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

[SquamptonBC]

Dope rig

[maddog]

Congrats..... That looks like a sweet rig. You will really enjoy it.

[Trackhead]

So stoked!!

Great resto! I had a mid 90's Palomino pop up for a year or so that served me well.

[anemic]

I've been reading this thread for quite some time as I'm interested in winter camping. I'm very impressed with the efforts all on this board are willing to go in order to get to the slopes. This is my first post. My wife, dog, and I are heading up to Salt Lake, and then hopefully Jackson in early March. I have a 39' diesel pusher and tow a Jeep TJ or Ford Explorer. What are the prospects of me parking in the Jackson Hole parking lot for three nights? My rig is ready for winter. I have chains for both axles, dual pane windows, heated tanks. We've stayed in PC and Draper, that's easy. But we'd really like to ski Jackson Hole but haven't found any winter campsites.
Any thoughts?

Your rig sounds awesome! Do you have a Newmar?

Jackson hates us. HATES us. Not quite as much as Telluride (where you can't even have lunch quietly inside the rig!). The most you can hope for is to pull in after the close of the ski day, which is when the parking lot attendants shove off for the evening (just after sunset?), and park for the night. Then they come in during your breakfast / coffee sesh the following morning and ask when you got there. The answer is that you just pulled in. Maybe an hour ago. Woo what a drive over the Pass! They notify you that you may not park overnight here and you agree wholeheartedly. Go ski. Come back after the tram closes. Now you have two options. Best one is probably to shove off for Driggs / Grand Targhee and ski there tomorrow. Or, you can feign a mechanical, saying I can get it started (Thank goodness I can charge batteries & stuff!) but I cannot get it into gear. A tech is coming in right away from SLC. Not sure when he'll be here. We're stuck till he fixes it. Kinda sketchy but doable. Think like a dirtbag!

*EDIT* BigSky seems to have changes policies on overnighters. This bears further looking into before proceeding up there. This is very sad as it was such a great place to do this.

You should know that Big Sky is not that far and they WELCOME us! FREE! I parked there for 3 or 4 nights and we loved it and they loved us. We even parked under the chairlift @ Moonlight but I'm just tellin' ya, I might not drive the coach into Moonlight again. It's like getting lost and ending up on a rollercoaster. That's their road. Maybe unhitch the toad from Big Sky & do a test drive up to Moonlight. I don't think they actually call it Moonlight but you get what I'm saying.

[anemic]

Looking for current info re RV parking at or near Big Sky. 4WD + popup FWC camper. Big Sky website says "camping of any kind is not allowed."

This from the other (hard to find) thread:


Update on this?

Oh no! This is a loss to mountain dirtbags.

[DanoT]

Jackson Hole Campground has some sites open in winter. Maximum RV length is 35'. The Motel 6 in Jackson is cheaper.

[gonzo_lives]

Good tip.That Motel 6 is much cheaper than I would have guessed,less than $60

[DanoT]

Good tip.That Motel 6 is much cheaper than I would have guessed,less than $60

Motel 6 in Jackson will give you 30% off if you stay for 7 nights or more and the best part is that they recently remodeled the rooms with new flooring, HD TV, new beds, cabinets, sink, shower stall. Only negative is that the rooms are very small...but not compared to an RV.

[bovine]

Good lookin rig! Last summer was my first summer with my new-to-me pop-up on my 2000 Tundra. One thing I did last year that I didn't do when I loaded it this year was leave the tailgate down.
I really liked having the gate down, but later realized that if I need to change my tire, I couldn't access my spare with the long bar-insert-into hole-thingy.

I travel in areas where I may really need to access the spare, so when I loaded my camper earlier this evening I took off the tail gate so the spare will be accessible. I also carry a slime full repair kit with tire plugs and a mini-air pump as back up.
Food for thought-

[backcountry1pr]

Trip went great.

Couple small things I need to address (leaky gasket in the sink, latch for fridge, truck to camper electrical doesn't appear to be happy), but otherwise, awesome.

Want to figure out how to set it up so that I can charge the camper battery while driving.

Hit Moab perfect, ~60 deg temps. Rode Ahab for the first time which was cool. Drove a bunch of Highway 1 in CA. Not the ideal vehicle for that road, but a really cool place to be.

and Bovine- good point... I have the jacks stored in the bed of the truck, so in an emergency I think I could lift the back end up enough to pull the tailgate off momentarily. No real offroading with the camper in the back yet, but I have to imagine it would have to be pretty spicy to be slashing tires (for the most part). I do have an air compressor, should I need to air up/down the tires.

[LSeed]

Had my 4runner set up like this for a road trip two years ago, will be setting it up like this again this summer.

[east or bust]

Had my 4runner set up like this for a road trip two years ago, will be setting it up like this again this summer.

Nice setup

[Trackhead]

Want to figure out how to set it up so that I can charge the camper battery while driving.

Get a large charging solenoid from an auto parts store. I have an 80 amp solenoid that is only "on" when the truck is running, it's wired into an accessory port in the fuse panel that powers on when the gauges are on. Run #4g heavy duty wire from solenoid (+ lead) back to camper battery (+). Make sure you ground your camper battery with #4g to the frame or other heavy duty ground. This will charge your battery when your truck is running at a much higher amp rate than the silly method of charging through the taillight connection. Be sure to have a big fuse before the solenoid, and one before the battery.

I've been running this way for quite a while, works great. Solenoid won't allow current to flow backwards, so you can run your camper battery down and not worry about draining your truck starting battery.

[ACheateaux]

Just carry a spare solenoid as those have a limit to how many times they'll cycle. Also pretty sure solenoids are just a switch, current can flow both directions when power is to the solenoid, usually not a problem as most alternators will over come the difference. An isolator prevents current back flow.
Also learned that the 250 amps at start up my 7.3l was throwing at the solenoid will very much shorten the life of it.

I went to a manual switch.

[thehaze]

Spotted this beast in the val d'isere parking lot and thought someone might enjoy a little camper porn.

[El Chupacabra]

Just carry a spare solenoid as those have a limit to how many times they'll cycle. Also pretty sure solenoids are just a switch, current can flow both directions when power is to the solenoid, usually not a problem as most alternators will over come the difference. An isolator prevents current back flow. .

I'm sure I've posted this somewhere before in this thread, but my battery setup in the truck camper runs through a 12V golf cart solenoid, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/CONTINUOUS-SOL...+cart+solenoid

I've been using it for 4 years now. No issues. From what I read when setting up the charging wiring, isolators typically cause a small voltage drop, unless you buy a really fancy (i.e. expensive) one. So I went with the large solenoid instead, which is cheap and easy.

I don't rely on the alternator to charge the camper batteries fully, but just to keep them topped up while on trips -- I connect a battery charger directly to the camper batteries in between trips to fully charge them. (Two 6-volt golf cart batteries from Costco = lots of AH.)

[hitek79]

Spotted this beast in the val d'isere parking lot and thought someone might enjoy a little camper porn.

I would love to know how they get that 250 pound spare down if they had a flat. Has to be some sort of lift built in there. Awesome set up though!

[Trackhead]

Just carry a spare solenoid as those have a limit to how many times they'll cycle. Also pretty sure solenoids are just a switch, current can flow both directions when power is to the solenoid, usually not a problem as most alternators will over come the difference. An isolator prevents current back flow.
Also learned that the 250 amps at start up my 7.3l was throwing at the solenoid will very much shorten the life of it.

I went to a manual switch.

I bought a constant duty solenoid, not intermittent starting solenoid. Hopefully it will last, if not............well, here's more pics.

[goldengatestinx]

I bought a constant duty solenoid, not intermittent starting solenoid. Hopefully it will last, if not............well, here's more pics.

Great photos! Where was that? And how bug splattered do the bikes get being on the front rack? We use a rear receiver hitch rack but it makes getting in and out of the camper a PITA.

[AKPogue]

Great photos! Where was that? And how bug splattered do the bikes get being on the front rack? We use a rear receiver hitch rack but it makes getting in and out of the camper a PITA.

Why don't you get a rear receiver hitch rack that moves out of the way?

[tBatt]

4x4, Diesel, Dual Tanks, Allison Transmission, 77k miles, $4000. Someone needs this.

http://eastidaho.craigslist.org/cto/4940280979.html

[ClarkleberryFinn]

Who needs an RV?

[gonzo_lives]

4x4, Diesel, Dual Tanks, Allison Transmission, 77k miles, $4000. Someone needs this.

http://eastidaho.craigslist.org/cto/4940280979.html

that should sell in 5 minutes

[tBatt]

I'm about to trade in the 'rester for it. That thing gets a little tight, especially now that I'm travelling +1

[Trackhead]

Great photos! Where was that? And how bug splattered do the bikes get being on the front rack? We use a rear receiver hitch rack but it makes getting in and out of the camper a PITA.

Cochise Stronghold/Dragoon Mountains. Bugs aren't a huge issue in AZ. When we go to AK next month I might cover the bikes, but alas, bugs don't really bother me.