Starling Travel

I love this ingenious design for an A-frame camper that I found on Google Patents.

• U.S. Patent 4807924

The description is HORRIBLE. (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…)

I saw this interesting 1967 Shasta 13′ Travel Trailer on eBay the other day.

It’s an interesting glimpse at a Shasta I’ve never seen before. The difference is (Continue Reading…)

If you own a pickup truck, here is a way for you to create a tiny tent camper on the back.

• Patent US20120248817 – Pop up quick camper

This is something you could create yourself using a pre-made pickup bed cover, like a Snuglid, or building your own. When the cover is closed, the tent folds into the truck bed.

When is the truck bed cover is fully opened, measure the area open between it and the truck bed for your tent material.

It even shows how to attach the tent to the truck bed cover. You would have to install snaps onto the side of your truck for the tent to attach at the bottom.

You could achieve the same thing with a camper shell and turn your pickup into a sleeping area as efficient as a teardrop trailer, but camper shells are difficult to put on and take off, whereas a truck bed cover could stay on the back of your truck all the time and only be used for camping when you need it.

If you have a pickup and are trying to think of ways to set up camp quickly without a huge tent, this might be a great option for you.

You can download the entire patent filing here:

• U.S. Patent #20120248817: Popup Pickup Camper

At the Utah RV Show a couple of weeks ago, I finally got to see a T@B S floorplan. It was so beautiful that I LITERALLY kissed it, but it was PACKED with people looking at it, so I didn’t get any good pictures.

Fortunately, the dealer posted a whole bunch of pictures of it online: KSL Classifieds: 2013 Little Guy TAB S FLOOR

From the outside, it looks just like a normal T@B Trailer.

The real difference is INSIDE the trailer. (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.

I found this ad on Craigslist and had to share it with you. It’s for this 1948 Teardrop Trailer.

The ad reads: (Continue Reading…)

I found a really interesting invention floating around the patent filings and it makes me wonder why I haven’t seen it on any campers:

• United States Patent: 3511529

It is a collapsible room for portable campers. It looks pretty non-descript on the back of this truck camper when it’s folded up:

When it’s deployed, however, it opens up a huge tent room. (Continue Reading…)

I saw this video on YouTube and I just cringed with dread.

The description was bad enough:

Redneck Camper Removal

The Canadian way of removing a camper. 1 redneck driving. 4 rednecks and a 150 lb Lanseer Newfoundlander giving instructions!!!

At this point, I was just squirming with discomfort.

The proper way to remove your truck camper is to raise it with the lifts and then slowly pull the truck forward. After the truck is clear, you lower the lifts until the camper is stable (although leaving on the ground can cause rot).

This particular camper was recycled, so the damage it might have incurred being removed like this wasn’t important. In the end, they just parted it out.

NOTE TO TREE-HUGGERS….WE ARE GREEN “REDNECKS” …. WE RECYCLED EVERYTHING from the camper …. then of course BURNED the rest. WE had enough money for 10 cases of BEER (CANADIAN of course!!)

Here is a fast forward video of the proper way to load up a truck camper.