Teardrop Camping

[DouginUtah]

After buying a 3/4 ton pickup so I could put a slide-in camper on it, I have changed my mind. The main reason is that I don't like the idea of 14 MPG, considering the distances I intend to travel.

What I have purchased is a teardrop trailer which I will be able to pull with my 28 MPG Caravan.

I don't have it yet. Next week I take my van to a friend to have a receiver hitch plus all the electrical stuff installed. (7-pin).

Is there such a thing, other than a manual switch, that will prevent draining the van's battery below a certain level? (The teardrop has a battery which is charged by the van.)

I have a 3MB Excel file which has a description and pictures. I had to delete most of the pictures to get it under the 600K limit for posting and ended up deleting more than I needed to. (now under 400K)



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Gary_C]

That looks like a neat camper. Same for that little red ford that it is hooked to in the picture.

Normally the 7 way connector on the towing vehicle only has power when the engine is running. But don't know if there is that isolation relay on a vehicle not originally equiped with a 7 way receptacle. At any rate, the RV supply stores have an isolation unit that will prevent draining your vehicle battery.

Guess I assumed the camper has it's own battery. If that's not true, you need one on the camper. Best to use a deep cycle marine and boat battery. Not sure if those gel batterys are worth the money yet. Juries still out on them.

[zopi]

Sweet! i'd love to lay some flames or pinstripes on one of those...

[Magicman]

Is there such a thing, other than a manual switch, that will prevent draining the van's battery below a certain level?

Yes, there is a diode arrangement, but I prefer a relay that is operated only when the vehicle engine in running.  That way it keeps the RV battery charged, with no chance of pulling the vehicle battery down.  Available at all RV stores.

[Jeff]

Doug, the document upload is not to be used for posting photos. It takes far to much server space to do it that way. You will need to optimize and post in the gallery just as we always have.   I can build a whole website and keep it under the size that one document took up.

[DouginUtah]

For the record, I didn't create that Excel document. The info came to me that way and I reduced it (deleted pictures) to meet your limits. I'll replace it with just the text.

Pictures to follow when I figure out how to get them out of Excel in the proper (jpg) format.

[donny hochstetler]

the people that build those campers live less than a mile from me , nice little units ,there all built by amish guys in a small shop ,one by one .  I heard he is sending em over to Romania, by the truck load .    have fun  8)

[Magicman]

I saw one in Destin, Fl. this week.....neat deal.  But then, campers fascinate me.  We've been camping since 1966.

[SwampDonkey]

Most of the time I would use a tent on most my camping excursions. I find a sheltered place on high ground and put a tarp awning over the tent and out over the front. Makes a nice porch and I set up a table under it for cooking and such. Dad took us camping as kids with a slide on camper. It was homemade (looked factory) but was heavier, and we traveled around the Maritimes in the 80's and Deering Lake, Maine a few times until it became more like a city down there. When grouse hunting, stayed in a trailer grandfather used to haul to Clearwater Brook by Divide and Red Stone mountains and Gulquac Lake. I still prefer a nice tent, if it's too cold I stay home. :D If I'm on a trip, I'm staying in a motel.  ;)

[DouginUtah]

Pictures to follow when I figure out how to get them out of Excel in the proper (jpg) format.

I give up. Maybe if I had the right software (Photoshop?) I could get the pictures out of the spreadsheet and into the gallery but I can't drag and drop anywhere and I can't cut and paste so just google trailerworks.biz and select 845.

[Jeff]

DO a screen shot of photo, then past it into a blank image in what ever photo editing program you have, crop your photo from the screen shot and save.  Its pretty tough to save photos out of any ms document.

[Jeff]

Or easier yet, click on this link.  ;)
http://www.trailerworks.biz/845.html

[D Hagens]

You really are on the ball Jeff! 8) I was just going to do this for him.

[DouginUtah]

I didn't provide the link because I was afraid of getting thumped again.  :D  :D

[Shotgun]

DO a screen shot of photo, then past it into a blank image in what ever photo editing program you have, crop your photo from the screen shot and save.  Its pretty tough to save photos out of any ms document.

FYI, it's not difficult to save a shot out of any MS document if you're using Windows 7.  From where ever you are, web site, Excel, Word, or something else, use your Ctrl & mouse wheel to make the image larger if desired, and then use the "Snipping Tool" found in Win 7 Accessories to get the portion of the picture that you would like and make a graphic (picture) out of it. I can't remember if snipping tool was in Win XP or Vista, or not, and I have no way to check, but the snipping tool is handy.

Norm

[DouginUtah]

Way to go, Norm.  8) I just tried the snipping tool in Win7 and it does a fine job. XP and Vista did not have it. I can save in a variety of formats, one being .jpg.

(I had to install Open Office since I don't have MS Office on my Win7 computer, but that went smoooth.)

Thank you.