24 replies to this topic

[smlobx]

Looks fantastic!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we are.

[rfg]

<p>Nice looking camper. We have the same fabric on the cushions in our 2015 Outfitter.</p>

[Bad Habit]

Same fabric here too in our 2015 K2, pretty popular choice.  Interior looks almost identical to mine.  Love how much light comes in with all those big windows opened up.

 

Nice camper, you should enjoy for a long time.

[ski3pin]

Congrats on your new camper! Looking good!

[buzzman]

Nice camper. I'm sure you will enjoy it. We love our Hallmark Ute. Especially the wife who likes all the ammenities.

[Vic]

Looks like a great camper.  I think its the same basic bones as my Everest, just a different rear end.  I'm sure you'll love it.  What options do you have?  

[longhorn1]

Congrats. Happy camping.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Wander The West mobile app

[OpenSpace]

Thanks for all the kind comments, and indeed the camper is meeting the expectation. Been out on 3 separate trips already!

 

Vic, not completely sure what constitutes a Hallmark option, but the camper has a fantastic fan and an additional vent above the bed, a roof-mounted solar panel (not sure wattage but I believe about 100) with 2 deep cycle batteries and a charge controller, a radio, a rotopax gas canister, electric jacks and roof, and a bunch of other stuff that I believe is standard.

 

I'm going to add a ladder, a portable panel to get around 200 watts total, an inverter, and possibly a compressor fridge. Hallmark will sell me a 12 volt Novakool fridge which is exactly the size of the current Dometic 3-way. Really wanted a chest-style but not sure where to put it, and honestly don't know that I need any 12 volt refer?

 

Going to better secure the drawers as the notch system Hallmark uses is inadequate (for me), and get a pair of front brackets mounted under the camper so I can get my Fastguns off the jacks and remove them.

 

Also doing a slight lift on the truck with some Cognito parts. Will get some air bags and a front bumper to deer proof and 34" or 35" tires. Last addition will be a Ruger or M416 trailer (could put the fridge in there). 

 

Fun stuff!

Edited by OpenSpace, 01 November 2016 - 04:47 AM.

[DoGMAtix]

We've been really happy with our Guanella on a Dodge Ram 2500 CTD short bed. Hallmark installed Happijac box-mounted tie downs which we'd read were not as strong as the frame mounts, but they added some extra reinforcement which seems to do a great job of holding things together on really rough roads (just did the Maze District of Canyonlands this past week). Bill had suggested we swap out the front (spring loaded) and rear (dampened) turnbuckles by unscrewing/removing the threaded hooked bolts and swapping them around, but we'd read some posts suggesting that was not necessary/undesirable so we kept them as sold by Torklift. Lo and behold when we hit a big bump at moderate speed in the middle of friggin nowhere, the unsprung rear turnbuckles jerked the attachment plates on the undersides of the camper clean through the plywood in which they were mounted, leaving us with turnbuckles on the ground and gaping holes in the plywood on both sides of our camper's underside. We plan to cover the holes in the plywood with 1/8 inch aluminum plates and re-attach turnbuckle mounts through the plates, and this time we're going to follow bill's advice and go spring loaded in back and keep the front tight (spring loaded in front seemed to allow too much slop and cause the turnbuckles to come unhooked when roads got rough; conversely lack of spring loaded in back seems to be a risk for sudden undampened load stress, causing destruction of mounting points on the camper). Essentially, you want the camper snugged up against the cab for off roading, and the back has to be able to wander a bit so it doesn't destroy itself.

It's a learning curve, and unfortunately the curriculum is trial and error.

Air bags are great, as is a compressor to air down and back up when you get onto particularly rocky or sandy roads.

Enjoy your new rig, sounds like a good one!

 

By the way, our 3-way fridge works fine. We got our camper used without solar and were planning on installing a system (Bill will tell you how to do it if you ask), but we're so satisfied with how things work at present we're going to just leave the camper the way it is until further notice.

Edited by DoGMAtix, 30 November 2016 - 09:27 AM.

[Bigfoot]

We've been really happy with our Guanella on a Dodge Ram 2500 CTD short bed. Hallmark installed Happijac box-mounted tie downs which we'd read were not as strong as the frame mounts, but they added some extra reinforcement which seems to do a great job of holding things together on really rough roads (just did the Maze District of Canyonlands this past week). Bill had suggested we swap out the front (spring loaded) and rear (dampened) turnbuckles by unscrewing/removing the threaded hooked bolts and swapping them around, but we'd read some posts suggesting that was not necessary/undesirable so we kept them as sold by Torklift. Lo and behold when we hit a big bump at moderate speed in the middle of friggin nowhere, the unsprung rear turnbuckles jerked the attachment plates on the undersides of the camper clean through the plywood in which they were mounted, leaving us with turnbuckles on the ground and gaping holes in the plywood on both sides of our camper's underside. We plan to cover the holes in the plywood with 1/8 inch aluminum plates and re-attach turnbuckle mounts through the plates, and this time we're going to follow bill's advice and go spring loaded in back and keep the front tight (spring loaded in front seemed to allow too much slop and cause the turnbuckles to come unhooked when roads got rough; conversely lack of spring loaded in back seems to be a risk for sudden undampened load stress, causing destruction of mounting points on the camper). Essentially, you want the camper snugged up against the cab for off roading, and the back has to be able to wander a bit so it doesn't destroy itself.

It's a learning curve, and unfortunately the curriculum is trial and error.

Air bags are great, as is a compressor to air down and back up when you get onto particularly rocky or sandy roads.

Enjoy your new rig, sounds like a good one!

 

By the way, our 3-way fridge works fine. We got our camper used without solar and were planning on installing a system (Bill will tell you how to do it if you ask), but we're so satisfied with how things work at present we're going to just leave the camper the way it is until further notice.

 

Hmmm, sounds to me like the camper's mounting plates were weak rather than the turnbuckles being at fault. Both types of Torklift turnbuckles have enough play to not put excessive force on the camper, unless you had them tightened so strongly that there was no slack. 

 

We, too, had several problems with Torklift turnbuckles that Hallmark installed. Three out of four came loose in the first few hundred miles. It was useless to ask Hallmark about it because they insisted that it must be my fault for not checking them constantly. When I asked why the turnbuckles labeled "front" and "rear" were reversed, Hallmark said that they need to be that way for their "lightweight" camper and that they know more than the manufacturer! 

 

Well, when I couldn't do anything to make the turnbuckles work properly, I called Torklift. After a discussion with a technician and sending them photos, they pointed out several ways my turnbuckles were incorrectly installed and sent me new ones with complete instructions on proper adjustment. No problems since.