Ski RV's, who's sleeping in parking lots?

[DanoT]

It would be badass to have that length of storage built in for skis. It seems like a struggle to find somewhere to store skis if you have a slide in. stashing them on the floor of the camper or in the truck is not appealing.

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I put a pair of skis in a ski bag and then tie the skis, tip and tail, to side of my rear ladder. I then tightly wrap a bike cable lock around the ladder and between the skis heel and toe piece.

[powdrhound]

I put a pair of skis in a ski bag and then tie the skis, tip and tail, to side of my rear ladder. I then tightly wrap a bike cable lock around the ladder and between the skis heel and toe piece.

Before I got the Pack-a-sport, I just mounted a rack on the ladder.

[pyromaniacman129]

https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/r...783601333.html
northern lite camper FS in OLY
Looks neat

[Brownski]

https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/r...783601333.html
northern lite camper FS in OLY
Looks neat

cool old truck too. I wonder if that’s for sale

[TAFKALVS]

https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/r...783601333.html
northern lite camper FS in OLY
Looks neat

looks like it's a basement model.

[Diamond Joe]

Any advice on problems to look for in a ~20 year old RV? Going to check this rig out friday
https://worcester.craigslist.org/rvs...784444405.html

[yeahman]

Any advice on problems to look for in a ~20 year old RV? Going to check this rig out friday
https://worcester.craigslist.org/rvs...784444405.html

The roof: check for signs of leaking and resulting water damage/dry rot in the walls. Roof can be redone but it is spendy. Probably the most common problem among older RVs.

Fridge/freezer units are expensive to fix. Make sure it runs properly off electric and propane.

Make sure the water pump pressurizes and the lines hold pressure (pump doesn't keep kicking on). Otherwise you need waterlines and/or pump replaced.

Looks like a nice rig. We had a 1991 Coachmen class C for ten years. Great times.

[Micol]

Any advice on problems to look for in a ~20 year old RV? Going to check this rig out friday
https://worcester.craigslist.org/rvs...784444405.html

yeah check everything, dont rely on seller to tell truth, and you will be hard pressed to check all if its in winter conditions....for winter use , u not be using anything related to water including the crapper....so many things can be bad, low miles doesnt always mean good, rubber rots, rust forms,mold in water supply, tanks etc, etc....dont trust anything propane just because it ignites, you need longer or more in depth testing....geni? fire up both in and out, etc, look for reviews of that build cause flaws seem to follow certain manufacturers choice of systems....roofs get fixed, still can be soft, you want to get up there and put weight on every inch....basement floors under bath need to be inspected for rot, walls and windows, same....

[willywhit]

my buddy got a new rig.
Jay Peak, VT
https://www.powder.com/latitudes/sle...UWk4d3TbbeFgCM first extended vacation in my camper van, last 2 nights in Jay Peak parking lot. Everything working as it should, warm and toasty at night. Just wish more of the rain had been snow.

[frorider]

I have an internal storage area for skis under the fridge but when necessary I store skis on the ladder attachments I built.

[DanoT]

I have an internal storage area for skis under the fridge but when necessary I store skis on the ladder attachments I built.

A ski bag and then a bike cable lock wrapped tightly around ski and ladder between the binding heel and toe piece would e the finishing touch.

[frorider]

I have zipped drawstring gaiters that cover up the bindings and an adjustable length cable lock that work well to lock the skis. A ski bag would work fine with my flat tail skis but not with twin tips that need to be slid in one at a time.

On E Sierra trips I tend to hit 4WD trail access roads often so I wanted a bulletproof system to take the weight.

[DanoT]

I have zipped drawstring gaiters that cover up the bindings and an adjustable length cable lock that work well to lock the skis. A ski bag would work fine with my flat tail skis but not with twin tips that need to be slid in one at a time.

On E Sierra trips I tend to hit 4WD trail access roads often so I wanted a bulletproof system to take the weight.

With my set up I don't have an aluminum box ski holder, instead I just tie the skis to the ladder, tip and tail, with the cable lock between the bindings.

[mattig]

Do you guys get untold piles of volcanic sand on the backs of your rigs, or is that just a PNW thing? I swear they're either using way more than they used to or I just notice more because the back of a camper is like a magnet for it. (BTW Toast, that would be my final vote on side doors for campers... the rear entry just gets demolished, every weekend. I've been religious about cleaning it, but it's a pain fo sho).

All that to say, I don't think I could roll with exposed binding on the back of the rig. We've been using our sport-tube for the few pairs of skis that won't fit in the basement tray. Thinking about jerry rigging sport-tube to the rear ladder.

[Micol]

Do you guys get untold piles of volcanic sand on the backs of your rigs, or is that just a PNW thing? I swear they're either using way more than they used to or I just notice more because the back of a camper is like a magnet for it. (.

ABS
Always Be Sweeping

[BCMtnHound]

Ha! And always a piece of duct tape over the key holes!

[Diamond Joe]

The roof: check for signs of leaking and resulting water damage/dry rot..

yeah check everything, dont rely on seller to tell truth...

Thanks fellas

[Bobcat Sig]

You will be hard pressed to find a good camper that is light enough for an F150. F350 or possibly get away with F250.

With some digging, there seem to be some 6.5' Lance campers made for half-tons. And with the newer F-150s having over 2000 pounds for payload capacity, it does open up options on older trucks. Sure, you don't have the latitude that other would have, but it's not dire.

Listen to the man, Ryan. ESPECIALLY if you might want to tow around your little motorbikes with a camper on. Half-ton trucks limit you (for the most part) to pop-ups. Depends on your comfort level though. Hard-sided campers can certainly be done on half-tons (see Norsemen, et. al.), but they're not really designed for it, and you'll be aware of that fact on icy mountain roads. I probably have the lightest camper that any red-blooded american is running on an F-350, and I'm glad I didn't get any less truck. Other than the turning radius, the new F-350 rides nearly as well as my 2016 Tundra (non-TRD) did. The new truck with the camper on it gets 2-3mpg more going up the mountain than the Tundra did empty, and closer to 6mpg better if both are hauling 4k lbs.

Scratch all this if you dig a pop-up like the FWC Hawk.

Hit me up any weekend you're at Meadows and come chill in the camper.

All food for thought. As I've dug a bit, manufacturers do and have made some campers for properly equipped half-tons.

But you are right about towing. I do want to be able to tow my 5'x8' enclosed trailer to track days, the woods for some dual sporting or trail riding in the summer. In the winter, it's a ski and storm-chasing rig.

I don't want a huge camper. In fact, the smaller the better. There are some mammoth units out there that will fit 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. I just need a small-enough set-up the wife and I. Less is more in this case.

That is good to hear that the F-350 rides well. I guess I'm guilty of thinking the new trucks ride like the old ones. They don't. My truck - whatever I get - does need to pull duty for some regular driving, hauling bikes around and skiing with out the camper in the bed. Driving around a 1 ton unladen seems like a lot. Maybe an F-250 might be a good compromise?

I've put about 40k miles on this setup through any terrain imaginable living in it over two ski seasons. Truck is an 08 5.7 Tundra.
Camper tag says 1755 dry, trailer is estimated at 5k.

My average fuel economy was 10.3, that's with highway speeds around 63. Long highway drives kill milage, in town driving makes it go up.

If I had to estimate I bet a diesel would have gotten about 13 going the speed limit with the same load. In my opinion they aren't worth the price of admission though.



Attachment 260682

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Now this is what I'm wanting to see.

Yup, that's the case with me, too. Load range E's, TRD sway, bags... and the truck does "fine".

But if Trooper McSnoop asks what your GVWR is, you're likely in for a ticket. He'll whip out his one-wheel scale and confirm being overweight.

For example...

My NL sticker claims factory 660kg dry, or 1450lbs. I've since removed the fridge, water heater, water tank, and some plumbing. I recently weighed the rig on the fancy shipping scale at my workplace, and it showed 7400lbs (3400 front wheels, 4000 rears) without jacks.

Truck weighs 5400 lbs unloaded, so even my little fiberglass NL8.5 is 2000 lbs. without water or gear.

Max GVWR for any Tundra configuration is 7200 lbs.

Drivetrain and brakes handle it easily, being built to haul 10k trailers, but there's still a legal risk.

That's great info and the route I was thinking, but I failed to consider the GVWR legality. Some F-150s have a 7700 GVWR package...

Getting a GVWR reading of 7400 with a hard-sided camper is INSANE! I never felt like the Tundra even cared about 2-3k lbs in the bed, but those were always LOW center-of-gravity loads, and not driving up mountains.



Was that a 2017+?

I know my buddy with a 2015 F-350 is pissed at me for giving him a ride in my 2017 F-350 because he said he had to go buy a new truck now. I test drove the 2017 3500 as well. Generally impressed with the ride. The Tundra steering is the winner, but Ford's speed sensitive steering is quite nice as well. Absolutely no comparison between feature sets in the 2016 platinum tundra and 2017 Lariat F-350 when it comes to hauling loads (logical, of course). I just gotta figure out how to mount my tailgate camera on my camper so I can get my mind-boggling overhead 360° camera view back. That would make parking a 23 ft vehicle much quicker.

"tundra at 10k perfectly fine." I guess on flatter terrain, but not driving up to the mountain. Not for me anyway.

In the spirit of shifting back toward on-topic, I'll say that for 20-30 trips a year (as well as running around town occasionally without taking the camper off), the 1-ton is the right tool for the job when it comes to my 3k lb camper. Gas vs diesel debate is eternal. Great cases to be made for both.

The diesel vs. gas thing is real and the price of admission for an oil burner is steep. However, I'm having a hard time finding a properly equipped F-250 or 350 gasser. They all have a million miles on them or a stripper XLT. There's no way this dental lawyer is going to be driving around in a truck without leather!

This is what i'd want if i had a half ton and money...
Kimbo Living

Made in Bellingham, WA. Haven't seen em in this thread yet.

Attachment 260776
Attachment 260777

This makes my skiing and storm chasing pants tight.

2500 series campers from BF and NL have full length basements for ski storage. Primary reason I sold my NL and bumped up to a (bigger) Bigfoot.

Oooh, good to know. As been discussed in this thread, ski storage is a thing with campers...

Do you guys get untold piles of volcanic sand on the backs of your rigs, or is that just a PNW thing? I swear they're either using way more than they used to or I just notice more because the back of a camper is like a magnet for it. (BTW Toast, that would be my final vote on side doors for campers... the rear entry just gets demolished, every weekend. I've been religious about cleaning it, but it's a pain fo sho).

No, I think ODOT is graveling the shit out of the roads. All those beaters driving no-wheel-drive Hondas and Rav4s with no-season tires need all the help they can get. I noticed today that the back of the ski box and the roof of the Oil Burning Pepper Wagon (TM) has a nice layer of gravel and volcanic rock dust. The gravel trucks were out in full force yesterday. And don't get me started with that liquid de-ice shit I saw getting sprayed down near Rhododendron yesterday evening. Fuckers.



One other question; 6.5' or 8' bed. I think the collective wisdom would be to get the 8' bed for a bigger camper. But damn, that's a long truck...

[DanoT]

"There's no way this dental lawyer is going to be driving around in a truck without leather!"

Cloth seast can easily be recovered in leather, sometimes better than stock leather seats.

[mattig]

6.5 vs 8 ft....

What I wish someone had told me is that the 6.5ft camper models often have room for a built in generator whereas some of the 8ft models do not.

It's not the end of the world to pull out the Honda and run the shore power cord from the other side of the camper, but it probably the biggest inconvenience so far, apart from the location of the blow job port.

If you spring for the heavier 10.5 ft+ campers, they have the overhang to accommodate a built in genny compartment, but I couldn't fit that in my driveway.

And yeah, there are definitely half-ton friendly campers like the Lance 650, and that could be a decent option for a guy without kids or a particular wife, but you're more likely to have moments where you wish you had more truck as opposed to less. F-350 vs Tundra, my only gripe is turning circle, and yeah I guess the price of admission.

150, 250, 350 debates... IMO, the popularity of 250s is a relic of a bygone era. The new 350 (or chevy 3500 for that matter) makes 3/4 tons obsolete. Can't speak to the Ram as I didn't drive those.

Of course the 250 is still a thing if you're talking about a used truck.

Hood River Shell station has shell diesel for 2.79 btw. You already know you want the diesel. Assimilate

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[TAFKALVS]

I went 3/4 rather than 1 ton on my latest truck purchase because my state has decided that 1 ton trucks are like semis and even if you’re not loaded over 10,000lbs you still have to chain up under the slightest provocation of snow on the roadway. (Because theoretically you could be loaded to 26k with trailer.)

Whereas the 3/4 ton by nature of manufacturing simplicity is the same truck with a sticker that says GVRW 9900lbs and grants me safe passage on a normal day without chains.

So I don’t think a 3/4 ton is obsolete.

Also you want an 8’ bed.

And on board generators suck compared to a Honda eu 2000 inverter. The Onan gen sets are noisy and inefficient by comparison. Plus when it’s built in to the camper all that noise and vibration gets transferred to the camper shell, whereas a stand alone can be located a bit away from your camper.

Finally, diesel vs. gas. Be wary of the used diesel, if you are only mostly doing local trips a gas truck will be far more reliable and less expensive to own. Diesels only pay off if you’re going to drive long distances.


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[mattig]

The chain thing is a valid consideration. That said, I'm carrying chains and will not be using them (and taking the associated risk from an enforcement standpoint).

I've heard the same thing about the onan, but also that it can be quieter with mods. If on-demand electric start were important to someone who was also leery about an 8ft crew cab, could be something to consider.

And yeah, I wouldn't buy a used diesel, but wouldn't hesitate to buy a used late model gas HD from Ford or Chevy.


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[El Chupacabra]

I haven't looked at the details recently, but it used to be that those high payload 1/2-ton truck ratings were available only on versions spec'd out in ways that were not useful for me: 2WD, single cab, low options - basically the lightest you could build the truck in order to maximize payload.

[mattig]

Check out the table on page 9 for F-250/350: https://www.ford.com/cmslibs/content...tyPU_Nov27.pdf

And page 34 here for F-150: https://www.ford.com/services/assets...-150&year=2018

Long story short, you can get well over 3klb with the half ton, and the F-250 would only add 600lbs to that. Max payloads require the 5.0l gas motor. Payload numbers (at least for the F-250/350) brochure, assume a 150lb passenger for every seat belt, but no other cargo or options.

E.G. my truck is 2861 on that chart, so it would be 3611 without options or passengers. My door sticker is 3243 lb (implies 368lbs of options).

real world math:

3243lb max cargo/occupants

- 450lb occupants
- 300lb gear/water/misc

= 2493lbs

[Foggy_Goggles]

There is some weird shit in this tread about 3/4 and 1 tons. It is somewhere between, "That is an interesting opinion" and "you have no idea what you are talking about".

Can we at least agree that you should test drive the vehicles you are considering with the loads/configuration you are planning to use it for?