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

I doubt I could get some of the campers pictured into some of the places I hunt and fish.

I flipped the axle on this camper for more ground clearance. Not the warmest when temps fall into the 20s, but at least out of the wind and sleeping in a comfortable bed.

You Towing your trailer with the Tacoma in the photo?
AMRA

I like that set up, a friend of mine does the same thing..its sure easier to tow around..going HAM with the $12 whiskey too

I have a little tent trailer i like to use on early season hunts. The older I get the more I appreciate not being in a tent. Wall tents are nice and comfy, but kind of a pain to set up.

Also if i'm going thru the trouble of towing a trailer somewhere, the sumbish is going to be heated at night! if not whats the point in bringing it?

Thanks for the experience guys, I just learned more than I did w/ several hours on Trailer Life forums yesterday. It seems their idea of boondocking is a walmart parking lot. iddave that Nash looks almost ideal. Did it come insulated or was that your work. I am guessing that is around 21', do they make a smaller version? Most of our trips occur between labor and memorial days so warmth is pretty important. I agree a shower occasionally is a good thing. My wife says no more solar showers. Thanks to everybody this is becoming pretty feasible to me now. Today I wil start looking at mfg. sites and tomorrow go to some dealers and get a better idea on how small I can go.

mike r

I finally broke down and got one of these. It is the only way I can get the wifey to go camping.


Casita Liberty Deluxe

It's big advantage is that it's small; easy to maneuver, easy to pull, follows well, lightweight, economical to tow.

It's big disadvantage is that it's small; just right for two people, more than that is too tight.

KC

Came from the factory that way bud. This is our second Nash, and I couldn't be happier with them. They are VERY well built, and make everything (including frames) in-house. Take a look at the 17k if it's just you and the wife. Mine is a 23B, which is bigger than I'd like, but fits my family of four just about right. They are true, 4-season campers and will take a lot of abuse.

Dave

iddave, thanks, we have a dealer here in town and I will go there next week. That 17' may do the trick they are the only ones I have found that promote the 4 season concept.

mike r

We used to live in my utility trailer that I used to haul the 4 wheelers in. It was fine, but once I started looking at toyhaulers, The utility trailer and cots went down the road. I settled on this toyhauler that I have had in some pretty remote spots. When you come back to the trailer at the end of the day, it does beat the basic utility trailer, cots and Coleman stove...

Horse trailer/camper. Probably not relevant to the OP's post but this is another option. Propane heater, cookstove and lights. Overhead bunk and table and seat cushions convert to a bed.

It has been extremely useful at trail heads.

Alaskan style camper. A work in progress. Currently being repowered and some major cabin mods. Hope to have it in the water this summer.

Thanks to all, I feel much less like an elderly wuss now. You guys are the best.

mike r

I love these kind of threads ..

i went to the local flea market this morning and bought a new matress,i need 2 before hunting season. got a brand new one in the plastic for 20.00. i now have about 60.00 in my camper total.
i'll find another before fall.

Mike,

I broke down and bought a camper last year. Timberline, made by Outdoors RV, it's like IdDave's Nash as in it is a four seasons. Don't have a picture handy, but I got the model with the superslide for more room. More and more 4-season RVs out there, at least in the NW.

Good luck!

Found mine at a garage sale.

During elk hunts it goes as far as the trailhead then serves as chuckwagon (or if we have a spike camp then as basecamp).
It is nice to not have food in the wall tent - cuts down on clutter and critters.



I'll give you the tour.



I've enjoyed working on it.



I don't run the refrigerator but the box has enough insulation to keep food from freezing at night.




Clips on the antler connect the solar panel on the roof to extend the charge of the cabin battery.
(as I edit this I notice that I ignored my own note to myself there and crossed the leads.
No wonder it hasn't been working right.
That's just like something I would do.)




Cell phones don't work everywhere.
When a hunter doesn't come in at dark that could be good or bad but I still need to feed the crew.
This police scanner lets me listen to handheld traffic and whatever else it finds from inside.



As the OP mentioned, tearing out stuff and replacing or repurposing it is pretty common.
Removed the toilet for more storage space and converted the shower-tub into a cooler.
It is large enough to hold 2 elk quarters or an entire antelope.
Stays real cold and the drain is nice.
I still haven't cleaned up from last hunting season.

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-.../wkqo_8nado0/w433-h640-no/WYskinning.jpg[/img]

Skinning boom (version 1.0). This was in Wyoming.


[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...TQLj43AE8ac/w640-h480-no/439+resized.JPG[/img]

Waterfowl hunt in SE Colorado. A lot of birds fly over this spit. That red thing is a Honda generator.
Note improved skinning boom version 2.0.


[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-...AAFVM/Z-Z4GO_DPTk/w598-h376-no/creek.jpg[/img]

This creek crossing in the San Juan mountains gets icy on both sides because the water is always 8-12 inches deep. It's good to cross in the morning when its cold and the water is low. It's a thrill when the rig begins to slide downhill into the creek. When it hits the water I gun the 400 small block to try to get enough speed to make it up the other side. I'm pretty good at it now but it was a rush that very first time with the rig sliding backward into the creek.

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...6sr5J-Q/w640-h480-no/Wolf+Creek+pass.JPG[/img]

Summit of Wolf Creek pass.



If you see it somewhere in So Co stop and say Hi.
I usually have the coffee on.

Great Rig!

I'll squeeze in a couple more here.



Really haven't had any mechanical issues with this nearly 40-year-old rig. Easy to tune and those big motors seem to still run even if some tuneup needed. The fuel line is nearly 20ft long and requires an electric push pump back near the tank along with the factory mechanical pump. Seems like it would gladly accept more fuel it it could get it.



Pillows on the beds are stuffed with down and feathers from birds that I shot. I like to use whatever I can from the waterfowl I take. Most any dry cleaner that reconditions down pillows also has the ability to make new ones if given the down. They just don't get a lot of requests.



I had an electrical fire in the dash a couple years back.
That was exciting.
One of the previous owners had a similar fire.
I found a boneyard dash and was able to cut them both down the middle and replace the burned side.



For anyone who has one of these motor-campers Good Sam roadside assistance is a good deal. My regular towing insurance balks at anything beyond a passenger vehicle but Good Sam doesn't and they cover other household vehicles too. I'm not a fan of the Good Sam CEO though.