Thought that I would post some pictures of our recently acquired FlipPac and Tacoma. Took us a while to finally decide on this combination.
Our first attempt was to purchase a Sylvansport Go Camper. We put our money down, made an appointment, reconfirmed it and drove to North Carolina to pick it up. We thought this camper would be versatile and would fit our needs. No one showed up at the appointed time so after waiting for nearly 2 hours (1 hour after the shop was supposed to open) before we left disappointed and miffed. Our money was returned promptly but it was back to the drawing board.
We considered and looked at Teardrop trailers, T@b trailers, pop-up campers and Adventure style trailers. We finally decided that we didn’t want to tow our “tent” because then we couldn’t tow our boat, should we want to bring it along. A full out RV was also ruled out, because we didn’t want a specialized vehicle.
So, we decided to buy a medium-sized truck, double cab and long bed. Ended up buying a 2013 Tacoma SR5 4x4. Plan was to put an Autohome Columbus on the roof and a tonneau cover. With that in mind I bought a Bak-Flip cover w/racks. We drove out to California for a wedding and to camp. Great trip, but scraped the RTT idea after seeing one and deciding it wouldn’t fit our needs. We stopped at FWC in Sacramento and toured the factory. Very much impressed with the quality of the campers. We looked at a very nice used one here in Tampa but decided that a slide-in camper really wasn’t what we wanted.
We did finally settle on the FlipPac and placed an order to FRP. Installed Ride-Rite air bags before heading out. We stopped at the Grand Canyon NP on the way to Riverside (just before Thanksgiving). Had the camper installed and camped on the way home, first in Joshua Tree NP, it was cold. The fly helped some, I think, as did the Little Buddy heater. We also camped just outside of Saguaro NP for several nights before driving to Guadalupe NP. Our camping was cut short there. We encountered high gusty winds that evening of up to 40mph. Sleeping was difficult but the FlipPac held up well. We headed for Carlsbad Caverns NP the next morning because they were predicting 65mph gusts for the evening at Guadalupe. After visiting the caverns we headed for Big Bend. Had some beautiful camping weather, great hikes and headed out for home in front of the next winter storm. Overall a great trip.
To date, I installed a “BedRug” for added comfort and built interior cabinets for storage and sitting. These can be easily removed to utilize the truck bed for hauling. We also made a no-see-um netting curtains for the back door and currently are sewing no-see-um netting onto the screens. Screen holes are way too big to keep out those tiny pesky biting gnats.
Want to thank all those who previously posted their build for the many of the ideas we’ve copied and for those we still plan to use.
Our first attempt was to purchase a Sylvansport Go Camper. We put our money down, made an appointment, reconfirmed it and drove to North Carolina to pick it up. We thought this camper would be versatile and would fit our needs. No one showed up at the appointed time so after waiting for nearly 2 hours (1 hour after the shop was supposed to open) before we left disappointed and miffed. Our money was returned promptly but it was back to the drawing board.
We considered and looked at Teardrop trailers, T@b trailers, pop-up campers and Adventure style trailers. We finally decided that we didn’t want to tow our “tent” because then we couldn’t tow our boat, should we want to bring it along. A full out RV was also ruled out, because we didn’t want a specialized vehicle.
So, we decided to buy a medium-sized truck, double cab and long bed. Ended up buying a 2013 Tacoma SR5 4x4. Plan was to put an Autohome Columbus on the roof and a tonneau cover. With that in mind I bought a Bak-Flip cover w/racks. We drove out to California for a wedding and to camp. Great trip, but scraped the RTT idea after seeing one and deciding it wouldn’t fit our needs. We stopped at FWC in Sacramento and toured the factory. Very much impressed with the quality of the campers. We looked at a very nice used one here in Tampa but decided that a slide-in camper really wasn’t what we wanted.
We did finally settle on the FlipPac and placed an order to FRP. Installed Ride-Rite air bags before heading out. We stopped at the Grand Canyon NP on the way to Riverside (just before Thanksgiving). Had the camper installed and camped on the way home, first in Joshua Tree NP, it was cold. The fly helped some, I think, as did the Little Buddy heater. We also camped just outside of Saguaro NP for several nights before driving to Guadalupe NP. Our camping was cut short there. We encountered high gusty winds that evening of up to 40mph. Sleeping was difficult but the FlipPac held up well. We headed for Carlsbad Caverns NP the next morning because they were predicting 65mph gusts for the evening at Guadalupe. After visiting the caverns we headed for Big Bend. Had some beautiful camping weather, great hikes and headed out for home in front of the next winter storm. Overall a great trip.
To date, I installed a “BedRug” for added comfort and built interior cabinets for storage and sitting. These can be easily removed to utilize the truck bed for hauling. We also made a no-see-um netting curtains for the back door and currently are sewing no-see-um netting onto the screens. Screen holes are way too big to keep out those tiny pesky biting gnats.
Want to thank all those who previously posted their build for the many of the ideas we’ve copied and for those we still plan to use.
