Four Wheel Camper - A Review

[flywgn]

An absolutely great narrative, kc. Seems to me a copy of it would be suitable for the "Completed Expeditions" as well, just in case someone might miss this thread.

Your descriptions of the routes you took are so familiar to us. The Grey's River is one of our favorites; fussing around Bear Lk where one of the largest and longest-lasting rendezvous took place; sleeping in the Rest Area below Palisades Res; Craters of the Moon; and on.

We haven't had the pleasure of meetin Officer Buzzkill, but he sounds like a character out of Hoot.

As I said in another post, I know you'll enjoy your camper. We've never owned one (dang, is that possible?) but have been tempted oh-too-many times.

Thanks for taking the time to put this review together.

You gotta' love it.

Allen R

[kcowyo]

Hey Mark! Welcome home!!

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed your pictures and reports with your Four Wheel Camper in Australia. Screensaver after screensaver... That's great you got to meet up with Sven too. It's a small world for such a big place!

Has your truck made it back to CA yet? I thought you all weren't due home till June..? I'd love to hear more about Tasmania and Cape York. Shoot, I want to hear about every minute of the whole trip! Do you have a mileage or KM total on the truck for the whole trip?

Thanks so much for the tips on the FWC. I have been warned about the turnbuckles working themselves loose but I haven't solved the problem yet. If your solution held up to the corrugations in the Outback, that's good enough for me! I've been reading Australian Monthly 4WD for the last few years and the trip reports all seem to mention common problems/annoyances; corrugations, dust, loose screws and isolation. Your Hawk, surviving those ultimate tests for nearly a year, with minor difficulties is huge boon to my confidence in Four Wheel Campers. It should definitely survive any trips I take in the US.

Great tip too on the rear window. That would really bite if that were to shatter while out on a dusty road! I'll try that trick for the mattress too. My camper is completely powered through an auxillary battery located in the camper. The PO would put it on a trickle charge before each trip and stated that it held up for 4-5 days of use before needing a re-charge. I'm going to try and be real frugal with the power next week for the 7 days I'll be off road in Canyonlands, NP.

It may work OK for me, but I don't want to be counting how many jigowatts of power I'm using every time I turn on a light or the heater. I'm going to look into small solar panels, that I can mount on the rooftop, to recharge the batteries. I could tie in the battery to the truck's alternator, but I've never used with solar panels and I would like to learn more about them. This seems like a good excuse.

Next week should provide ample opportunity to thoroughly test the mounting system, battery power supply, tire and airbag air pressures, LP supply and overall off road handling. I'll either come back with a big ol' smile or a big ol' For Sale sign!

Oh and Mark, with your vast experience, you can hijack this thread anytime! Heck, I'll give you the keys myself!!

Again, Welcome Home Globetrotter!!

[kcowyo]

Hey thanks Allen!

I was thinking you had owned one of these before? Or did you get to spend some time with one on a trail ride somewhere....?

The Grey's River trail out of Alpine is on the to-do list this summer. There was still way too much snow on Easter, in fact most of the snowmobile trails around the Dam were still open. I just got turned on to SE Idaho in the last couple of years, but what a great area to explore! Gotta love all of the hot springs.

That's cool you know this area so well. Sometimes I feel so isolated up here, like no one has clue what I'm talking about when I mention certain roads and trails. But hey, if one person gets what I'm talking about, that's good enough for me!

I guess this could be moved over to Completed Expeditions, but calling this an expedition is being mighty generous. It was basically a 3 day roadtrip in crappy weather and one run in with Serpico. Some people like to make a long story, short. Me, I tend to make short stories long, but I promise never to let the facts get in the way of a good story!

***************

For everyone waiting for another installment or those who are just waiting for me to wrap this up already, I have to abandon my post, literally and figuratively, for the next week. I'm rolling out tomorrow afternoon for Utah and I'll be back on the 15th.

I don't mean to leave anyone hanging on the rest of the Sun Valley story. The remaining trip home was mostly more wind, some ballsy Pronghorns in the road and coasting into town on fumes, with a wet Spring snow falling all around me. I may elaborate more when I get back.

****************

Thanks so much to everyone who has taken the time to read this thread and for the encouragement to write more!! New pics and tales to follow!!

[flywgn]

Hey thanks Allen!

I was thinking you had owned one of these before? Or did you get to spend some time with one on a trail ride somewhere....?

kc, during one our many searches for the 'right' mix of vehicle/camper/tent, or whatever (Goldilocks had nothing on us.), we 'borrowed' one for a few trips. Liked it immensely, but ended up with the "Conquerer" safari trailer.

Allen R.

[OutbacKamper]

Hey Mark! Welcome home!!

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed your pictures and reports with your Four Wheel Camper in Australia. Screensaver after screensaver... That's great you got to meet up with Sven too. It's a small world for such a big place!

Thanks KC, I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. Given your obvious gift for writing (and my lack of same) maybe we could colaborate on some articles about Australia?

Has your truck made it back to CA yet? I thought you all weren't due home till June..? I'd love to hear more about Tasmania and Cape York. Shoot, I want to hear about every minute of the whole trip! Do you have a mileage or KM total on the truck for the whole trip?

Um thats BC (British Columbia) not CA, but thats ok, lots of aussies would say to me "so..what part of the US are you from". We decided to return a little earlier than planned for a bunch of reasons, but mainly because we were tired after doing 45,000km in 9 months. Truck is in transit.

Oh and Mark, with your vast experience, you can hijack this thread anytime! Heck, I'll give you the keys myself!!

Thank you, but stop, I'm getting all misty eyed.
Have a great trip!
Cheers
Mark

[kcowyo]

Um thats BC (British Columbia) not CA, but thats ok, lots of aussies would say to me "so..what part of the US are you from". We decided to return a little earlier than planned for a bunch of reasons, but mainly because we were tired after doing 45,000km in 9 months. Truck is in transit.

45,000km in 9 months..........

I remembered it was (Oh) CAnada. I wouldn't accuse anyone of being from California that didn't have to be....
I didn't recall BC though. What a beautiful province! I'd love to take a trip to BC & Alberta sometime.

So down under, you're a Yank no matter where in North America you're from?

********

.......4 hours till lift off.....

[18seeds]

Hello Everybody, Newbie here and this post has completely convinced me to sell my 4x4 van and buy a tacoma with a four wheel camper. Thanks for all the great info. I was thinking of doing helper springs instead of airbags but i think airbags may be a better alternative.

[flywgn]

Hello Everybody, Newbie here and this post has completely convinced me to sell my 4x4 van and buy a tacoma with a four wheel camper...

I think there's help for you. Seems to me there's a chapter of Toyota Owners Anonymous in your area. You might want to contact them before you take the plunge.

[kcowyo]

Time to revive this monster -

I just returned from Moab and spent 7 days off road with the truck and camper. I'll be putting up a more detailed trip thread up in the Completed Expeditions section, since the Utah trip was definitely expedition-esque. Here, I'll highlight the impressions, both positive and negative of the camper after a week on the trail.

For a point of reference, the first day was spent in Arches NP. The second and third days were spent in the Maze District of Canyonlands NP. Day four was spent on Beef Basin and along the Dark Canyon Wilderness Area, then into the Needles section of Canyonlands NP, including a run over Elephant Hill. On the fifth day, we ran Lockhart Canyon and Hurrah Pass then made a fuel and ice stop in Moab. Day six and seven were spent on the White Rim Trail in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands.

I was not solo on this trip. On the first day I met up with cool Darren, of MyColorado.org fame. Later in the week for the White Rim Trail run, we were joined by everyone's favorite snake charmer, Chuck (Urisade69) from New Mexico. Three guys, in three different colored Toyota 4x4's, from three different states meeting up in a fourth state. The only thing missing was maybe a white Toyota, maybe from Arizona or something.....

On the 4WD trail of Arches, I was very cautious and moved slowly through several easy off camber spots and deep ruts. With the tires aired down to 19 PSI, I floated in the sand like I was driving Ms. Daisy. The camper is not really noticeable due to the bulk of its weight being below the truck's bedrails and the center of gravity is dead centered over the rear axle. I would say by the end of the second day I had my speed up and a good idea how the truck was going to react ascending and decending the many steps on the trails. When in the sand, I let all of my Parnelli Jones daydreams come true and thrilled at how well the truck and camper worked together.

Throughout the week, I found myself only concerned with the camper when we came to low overhanging rock outcroppings and trees. After several uneventful passes through off camber spots of varying degrees, the height concern and thoughts of being top heavy proved to be pointless. Other than the occaisional lug while getting the vehicle rolling up an incline, the camper's bulk proved to be a non-issue.

I used the heater the first morning, but that was the only morning I needed it. I made coffee most mornings and cooked a little something for dinner most evenings. The propane held out and never gave me a problem. I'm nervous around propane, so I double and triple checked the valves everytime I cooked something. I also regularly checked the LP bottle and it's mounting system to insure that it wasn't being battered around its little compartment while we were rolling. The system worked great.

I used the auxillary battery sparingly. Instead of the overhead lights I often used my headlamp or moved around in the camper at night by the full moonlight. I had a small portable solar panel to charge the battery, but didn't wind up needing it. About the most I used the battery was the evening Darren and I checked out a bunch of my pics on my laptop. I plugged in to the camper and we spent about an hour looking at pics. The battery did great powering the laptop and my plug-in rechargable camera batteries.

A big, "Wow, I can't believe it!" started to settle in at the end of the week, when I noticed the cab of my truck had a fine layer of red dust everywhere. However, the camper had none, other than what I tracked in on my boots. But the counters, bedding, windows, all surfaces had no sign that it had just done hundreds of off road miles in Utah. This was not the case last fall on my trip to Utah, with a camper shell on the back of the truck. Everything from coolers, tow straps and bedrolls was covered then but not now. I still can't believe it and I'm dreading the hours of detail work getting the cab clean.

The bed slept fairly comfortable. I slept kitty-wampus (you may not get that if you're not from the right part of the US) and still could occaisionally feel some poking on my hip when I slept on my side. The cushions have plenty of give to them still, but I'm a poor sleeper. There were a few warm nights that I slept all night with the windows open and I loved the feeling of a screened breeze, while I slept on top of my sleeping bag. The big downer to this bed set up is that you cannot make coffee while still in bed. The bed must be slid back to its closed position to access the stovetop. This was only annoying the first days until I started getting a morning routine down. You know, it's all about routine till the coffee kicks in. I soon realized that I don't have to pack my bedroll just to close the bed. I soon had a routine where I was boiling water for coffee while putting away the bedroll and transfering gear back into the cab for the day. I would like to work on a different cushion solution in the future though, maybe a memory foam like Vince has.

The ice box fridge was the only real bummer. This is not a powered fridge, but like a cooler, throw in a block of ice and other items to be kept cool. It has a drain hose to allow water from the melting ice to drain outside of the truck. This drain hose reaches my drivers side rear brake light area and as Chuck so keenly observed, it often looked as if my truck were taking a leak while going down the trail. The ice box will be better used for dry storage with some other option for keeping drinks and food cold. It just didn't keep anything cold and a block of ice lasted barely a day. Also when it initially cooled, there was so much condensation built up inside, that it would drain out the front of the ice box onto the camper floor. A better solution than ice blocks that melt and need to drain would be frozen plastic water jugs. Also the door is divided into sections that should hold cans of pop or some condiments, but nothing fit and the restraining bars, across the inside of the door, fell out several times on the trail, even though it wasn't holding anything at the time. A stand up fridge is just not efficient, compared to a chest style cooler or fridge. A solution will have to be put into place before another multi-day off road trip.

How about we break for the evening with a few pics? -

[blaze one]

I am glad this thread is going again , it is like a good book I can't put down .
So are you thinking about a Engle Fridge inplace of the ice box?