Scoutman's 'new' Starcraft Pine Mtn on Dodge 3500

Scoutman

Explorer
Well after what seems like years of wanting a camper to get out and about with, the wait is finally over. A week ago we purchased a Starcraft Pine Mountain Lonestar slide in pop up truck camper and so far have been very pleased. Knowing how much everyone likes pictures, I'll use this as my place to post them up and show off the new digs. It may start off slow as I'm building up a story here. :coffeedrink:

The rig and background...
My wife and I purchased an 06 Dodge Ram 3500 custom from the factory a few years ago. It has been a wonderful truck. We use it for hauling either a 16' bumper pull trailer with one jeep or a buddy's 30' gooseneck deck over trailer with 2 jeeps to go 4-wheeling. It's mostly stock with the main mods being a GN hitch, CB, cross bed toolbox, Pacbrake airbags, LineX, power inverter, etc.. It has about every option we wanted and is great for hauling just about anything I darn well please.

My wife and I have always been into camping since we first met and after the addition of a little boy to the family a few years ago, we had to get him into the same environment. Now camping for me has always been a love/hate relationship cause I carry a lot of stuff. When I truck camp, I go all out but I also know how to dial it back for backpacking or the simpler trips. Anyway, a typical trip out involved a lot of gear and prep and it was just tiring. A few weeks back we took a trip to the farm and after a full evening of packing and sorting through gear, the time to setup, take down, and then put away gear when we got home was just exhausting and it seemed like we never got any time to just sit and relax. We almost never camped in the summer since summer in the south is miserable with humidity and all unless you have AC. I don't mind the winter camping but sometimes it's not the best time of year to be outdoors with a 2yr old. So that left a few weeks of spring and a month or so of fall for good camping weather. Too many times we have missed our window of oportunity and just missed out that year which is sort of depressing.

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Scoutman

Explorer
Why we needed a camper...

Last fall we bought a gooseneck horse trailer. 4 horse with a 'living quarters'. It's pretty basic but nice enough, yet WAY overkill. My wife has a horse and we thought it would be a good way for us to get out, let her do her thing and we could camp in the living quarters. Well after a weekend camping trip to the farm, it became aparent that this was NOT a good idea. The original intent was to haul our horse and a few other friends horses and go together but scheduling was difficult and to date we've never gone. I knew that if this trailer hung around very long it was either going to turn into another project that I didn't need or it was going to rot with the occasional use it would see. It's been for sale for a couple of months and I'm hoping to get rid of it soon.

Hauling Jeeps and 4 wheeling, we're always wanting to camp too. I knew I didn't want to pull around a purpose built camping/hauling rig for Jeeping or Horse-ing, I wanted something that I could take on a typical weekend or week camping/exploring trip, could haul a Jeep if I wanted, or haul a bumper pull horse trailer if I wanted. A truck camper was the most logical solution.

Another piece of news that came this spring is we have baby#2 (we're done after this one) on the way to be due in mid October.

So my wife and I sat down a few weeks back and talked about our hobbies and how they fit in with the family and what we could do to get out more. We both agreed that a truck camper was the ticket. Now up to this point she has been against campers in general. They are either too expensive new, too nasty used, or just too flimsey overall. My family has had a pop up, a motorhome, and a 5th wheel through my years of growing up so I wasn't a stranger to campers but it had been a long time since my family had owned one. Anyway, she was willing to give it a shot and so the search began.

Lost camper...
The first camper that I found was local on CL and was $1500. It was a Jayco pop up truck camper with an 8' floor. It was cheap enough, and claimed to be in good enough shape. The thought was that it would work to let us know if this was something that we wanted to really do and if it would work for our needs or not. We went and looked at it one day at lunch and it was indeed a nice enough camper for a 90' model but it was still an old camper, had no AC or hot water, and just needed a good once over. The fabric was indeed in great shape. I tried to find out any and everything I could about it, took dimensions, pictures and told the guy we'd sleep on it discuss and let him know tomorrow. Well who knew that tomorrow would be too late. By the time I got to calling the guy back later the next morning, he already had a guy coming to get it, cash in hand. Oh well, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. At least this let my wife know what we could get for that price range. If we wanted something nicer, we would probaby have to pay for it.
 
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Scoutman

Explorer
Jackpot...
Deal 1 fell through, so it was now on to see what else was out there. So far I had just been looking on local forums and Ebay with few results. Most truck campers and pop up campers were out west with few being in the south. I finially used a CL search engine to broaden my driving range and ran across a Starcraft Pine Mountain camper in central Kentucky. I e-mailed the guy for more pictures and info. So far it sounded promising but was a little more than we wanted to pay and would involve a drive. After talking with the guy, it had almost everything we could want. Hot shower outside, AC, queen bed, 3 way fridge, no potty, great shape, little use, etc. It had been stored inside his temp controlled shop on a huge steel roll around dolly. It was an 06 model (same as my truck) with the Lonestar 8' floor plan. The owner had used it maybe a handfull of times and could count on one hand the trips it had been on with fingers left over. He purchased it new from a dealer in dec 07. He was a retired old man who had bought it for him and his wife to retire and go fishing with. When his wife ended up going back to school, and all his retired buddies had to go find work after retirement it was just him now and so he decided to sell it since it was just in his way. In fact he was getting rid of ALL his camping equipment. He even had the original paperwork.

Here's the picts from the original owner...

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And here is the Lonestar floorplan...

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Scoutman

Explorer
I pitched the idea to my wife and after some number cruntching decided we could do it. I did all my homework getting as much of an idea of what I was about to get as I could. I had a good honest feeling about this one and it seemed like THE one.

We decided we would take off early friday and drive up to look at it and get it unless there were any major deal breakers. The owner had already had one couple that were going to buy it and as the guy was writting the check, his wife backed him out cause it didn't have a potty. LOL. There was another couple coming down from Indianappolis on Sat so we hit the road Friday with the little man in the back seat for a road trip.

Thursday evening I threw enough basic sleeping gear in the truck as a just in case we wanted to crash at a campground on the way home if it got too late. I pulled the truck toolbox out of the bed which had been in there since a month after I bought the truck. It looked sort of wierd with no box and the full 8' bed showing with part of the bed still shiny Line X. I pulled the tailgate off as a just-in-case and threw together an emergency tools, straps, etc bag.

Friday we hit the road, ran through some major storms in Nashville, got stuck in interstate accident traffic for over an hour, and eventually made our way to his farm around 6:30 that evening. It was everything he said it was and more. It still had a new camper smell. The interior looked like it hadn't been used at all. The exterior was in great shape and really just needed a light washing to get the dust off. It still had propane in the tanks, and he even put a new battery in it so that it was everything he said it was. We spent the next 2 hours going over it, how to operate it, checking out appliances, fitting my truck with the tie downs, getting it anchored down and chatting with the old man. Very nice guy who was happy to see it go to a young family who was going to get some use out of it. He left most of his cooking equipment in the camper, threw in a Coleman camp oven, tried to give us sleeping bags, gave us his Outback Pop Up Privy (brand new) and all the little things that went with the camper like water pressure reducer, drill adapter for the jacks, and things like that.

We air'd up the tires and airbags and hooked up the clearance lights. Money was exchanged, the title signed and handed over and soon it was time to depart and head south. We felt good.

(I failed to get any pictures of any of this as we were sort of wrapped up in the tasks at hand)

First impressions driving it...
The bags were at 40# and the tires were around 55-60. I have Nitto Terra Grappler's rated at 65 max E and I think 3700# per tire. Power wise, the 5.9L Cummins didn't even care that the 1800# camper was there. The suspension was a little squishy on the side to side but I figured more air in the bags would fix that. When we lowered the camper, the suspension didn't even sit on the overload springs but I filled the bags anyway to give it more stability. After I got home I filled all bags and tires to 60# and it seems to do pretty well.

The next day I started washing the whole thing top to bottom on the exterior with the help of my 2 yr old. We pulled out and sorted camping gear for the interior. I spent the next week trying out various configurations of appliances making sure all of them worked and I knew how to operate them.

The fridge still gives me problems which I will have to figure out soon. I can't seem to keep it cold on anything but AC mode. DC and Propane work but they just dont' seem to do well. I may be doing something wrong though.

Well that's about it for now. We took a trip this past weekend in it and camped 2 nights which I'll post up about soon. First impressions then too.

:victory:
 
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Regcabguy

Oil eater.
Nice! I love the fullsized door. AC & propane should work equally well. DC will maintain the temp at best so something's not Kosher in the fridge. The suspension on the 3rd gen Dodge's was softened up somewhat from the 2nds. to seal the deal. Rancho 9000's all around is a cheap,effective way to temporarily enhance your handling with the added load and leverage of it. They take maybe 30-40 seconds to adjust all the way around. I believe Timbren offers some overload blocks which attach to the stops on the frame which shortens the gap and enables your overloads to actually help. Enjoy!
 

Scoutman

Explorer
Here are a couple of shots from my time with it in the driveway. I got all the winterization flushed out and the 22 gal fresh water tank flushed and filled. I made a short drain hose that will go into a 5 gal bucket for gray water. A short step stool works ok for getting in and out but it's only a matter of time before one of us slips so I'll be making some sort of platform for the rear end or see if my tailgate will work.

The hot water heater wasn't working like I thought and after some internet time, I found out that the bypass valve was turned so the hot water wasn't getting out. {press EASY button} Now I have scalding hot water for my outside shower or for washing dishes inside.

The AC in this thing ROCKS! If you plug in and turn on when you first set up, it will be cold in there by the time you finish hooking up hoses and getting your bags out of the truck.

The top is very easy to put up. 4 outside clips, crank the handle till the red cord on the drivers side is tight, raise the rear panel and clip it to the top, then velcro the soft sides to the rear panel and you're done. 5 min tops start-finish. There is a little door in the panel that latches to the rear door to give a 'full' height door. This is really nice. That little door has a removeable panel that accesses a screen. This is where I am going to mount a little AC/DC fan since I don't have a roof mounted vent fan and don't really want to cut a hole in the roof at this time. That should give me plenty of boondocking ventilation.

My biggest problem that I have right now is that you have to un-do the 2 rear clips and push the roof up about an inch to clear the door. As ya'll know, you need to get in and out of the camper a lot when loading up or just to check on things so this is a HUGE pain to go through this every time. My quick fix before I left was to wedge a block of wood that keeps the top up enough to use the door. I'm not sure what the better fix is right now. If anyone has run across this, let me know.
 

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Scoutman

Explorer
First Weekend Out

We were meeting my in-laws half way between N. AL and S. MS to drop our Son off with them for the week. I saw this as the perfect op for a trip out. I figured it would split some of our time on the road and give us a chance to try some things out so we would know what else to change or add to our new camper. I did some homework and found a nice little CG in the Bankhead National Forest called Corinth Rec Area. Packed up and ready to go we hit the road friday afternoon and got to the CG with just enough time to setup before dark.

The CG had very nice sites for RV's. Full power, water, and septic on the correct side of the site when backed in to mostly level pads. I did discover that I need to make up some 2x6 block ramps to help level the truck out since the nose was a few inches low, no biggie. We ran the jacks down with the drill which made the TC nice and stable. Fired up the water heater. Cranked the AC on and started a munching dinner of cheeses, meats, sushi, beer, and fruit. The little man LOVED the whole experience. I didn't think we were ever going to get him to sleep. Sometime that week I had made a few trips for camper items and ran across a Lightning McQueen (Cars) sleeping bag which he was giddy over. I also got him his own headlamp just like daddy's but smaller and with LMcQ on it. :) These will stay in the camper to make the experience more special. The bed had plenty of space in it and plenty of padding. I'm 6'3" and my preggers DW is 5'11" so this was a concern. The couch flipped out with one quick pull with ample walking space left over, and we were set to go.
 

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Scoutman

Explorer
Drop off day/fridge cooling (or not)

We packed up and hit the road to drop off DS. The fridge had cooled down to the upper 20's overnight with it set at the coldest position. The house battery is not tied into the truck yet so it only gets charge when it's plugged into 110v. I switched the fridge to propane and it lit up, I left the fan on that keeps air moving in the outside coils and started driving. I wasn't sure what to expect on the fridge but so far it wasn't keeping it's cool and so neither was I. By the time our 3.5 hr jaunt down to Meridian for a meet up with the in-law's it had been creeping back up and had reached the 50's and was climbing with it still running in propane mode. I know that every time I opened the door that didn't help matters so I'll be looking into a wire'd theremometer instead of the one that's hanging on the wire shelf inside the fridge. I've learned through driving it back and forth to work the previous week some of the scenero's of the fridge. It will only run a few hours on 12v with no additional charge and the temp climbs even when it's running. The propane will stay lit when driving but doesn't seem to do much either. When the light says it's running in gas mode, I'll look through the vents to verify that there is a gas fire present. It's really hard to see the fire in the sunlight.

Anyway, we made our way back to the same CG just before they closed up shop except this time we got a site overlooking the lake and a more level pad. The next morning, the first thing my wife said to me was "I'm glad we spent the extra $$ on a nicer camper" Score! I knew if she was happy with it that things were going good. We cooked a nice breakfast and had some relaxing/reading time before packing up and started exploring the backroads back to home.

We took some back highways that we'd not been down and worked our way to Joe Wheeler State Park to check out their facilities in case we wanted a quick trip close to home. We hit up the catfish house in Athens and made our way to the house in time to unpack and get settled before dark. Since the next trip isn't going to be for a few weeks, I decided to un-hook which really wasn't that bad. I do need to get a more stable and lower to the ground way to keep it in the driveway. The sawhorses I have aren't enough to keep DW content so I'm authorized to get some BIG jackstands to set it on till I get a dolly built.

I didn't get any picts of our second camp but snapped a few of the old church that was close to the park. It was built in 1850-something and was still holding service every Sunday. It was really cool looking inside with all pine floors, pine pews, a little stove, and hand fans in the bible pockets. It still had the yarn blankets and pillows in the pews. Very neat.
 

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Scoutman

Explorer
I had the same camper, except it had a full bath.
Starcrafts are very nice campers....congrats!

Good to hear.

We will eventually get a potty and I may make a pull out tray under the front step to store it in. It won't be the most private thing in the world but it will at least give folks a place to go for those middle of the night bathroom urges. I'd rather have the shower outside anyway.
 

jarmstrong

New member
this is what we use to get in our sunlite truck camper on our dodge-

http://www.petclassics.com/Pet-Loader-Steps/pet-loader-4-step-folding-dog-stairs.36.html

they sit inside the door of the camper and arer the first thing out but can step over if just stopping to put food in the fridge.dont know about having to lift first to open door,that would be bad,I like being able to prechill fridge and then leave on propane as we go down the road,ours seems to run the best on gas,will actually freeze food if turned too far down and then load with food before hand,our door opens right up but is the short door, the only good thing about yours is there is no chance of it coming open going down the road.hope you enjoy the camper as much as we have ours,its great to have the jeep behind and a decent bed after trail rides.
Jerry
 
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tanglefoot

ExPoseur
As for being required to lift the rear of the roof a little to open the door, mine had the same situation.

On mine, the aluminum frame around the door had a lip that tucked up inside the roof. I just trimmed off the top 1/2" or so of the aluminum lip on the door with a hacksaw. Now the door opens and closes without having to unclip or lift the roof--it's really nice!

I'm not sure if that would work on yours, or if you want to take a hacksaw to it, but it worked for me. You might check if it would affect how it links up with that little door above it--mine doesn't have that.

Eric
 

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