Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game hunting campers?

in the last few years i've picked up a few very cheap very old campers and tore them down to the frame. i then will usually build a utility trailer out of the frame. i've done popup campers or regular campers up to 28ft.they can be had very cheap and after scraping all the nonworking apliances ,selling the ones that work and selling the copper plumbing and aluminum scrap i will usually end up with a very cheap trailer.

a few weeks ago a guy ran a add in the local paper to give a 15ft camper to anyone who wanted it. well i called first and went to get it. i got it home and started realy checking it out and the thing is solid as a new one. 1970 beeline,built in elkhart ind.i decided to just fix this one up just for me and my hunting buddy . 2014 season will be like a trip back in time camping in a 44yr old camper.not everything worked in it but how much do you really need to hunt. just a warm place to sleep and something to cook on.it had a bath but i tore it out.frig wouldn't run but a cooler will do in winter. gas stove works great but the furnace didn't. gas wall heater or a kerosun type heater will work. i think it will be a kozy little camper to park on my 2000acre hunt club for the season.its about fixed up and ready to go. i'll post pics soon as photopucket decides to let me. it hasn't worked all day.

lets see your 'just for hunt rigs"

I don't have any pictures and the trailer is at my place in Montana, while I'm down in AZ, but I'll give you a little description. It is a 17 foot Terry trailer that I bought for $250. It has a small cast iron wood cookstove, complete with oven with the legs bolted to a wooden stand. The bathroom was torn out and made into a storage closet. It has an icebox, electric and propane lights. I bought a honda 800 watt generator at a pawn shop for $150 that runs the lights, a small hot plate, or a 300 watt electric heater. The back end is a queen bed, and the front end has a couch that folds out into a single bed. There is no plumbing left in it at all, but I just throw in a jug of water and/or a case of bottles and I'm good to go. It doesn't look to good, has been drug around the mountains in Montana, but it gets a lot of attention with the triple wall pipe with the spark arrestor china cap sticking up through the roof. It's very comfortable for two guys gets a little cramped with three, but we have done it. I believe it is about a 1960-1963 vintage.

Bart

not going to be just for hunting but also for fishing but we just got a "used" 2014 Puma cause we spend so much time up at the lake.....had been looking at used but got a good deal on this Puma and the wife was real picky bout what features she wanted.....unfortunately i dont have pics at the moment cause i havent gone and picked it up yet....will in a couple weeks....given we try to spend every weekend up there from late August through the end of November and every weekend we can May-August only made sense to invest in one....

pics are working.some how i got this post here and the deer hunting section. my computer is acting crazy.

very cool....i woulda been happy fixing up something like that.....the wife is much more picky some heat....place to get out of the wind and a dry place to sleep and im happy......AC is needed if using it for fishing camp to though cause ive damn near got heat stroke a couple of times coming off the water on a 100 degree day to just a tent that was also 100 degrees

I had one similar to that and used it for a hunting trailer. the thing had a porcelain toilet and sink built like a tank. that was the days before they found plastic. and man was it heavy. an hard to pull. just think in those days you hooked them up to your 455 powered olds and went on vacation..

this one is actually very light ,axle is only 3500lbs. plus i stripped out the frig,furnace,bath and half of the cabinets.i towed it home 40 miles with my colorado pickup.

I have recently been considering a small trailer. After 40 years of pretty hard core camping and backpacking/kayaking my wife has said no more. I am just beginning to gather info. Are there any good web sites for info pertinent to using a trailer w/out an RV park. I am having trouble relating capacities of holding tanks and fuel supplies to days of use. I would like to tow w/ my 2008 4 runner but would buy a truck if necessary. It doesn't have to be fancy but would need a shower, toilet and heat. I would buy used but do not have the skills of the previous poster to repair and modify. Is it practical to plan on spending 5 days w/ out support systems. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

mike r

I can give you some idea as to how long your water and fuel (propane) can last. I've got a smaller, 10 ft. truck camper that I carry on my 4WD, 3/4 ton Ram truck. Carrying about 4 extra 2.5 gallon drinking water containers, we could eat, drink and shower for about 6-7 days before we are pretty low on water. It carries 32 gallons of cold water and 7 gallons of hot water. The propane use for heating depends on the weather. In Montana's weather, day's in the 20's or the 30's with nights down to the teens and single digets, my Lance Camper runs through about 8 plus gallons of propane in four to five days. But that doesn't include using the generator to keep the Group 27 battery charged.
In the much warmer low desert, with days in the 70's and 80's, with nights down to the 50's or even colder, and running the built in generator every 2-3 days, I'm using maybe 4 gallons a week. The built in generator uses from less than 1/4 to not quite 1/2 gallon of propane per hour depending on any air conditioning use. It takes 4 hours to charge the battery when it needs to be charged. E

Thanks Eremicus, that is exactly the type of info I am looking for. I am visualizing very low tech but W/ a bathroom and heater and impervious to wind and rain. I can visualize using camp stoves and lanterns and perhaps a buddy heater and a decent bed. Thanks again for the help.

mike r

You are welcome. E

I would think any camper with a bathroom is also going to have a built in propane stove, lights and furnace. LED bulbs, a small generator, and an extra bottle of propane will help extend your range.

I use a converted 16' v-nose cargo trailer. Solar shower & bucket lid toilet in a porta privy.

Roughing it..



but 90% of the time i'm in a tent.

all new campers come with basically 3 systems. electric that can be run with a generator,a 12 volt system that works with a 12volt battery that can be charged by the tow vehicle or a generator,and propane frig,furnace and cook stove.my wife is not a camper so i would not use a new camper enough to justify buying one. i bought a small motorhome 20yrs ago and she didn't like it either.

Here's a picture of mine from last year, still buttoned up for the road.


Here's another from 2009, this one showing both ends popped out for beds.


We don't even try to heat it at night as the heater fan drains the battery. I hook up to charge it when we get back in the evening but shut the truck down and disconnect before hitting the sack. It has a shower/tub that has never been used - I just use the tub for storage.

When everyone leaves and I am by myself I fold up the front bed where I normally sleep and move to the back. That makes heating it in the evenings easier. (But still not great if it's really cold out.) The stove does a much better job of heating it than the heater does.

Way better than a tent and cots or a thin ground pad, which I did for years. The trailer gets cold at night and the pipes freeze up but I've never been cold while sleeping. An inch and a half of memory foam on the bed makes it downright comfy.

Kinda had hunting in mind for this one.

Then it turned into the wifes' baby

It's tough to beat Northwood products.

Here is my Nash in single-digit temperatures on a moose hunt in Idaho in November. Pipes are insulated, as is the rest of the camper. Showers during an 8-day hunt don't suck. The batteries will keep it heated throughout the night without too much effort. They aren't cheap, but as near as I can tell the are the best-built campers made today.

I rarely use a camper when I hunt,...but when I do it's a Nash. Stay warm my friends.

Dave