Camper pics

[Daren Todd]

Post and show off your camper, motor home, or rv.

Wife's been looking at campers for a couple years now. Finally got really serious about it a couple months ago.

We were overwhelmed at first. There are so many brands, options and features available. So we ended up going through a ton of them checking out lay outs, to see what we wanted, what we could live with out, and what makes the most sense.

Another factor we were looking at was the "dry weight" (weight unloaded) to make sure our truck could safely handle it. And ultimately the price Then set out looking for the most bang for our buck

So we ended up with a 2007 jay feather ultra light, with slide out, awning, and outside shower. Unit will sleep 4 adults and 6 kids It has a queen size bed, full size bed, a twin bunk. Plus fold out couch and collapsible dining table. That can sleep 4 kids between the couch and table. Plus enough room on the floor for a couple of air mattresses if needed. We went with a less frills model that was easier to clean and set up more for camping, then living out of. And the dry weight, with it being an ultra light, as it sits in the pictures, only weighs 4080 lbs It's well in the comfortable towing range of our truck

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[Daren Todd]

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[85Hokie]

Daren,

that thar is fanfreakintastic!!!

Nice Rv - I know you and the "better half" and the grand kids will have one great time in it !! And for the cost - I think it is a great deal!

Have a great thanksgiving !

 

[CaveCreekRay]

Aweome rig. And you are so smart buying a nice used model. There are soooo many "gently used" low-mile rigs to choose from on the market. Buying new really doesn't make sense.

I think the interior looks awesome. So many people get wrapped up with what the inside looks like. The truth is that is where you crash and eat between adventures in the Great Outdoors. With kids and animals, the less fancy the better. You can always upgrade or change stuff that bugs you down the road. And you are dead-on: The lighter the better the towing experience. Featherlite rigs are all the rage for a reason.

Good for you and your family. Now, to plan your itinerary.

 

[skeets]

Dude that is one sweet set up to be sure,,, beats the hell out of sleeping in the back of my truck,,lol and no I dont have a cap And if I may ask,, what does a rig like that go for? I was looking for something small 12 or 14 foot just enough to get my old arse out of the weather,,, old dad is gettin a little to long in the tooth to be sleeping in the truck bed or on the ground anymore

 

[D2Cat]

Man, you got everything but the kitchen sink. Nice!!

Oh wait, I went back and looked, you got the kitchen sink to!

So you'll be on the road so much you won't need the Kubota. Then you won't need the elec. panel rewired for a welder. You won't be home enough to need a fire, so you won't need the log splitter. Well, heck you won't need the house.

When you having the auction?

 

[Daren Todd]

Skeets, that one ran us right at 11k, out the door. Dealer threw in an electric jack and weight distribution hitch. He bought it for 10,800 (I saw the bill of sale) you can get a brand new 20' for around 13k with a bunk house in the back from coleman. But it's only a single axle. And if you look around, you can find the smaller ones cheap!!!! And the insurance on one costs pennys. Our insurance is only $200/ year. We wanted a tandem axle due to the distances we wanted to go. A whole lot safer if you have a blow out going down the highway. I looked at our model brand new and it retails for 35k

D2cat, I still need the welder hooked up, and a garage out back. And I'm not getting rid of the Bota!!! Sorry, no auction. Plans for the garage and an awning for when the camper isn't in use just got bigger though this camper is only a three season model. And would freeze up in the winter. I gotta winterize it this weekend since we did the walk through on it and checked everything out, and run rv antifreeze through all the plumbing. Now that's not to say, when we retire, we might sell the house and buy a new truck and rolling condo South in the winter, and the north in the summer

 

[car compulsive]

Very nice. Our neighbors have one just like it. Now that their kids are high-school age and above, they aren't using it very often - maybe 2-3 times per summer. Hopefully they'll keep it and be able to use it more often once the last kids are out of the house. She's a teacher and he's a school principal, so they should have plenty of camping time.

 

[forceten]

Great camper! Your first?

We have an outback 5th wheel toy hauler. Went with a 5th wheel because it pulls just like its part of the pickup.

But when gas was $4 a gallon and $5+ in canada we started using the camper less and less. Was gonna go to florida one year - but gas was just crazy price wise. Was so much cheaper just to fly down (or dodge 2500 v10 gets like 7 miles to the gallon while pulling).

Now that prices are coming down , some trips might be in store.

Your next project should be what we did - built a pad and water and sewer hookup to my septic and 30 amp power. So now the 5th wheel can sit on its pad, and have full hookup! Friends come to visit and its their personal cabin while they stay with us.

What prompted me to do it really was a few places we went didnt have any dumps, and no dumps on the way home. So I wound up driving 40-50 miles to a flying j or someplace just to dump my tanks. Got sick of it.

Some other projects for you - put a surge protector in it if your gonna hook up to other peoples power (campsites and such). We had a friend that had a camper catch on fire with a power surge.

If your only gonna use your own generator then no worries.

We also used to bring our camper around the back of the house on the grass - was easier then backing in. Until one time we came back home - didnt realize it rained for a few days and the camper sunk right down in the back and got stuck. Had to have our neighbor with a big backhoe get us out. After that the rocked in pad we backed into it from the driveway. A pain but you get used to it.


Oh and if your gonna go on long trips - get a remote tire sensor setup so you can monitor your air pressure in your camper tires while driving and temperature. Alarms to go off if a tire gets low or hot. Had another friend loose air pressure in one of his rear camper tires. Caused the other one to get really hot - boom - camper flipped.....

 

[Daren Todd]

Forceten, thanks for the advice I haven't though about the tire sensors. But that makes a whole lot of sence. I don't know about being able to get a drain at the house. Where our septic is located, it would be a mother to get to with the camper. I have already considered the gravel to the back yard and a slab out back.

I'm limited on parking in the front yard, or I should say, where I can park the camper in the front would hinder access to the back yard. May have to put another gravel pad in the front yard and rearrange my wife's flower bed locations

 

[OldeEnglish]

Very nice Daren, simple is always a good way to go. Your grand kids will love it and will have good memories to share down the road. I would like one myself but I wouldn't be able to use it that much.

My folks used to have a 40' diesel pusher on a Freightliner chassis. It's all great until it breaks (they always do) and your working on a big rig. That translates into a lot of money to keep the thing on the road unless your a heavy equipment mechanic. I was surprised that it would get 10 mpg which is not bad for a rolling house pulling a car. It had air ride suspension so it rode like a town car, but at the end of the day it was a huge money pit. Finding a good mechanic was never easy especially being on the road.

 

[forceten]

Forceten, thanks for the advice I haven't though about the tire sensors. But that makes a whole lot of sence. I don't know about being able to get a drain at the house. Where our septic is located, it would be a mother to get to with the camper. I have already considered the gravel to the back yard and a slab out back.

I'm limited on parking in the front yard, or I should say, where I can park the camper in the front would hinder access to the back yard. May have to put another gravel pad in the front yard and rearrange my wife's flower bed locations

I ran pvc lines undeground for water and septic. The lines were pretty long for the sewer. They are about 50-60 feet. No way could I get my RV where the septic cleanout is or covers.

I t'd into the pvc going to the cleanout out back. But I had the problem of the line was long, and I couldnt get it to go downhill. I knew this in the planning stage. So after asking a lot on the RV forums, they all came up with using a smaller sewer pvc dump line and using a macerator pump to pump out the black and gray tanks.

So I actually pump uphill slightly and a long run. I do black first and then both gray tanks. I have a shutoff at the rv so nothing flows back

http://www.amazon.com/Thetford-70246-Sanicon-Direct-Retractable/dp/B002SSIE32


Also get a clear 90 and straight peice for the dump. This way you can backflush and keep dumping until your black tank is clean. I installed a spray unit in the black tank so after dumping I hook up a hose to clean the black tank out very well.

If not you can get an adapter to hook up a hose and backflush your black tank. Drain it - then open up the hose and fill the black tank back up and flush is again

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00192KZQ2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

http://www.amazon.com/Valterra-F02-4100-Hydroflush-Removable-Anti-siphon/dp/B0002UHVAA/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1448583899&sr=1-2&keywords=rv+backflush



Also adding calgon (or other slipper stuff) to the black tank will keep "stuff" from sticking to the sides........ When leaving a racetrack or campground we also put in 1-2 bags of ice in the black tank. So when driving down the road the ice will clean the black tank as it bumps all around the inside of the tank. Calgon and ice and our black tank is very clean. You would be surprised how fast a black tank can go bad if you don't keep an eye on it.

 

[sawmill]

Really nice setup Daren. You guys are going to love it. One thing you should definitely get is a water pressure regulator. I have a little in-line brass one and just screw it on my water hose. It's preset. You never know how much water pressure these RV parks have. Don't want to blow any pipes in the RV.
Congratulations

 

[08quadram]

This is our third camper and first new. 4 bunks in the back, single slide, full queen bed and out door kitchen. Wife didn't think we would need the out door kitchen, but that is the only one we use. Few years when the girls are out of the house, we will trade for a shorter one without bunks. This is an ultra light.


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[Daren Todd]

View attachment 19166

This is our third camper and first new. 4 bunks in the back, single slide, full queen bed and out door kitchen. Wife didn't think we would need the out door kitchen, but that is the only one we use. Few years when the girls are out of the house, we will trade for a shorter one without bunks. This is an ultra light.


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Wife and I were looking at a 2013 passport as well. Almost identical floor plan as the jay feather that we bought. You got yourself a pretty sweet camper. Our Camper is actually getting used today. Or I should say the kitchen is wife had to work yesterday. So we are doing our Thanksgiving dinner today instead. We usually end up utilizing our daughters stove and fridge for overflow two miles down the road. This year, we just gotta go 100 feet Just dragged the generator out there to give the batteries a good charge while we are at it

 

[08quadram]

When ours was setting next to the house like in the last photo, we leave it plugged in and both fridges runnig. Beer and drink storage. Easier getting something from there than going inside.

It has it's own parking spot now away from the house.

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[Daren Todd]

When ours was setting next to the house like in the last photo, we leave it plugged in and both fridges runnig. Beer and drink storage. Easier getting something from there than going inside.

It has it's own parking spot now away from the house.

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I gotta do some measuring. But I think I can fit it next to where I park my truck, and still have access to my back yard for the 16ft trailer then there will be a cord running to it will probably have to bring in some more gravel to get it level from side to side.

 

[Daren Todd]

Well winterizing was pretty painless. Took a gallon of rv antifreeze and 10 minutes to pump antifreeze through all the lines and to drain the hot water heater. That was with having to locate all the valves Total time was 1/2 hour with waiting for the low point drains to finish draining water before I could pump the antifreeze through the system.

 

[08quadram]

Mine takes several gallons so I just now them out with air. Antifreeze in the traps and black and gray tanks.

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[Daren Todd]

Mine takes several gallons so I just now them out with air. Antifreeze in the traps and black and gray tanks.

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Dealer walked me through the process. Said to hit the low point drains. Reverse all five valves. Drain the hot water tank. Then run the antifreeze till it came out all the faucets, and toilet. never gave it a though about the traps. glad you posted about them