Hello all,
I would like to write my experience (first experience with any camper) with the Dweller 15 as a new owner from Houston Texas. My wife and I, plus 3 dogs, drove to Arizona to purchase our D15 because it was about $10k less than what I had been seeing everyone else sell it for on RV Trader and we had already looked at a D15 at a normal RV Dealer. It was also a 2023 model instead of one of the 22's that had been sitting around for a while. We picked up the camper on June 17th in Mesa, AZ and had already booked our first 3 parks to stay at on the way home. However, our first stop was Costco to stock up on some food, etc.
Next stop, Lost Dutchman State Park. Now, the two main reasons to get the camper were for AC and a shower. However, AC cannot keep up with 110 degree direct heat. I think on the peak of our first full day we decided to come inside but it reached around 93 on the inteior and we decided it was time to go drive around and do some shopping back in Mesa until it was getting into the early evening. We also had 3 small dogs with us so we had to be careful with them as well. (We ended up at Home Depot and pushed them around in two shopping carts to stay cool). It was beautiful here and our campsite was great. I would reccomend it if it's not the middle of summer in your D15.
Second Campsite was Bluewater Lake State Park in NM. This was amazing and the elevation gave us great weather. We actually ended up booking an extra night since we had only intended to stay two nights at each stop. On our extended night we had to change sites to somewhere without water or electric connections which ended up being fine because the weather was so great. Our only issue was we didnt know how to use the water out of both tanks. We found out later there was just the knob under the bed that you had to turn.
Last campsite was back in Texas but it was amazingly hot again and we ended up cutting our trip short at that park because of the heat and the dogs being with us. Plus the lake was low and didnt want to try to venture out into it.
The 4th of July we also went to Lake Sommerville State park which was a close drive for us at around 1.5 hours. We had a great time here with the dogs and they enjoyed the lake even though it was a bit low. We also came prepared with an EXTRA 14k BTU AC unit and put it inside with the exhaust hose blowing out one of the top zip down windows. I wish I had taken a picture of this since it was pretty thrown together. It was also hot here but we had partial shade which helped with keeping the camper cool until the sun was directly overhead. Once the sun was overhead the temps started rising, not even the extra AC and the camper AC could keep up. I believe we still saw 85 inside the camper during the peak part of the day. Needless to say, there is a lack of insulation in this trailer and I thought we could manage this a little better. As a side note, we had run the electrical cord for the portable AC out to the electrical hook-ups so we didnt trip the breaker box so we had an electrical cord running out the door the whole time. This did create a very minor gap when the door was shut but not enough to let much air out. The door would still lock completely. Also, the ICECO cooler also has trouble keeping the set temps in hot weather. If we did not have the cooler pulled out for air flow without direct sunlight, it would freeze on one side and warm up on the other. This happened in Arizona and Texas. Typically during travel it wasnt a big issue because I think it was getting enough airflow from moving. (yes we also had the little fan inside the compartment on the entire time as well)
Tow rig: 2020 RAM 1500 4x4 5.7 non E-torq with ORP and Heavy 34.5" Load range E tires
- MPG 10-11 without much wind or with tailwind (65-70 MPH)
- MPG 8-9 with heavy wind in North Texas doing 65 MPH
Lessons from the first 4 stays in the Dweller:
- If in hot weather, make sure you will have shade if you plan to stay cool. On our next trip, I am going to attempt a sun shade with tent poles and rope on the next trip out
- Buy "Misto" fan from Costco. This was a life saver
- I would max out at 70 mph typically because sway would be set off very easily. 65 mph was much more comfortable. I did try multiple things with water in the front tank and taking the rear tires off the back. I learned to use the trailer break controller a lot and that you really dont want to go above 70mph unless you have everything dialed in or you like white knuckling it. I think I will do a shock upgrade in the future at some point
- I did about bend in half the included breaker bar trying to get the lugs off the back to remove the tires. Some were far too tight... I had to wait until we got back to Texas to get it off.
- there is tons of storage in the D15 which was great
- I never got the hot water to work which meant for some shorter showers. Still need to figure out what is wrong there. (kept getting an error on the control panel)
- the bed was great since the dogs sleep in the bed with us and a king is a must
- I had never used a casette toiler before and it was easy to use and nice to be able to throw in the back of the truck and take to the dump station
- Get some "LEVERLOC" suction cup accessories to hang stuff. These things were perfect for hanging towels and putting toiletries in
- Get a mattress protector. Luckily I had thought of this and had one but one of the dogs did end up peeing in the bed and we didnt have an extra change of sheets. This was the last night of staying in the camper which was another nail in the coffin to end that trip.
- buy the "over the tank toilet paper holder" from Amazon as seen on ROA
- get bungee cords to hold the cooler instead of those stupid straps
I probably have more info but that's enough for this post!
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