Posted 26 January 2021 - 07:34 PM
This forum is a great resource.
My wife Syd and I purchased a brand new hawk front dinette this past fall. Hot water, heat, outdoor shower, big fridge, solar panel, twin roof fans, twin 6 V batteries, king size bed.
I work at Stevens Pass, WA and we live about 15mi east of the pass. We live in a little cabin, gravel driveway, no garage. Didn’t really think through the details of having a camper in snow country. But it’s working out great and here’s some notes:
The biggest oversight on my part was to not study the interior dimensions more closely. It turns out that the countertop height for the stove and sink is quite a bit higher than a normal kitchen. This means that I do the majority of the cooking. I guess it works out OK, since Syd makes the meals at home. She doesn’t seem to mind having me at the stove at all…
We keep the camper on the truck and don’t bother taking it off. This, I think, is the best advantage of a pop top camper. We use it all the time. I’ll pop it up when I do a Nordic ski before work, we eat in it when ordering takeout from the local restaurants, any sort of day trip and we are using the camper. It’s awesome.
It’s also easier to keep it on because we’d have to move it for snow removal anyway.
Our 2000 F150 7700 carries it just fine. I’m glad I bought E-range Duratracs this last time around. 5.4 Triton with 285,000 miles and it’s still getting advertised mileage on the highway, which admittedly isn’t that great but whatever. US vehicles have come a long way since the 70’s. Maybe it’s lasting so long because my wife is too short to floor it :-P
When it’s at home I crank a fan forced electric heater at 1350 watts inside it, through the shore power. Maybe after an overnighter we’ll pop it up to really dry it out, but overall it’s not a big deal.
The truck is my daily driver in the winter, and plugging it in and turning the heat on is just part of using the truck now. Not a big deal. My 30-mile round trip commute uses a little more gas than before but it’s ok. I keep the overdrive off more often now and I’m driving uphill with 3/4 ton of cargo on a 2-lane winter road so there’s no reason to pin it anyway. Wife is on to something...
I winterized the water. Bought two “Shower shutoff valves” that are made to go right behind the shower head in a house. These are the right threads for the hoses at the outdoor shower connection. To do the drain hose I just cut it and plugged it. I’ll finish that later... If we’re camping I’ll keep space in the main tank to drain the hot water back into it, then refill the hot water for the morning. Spent the night in Mazama on a Nerdic trip, it was in the teens and the cold water stayed in the 40’s.
We use the seat cushions for something else and put the bed extensions (4 since it’s a N-S king setup) down as a bench in the dinette area. Less faffing. Those become a curved backrest when we use the table, then we sit on Z-rest pads. Overall the camper is made for a tall guy and removing the seat cushions makes the dinette more comfortable, especially for the wife who, as mentioned, can’t floor the truck.
We keep two 0F bags and a sheet in the thing, and a couple pillows. Haven’t had a problem staying warm yet, and we’ve used it a bunch. Since Syd has paid her dues with me in tents, or on the ground, already, this thing is nothing but luxurious.
I am so glad we got a fully set up camper instead of a shell. Having spent decades working in the mountains, sleeping in tents, melting water, heating water, serving water, cooking for clients bent over a stove, the level of comfort, convenience, and sheer pleasure, of being able to stand up straight in a warm box, cooking a meal in a real kitchen, soft music playing, wife and I warm and cozy, at a winter trailhead, well, it’s beyond description.
The hot water system also reduces propane stove cooking time, thereby significantly reducing condensation. And, it’s a great way to warm my feet up after a cold ski outing :-)
Clearing the snow off the top is important. I was originally going to put crossbars and some sort of box or ski rack system on top, but I am glad we haven’t. It makes it easy to push snow off of the top with a SnowJoe. For the winter I took off the 270° awning, and the mounting brackets are a great place to hang a 16 foot extension ladder. If we’re going someplace where snow is forecast, this is the easiest way to climb up and push snow off the top before lowering the roof. Since the camper is warm all the time it’s not frozen to the roof, but it just needs to be pushed off because it is heavy.
We put our skis inside the camper and just take them out when we get where we are going. Some sort of soft bag will make this easier. Climbing gear and chairs go in the extended cab. Bicycles go on a rack on the back, and with today’s 800 mm wide handlebars, I needed to add a 12 inch extension to the hitch. With this, we can open the door enough to get in and out without a problem.
Right now Syd is up skiing at the area. It’s 20F and snowing. When she gets done we will go downvalley and get our Nordic on. We’ll take the truck and camper, and I will make a world-class Doppio at the trailhead. We’ll ski, then take a break, have hot drinks, lounge and watch videos on the phone, then head out again.
Seems like a lot of outdoor recreationalists in Washington start the adventure by getting up at midnight to get on the road to drive five hours to some trail head somewhere. I prefer to drive the evening before, camp, and have a much more civilized start to the days’ objective. The camper makes this much, much easier. And the truck means we can get to any trail head I want to visit, no problem.
Hope this is helpful.
] or just plain wear out...Have Indy Pass but Super Senior rates also encourage resort hopping!
