Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Using a camp trailer as a base camp

The excess use of water for a shower comes down to discipline. I'm not as disciplined as I would like to be. That's mostly an easy fix by just doing the wet wash rinse cycle explained above.

The accordion type shower door/curtain that runs in a track makes the shower feel 30% bigger. No stupid hanging curtain in the way. for 75 bucks and an hour of work that was a huge improvement to the smaller size of the RV bathroom.

Probably some of you have that steel folding lid on the stove to add counter space. I never really saw the use of that. I took it off. It's amazing how much bigger the counter space feels and works now. It left the wall behind the stove vulnerable to splatter from cooking. I bought a piece of polished 24" wide by 20" tall stainless Steel from the metal supply shop in Lewiston Idaho. Then I took it to the engraver with a photo of a bear I took years ago. They were able to engrave that bear onto the steel. To the back I put on the 3M velcro strips and popped it onto the wall exactly were I wanted it. This opened up the kitchen counter space physically a little bit, but visually by a whole lot.

One thing this trailer came with that I initially thought was dumb, was a pull out drawer type mechanism with a stove and sink in it on the exterior wall. This Outdoor kitchen was just not something I saw as useful, I would have preferred more storage. ......... However.......... This design is genius! When we go crabbing and boil 100 crab in a week that is so much better done outside, as is corn on the cob, and breakfast for the family when we are all together. The outdoor kitchen is brilliant! I looked at a bunch that also have a fridge. No need for the fridge but the stove and sink are awesome!

It requires that you plug in the QD propane line when opened. it's just a plug and play effortless requirement. However the QD connection on the ends of the propane lines will eventually get road grit in them. I found rubber plugs made for this that have solved it 100%. They are like 5 bucks a pair and have a rubber ring on one end to secure them to the pipe when not in use.

Another item that I put on which has been really nice is the flip foot on my electric jack. When I arrive at a site and lower the jack, I had to install the foot with a pin. Now with this new flip foot I can lower the jack and it folds down automatically as the leg lowers. then folds back and up out of the way as it lifts. This requires a 1/2" hole trough the leg and you bolt it on. That's it, a little marvel of brilliance to make this thing work as it does.

Oh one other thing I bought after hearing a horror story from two people. One with an airstream. Lock your hitch while your camped in a back country location. I have heard from two people that they came back to camp to have the whole camp trailer missing. Seems folks just hook up and leave with them?

The fella with the airstream told me that when the police arrived they told him it was about a zero chance they will find it. They are stolen and then set up someplace on a ranch for a cabin and never run down the road again after they are stolen. With the amount of wilderness and huge ranch properties these can be tucked away in the trees and not used as a trailer but rather as a hunting cabin someplace.

So I did buy a hitch lock. Most of them can be removed in 60 seconds with a few common tools. There are a few thought that are impressive. I put it on at an RV camp during my trip a week ago to Mt. Rushmore. We needed a refilll on water and to dump the tanks. So we stayed in an RV park. The manager told me they are forbidden when somebody told her I had it locked. I asked why and was she guaranteeing that nobody was going to hook up and leave with my trailer?

She said in the event of a fire and we are not there, they want to be able to move the trailers. Okay I guess that is a logical statement, but then do you worry more about fire or theft? We only spend one night there and it never came up again.

I did replace the tires at 12,000 miles I had C rated 1850lb 50 PSI tires. Size 205 75R 15 They were marginal at best. The rears were badly worn too.

I replaced them with D rated 2500lb 65PSI tires,. Size 225 75R 15. Wow what a difference! Make sure your wheels have the 65PSI rating before you upgrade. But these are what should have been on there from the beginning. I bought Maxxis M 8008 tires.