Scamp Factory...Here is, How do they do that?? (Pictures)

[Joe N]

How they built it...

[Phil Underwood]

pretty cool photos, thanks for posting

[Ken C]

wow brand spanking new trailer factory fresh, that's wonderful. Congrats and thanks for sharing!

[Joe N]

Thanks for the comments,
YES, brand spanking new trailer factory fresh, out the door for $8751.
That is the basic 13' Scamp
Furnace,
Battery pack,
Rock Guard,
Vinyl floor.

That is all we need, we boondock a lot.
Graduating from an old worn out 1982 coleman popup tent camper.

Stopped at the scales, weight = 1180 lbs

[Raya]

Joe,

Congratulations on your new Scamp!

And thank you for the photos, and for the weight information - that is very good to know.

I don't mean to ask the obvious, but was that weight with the trailer on your tow vehicle (i.e. minus tongue weight), or was it for the trailer alone, unhitched (total weight).

She sure is shiny! Nice match for your tow, too.

Raya

[Joe N]

Joe,

Congratulations on your new Scamp!

And thank you for the photos, and for the weight information - that is very good to know.

I don't mean to ask the obvious, but was that weight with the trailer on your tow vehicle (i.e. minus tongue weight), or was it for the trailer alone, unhitched (total weight).

She sure is shiny! Nice match for your tow, too.

Raya

Thank You,
The weight was total weight, trailer unhitched

[Raya]

Thanks for clarifying, Joe

[Joe N]

Took the new scamp out for its 'shakedown cruise'.
Everything vent very well.
The first night was cold, light rain/snow mix, the heater kept it very comfortable.
It seemed as though the heater did not have to run very much.
The second day/night was cold and clear, we saw many stars that night from the comfort of our scamp.

We were boondocking in Wyoming, most of our camping in the future will be in Yellowstone, and Glacier.

There will be some trips to the Pacific Northwest, Portland, Seattle, and Bellingham.
Now I have to learn where the best campgrounds are near the above cities.

[Herb Sutton]

The "sign" in the photo is a real eye-catcher.

[Gary P]

Thanks for posting those.
I have a chance to pick up a 1985 16' Casita that is completely gutted right down to the glass and I was wondering exactly how I would go about recarpeting it. It may turn out to be to much work to to fool with for the money. (not sure) but now I know what I'm up against.

[Kevin K]

Scamp factory

[Radar1]

Joe,
Thanks for posting the weight. I'm still using a Pop-up and I've decided on a fiberglass camper in the future and just need to decide which one. I've run full circle the last 2 years since there are so many choices, ranging from deciding the Scamp 19 was the one for me, then maybe a 16/17 Casita, then perhaps a 13 Scamp, Casita, or Trillium. I'm even considering the Eggcamper, but I really think I'll end up choosing a 13 ft model since I can pull it with My Subaru and won't need to keep my big truck.
I'll probably get one similar to yours, except perhaps an A/C rather than furnace since most of my camping will be in the South.
Do all the cabinets shown on the Scamp 13 ft website come with the Scamp or are they optional?
Good luck with your new camper, looks nice!

John H

[Joe N]

Joe,
Thanks for posting the weight. I'm still using a Pop-up and I've decided on a fiberglass camper in the future and just need to decide which one. I've run full circle the last 2 years since there are so many choices, ranging from deciding the Scamp 19 was the one for me, then maybe a 16/17 Casita, then perhaps a 13 Scamp, Casita, or Trillium. I'm even considering the Eggcamper, but I really think I'll end up choosing a 13 ft model since I can pull it with My Subaru and won't need to keep my big truck.
I'll probably get one similar to yours, except perhaps an A/C rather than furnace since most of my camping will be in the South.
Do all the cabinets shown on the Scamp 13 ft website come with the Scamp or are they optional?
Good luck with your new camper, looks nice!

John H

John,
We graduated from a worn out 1982 Coleman popup, we thought the Scamp 13 basic, would be the best fit since we boon-dock a lot.
The only overhead cabinets in the basic model are the ones above the stove/sink are. The overhead front and rear cabinets are optional.
The closet by the door is standard.
We camp in the North West, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington and wanted the furnace to take the morning chill off.
If we camped in the south an air conditioner may have been our choice.
It took two months from the time we ordered the scamp until it was in our hands, we went to the factory in Backus, MN to pick it up.

[Nancy]

Hi Joe,

We have the Scamp before the new height, basic, not even a furnace. We do have front and back overhead cabinets. Carry no water.

We weighed in at the Oregon Gathering at 1600 and at another time (town dump) at 1500.

If you ever get a chance to weigh again with your gear please post again. Wondering if the weigh scale you used was for big rigs and could be off a bit for a small unit? I am really surprised your unit was that light.

My two extra cabinets and gear weigh 600? Oh yeah, we got a group 27 battery so that was a few pounds extra too. I assume since you have a furnace you have a 20 lb propane tank.

Lesson to be learned is that the weight can be kept down.

Thanks for posting, Nancy

[CliveAlive]

Yes, thanks for posting those pics.

Interesting side view of your rig. It looks like the bottom of the Scamp has been raised up a bit; from the rear of the wheel arch to the bottom of the bumper or frame and from the front of the door up to the same level.

Is that a new thing? I've not noticed that before. On my Boler the 'glass reaches down another couple of inches below the bottom of the frame. I can see that it would make for better handling on steep inclines.

Nice rig. Congratulations!

[Marg]

I can remember when my daughter-in-law and I started from the west coast headed for Bacus. Had a very nice trip, following the Oregon trail backwards. Saw some interesting historical sites and thoroughly enjoyed our trip. We signed up at a motel, can't remember the name of the town, not too far south of Bacus and then that evening we decided to try to find the Scamp factory. Well we headed north looking for the factory, all of a sudden Josey said, "I see it, see that little trailer up on that high pole? That's it." It surely was, and was it a thrill to be taken on a tour of the factory. The next morning we were back, got the trailer hooked to the car and took off for home. It was a once in a life time experience formme, buying a new trailer, wow, nice trip, good company and no troubles with the 13' Scamp since. I took my last trip for this year last week, Cabelas was having a big sale so I decided to go to boomtown, stayed at the KOA, which Boomtown owns the franchise of, did my shopping, nice new jacket and fly tying materials, and headed home the next day. I do not like to camp during the winter when it gets dark early. Margaret in NW California

[Joe N]

Thank you all for the comments.
Nancy,
I weighed it on a new state of Wyoming scale, I think it is pretty accurate (I even weighed myself , it was dead on )
I think it rounds up/down on the last digit (1186 = 1190) as I have never seen a 1 through 9 at the end.
I will weigh it again when we have our gear in it ready to camp.

CliveAlive,
Interesting that you pointed that out, I do not know if the made that change after the factory fire and rebuild.
here is a picture of the 13' bottom section before attaching to the frame, you can see the rake/slope here.



Here is a picture of the bottom of the one on the pole outside of the factory.




Margaret,
Yes, it was a fun trip to Backus to pick up the scamp, the Factory tour was excellent, I wish I had taken more pictures.

Joe

[Nancy]

Joe,

Thanks for the confirmation on the weight. Guess I better start packing lighter. I really wouldn't want to be without those front and rear cabinets though.

John H. Note that our basic trailers do not have refrigerators. I don't even have the ice box. If you add both a refrigerator and an air conditioner and the standard water tank your weight will be a lot more (closer to 2,000 loaded I think).

Nancy

[Raya]

Nancy,

Assuming you have the fiberglass front/rear overhead cabinets (and not deluxe wooden ones), I can't imagine the cabinets themselves weigh much at all. The doors and hardware probably weigh more then the fiberglass part (especially if they are particleboard type material).

Just a wild guess, but each cabinet (empty) with two particle-board doors (or one longer door) and hinges plus rivets and Trimlok.... 20 - 25 pounds?

Scamp might know, since they will ship them out if someone orders them.

Would be fun to know for sure.

Raya

[Nancy]

Raya,

Yeah, that is what I thought about the overhead cabinets too.

I really thought the new generation Scamp would weigh more due to the extra height inside.

Scamp did install a door where the ice box would be and it could weigh more than the ice box, but I'm still surprised that we weigh in so much more. We also have a screen door and fantastic fan, but those can't weigh much either.

I don't carry cast iron skillets in the empty ice box area either.

If we ever do go to a smaller tow vehicle I will seriously think about a smaller battery and smaller propane tank.

Joe, I am curious about the tongue weight. Don't think you mentioned that. If we both have 20 lb propane tanks and I have a slightly larger battery, it seems that maybe your tongue would be heavy compared to the trailer weight.

In Oregon our tongue weight was 200. left axle 720, right 700. Guess I better stop going to library book sales.

Nancy