I am looking for information for a use or new camper van. Do you have any suggestions and experience for a camper van to share? I heard the Weekender from Peace Van is very good. Thanks, David
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I am looking for information for a use or new camper van. Do you have any suggestions and experience for a camper van to share? I heard the Weekender from Peace Van is very good. Thanks, David
How many people, what type of roads, how long of trips, do you need/want a toilet in it, want it self-contained or not?
My photomobile -- pop top, fold out bed, second battery for inside lights, can handle rough roads, no toilet/stove/fridge. I love it...a great one-person machine. Fine for two. I use to be on the road with it with my three boys, also.
Friends of mine just bought a 'Sprinter' style van and had this place in Reno convert it to a camper for them in one day....
Not sure how the price compares to just getting a readymade one, but I was impressed, you can stand up in the van, and the build out seemed stylish and functional.
I always want a vehicle that can be fixed wherever I go
When i was looking for a new empty van, in 2017 which I prefer I rejected many vans as i looked in the dealer repair shops.
I see the Piece Van is a tiny mercedes, not recommended, except in EU
I used already well worn VW Aircooled Bus from 1971 to 2010, 2 of 10 had to be sent home on a truck, 1 from Montreal. Both were cured by me once home. California, Brazil and Mexico can fix them easily.
Ford Transit made in Turkey, Spain and the big ones are shipped on deck, to get pre-rusted by salt water as are the Dodge Ram
Dodge Ram Promaster are only good for local fleets without the terrible diesel engine which are still in dealer shops everywhere. Fiats! https://www.allpar.com/threads/dodge...ducato.229497/
Good American designed and Made in USA Nissan NV are discontinued. I almost bought the biggest. https://tfltruck.com/2020/10/nissan-...-way-for-a-new strategy/
GMC/GM Vans are good in USA, not elsewhere, many dealers can fix them. https://www.gmc.com/vans
I bought a new 2017 Ford F150, it still works!
The big question is, how much will you use it? How long are your vacations?
Rent and walk away when it breaks
Fly home just like I did when my VW's broke,
Pretty busy in the tourist areas until the Plague ends in a few years...
I put this on my F150 with a Bed Rug
https://www.leer.com/truck-cap/122
I may add this lift
https://topperezlift.com/index.php/p...amper-package/
2021 will have sleeper seats in Pickups
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3...0front%20seats.
an option I have long wanted
I removed all seats from my 1994 Civic VX for some trips, I could sleep, carry a lot of gear. I drove that thing anywhere including Burning Man 1999 which I entered from Winnemucca on a mining road. Tricky sandy path...100 miles of fun, saw only one other vehicle, a guy on a mountain bicycle. I gave him water, then he went the other way...
For me it was a Rialta. Good resource of info at:
https://www.poptopheaven.com/about_rialta.asp
Pluses: All the luxuries: range, oven, frig, bath, AC, etc. Based on the front end of a VW Eurovan so maintenance and repairs easily done at any VW dealership. 22mpg! No duals in the rear so lower toll fees. Able to be parked in a normal automobile space in a parking lot. Was easy to darken the windows and make it into a mobile darkroom. On the road amazingly quite stable in high cross winds (with a strong cross wind gust my Type 2 would easily change lanes by itself, very scary if on a high bridge). Drove more like a van than a RV. Great AC and heat. A lot easier to boondock with since it looked like a large van and not a RV. In town parking lots that didn't allow RV parking, just asked the town's police for permission and was always told no problem, just not for overnight. Great for traveling with a dog since he could lie on the rear folded down bed and look out the large rear window. Was told by another owner that it could be towed by a normal tow truck, but honestly not sure about that claim. Great for 2 people and a dog. Amazingly a good amount of storage.
Minuses: Smallish water capacity for using it as a portable darkroom. Rear axle air bags that if accidently under inflated, the RV drove like a pig on stilts when going over 60mph. People constantly approached me asking if it was FS. Tight for overnighting with 3 or more people.
https://www.adventure-journal.com/20...-us-heres-why/
2022 4 Wheel Drive Electric VW Van may appear https://www.caranddriver.com/volkswagen/microbus
Ford E350 van with Sportsmobile poptop modification is my mode of travel. Works well for one to four. No extras. (If I want to cook and clean, I stay home.) More Ford repair shops in US than probably anybody else, altho I've never had an issue and this is my second one. If I were to look today, I'd look at the Ford Transit. I'm trying to find my daughter a Connect. Best way to shop is to go camping and see what others are driving. There's lots of new and old, big and small rigs. Something for anybody and everybody. Happy trails.
On FB there appear some sort of contests for electric conversions...I have always treated them as spam/scams, but they had a mid-60s VW bus modified for electric. Cool idea -- but one would be able to go way too fast in an unsafe vehicle for those speeds (>60 mph).
Not to mention any electric conversion is never going to get anywhere close to the range of a vehicle designed to be electric from the ground up. Everything has to be light in an EV, and those old vehicle frames aren't light. Also EVs get much better range at 60 mph and below anyways, mostly because air resistance goes up exponentially with speed.
There have been many excellent potential solutions to the question.
Fantasy land addition here;
www.arkonik.com
Outfitted exactly as you want it. Will go anywhere--so that the old adage that if its not fifty feet from the car its not photogenic can be stretched a bit! Put a Howling Moon Rooftop tent on it,
https://www.howlingmoon.com.au/rooftop-tents
and you will be able to get to untold amount of places that otherwise might be unavailable to a photographer.
There is the pesky detail of the price of these but you won't want for luxury/go anywhere capability.
a man can dream a little every now and then I suppose
Monty
All good Monty!
I signed in for Ark updates...
but this old man will not be sleeping on top of a vehicle as I need to visit the trees too often
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Purchased this heap used. Drove all over Alaska, from Homer to Fairbanks, to Valdez, Seward, etc etc. From Moose and its young ones in my campground to Aurora Borealis, to Denali, to cooking salmon just plunked 2hrs prior, to Wrangell-St Alias, etc, etc. The van is still up there and I come for a visit - Kodiak next. :>)
Les
It's instructive to watch reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies. My style. Helps to bring your own goats along.
hi, i was never a friend of the idea of having a wc in the car. why? anyway, we took a roof tent. https://www.ikamper.com/products/x-cover that fits on a porsche as well as on a ford tourneo. greetings
I have been astounded at how easy it has been to camp a night or two in my RAV4. Put in a memory foam mattress, throw a tarp over the roof, and store the stuff unlikely to attract thieves on the roof at night.
Thank you all for your suggestions! I will look into the campers you suggested. Recently Mercedes announced it would sell a getaway-Metris camper. See link bellow.
https://www.mbvans.com/en/metris-getaway
Cool -- that is basically what I have now (pictured above). Tho I have to admit I like having a 2002 instead of a 2022, only because it is just so dang simpler...and has a cassette player.
The other big difference is that the EuroVan is beefier, as it was designed as a work vehicle besides a passenger van. Heavier suspension, a little more ground clearance.
Vaughn really hit the nail on the head with his first post. How many people? For shorter trips, or living in for a long period of time? Does it need to be dual use, or can it be dedicated for camping? What sort of amenities do you want? Do you want/need 4wd and clearance regularly? It is important to be honest with yourself about what your needs are.
My wife and I used a Eurovan (no pop-top) for years, and it was great for our needs at the time. It could carry 5 people with whitewater kayaks on top for day trips, was decent for weekend camping. Now we have a Sprinter that I outfitted myself, and we love it, especially now that we are retired and take trips that last for weeks or a month+.
I bought a used 2011 Mercedes 2500 Sprinter 5 years ago and thought I had the best thing ever. In those 5 years in spent around $10,000 to keep it on the road. The check engine light has been on more then it has been off. Tomorrow I will pick it up from the
shop and call the new owner to pick it up... Never again will I buy a Mercedes diesel. I have ordered a Dodge Promaster.
Big RVs are like boats...it takes money to run them and to keep them afloat.
My sister has a Sprinter/Sportsmobile. Sweet machine, reasonable size (pop-top), drives better than their old Dodge Ram conversion, etc, but the up-keep, as Bill mentioned, is high.
Parts are becoming an issue with rigs like mine.
The places I've seen RV's broken down all over the West, oh my, my, my ... There's nothing quite like being towed down a desert highway and spending most of your vacation in a Motel Six in miserable dusty Barstow while it's being fixed. That happened to some friends of mine.
My air-cooled VW camper broke down in Shasta. After they dropped the engine and pushed the bus back outside, they let me sleep in it until they finished it a few days later. As a result, I got to see the Dalai Lama perform a ceremony on the flanks of Mt Shasta during his world peace tour...and did some hiking up the mountain a little ways. One makes the most of it.
The big advantage with a VW Bus Type II, Air cooled, is the ease of shipping a new engine anywhere and getting it installed in an hour
New, not rebuilt https://darrylsaircooled.com/
Many parts interchange from 1950 to 1975
and they gain value...now...https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds...2/2437671.html
I notice a lot of movies used to smash up a VW Bus just for a cheap laugh
My best one came with a front fold up tow bar, if it broke just tow it somewhere with any pickop
I never needed to tow it
We drove Sprinter, Promaster, Transit. To each his own, but the Promaster just didn't work for my body, which was evident after 10 minutes of driving it. I liked the Transit, but liked the Sprinter even more, and it had some safety features my wife liked and was already partially configured the way I wanted, in terms of windows. After reading horror stories online, I was hesitant, but pulled the trigger on a new one anyway. No problems so far. We've been somewhat frugal DINCs all of our working careers and wheeled travel is important to us, so we just opened the checkbook. Hopefully our experience will be better than yours!
Off topic, but we had a diesel Jetta sedan for some time, and we lived in Laramie, Wyoming. That thing was amazing, in terms of starting, even as cold as it gets there. (We used our gas Toyota Tercel exclusively on sub-zero days!) I worked with a guy who had a diesel VW pickup, he used to let it run all day when he got to work. (Kept it in a heated garage at home.)
I have a travel trailer towed by a pickup. My parents had an RV (commercial Ford Chassis?) that my brother borrowed and had a front bearing seize on the spindle in the middle of Nebraska. that ruined the spindle. No parts available to fix it immediately.
My truck is a run of the mill truck that can be easily serviced about anywhere without requiring specialized providers or equipment.
Truck and trailer are definitely a good choice when staying put for more than one night. I imagine someone who is efficient can move daily with ease, as well. And the truck is dual (or more) purpose!
We owned a top of the line Leisure Travel Serenity. Vaughn you saw the rig, it was beautiful. It literally spent more time in the shop than on the road. Frustrating as hell and it was brand new! Had to sue the company via the lemon law. Lost a lot of money and learned a valuable lesson. Now I'm building out my Toyota Sienna. I'm a woodworker and it will be built better than the van I bought and a hell of a lot cheaper and more reliable. Plus my wife and I are not big people so it will work for us. It took a while to find the right layout and when it is done it will be just what I need for the cameras and have plenty of comforts for my wife.
Trailers are an option, if the tow vehicle breaks, stay in the trailer, get the TRAILER towed somewhere good for the duration
Many are making custom heavy duty off road versions, small and light
This is just the first one i found today https://www.trailerlife.com/rv-gear/...tiny-trailers/
My wife's idea of a camper is a king-size bed at a Marriot.
We’ve had this truck camper and truck since 2005. We’ve had very few maintenance issues on either and we’ve been all over the country and to Canada. Comfortable in winter cold and summer heat.
We owned a Casita Enterprises fiberglass 17-ft Spirit Deluxe from 2003 to 2019. About 2200 lb dry. Initially towed with our Toyota Siena. Later, towed with the Toyota Sequoia. Very few maintenance matters: re-packing wheel bearings; broken PVC drainpipes due to flying gravel on Alaskan Roads. 11,000 trip to Alaska; several 4,000 mile trips to fishing locations. Three 5,000 trips MI-CA-MI. Easy to tow; only as wide as the tow vehicle. Sometimes I forgot it was behind me. Did I say easy to tow?? With a changing bag I emptied holders and re-loaded. Never did any developing in the Casita.
If you find a pleasant place, you just set up for as many nights as you want and uncouple. Then explore!
I do NOT recommend going over the Nascimiento Road to the Big Sur Coast towing the Casita! But that's another story.
Jim -- have a pop top put on your van!
Below is my kind of transportation -- except I have had recent trouble with my suspension and frame recently. A bad knee for 6 weeks followed by my back going out. Fortunately the bike is good for both of them (once the knee rested up) and I am now ready to hit the road again. And I can squeeze the bike in the van.
Here is how the semi rich play camping
It is gorgeous and a replica, and maybe a magnet for...
https://bowlusroadchief.com/?utm_sou...87179-94557709
How is about teardrop camper?
https://ocala.craigslist.org/rvs/d/o...251247545.html
Some TD are very nice, beware of any used trailer
These look nice if you wait a year or 2 https://timberleaftrailers.com/
Read this https://wholepeople.com/best-teardrop-trailers-brands/
There are so many new ones being made right now, I can't keep up
a lot of people make their own here is where to look at that http://www.tnttt.com/
I prefer to cook outside with no WC, the more crap built in the crazier they get
Get a heavy duty new one with torsion bar suspension and 15" tires
https://littleguytrailers.com/lgtrailer/tb/
I got your trailer in my backyard. It has four 15" wheels, torsion suspension, all aluminum including the entire frame and you can wear a big hat in it. Inside height 84"
2 windows, screen door, 12VDC & 30 amp electric with forced air propane furnace. Rear door is a ramp that can carry 4 men, or be a patio
,power converter LED lamps big deep cycle battery, fans. and more extras
An upgraded one of these https://completetrailers.com/2020-legend-7'-x-19'-deluxe-v-nose-$9,695-henderson-tx-76248/6835810 mine is 2018
My tow vehicle matches, aluminum 2017 F150 tow package, 36 gallon gas tank. Leer cap, Bed rug
I may sell the whole kit, with the aluminum hitch!
Since we get 4 pics, here is a brief history of towing
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a1c16074_c.jpgweb Ford & Trailer by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9c39019a_c.jpg1997 1-puke on trailer 2 (1) by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4bf4dabf_c.jpg1-1-TIN CAN COLLEGEweb by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cc9995af_c.jpg1-Puke ride 1 w by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
This might be the trailer I would want. It does have 16" wheels.
https://surlybikes.com/parts/ted_trailer
I know the bigger one. https://surlybikes.com/parts/bill_trailer as a friend of mine was always using one delivering video gear to my building's studios
without and well before 'electric legs'
the whole damn place was 'green'
I sold out after 14 years and really glad I got out
Nice camping box. Refined.
Where's the bidet?
I think I saw room for a shovel.
It is a nice camping box!
We have always wanted to be able to camp where we wanted to be, and not rush around looking for a hotel. Now that we are both retired we settled on a
sportsmobile (https://sportsmobile.com/) 4x4 Sprinter. The upkeep on the Sprinter may be higher, but the safety features are great. SMB campers are well done, and the pop top gives you more room. We rented a Jucy camper van in CA for 10 days and loved sleeping up in the penthouse. Our van is being out-fitted now.
Look for used SMBs, there are a few out there. Study up on them. Also, look at this web site for a guide to decide on what you need/want:https://www.thefitrv.com/
Mike