Loaded up the GF, her two kids, a TON of stuff and all took off to Friday Harbor in the spectactular San Juan Islands. We had perfect weather, got intimate with a pod of killer whales, watched eagles, seals, and generally witnesses some of the most amazing sites I've seen in quite some time. And all in our own backyard too - I love WA!
I bought a 1984 13'
Scamp three weeks ago and have spent that time cleaning, buffing, polishing, repairing and improving - all in preparation for this trip and many others this summer with her kids and my own little guy. Overall impressions were that it worked fine, the kids certainly loved it, and it will serve well as a very basic camper. There were some issues that came up - some were solved on the fly - but for others I'd like to get feedback from you all.
Condensation on the walls and ceiling. I expected some on the
windows and for the most part that water drained to the outside as it should. There were a couple
windows where a drops would form on the corners of the window frame. Not a huge deal. The walls of the trailer were quite moist. We weren't roasting or sweating up a storm in there, but the temp. at night was down to about the mid 40s. We also did not have the heater going (another tragedy as some of the wires came disconnected while scrambling to stop a leaky sink that had work fine the day before) Is this normal? This is one of the reasons I stopped sleeping in tents
Our list of tragedies included... a leaky sink, a non functioning heater (due to leaky sink cleanup), a kid falling off the top bunk (solved by installing a shower rod across the top the next night - and restoring her confidence), wet walls, an insanely squeaky door hinge (loud enough to wake sleeping children), a lower storage compartment that would not stay shut, and a bed that proved to be less than ideal due to my long body and those curved corners of the
Scamp (I need those corners!).
Most of our problems were solved with a trip to the hardware store and the bed was better the second night - probably because were so tired from not sleeping well the first night. I also think four people is pushing it for that little thing. The kids are 7, 7, and 9 and it won't be long before we may outgrow this little guy.