Starling Travel

I was looking at Google Images when I found this image on the Expedition Portal page:

• Expedition Portal – Flip-pac camper build

It’s called a Flip-Pac Camper and Louie was making his better by adding a “real door and other features.

Here is a video showing you how to set up the camper and its awning: (Continue Reading…)

I found this cute fifth wheel 1980 Road Runner on KSL Classifieds the other day and I wished that I had a truck to tow it away.

Here is their description: (Continue Reading…)

I found this 1974 Roadrunner on KSL Classifieds the other day and I had to save it here for posterity.

Excellant condition. Oldy but Goody. (Continue Reading…)

While we were in Sand Hollow State Park, I snapped a quick photo of my rig. If you click on the picture, you can see it full-sized.

We have been towing small trailers with the Prius for almost a year now with no ill effects on the car or troubles scaling the Utah mountains. We waited until our warranty on the Prius was up until we started towing with it, but we have had no problems mechanically. This commercial I saw the other day made me literally scream obscenities at the computer screen.

It’s Volkswagen making fun of Prius hybrids and I had so many reasons to scream.

That’s complete bullshit! I can climb the Rocky Fucking Mountains towing a 1200 pound trailer and stay at the speed limit!

My Prius has needed NO major repairs and it’s damn check engine light has NEVER turned on in the five years that we have owned it, unlike my LEMON of a VW BUG!

I have over 130,000 miles on my Prius! That damn Bug never made it past 75,000!

And we aren’t the only ones. Just check out these videos of other people towing with their Prius cars.

Every time we go camping, someone comes up to us and asks how the Prius tows a trailer and are surprised when we rave about how well it handles. Plus, we get about 29 mpg when we tow, so we spend hardly any money on gas getting around.

Update 12-14-14

I finally fixed this awning and made it much more sturdy and easy to put up. You can see it here:

• Starling Travel – A Better Homemade Awning

A couple of weeks ago, we went camping down at Sand Hollow State Park in Southern Utah. It was the first time I got to test my homemade awning. It looked GREAT!

Unfortunately, it didn’t hold up well in the wind. Just a short burst of wind sent it toppling down. There are two points of weakness in my design: the connections at the top and the connections at the trailer. On the trailer, the poles (stolen from my Springbar tent) just slide onto this PVC connector.

They worked great in the garage, but there was no wind there. Even the smallest of wind gusts can pop the pole off this connector, so I need to drill a hole in both the pole and the PVC pipe, and add a pin to keep the poles in place.

At the top of the awning, it is held on with a pin, but the pin just kept popping out of place, so I need a different connection there as well. I did a pretty good job sewing the awning, so I’m proud of that. All I need to work on is the hardware and this puppy with look good AND stay in place.

I found this camper on KSL Classifieds the other day and the headline didn’t lie:

Drop Dead Gorgeous 1958 Fireball Trailer

Ready to go camping, title in hand. It is 15 ft. long and lightweight. Easily pulled with SUV. (Continue Reading…)

When I posted an entry about the very awesome Quantum 5 Contempo Fifth Wheel Fiberglass Trailers, Mike immediately noticed one of the photos:

I was the original owner of the Quantum fifth wheel that you show at the top of this article. I know it was my rig because of the awning and sewer hose on the rear and the metal band where the seam is on the side of the rig. These were not original and I added them over the twenty two and a half years we owned the rig. We purchased it in 1980 in Fullerton, CA and originally used a 1978 Toyota SR5 pick up to tow it. I traded up to a 1984 Chevy El Camino when it was new and towed it with that veh. until 2002 when I traded it in on a new motor home. WOW, to see that someone else got the rig and enjoyed it after we did is just great! It was a neat small aerodynamic camper that my wife and I used with great joy for many years. It is good to see they are still appreciated.

I was so excited that one of the original owners was willing to talk about his beloved old trailer, so I asked him to send photos and he DID!

There is so much awesome retro goodness in this photo that I’m stymied. From the El Camino to the stunning orange sands of the American Southwest, I am speechless! Luckily, Mike was willing to tell me all about it. (Continue Reading…)

I absolutely ADORE this 1956 Dalton I found on KSL Classifieds the other day.

The description leaves a little to be desired:

great condition for the year.DOES NOT LEAK at all.Sleeps 5.

The pictures tell a pretty good story, though. (Continue Reading…)

A few months ago, I came across this image, not knowing what it was, but in love with it anyway: Jeep camper copy of Wagonaire camper attachment?

Just a couple days ago, however, I was able to recognize the styling. (Continue Reading…)

I thought this idea from White Trash Repairs.com was pretty ingenious. It’s a way to add an air conditioning unit to a popup camper.

Their submitter wrote:

Figured out a way to cool my 1979 pop up camper. 98 dollar a.c. from walmart and some dryer vent hose!

It’s a kludgy way to do it, but it looks like it might actually work. On the other hand, here is a poster on Popup Explorer who added an A/C unit in a tent camper.

Buttrys used an inexpensive home air conditioning unit:

Well, after a weekend “test” for the A/C and some talk here on the board I went back and did some re-design to my A/C setup. Since then I added a “duct” that directly channels the hot air out of the camper from the rear of the unit and also added two vent holes under the camper directly into the A/C cabinet. So far it seems to run cooler and should be more efficient.

Outside vent with grill…

Buttrys also had to add an intake vent and drainage tube underneath the camper.

All of that could be avoided if you put your inexpensive A/C unit under the bunk end over the hitch. Then the intake, venting and drainage happens naturally outside of the camper.

Bciaralli on the Popup Portal Forum showed how a previous owner had added A/C to a tent trailer.

Outside, the A/C unit is mounted over the hitch.

Here is the same A/C modification made to an Apache Hard-Sided Popup Camper:

There is always the option of adding a rooftop air conditioning unit like this Dometic A/C Brisk Air Roof Top Air Conditioner, but they are EXPENSIVE!! It’s hard justifying paying over $500 for an A/C unit when a similarly powered one is only a hundred bucks at Home Depot.

I’ve even seen temporary solutions where a family placed the A/C unit near a window and placed the vent through the window, like this evaporative cooler on Adam Alvarez’s old tent trailer.

Here is another example of adding an inexpensive A/C unit through the door opening from Angel and Mike on Flickr:

Here’s what it looks like from the inside:

It’s hard to think about cooling in a tent trailer when the top temperatures outside right now are below fifty degrees, but summer will be here soon enough. Time to get my modifications done NOW so that camping in the heat of the Utah desert will be pleasant instead of miserable.