Maintenance & Restoration

BOBSMITH · 10-02-2007, 03:29 PM

I chose "safety". Specifically it was after a black bear raided our campsite at midnight at the Standing Indian Campground near Murphy NC. We decided right then that we were going to buy a fiberglass trailer, which we'd been considering anyway.

barring · 10-02-2007, 07:25 PM

Others are right - the questionnaire answers don't really fit.

Once we moved to Colorado, we found that we were setting up our tent more often than not in campgrounds (usually primitive, but campgrounds nonetheless), and doing a lot more day-hiking from there. Colorado is wonderful that way, much of the world pays a lot of money to get out here once a year, and we are out in it all the time.

After a week on the ground last year, freezing in the AM while making coffee (this is August, mind you), I started doing my research on trailers, found MFROG and went to Minn. to buy a Scamp in the spring. Now, that we have the trailer, we get out 2-3 times/month, as opposed to 1x in the tent, can explore large parts of colorado and still get creaky bones up in the morning. Can still hike in to places much removed from the road, but don't have to! Snowy mornings are not the problem they used to be, so long as the road out is still passable. So the season is now longer, as well.

We really use the Scamp as we did the tent - just more often. It's easy to keep it packed and ready to go after work when the wild calls. Forest road camping is still possible, and getting in late at night isn't near the problem it used to be when you can just find a spot anywhere in the Nat Forest if required.

Some things don't work any better on the Scamp than they did on sailboats - 12 volt refrigerator runs down the battery when I drive with fridge on. Still need to improve storage (laundry! Boots!). Bottled water for drinking takes up a lot of room. hated the porta-potti on the boat, so don't have one in the trailer - but it can get awfully cold ot there in the mountains at midnight, looking for a soft spot of soil to dig in.

So th answer as to why we changed is that we are only slowly changing, but the Scamp makes it so much easier that we go more often!

Barring

BOBSMITH · 10-03-2007, 03:59 PM

Quote:

So th answer as to why we changed is that we are only slowly changing, but the Scamp makes it so much easier that we go more often!

Barring

That's one thing about us, too. We camp much more often than we did before we got our Casita. Now we go camping several times a month and we even go camping in the dead of winter which we never did when we were tent camping.

Bob Cupp · 10-03-2007, 06:21 PM

I agree, I need about a dozen choices.
1. My Munchkin (5' 3" wife) had a stroke 6 years ago and is not able to help setting up the pop-up anymore.
2. When deer huntung in late November, early December, the 5 to 15 degree mornings are alot easier in the Love Bug instead of the Starcraft.
3. I got tired of setting up the pop-up in the rain.
4. The Starcraft Starmaster 8 weighs in at 2200 pounds. Empty Love Bug-1000 pounds. I don't need to drive "the beast" (chevy Astro) to pull the Love Bug on short trips.
5. 1972 Starcraft needed replacement. 35 years old, canvas still ok, well cared for, but wore out anyway.
6. Kids are gone, grandkids starting to go along. They still like tents.
etc, etc

Bill MacDermod · 10-03-2007, 07:48 PM

"Other" ought to be all of the above. We had to do something when I couldn't get up off the ground anymore to cook the bacon and eggs, my wife said, this sleeping on the ground has to go, We bought Casita and now she can't get me out of bed to cook the bacon and eggs cuz I'm so comfortable. Anyway, hers taste better

Mike Watters · 10-04-2007, 05:53 AM

Although I checked "ground was uncomfortable" - I used to tent-camp just fine. It's not like the ground got any harder, I just became less tolerant of it. By "less tolerant" I mean, "my back, hips etc were in too much pain by morning".

mkw

Jim Hovind · 10-04-2007, 06:37 AM

Athrirus

I was race staffing at road racing events in Illinois ans Michigan and the pain was getting to errese the fun of the weekend.

We have a 25foot Sunlite travel trailer, but that was too big to tow for just me, so I found the Beaten Burro. Three year of use My wife finnally stayed in the trailer at Eggfest#1 in LanesBuro and now we use the Buro more than the Sunlite..

2008 I plan on sening the Beaten Buro to rehab

so we will have to use the big trailer. That should be motivation to finish the Buro.

jack maloney · 10-05-2007, 06:50 AM

Time is the reason. After decades of backpacking, canoe camping, wilderness trekking, snow-caving, etc., the march of Time (or perhaps the March of Arthritis) forced me and my wife to quit sleeping on the ground. It just isn't fun any more when it hurts so much!

The egg allows us to continue enjoying the mountains and forests and seashores, without suffering joint pain every morning. We just got home yesterday from camping along the North Shore of Lake Superior, where we gloried in the peak of autumn colors. And cuddled snug and dry in our UHaul while the morning rain pattered on the roof.

Kevin242 · 10-05-2007, 10:45 PM

1. Four wet dogs in a dome tent has a "unique" smell.
2. Hit 40 and the joints crack a lot when getting up off the ground.
3. Got tired of stumbling over wife & dogs, unzipping the tent and standing in the rain to pee at night. (Wife says "at least you can stand up to pee"...).
4. You never get all the sand out of a tent.
5. You have to dry out a tent when you get home.
6. On a rainy day, it's hard to get comfy for too long in a tent.
7. We like the furnace in a trailer.
8. Ditto for the "port-a-potti"...

Per Walthinsen · 10-06-2007, 09:26 AM

They all apply to me except the 8th one. If I really had an insane need to put up, take down, then put up and take down again a tent at home in an attempt to dry it out here in western Oregon I might still use a tent.

As it is I solve all these problems by gently rubbing the Burro's ears and whispering softly into them and all these irritating distractions disappear.

Jim Stacey · 10-06-2007, 08:33 PM

Quote:

We had a Coleman pop-up. Just a small one and stored it in our garage when not in use (Homeowner Association Rules) So, when I was looking for a pot or a pan, out to the garage I'd go, pop it up, grab what I was looking for, put it back down - and continue what I was doing...

By doing so, I learned quickly how to put the top up and down whereas my husband only learned when we'd go camping. We'd get to our site, I'd jump out and ready for the 45min set up process. Hubby on the other hand had to re-learn what he'd forgot from the last time we went camping. It got to be that the first day of our weekend camping trip was a wash because we'd argue the first day/evening - One of us usually ended up going for a long walk as the other set things up themselves.

We had enough. We've been looking for something easier, dryer, and ready to go when the time arises (not having to spend half the day re-loading the camper from the last trip!)
We almost bought a motor home, until one of the sellers reminded us that "everything that can go wrong with your car and house can go wrong with a motor home" and all the problems with flat roofs on MH's and other TT's made the decision easy to look for something in fiberglass.

Our 16' Uhaul VT will make it's first (with us) camping trip on October 19th for a weekend, then we'll tuck her into her 30' rented garage for the winter.

Where in Ohio are you going camping the weekend of the 19th. We live in Ontario and are planning on one more trip this year, and I thought we might join you in Ohio. I have a three day weekend. If you would rather go alone, that is fine with me. Yours in Bolering. Jim

Paula Bindrich · 10-06-2007, 08:54 PM

I was getting tired of the up and down of the tent and then up and down to dry it out. I like having everything together and ready to go. I just got my Casita the end of July and have been out in it more than in the tent.

Most of the time it has involved search and rescue. Statewide dog trainings are fun because you can show off your domicile. While I'm walking out of the camper in the morning with my cup of coffee others are crawling out of the back of their trucks and setting up the stove. Then they have to rearrange the truck back for the "workings" of the day and then back again to sleep.

A couple of weekends ago my dog and I were called for a search about three hours away. It took me an additional 10 minutes to get the camper ready that night and be on my way. Rolled in to base at 2 am and slept comfortably. If I didn't have the camper I would have slept at home. Worried that I would sleep through the alarm going off at 3am and not have gotten any sleep (I can be a tad neurotic sometimes).

paula

Carolyn Patterson · 10-06-2007, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Where in Ohio are you going camping the weekend of the 19th. We live in Ontario and are planning on one more trip this year, and I thought we might join you in Ohio. I have a three day weekend. If you would rather go alone, that is fine with me. Yours in Bolering. Jim

We're going to Hocking Hills....it's our version of North Carolina. Lots of hiking, and 3 state parks where we can take our dogs. Plus there's a BBQ cook off at Hocking College, and antique shopping in Logan. It's "Grandma Gatewood's Fall Festival" weekend, (peak leaf weekend) but if it doesn't get cool soon, I can't imagine "leaf peeping" in 90 degree weather!!!

peterh · 10-06-2007, 11:10 PM

Why did I move from tent camping to fiberglass?

WELL, there is camping in a fiberglass trailer with a furnace, a toilet, and my wife.

OR, there is camping in a tent with a cozy sleeping bag, a bush, and a pillow made from unused clothing for company.

--Peter

Lisa M. · 10-07-2007, 12:13 AM

I switched over for a number of reasons:

1. Got tired of being rained out and having to deal with a wet tent in the morning
2. Got tired of going out in the dark and the cold in the middle of the night to use the bathroom
3. Got tired of all the packing and unpacking
4. Kids were starting to leave home and the one time I'd camped in the middle of nowhere with just the dog I felt a little uncomfortable (and the dog did too!)
5. Wanted to be able to camp at the coast in the winter

I guess that's about it.

I originally looked at FGRV's because I thought they were cute, but when I started doing additional research I decided they were much more than just CUTE!

CharlynnT · 10-08-2007, 11:23 PM

Three main reasons:
1. Rain: lots of rain, cold rain, sideways rain
2. Boondocking: tent-campers like to have a picnic table, a garbage container, perhaps a cookhouse, a fire ring, and outhouse. We pull up to any beach and have brought everything we need for a low-impact stay
3. Kid: safe and warm and dry, plus room for Lego, Transformers, Drawing Materials, Scotch tape