New hunting shelter.

[heybert]

Marc,
if you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you? I have a Dodge Dakota and looking into getting a camper for it.

[Marc]

heybert they are not cheap by any means a new one with the options that were inside mine would cost $17,000 new from the factory. Mine was a 2003 model in exceptional shape and it cost me 12,900 plus taxes on the road. I think a Dakota would be a better truck to haul the weight of this type of camper in my opininon.

This camper weighs 1140lbs, my ranger just meets the standards if I leave the water tank empty and the wife home

Marc.

[longhairmtnman]

Nice set-up Marc. A buddy has an early 90's ranger and put a late 80's camper on it. He had an extra leaf added, and the springs re-arced. $350.00. Truck handled it fine after that. Your's looks pretty level from the photo. If the truck doesn't 'look' like it's overloaded, they leave you alone. One thing he did change was to move up a load range in rubber, mounted on a pair of steel rims. (he has the same wheels you do)

[heybert]

Thanks for the info Marc. Unfortunately, with the weight capacity of my truck .................I can't leave the wife at home !!!

[rock]

That looks like a very nice rig , my father owns one similiar to yours marc, we had to put over loads in because hes never home long enough to take it off. I myself built my own but its not as fancy as yours does have a heater and storage and sleeps 2 in comfort. The one thing about the newer ones is the heater is assisted by a fan, which is fine even if you have 2 batteries youll find in really cold weather the battery will not last long. Ive put conventional heaters in a few campers to compensate for this late season problem, like I said Ive built a few camperets in my life I dont do many but usaully people are pretty happy with the looks Im kind of in the metal trade, I just figured I would let you know just in case you had cold weather in mind for a couple weeks at a time. Enjoy your new toy...

[ruger#1]

hey Marc , for the furnace, have a solar panal put on the roof,those fan asisted furnaces suck the life out of your batteries . the solar panal will keep them charged. my father has one on his camper and likes it . i still have the old gravity fed furnace, takes longer to warm up, but it still works, nice unit you bought.

[oldtimer]

Nice lookin rig Marc !! having had a smaller truck in the past one of the best things I did was go to a stiffer sidewall on my tires. ( 8 ply if my memory is correct. ) sure cut down on the side sway of the rig. Mike

[Marc]

Thanks for the response guys.

Oldtimer, I’ve got heavy load tires on it that I can crank up to 50psi max for heavy loads. I’ve also got a set of the firestone air rite lift bags that takes the strain off the springs and supports the weight on the axel. It makes it a lot easier to try and balance the camper as you can adjust both sides individually.

I’ve been crunching numbers trying to find out how much energy I’m going to require for extended periods of time away from home. I’ve been playing on a solar panel website and figuring my Amp-hours/day and it looks like I’ll either need a 75-80W solar panel or a generator to replenish my battery consumption from the previous evening, that’s figuring that the furnace fan is going to run for 5 hours a day. I’m leaning towards the solar panel but it’s going to cost around $700.00 for the panel alone so it probably wont get installed till next year if I can manage to scrape up the cash by then. I did find a two stroke generator for less then $300.00 that supplies 1000watts of energy with 10 Amps of current but it would be to noisy to run at night and I’d still have to drag gas in to run it.

During the day I’ll be out hunting and the furnace will be shut off till we get back to camp and I figure by the time supper is cooked the camper will be heated up again. I plan on using thick blankets and only heating the camper enough that my face doesn’t get cold while I sleep.

Had it out for the long weekend, got to work out a few glitches and learned a couple of things in the process. The fridge in the camper uses ammonia as a cooling agent and it likes to be totally level or the ammonia will pool and won’t cool the fridge properly. Once I got it working right the fridge was 2 degrees C and the freezer was down to –15 degrees C. Got to try out the oven and the stove, man what a difference from using the Coleman white gas stove. I’m not used to having everything available at arms distance. No running to the cooler, or filling and pumping up the gas. I’m thinking of heading out again this weekend to maybe do a little trout fishing and do a bit of pre season scouting for deer/bear.

Marc.

[ruger#1]

marc if your going to turn off your furnace in mid october or november you will have problems with your water freezing up. you might be able to get away with a smaller solar panel, a power inverter, and a batterie charger, it might be a little cheaper. shop around for a solar panel. i will keep my eyes open.i always have my nose in the papers looking for new toys. all you need is a panel that will keep your batteris topped up. sir used to have a 2 stoke charger that would charge your batteries in 2 hours. very hard on the batterries.

[greybark]

Hey Marc , That is a nice unit. Enjoy and goog luck !!!! One suggestion - Install a rug on the floor . It is easy to cut and fit and will provide a warm footy compfy zone (extra insulation). The rug should be short and tight knapped so you can sweep it . At the end of the trip you can take it out and hose it clean , Your Wife will see the nice and clean rug and will asume the rest of the camper is likewise . Then you can slack off on rest of the unit.


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