Scout Olympic vs Kenai

[GeorgeHayduke]

@Fen CO sure thing, I'm glad the write-up helped. Sounds like your truck will be a nice match for the camper!

I camped out on Rabbit Ears pass outside of Steamboat Springs the weekend before last. It was about 10F that night with about 6" of new snow. The heater was able to keep the camper at about 55 in the dinette area, but everything back by the door got pretty cold. Between the openings for the cassette toilet, door, and rear storage with exterior access there's a lot more heat loss back there than anywhere else. I also suspect the higher elevations reduced the heat output from the fireplace but I think that would be the case for any combustion-based heater.

The mudroom area worked great to contain the mess from snowy ski boots and the camper got a lot of positive comments from onlookers. Was pretty cool to wake up to fresh tracks and be comfortable all night during a storm.

One other interesting observation, we use a skyroam puck to get mobile hotspots when we're on the road. I've found the signal is often quite poor inside the camper but improves greatly if I stick it on the roof. Not sure if it's the RTT, composite walls, aluminum frame, etc, but cell signal is definitely reduced inside the camper.

 

[cascadediesel]

Agreed, thank you Mr. George Washington Hayduke for communicating all the details! This has been really helpful.

I'm curious if you had the rooftop tent open or closed while you were camping and how has that affected heating? Noticeably?

Also I'm a bit surprised to see that frost on the corner there. However, while I was looking at the Overland Camp-X (decided it was too small for the family, but they are constructed about the same as a Scout) it looked like they had a lot of success with covering the interior aluminum with a foam or neoprene tape to create a thermal break. Seemed like an easy fix...

Thanks again!

 

[GeorgeHayduke]

Agreed, thank you Mr. George Washington Hayduke for communicating all the details!

Glad someone finally picked up on the Edward Abbey reference .

I had the RTT closed the whole trip and haven't actually camped with it open in cold weather. Crawling around on a snowy/icy roof to close it and tuck in the fabric is a little disconcerting. I think the mattress in the RTT is actually providing additional insulation on the roof. I haven't noticed any drafts or cold spots around the hatch.

The frost on the aluminum trim isn't a major bother and we've sort of treated the rear area as cold storage. At some point I'll add better weatherstripping around the door and maybe glue some insulation on the exterior door into the rear storage compartment as it's not insulated. If someone really wanted to optimize the insulation of the camper I would suggest skipping the Thetford cassette toilet since it does introduce additional holes in the composite wall.

Coming from a popup camper, I'm still really blown away at being able to comfortably camp in a snowstorm and how little propane the camper uses. We seem to have a lot of extra juice in the goalzero based on our initial usage, so I might try either an electric blanket or a small radiant heat mat in the aisle to supplement the propane fireplace next winter.

 

[svinyard]

Finally got our camper. The kids slept in it last night in driveway. Pretty dang awesome. Just getting a few things dialed in and we'll be good to go.

@GeorgeHayduke Did you get the stock Dometic fridge? If so can you send a pic of how the straps are mounted to the camper? I didn't get the fridge and it doesn't have the straps for the fridge that I have (a national luna 72L). Th fridge fits real nice there, lots of leftover room left-to-right but I'll need to mount the straps in.

The small airhead compositing toilet also fits super well. I just need to decide on which way to vent it.

First impressions are that the thing feels really spacious inside. Love the layout big time. Roof Top Tent is awesome but kind of a PITA to close because you have to climb around up top which is pretty dang high (we'll get the hang of it I'm sure). Mud room is sweet. Lots of storage. Finishing's so far are pretty nice this time around. No bubbles in finish or warped pieces that I can find. There is a good amount of goop up top over the screws but maybe that's a good thing. New jack setup is pretty stable. Mattress downstairs is firm so we put a 2 in topper on it. Rides really nice on my F250. I just have the stock leaf springs and put some torklift stabiloads to activate the overloads. As of now the truck is totally level too. Family totally loves it.

 

[GeorgeHayduke]

@svinyard That's awesome, glad you finally were able to get it! Are you keeping the tailgate on or removing it?

We have the stock Dometic fridge and it is just strapped to some hooks screwed into the camper, nothing fancy.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Finally got our camper.

Glad you finally got it! You have been one of the biggest contributors to this thread and obviously you have been chomping at the bit to get it.

 

[svinyard]

Thanks for the pic. Its interesting in that they have a little mounting board there that is glue/screwed to the composite there. I may do something similar where I manus-bond a backboard to the composite shelf bottom there and then screw a D-loop plate into it. I removed my tailgate. My bed is 6.75ft and with the tailgate off, I'll be able to get a Lolo bike rack on there, hopefully with a swing out.

QUOTE="GeorgeHayduke, post: 2913792, member: 14717"]
@svinyard That's awesome, glad you finally were able to get it! Are you keeping the tailgate on or removing it?

We have the stock Dometic fridge and it is just strapped to some hooks screwed into the camper, nothing fancy.
View attachment 654014
[/QUOTE]

 

[YF_Ryan]

Finally got our camper. The kids slept in it last night in driveway. Pretty dang awesome. Just getting a few things dialed in and we'll be good to go.

@GeorgeHayduke Did you get the stock Dometic fridge? If so can you send a pic of how the straps are mounted to the camper? I didn't get the fridge and it doesn't have the straps for the fridge that I have (a national luna 72L). Th fridge fits real nice there, lots of leftover room left-to-right but I'll need to mount the straps in.

The small airhead compositing toilet also fits super well. I just need to decide on which way to vent it.

First impressions are that the thing feels really spacious inside. Love the layout big time. Roof Top Tent is awesome but kind of a PITA to close because you have to climb around up top which is pretty dang high (we'll get the hang of it I'm sure). Mud room is sweet. Lots of storage. Finishing's so far are pretty nice this time around. No bubbles in finish or warped pieces that I can find. There is a good amount of goop up top over the screws but maybe that's a good thing. New jack setup is pretty stable. Mattress downstairs is firm so we put a 2 in topper on it. Rides really nice on my F250. I just have the stock leaf springs and put some torklift stabiloads to activate the overloads. As of now the truck is totally level too. Family totally loves it.

Any pics of the new Jacks? Curious on how they updated them. Any idea if the new updated jacks will be used on all the campers going forward, or just the Kenai?

 

[svinyard]

Pics of the new jacks:

I'm not exactly sure which portions are enhanced

 

[svinyard]

This is what I'm thinking for mounting the Fridge Tie-down. I'll likely glue it down with Manus Bond 75AM (225PSI) and put a couple of 1/2in screws in. You can see the cam-strap slot at the top of the handle. Think that'll be nice?

 

[pkita99]

I don't think they had that top attachment to the edges of the wall before, at least the yoho and olympic didn't have them. This will definitely make it more stable on the jacks.

 

[svinyard]

Cool, to note, these are the jacks when fully compacted in. When it was up on the jacks, the jacks were fully extended out. The upper support beam folds out.

 

[svinyard]

@GeorgeHayduke can you send me a picture of the right side of your fridge tie down? I'm interested in how that is done being that there is a big jackplate on there

 

[GeorgeHayduke]

On the right/front side of the fridge the tie downs are attached to the camper wall instead of the floor:



In general, the whole strap system is a pain to tighten. Let me know if anyones figures out something better!

 

[svinyard]

Thanks for the pic! My cousin uses small turnbuckles for his fridge mount in Land cruiser. Pretty stout but maybe too stout for those little footman brackets and those 5/8" screws. Is it a big deal? I'm guessing you just get it all tightened down and then leave it right? I havent committed to something yet. Rollercam makes some super nice cam straps that tighten real easily. Maybe that's the ticket.

On the right/front side of the fridge the tie downs are attached to the camper wall instead of the floor:

View attachment 654960

In general, the whole strap system is a pain to tighten. Let me know if anyones figures out something better!