Quoted By:
>be me
>engineering degree, BA, could be factory supervisor (have been, worked my way through school in a machine shop), technical writer (English minor), lots of things that pay real money
>switch to teaching because wife diagnosed with MS and want more family time
>getting hard for better half to do the tent camping bit and still go out and do trails and such
>need climate control, heat and cold aggravate her MS symptoms
>two kids at home
>be last weekend
>go to Albuquerque (@400 miles), buy 1996 Dutchman popup for $1500 (no pics, but pretty much the same as pic related)
>not great shape, but workable
>solid frame and wood, canvas needed work
>interior's good
>the usual roof problems you see in older popups
>trailer lights don't work
>sleeps about 8 or 9 comfortably
>more if you're all small or friendly
>I'm neither small nor friendly
>sink and hand pump stove only, no water heater, toilet, shower, et cetera
>basically a tent with nice beds
>get magnetic trailer lights, head for home
>going 75 on I 40
>18 wheeler passes doing something like 90
>pops it up for me
>SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!
>pull off, put it back down, tie it off with load binders
>spend 4000 hours this week getting it into useable shape, up past midnight every night
>replace some wood at roof edges, sew up fresh canvas tears, fix electrical
>trailer electrical started working when I took off all of some dumbfuck's ill-executed mods
>add a battery (didn't come with one from the factory) for lights when innawoodsing
>solar power battery charger/maintainer is your friend
>going to Disneyland with the kids next week
>decided to take trailer on a shakedown trip and see how it does and what we do and don't like about it
Future plans:
>new canvas
>roof rebuild
>will include a rack for our canoe
>will cover roof and possibly sides with bedliner for leakproofing
>possibly reorganize interior
Questions for you guys:
>color scheme (wife's thinking urban camo)
>features you do and don't like in an RV
