Don's Camping Passion

The word is like music, especially when grass turns green, leaves pop out, and winter skies give way to blue.

In Vancouver, we are on the doorstep of the world’s best camping, both in BC and Washington state. The scenery is unparalleled. The opportunity to commune with nature, letting go the stresses of today's busy workplace, is offered to all that will grasp it.

A few years ago we purchased a truck and camper combination where the Slumber Queen 10 foot camper met every need that we could imagine for camping. The original truck was a Ford F250 (3/4 ton pickup) and the combo worked quite well.

This diagram of the 1995 Slumber Queen camper illustrates the layout showing that it good for up to 4 people, although only the 2 of us typically used it.

Everything is very handy, and the interior is very bright because of a skylight in the middle of the roof (between sinks and stove). The many windows also open making it easy to keep the camper cool in hot weather. Where we live in Vancouver, hot weather means 85 F (25 C).

We jokingly consider this our 3-star mobile motel.
 

Over time we were fortunate to come across an F350 dually. It is a high mileage vehicle with about 240k km (approx. 150k miles). It has a 7.5L (460CID) engine with standard and runs on standard gas. With a tradition of “restoring” our vehicles and equipment, we completely re-did the truck as a long-term investment given the high prices of new vehicles these days.

To bring this truck back to pretty much new condition involved a lot of body work  (new doors, hood, rear quarters, floor boards), repairs (flair, painting), and of course Line-X for the box. For the interior we've upgraded to cushy after-market seats which are a delight to sit in on any trip.

As a follow-on, in order to improve performance and fuel economy, we took advantage of our son-in-law’s mechanical skill and had his shop "soup up" the truck with a full power train upgrade. This includes a variety of changes including a custom rebuilt 7.5L engine (bored) with CompCam custom cam, rebuilt head, new water pumps, high power (120AMP) alternator, K&N filter, Doug Thorley tuned performance exhausts, 3" pipes, Magnaflow low-resistance muffler, Dynomax Bullet racing (packed) muffler acting as a resonator, Luk racing clutch, American Eagle alloy wheels (not shown), a full set of Nokian tyres, and many more smaller items.

With a big truck and camper one might think that it must be hard on gas. In fact, it way out-performs earlier motor-homes we have had averaging an outstanding 11.5mpg (imperial) under typical load, and on long trips not involving steep mountains passes as high as 13mpg. This isn’t exactly comparable to a scooter, but the truck and camper have a specific purpose and are used solely for that. It is NOT a commuter which would be a less than ideal use for such a vehicle combiantion, but when getting out on the road it gets pretty cost-efficient in total cost of operation, accommodation and more.

As luck would have it, we started to look for a trailer, and came across a unit nearly identical to the camper. It is a 1997 Slumber Queen 23.5’ fifth wheel. Not only was it in good condition, it had all the same equipment, upholstery and finish we liked in our camper. So we made the big switch and in 2010 started a new style of camping. Oddly enough, the switch from camper to fifth wheel resulted in a big fuel economy improvement using the same truck, averaging 1.5+ mpg better

Only typical maintenance and the addition of a few conveniences brought this unit right up to snuff.  Being my first big trailer (at least for me), we decided to go with a premium brake controller and use the Hensley TruControl GOLD. As well, it’s nice to marry hobbies, so amateur radio equipment is often packed to ensure great communication no matter where we are.

This is our new rig atop Crater Lake in Oregon. With a highly powered truck that could pull a far larger fifth wheel, we have no difficulties with the mountain roads of the Western USA and Canada.

For a couple, this size trailer has real merits as a rolling home or 3-star motel.

Whenever time permits, we like to get out and enjoy British Columbia and Washington with its wealth of provincial, state and forestry camp grounds. We’re more fair weather campers as not into venturing into the snow areas, but camping in the extended season will come in the near future as retirement beckons.

A couple years ago we stumbled across a slightly larger unit with the same color schemes that we like, plus a slide which delivered quite a bit more space.

It is a 2001 Citation Supreme 26' model with single 14' slide, with rear kitchen. It turns out this was a perfect size for aspiring Snowbirds, and we have found it is the maximum size to be able to get reasonably into Provincial and State Parks.

The same summer, our son-in-law found a great low-mileage 2004 Dodge 2500HD truck with Cummins diesel that could do a great job in towing (better than the old Ford F350).

This combo makes for great travelling, and amazing mileage (13-14 mpg US, 16-17.5 mpg Imperial).

We find that for short trips locally to camp in BC/Washington it is super, and even better for longer treks to the southern US when we take on the role of SnowBirds.

While not new equipment, it is well maintained and continues to impress folks when we pull into RV parks.

And the plan for the future? It's time to go camping, of course.