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

I had a pickup mounted camper for about 15 years. I used the heck out of it and found it really a great compromise for the bulk of my needs. There were a couple shortcomings that needed to be addressed which actually were not workable. A new plan had to emerge.

One issue, I would arrive at a fishing spot, I could launch the boat and have a great little camp to come back to, However some of the boat launches were so steep that it was quite awkward launching the boat depending upon the tide schedule. Even fresh water launches were a challenge at times. Hunting with the camper was not workable trying to drive around the remote and rough roads. Off loading the camper was scary and difficult on uneven roads, the soft ground, and strong wind blowing made getting that camper off the truck a nightmare.

After years of using this, I decided that I really needed a camp trailer rather then a pickup camper. Easy to hook up and unhook, giving me the use of the truck for hunting. The fishing thing was a bust with the camp trailer, no way to pull both. So we bought a smaller high end inflatable with an electric motor to get us on the lakes we needed to fish on. All this fit in the back of the pickup under the canopy.

Still compromises but now we have a plan to better use the "toys" for the chosen adventure. When I was looking at the trailers everything seemed huge compared to the tiny little Lance pickup camper. We wanted three things in the camper when we started. A walk around bed, a dry bathroom, and a basic kitchen. No sofa, no lounge chairs, no fluff or space for kids, grandkids, or visitors. Just Mom and I period. Having camped in a tent for 45 plus years caring my kit on my back thousands of miles across the alpine lakes wilderness of Washington, plus Alaska, Idaho and Montana, the kids and grandkids can learn what camping is for those few times we are all together. The trailer is not to be shared with anyone!

Selfish? Okay I'm fine with that. I'll gladly accept that! We bought a 22' trailer which is 25.5 feet long from hitch to bumper. Not exactly sure where the 22' measure comes from? Must be living space but the way I measure it, it's about 20.5' long? must be some magic RV formula they use. After searching and reading countless reviews we made our choice and learned of a few other things we had to have.

One was, that it must be a four season engineered design, a fair additional expense which narrowed the field considerably. However now we can (and have) camped below 20 deg without anything freezing up on us and the furnace runs about 15-20 min per hour compared to the 3 season pickup camper which had the furnace running 45 min an hour and a few times continuous. Several people I know don't even use their trailers in the cold as they have had the pipes freeze and cause massive amounts of work to tear them apart to fix.

Another must have, was the fan in the ceiling called the thermostat controlled fantastic fan with the rain hood. I can pull a draft through this camper from the front window to the exhaust in the bathroom ceiling now that is impressive and cools the whole thing down in minutes. Finally from the dealer or Manufacturer, I want a huge fresh water tank to be able to arrive in the bush and stay for a week or more. That narrowed the field again by a huge amount. The biggest fresh water tank I could find was 80 gallons. Some had 70, with the odd fine print saying you should not travel with more then half a tank of fresh water. Not sure exactly how you arrive with half a tank and get the use of 70 gallons? It's like they wanted to claim a big tank, just can't have it full to drive. I found one that actually claimed the extra big tank was fully safe to drive on or off road with because they had a fully welded and contained structure inside the frame.

I've since added a number of things that seemed like good ideas to make life better in there. The best changes were swapping all bulbs to LEDs. Now I have less amp draw with every single light on then when I had only a single incandescent light on! Then switching to 2 interstate 6 volt Lead acid Electric vehicle batteries rather then a single 12volt battery. My big Trojan 225 in the pickup camper was a beast, I think it weighed 65lbs. These intestates are if I recall 75 each. I now have 150lbs of lead amp storage! To this I added a marine charging and consumption monitor to watch the power and monitor use.

Our longest dry camping trip to date has been in Canada fishing in Northern BC. We parked at the outfitters ranch and stayed there for 5 days and 6 nights. At the end I had 82% of my battery remaining and we watched a movie every night on the 22" flat screen 12 volt TV with the DVD player running as well.

Our weak link seems to be the water capacity. Even with 80 gallons, by the time you shower and wash off the trail dust from the horse pack trip up to the river every day that water goes fast. The Grey tank and black tank each hold 40 gallons. I don't think the two of us could fill that black tank in a month or months! The grey tank is another matter.

While camping with this trailer in Arizona this past late spring, we found that all the campgrounds want you to have a hose to drain the gray water onto the lawn and trees at the camp sites ( RV park type sites) there is a dump tank cap made with a threaded section for a common garden hose. So a section of hose and that cap lets you drain the tank onto the lawn, trees, and to put out any fire you might have had with very good results. Clearly not a black water idea!

This setup has worked well for us now with 14,000 miles and 70 nights in the last 8 months. Another thing or two needs to be sorted out, but over all this is really the right product for the needs we have now at our age and with my business needs. I have changed a number of other things and build shelves where there was only closets and the invaluable coat hooks to hang things from inside.

For us this as a base camp is awesome, as comfortable as being home, but parked anyplace you can find a flat spot to stay the night.

Depending on state laws, you can use a hose to run gray water away from the camper and just dump it. It's just water with some food and maybe a little soap in it, totally harmless...unless you're in Oregon where it's more toxic than atomic waste.
You can also wash dishes in a plastic pan and dump it somewhere to save room in the tank.

If needed, you can pick up several 5 gal jugs for extra water and carry them in the pickup. My water tank only holds 35 gal and they're definitely needed.
They probably say to leave a 70 gal tank half empty because of it's location. If it's too far back, the weight can make the trailer sway. I've been thinking about hanging a 2d fresh water tank underneath somewhere around the axles. This wouldn't be used in cold weather, obviously. Some creative plumbing can make it easy to fill and a valve by the water pump can make an easy switchover to pull the water out of it.

We went essentially the same route as you did. We don't need as much fresh water so went with a 22' Arctic Fox. Has good insulation, a walk around queen, decent kitchen counter space. We spent the last 5 weeks in it (although with hook ups) and we wouldn't want anything larger. We started with a Sea Eagle inflatable, but moved to a 12 ft Porta Boat with a 6 hp motor. Engine goes under the canopy in the truck, the boat folds and rides in a rack on top of the canopy. Works well. We also changed everything to LED, but went with two large 12 volt batteries so as to also have a back up to the pick up batteries.

I have a 14' Portabote with a 10hp motor. I made a pickup rack and cartop it set up. It's easy to get up there and a lot less hassle than setting it up every time. At home, I have a Harbor Freight type trailer that I rigged with skids to haul and launch it set up. I don't leave the motor on the transom while hauling it, though. I don't think it's strong enough for that.

2 big 6v batteries in series will start a pickup just as well as 2 12v's parallel.

We have a 23' trailer that we bought as a junker and remodeled. I also went with all LED's. One thing I would do different is that I put in a tank type water heater. I didn't know at the time that they made tankless ones for RV's or I'd have gone that way. The bed is a queen but not walk around.

Regarding your shower and water consumption, I was taught with my first RV over 30 years ago to use the on/off button on the shower wand. You turn the faucets on, adjust the water temperature, then wet yourself down from head to toe. Then push the button in on the shower wand to turn off the water flow. Lather up and shampoo with the water off. Then push the button on and rinse off. Finally turn off the faucets. Done correctly, you should use two gallons of water or less per shower. No, it's not the same as standing in the shower and letting the water run on you for several minutes. But this technique does get you just as clean with much less water consumption.

I use the similar technique when truck camping. I take two - one gallon jugs of water and empty half of each jug into a pan over a Coleman stove and heat it to boiling. Using a small funnel I pour the water back onto the gallon jugs. Dump part of the first jug over your head and get yourself wet all over, then shampoo and lather yourself up. Pour the remainder of the first gallon over your head to rinse. If you're particularly dirty, as I usually am when out deer hunting, you can shampoo your hair again and use the last jug to really rinse off well. I've done this for years and it works like a charm.

For some reason, the RV shower heads on the market now can't be turned all the way off. They will leak quite a bit of water even when the button is pushed. I was looking for a new one last year and found that one that shuts completely off isn't available. The online reviews on everyone I looked at complained about that.

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.

Interesting discussion JJ. I have also evolved from a simple tent camper, or even a back pack hunter to an "RV base camp" sort.
As luck would have it, I can now afford just about anything I want, new truck, camper, trailer, jeep, ATV. But I'm not going there. What I have works quite well.
My needs are different than many. I hunt for long periods of time. Currently a month. And I'm by myself. Without a comfortable camp, good food, regular showers, and a good night's rest, I won't last long.
I used to do that. A typical 9 day hunt, was all I could stand. Got tried of the canned food, lack of clean clothes, sleeping on the hard ground, and never being really clean. It would just wear me down. After a week, it was time to head home.
Never occurred to me, that things like hot, fresh, healthy food, a shower of some sort and a real bed could make such a difference. But it does. I've hunted almost two months in some of Montana's cold weather in my Lance Camper. Using the Jeep I had, I could go anywhere I needed to go. At least until the snows got too deep.
During that time, I saw lots of wall tent hunters and RV sorts come and go. No hot water below 20 degrees. Mine lasts until -10. And even if I lost it, it would come back when the temps hit the teens. I've lost both hot and cold at -20. But I've never blown a water pipe. That's because the forced air heating unit kept the holding tanks and the plumbing warm enough with special ducting to allow them to work.
There are such RV's but you have to look for them.
I'm fascinated with today's RV's with 95 watt solar panels. But I admit, having the AC, and the micro wave work are really nice. I can also charge my shaver and phone while recharging my battery.
Having a 4WD truck that I can use as a rescue vehicle appeals to me as well.
Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, doing alot of research, and, above all, knowing what really works for your needs is truly the key. E

For sure, that good sleep and good meals makes for a much better level of effort each day. My so called " camp trailer" is not at all anything like camping. It's a mobile apartment, and business office. Camping? Ha Ha... this is about as much as camping as a biplane is to a fighter jet!

Even with that level of comfort and function, it's a brilliant place to come back to at the end of a long cold wet day in the bush. I think I would lose 10% of my enthusiasm every day coming back cold and wet to a tent. After 5 days, I bet my continued feeling of motivation was 50% or less!

Hot food, and good rest is a great motivation every morning. It has it's limitations for sure. I also must admit that every 6 months over 55-60 years old is a serious reduction in capacity. It's a non-linier, loss of endurance and strength. So sad that your brain sees things much differently the your muscles and joints. My brain has me doing stuff I was perfectly capable of at 25-30. It's still saying " sure hike up there, carry that weight, you can make it to that ridge in 30 minutes. The Next morning my joints and muscles are saying WTF is wrong with you brain?

It's a tough process to age with grace and dignity after decades of being at the top of the game and accomplishing fantastic feats of elevation and endurance with ridiculous loads of meat and gear. I sometimes wonder who was that guy I used to hunt with!

That Memory foam mattress and a bowl of hot soup are so nice at this age. Fortunately my desire to search the ends of the earth for big trophies is almost completely gone. I'm a meat hunter now. That reduces the level of extreme effort required by a significant margin. I can also say that it's far more relaxing and enjoyable hunting this way as well.

You don't have to cook every night to have good meals. You can make double recipes and save them for later. It's nice to come back to a camper and just pull a cooked meal out of the fridge and warm it up.

I'm 68 now and while I dearly love to take my llamas on pack trips, there are times when a comfortable camper has big advantages. One of my biggest problems with the llamas is that my partners (all older than me) can't be dynamited out of their campers.

Interesting coincidence, I packed across the PNW with my pack goats for more then a decade. Many of the best memories of my back country life. It was a true pleasure to go back 10-12 or more miles and not carry anything on my back, not even a bottle of water.

Steel belted 225/75/15 load range E tires are what I run now. After 30 years of flats on hunting trips. A few extra $ on Trailer tires is worth it. I tend to pull my trailer in tough country some years. 20 miles of washboard go's by much faster at 50mph. Hard on trailers and tires. My trailer is a bare bones hunting trailer. Ripped the black tank out on a chukar trip. So I finished the job and just set up a crapper with tent. It has never spent a night in a campground. Water is a few 5gal jugs inside the heated area. Old bathroom is where I store stuff like Blinds, tree stands, Decoys, Chairs, Table for outside. Half the windows are covered inside with 1" insulation foam boards and silver duct tape. Staying warm at -20 is more important than looking out fogged up windows. About every 10-15 years I find another old trailer to replace the wash board road killed ones.

Got $200 for this one after it was completely shot.

Now I'm using this one.

tag

Wow, a lot of thought and experience in this discussion.
Listening carefully to you all someone could do it smart from the get go. Thanks. Happy Trails.

I reread some of the posts. One of the problems with camping with limited water is getting clean. To save water, try some of these bath wipes. You can actually get pretty clean with them and use no water at all. Baby wipes work, too, but these are much larger and thicker and easier to use. If you keep them a camper, they're good. If you're backpacking and it's kind of cold, GLORY BE they can get cold! The ball-less brass monkey is taking a sauna in comparison.
For your hair, this no-rinse shampoo works fairly well. It leaves the dirt on your towel. We get them at Sportsmans Whs but a lot of other backpacking stores carry both.

Good for at home in hurricanes too, sez he from Florida.

My wife and I spoke about this last week watching the hurricane news. I told her we would have gone to Texas pig hunting that week in the camper. As good as being home in most cases!