan, boy I wish I still had that. This is much nicer and more comfortable though ( and warmer).

Hallmark really did good by us, we got our order in before the 2014 pricing ran out (and the pricing was less than what they had shown on their website), they threw in the bamboo cabinetry too. They listened and made recommendations based on what we felt was our intended use.

Now we are trying to gather up all those stupid little things, the containers, for holding silverware, etc., where do things get stored, what do we really need in it, what lives in it, what gets taken out (and then forgotten).

When we first got it home, we unpacked, and of course the top was up. We had a good spell of rain (big surprise) so I didn't want to put the top down with it that wet because it would probably stay down for a little while. Not one hint of moisture, no extra condensation. Feel real good about the longevity (as long as I do my part and keep up with basic maintenance). I had my worries, reading here about others experiences with other makes, but then even the best brand can have that 1 that everything goes wrong with. Just glad I didn't get it on this

 

[Camp JP]

Thanks for the pic's. The more I read about Hallmark, the more I like them. I think we have bumped up to an Everest (slightly longer than the K-2) but will outfit it very similar to yours.

What bathroom option did you pick? I'm leaning towards a shower stall with a port-a-potty (get a slightly longer dinette) but wife likes the wet-bath/ cassette toilet.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

We went with just the cassette toilet, no shower. We figured the extra room needed for it inside wasn't worth it. Between the outside shower (we have a cheapy enclosure) and if we do extended trips in "civilized" areas, we would just hit a motel one night for a good scrub down.

One thing that I would change, and it's minor. The table is great, swivels, and slides , but I wish it is was about 6" shorter. With the little bit shorter dinette, having it run north-south makes it tight to sit, and east-west it would be nice to have that little extra clearance to the counter. It's molded so I can't cut it down. I make a new one at some point but, that's way down on my to do list (down towards the poking myself in the eye with a sharp stick at this point)

 

[Camp JP]

good point on the table - thank you - I've added it to my notes.

I'm trying to eyeball it but the dimensions look off - does that table top fit the dinette bed or is there another board for that? There are 3 of us (me, wife and 9 year old) so we'll be making up a dinette bed every night. Just curious how easy it is.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

There's a separate board. They have storage brackets for the table top on the ceiling of the cab-over, the table will slide in for when you use he dinette bed (they recommend not leaving the table there when you have the top down as the table mount hangs down and would deform the mattress

 

[Camp JP]

so now that its been a couple of months, just wanted to check in and see how you were liking it? Anything you would have done differently?

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

Actually so far we haven't really come across anything that we would have liked to have done differently. We've only gotten a few trips in with it (which is one major thing I would like to change). Still working out some of little specific things on how we use it, i.e. something to help segregate clothes, etc in the under bed storage, how we pack the overhead bins for pantry items, those kind of small details. We still haven't filled up and used all the storage areas, which is a good thing. Even though I have a 1T truck that doesn't really notice it, I'm sure I could find ways to overload the crap out of it .

So far we haven't noticed any appreciable condensation which surprises me. We spent a few nights in the low 20s and didn't wake up to wet walls like described by other pop-up owners. My feeling is that the composite construction of the exterior acts as a better overall insulator. With an alum/wood frame with insulation in between, you still have the thermal conductivity of the framing members themselves. I've seen pictures of other campers where you could easily see where the frame was because of the condensation.

I'm planning on adding some small flood lights for the sides, switches up at the bed platform so when Bigfoot comes checking for hand outs in the middle of the night you can see what's going on. Maybe some small area lights (probably do red LED strips) to provide a little camp area lighting, but other than that no major changes.

1R4A4802

1R4A4801

 

[escadventure]

Hopeless, we've found the same thing regarding how to work out little details. I guess it just takes time and use to come up with ideas that bring it all together.

We too had the issue of how to organize our clothes within the alloted storage space. We came up with the idea to use inexpensive little bags of varying sizes to store the clothes. i.e. - we each have a small bag for underroos/socks, one for sleepiing attire and one slightly bigger for outerwear. It's easy to identify the bag, grab it, get what you need and replace it quickly and everything stays nice and neat.