Scoutman's 'new' Starcraft Pine Mtn on Dodge 3500

[Scoutman]

Hi Scoutman,
Followed you thread throughout nice job. You mention the frigde blowing out I have always been under the impression that you shut down the propane when traveling. As a fire prevention.

Bill

There's much debate on that topic and I'm sure everyone has their own opinions on it. For most truck campers out there I would say folks don't have a beefy enough charging system from the truck to TC to supply the TC fridge enough juice to run on 12v all the time. Even if you did, you would want to disconnect the two when the truck is not running for fear of draining the truck battery. Running the fridge on propane uses very little gas as the flame is about the size of a pilot light on a stove or fireplace. Since my truck runs on diesel, I don't have many concerns of gasoline vapors creeping into my fridge compartment and blowing the place up while I'm fueling up. Changing the system over from 12v to gas and making sure the flame is lit every time I switch over just isn't worth it to me. The risk is low and it's one I choose to take. To each their own.

IMO the best setup would be a low draw compressor fridge with a proper battery bank and solar to keep topped off. I'm just not willing to dump that into this camper at this time.

 

[Scoutman]

Not much to update lately as we've been spending our rare nice weekends working on building a barn so the camper hasn't gotten much use since fall. Next projected weekend would be in early march with the Cub Scouts.

I was running through the Expo pictures today and realized I never posted them here so here you go...

A picnic lunch stop at the Nantahalia Outdoor Center.


Our spot in the vendor parking lot since the road to the common camping area was closed when we showed up.


There's definitely worse ways I could be spending my day.

 

[pmoyle]

Thank you for posting this, I have a 2009 Pine Mountain 800 I haul with My 2004 Dodge 3500 and I love it.

 

[Scoutman]

Cool! Nice to see another Starcraft on here, and on a Dodge at that. :smiley_drive:

 

[Regcabguy]

Thank you for posting this, I have a 2009 Pine Mountain 800 I haul with My 2004 Dodge 3500 and I love it.

From that angle your camper looks wider than my Northstar which is 84".

 

[pmoyle]

I measured the outside of the campers body at approximately 86 and 1/2 inches. If you add the jacks it is 97 and 1/2 inches wide.

 

[pmoyle]

Scoutman back in post 104 you mentioned how the jacks are installed with just lag bolts into the wood. The only problem I have had is the right rear jack has been bashed a couple of times. The first time I backed into a post and bent the bracket that bolts onto the camper. When I repaired it I didn’t quite get it sealed and water got in through the lag screws soaking the wood. Once I got the wood dried out I injected it with Minwax wood hardener liquid inside and out. After it cured the wood was hard as a rock and the lag screws held the jack good.

I bought this camper new in 2009 and the amount of sway when the jacks are extended made me nervous. I added a simple steel angle brace to the front two jacks and now it hardly sways at all when I have it up in the air. It doesn’t look like much but in 2013 a car merged into the side of my camper on the freeway. The front jack took a good hit but didn’t move, the rear one got hammered and the lag screws got ripped out again. After I got the bracket straight I had to go up one size on a couple of the lag screws but it is holding just as good as before. I have the parts but I’m not sure if I will put an angle bracket on the rear jacks or not. I have been trying to figure out an easy and cheap way to be able to put this camper in and out of my BMY M923A2 6x6 .

 

[Scoutman]

So far I haven't felt the need for a brace on the jack legs but will keep that in mind if it does. If I'm in it while it's on jacks it's just getting something quick. If it's out camping then it's in the bed of the truck.

I found out the other day I need to reseal that front edge again. Apparently the fiberglass roof just has issues staying sealed against that aluminum front channel. I've tarped it till I can get to it during some warm weather.

 

[pmoyle]

Mine probably didn't need to be braced but i'm paranoid. I have been keeping a tarp on mine except when i'm using it because I'm worried about leaks. This year I need to re-seal the plastic dome that is over the bathroom , It looks like the caulking is missing in a couple spots. One thing I discovered is the proflex RV sealant works way better than anything I could find in my local hardware store. Everything I bought from my local stores either leaked or just flaked off. I do live in a very small town and any RV supplier is hours away.

 

[brian90744]

For roof/vents water leaks try Eternabond tape. I used it over the sealant on the roof seams, however it would have been better if I had removed old sealant. comes in white and silver. just FYI=brian

 

[Scoutman]

I was pleased with the Dicor stuff I used to seal the roof vent but I'm sure others are good as well.

 

[Super Doody]

What kind of carport did you use in the early part of your thread? Any feedback and info would be appreciated. It was neat to see your progress and how big your boy got. Have a 15 month daughter. Can weight to take her out this spring in our FWC which is on order.

 

[Scoutman]

What kind of carport did you use in the early part of your thread? Any feedback and info would be appreciated. It was neat to see your progress and how big your boy got. Have a 15 month daughter. Can weight to take her out this spring in our FWC which is on order.

The canopy was a Shelterlogic. I bought 2 of them, one for the camper and one for other garage stuff I didn't have room for. It worked out really well when I had it at my last house but I chose not to set it up at the current house. It was 20' deep and since I left the front wall off and a few cross members off the camper fit in nicely. I considered it to be a $400 insurance policy. It's made of a metal pipe skeleton that's bolted together and then skinned with a very heavy tarp type material. The original cover lasted about 3 years with 2 of those being at the last house in the woods. At my current house it was fully in the sun and lasted only one more year before splitting down the middle. I ordered a replacement cover directly from Shelterlogic and it only lasted another year before it failed. This was all intended to be a temp solution to keep it out of the weather until I could get a proper lean to built on the back of the shop for the camper. That project begins this spring. I have more pictures of it if I need to post them.

 

[Scoutman]

Took the rig camping with friends a couple of weekends ago. I knew I needed to tear into some more repairs so this was a trip to get another few nights in before it went down for a bit. Hoping to get it back together before the best spring weather hits.

Joe Wheeler State Park, AL

 

[Scoutman]

When I was making all the repairs to the roof I discovered that the passengers side bed overhang siding was delaminating from the structure. You could tap on the siding and tell just by sound and some places gave a little if you pushed in on them. The latch screws weren't holding well and had to be replaced with machine screws and fender washers to get me by till now. Now seemed like as good of a time as any to dive back in to repairs. I'm hoping this one isn't as major of a rebuild as the last one.

My goal is to have it ready to camp by May (~6 weeks).

Here's what it looked like on the outside. No real bubbling or anything bad looking.


And here's the inside where the latch screwed to. I had to drill through these 4 screw holes to get full length stainless steel machine screws and fender washers to hold the latch in place.


And here's a sneak peek of what's lurking behind. I had to pull the fabric out of the trim and remove a lot of trim work to get this panel to pry back.