theboondork's RV blog

mini-vacations, a test of my survival skills, or just another excuse for relaxing in different locations?

5/16/2019

Dandelion, the scourge of everyone's lawn. Thank goodness I no longer have a lawn to scourge.

As I was saying yesterday I've been thinking back to the days when I finally crawled out of my camping tent, and into something more comfortable, which was the beginning of the chain of events that led me to living full-time in the Arctic Fox.

If I had never made the change from camping in a tent to something else, I probably never would've become a full timer as I might never have even heard of full timing because being a tent camper the thought of living in it full time never crosses your mind.

But the first thing that got me out of the tent was a 1972 Ford Econoline cargo van that I bought during the van craze of the 1970s. I insulated it, carpeted it, threw a small mattress on the floor, leaving enough room for my dirt bikes, traveled in it extensively, and enjoyed every minute of it other than having to lay on my back to put my pants on. And even though I still consider living full-time in a van every now and then, I don't believe at this point in my life it would fit my full-time lifestyle, or my concept of mini-vacations.

Since at this time I have no intention of giving up the Arctic Fox, the thought of having another vehicle to maintain, buy tags for, insure, and worry about, keeps me from considering a van as the best way to stay comfortable while taking my mini-vacations.

But the thing that took the place of the van as my main way of camping was even better than the van in a lot of ways, and still has the potential of being the best way of enjoying my mini-vacations in comfort. And I'll talk about that tomorrow.

theboondork

A pink wildflower.

8 Comments

Barney Ward link

5/16/2019 06:32:48 pm

The question that keeps coming into my mind is, how much trouble would emptying your truck bed be twice a year? Load it for the winter and unload it for the summer. Hmmmm.

Tom

5/16/2019 08:50:02 pm

That is a cogent thought. And it just so happens that I have a lot of experience with the concerns you addressed.

I still owned my Hallmark pop up truck camper when I bought my first fifth wheel trailer and for several years I used both of them interchangeably, the fifth wheel generally when I was taking a long trip, and the pop up when I was running around the mountains.

And since I traveled a lot I was taking things in and out of the bed fairly often. But it was much worse back then because I had a normal heavy fifth wheel hitch to take out of the truck that I could barely move by myself, so I generally just pulled the pins out of the bed rails while the trailer was still hitched to it and then jacked the trailer up until the hitch was hanging from the trailer, drove out from under the hitch and left it hanging from the fifth wheel until I needed it again.

But my Andersen hitch is easy peasy, I just pull the four pins out of the bed rails, pick up the hitch with one hand and put it wherever I need to put it.

There's also a box in the bed that I built to carry odds and ends, its not bolted down and I can take it in and out very easily. And unlike before there's hardly anything in the box anymore to the point I sometimes think of getting rid of it.

So changing over from the fifth wheel to the slide in and vice versa would literally be a 15 minute job. And I would plan on keeping the slide in camper in the truck all summer and only take it out when I need to tow the trailer somewhere and dump the tanks.

In fact I think it would be much easier to make that switch that it is to remove the passenger seat from the truck so I can sleep in it when I go camping and don't feel like putting up the tent.

Tom

5/16/2019 09:19:34 pm

And a lot more comfortable than just inside the truck. I had a bare bones camper shell on my previous truck that got used three or four times for sleeping in during the time I had the truck. It worked ok for short trips.

5/17/2019 07:57:28 am

That's about the same way I used the camper shell on my truck. My camper shell was the same height as the truck roof so there wasn't much headroom at all, so I knew the first time I slept in it that it was going to be of limited use for camping.

Tom

5/16/2019 09:27:48 pm

I forgot to tell you more of my trailer info. I went to a local well recommended RV repair facility to get a rough price for repair the rot in the AF roof. My 13 year old trailer "in good shape" has a probable selling price of less than $6000. The estimate for fixing the rotted corner from my description of the trouble was a minimum of $3000, So I am basically at worthless because I have modified and worn the trailer so much in the 12 years of living in it. Now I just run it until I turn it into a garbage dump object. That was my original plan in the first place anyway. So now I know the situation, No crying here. I and this trailer have had a lot of fun.

5/17/2019 07:58:40 am

Sorry to hear about your Arctic Fox, but you've definitely got your money's worth out of it. Moisture damage appears to be the bane of all RVs. It's easy to get, and you don't know you got it till it's too late.

I had a similar problem with my last fifth wheel. Instead of spending most of its life in the dry desert areas like my current Arctic Fox, it spent most of its life going back and forth to the south to visit my mom in Georgia, and other friends and family up in the coastal areas of Washington state. And both of those areas are great places for an RV to get, and stay, thoroughly soaked.

After a few years it had a soft spot in the roof, and the right rear corner was soft and actually sagging a little. It was a cheap trailer to start with, I put a lot of miles on it, ended up trading it for a rifle, and bought the Arctic Fox.

One of the many good things about traveling in the desert Southwest is it seldom rains, except for last winter, and when it does everything quickly dries out again. So even if you have a leak things don't stay wet long enough to rot.

Maybe instead of fixing your trailer the way a professional would, think in terms of strengthening the bad area enough to get some more life out of it. I don't know a lot about trailers but I've owned a few wooden boats in my life and its fairly common to repair rot in wood boats. In coastal areas Marine dealers usually sell chemicals and other things that are used to stop rot and make rotted areas stronger. It probably won't solve your problem but it might keep you "afloat" a little longer.

Tom

5/17/2019 09:23:07 am

I designed and installed replacement support a few months ago. I intend to run it as is until it don't work anymore or I win a big lottery prize.

5/17/2019 12:14:06 pm

I think the don't work anymore will happen long before the big lottery prize comes along.

I would suggest moving to the desert, it's healthier for RVs and old geezer's alike. And while you're still capable of holding a fishing rod, you can fish for the mighty SandSharks that abound in the desert.

Tom

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