Any GTAM'ers have a tiny/micro camper? | Page 12 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Any GTAM'ers have a tiny/micro camper?

nakkers said:
I think some new to camping folks may get discouraged at the lack of sites and dates available and the cost to camp in the first place
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Really depends...problem is too many "new" RV'ers don't think outside the box so far as where to camp. They absolutely must be in a campground, and they absolutely must have power, and some refuse to even go anywhere without water and sewer hookups. The thought of camping somewhere where they have to rely on just what they bring (even if they're in some gigantic luxury unit with huge tanks and batteries) doesn't occur to them.

Buying isn't for everyone if you do the math on how much you pay per outing. If you're like we used to be when we camped 200+ nights a year it's easier to swallow. If you're like a lot of new RV'ers who go out 5 or 6 weekends a year, well, the numbers are scary.

Most people never see beyond the "only $299/month" figure though. For 30 years.

On the "where to camp" thing I've been looking at harvesthosts.com - looks interesting. Not a ton around here however but given a regular campground is $50/night right now it only takes a few nights to break even then I guess.
 
I'm getting emails from harvesthost, i signed up for the information package from the online show.

Still on the fence.
 
Wish they'd show the sites and reviews on Harvest Hosts before you have to commit to signing up, especially given how sparse the listings are in southern Ontario. If 50% of the sites are little more than glorified parking lot spots (which I gather from the reviews, some are) or if some of them are actually nice tucked away spots where you actually feel like you're camping - the photos they have on their website of course all look amazing, as one would expect.

Something like this, cool.

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Something like this..... well, not so much. (An actual harvest host real world review photo I found online)

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No campfires allowed and no outdoor cooking or BBQ's allowed (as per Harvest Host rules) really takes the camping atmosphere out of it though. Beats the Walmart parking lot while passing through I guess - we did more than our fair share of exactly that while we were hard core long distance RV'ing, but that's not what we're getting back into. Unless the Volt tows WAAAY better than I'm expecting, at least.
 
Shippsy status on the hitch still shows "In Transit". Taking a heck of a long time to go a mere 250km. Here's hoping it shows up in the AM in "ready for payment" status, and that once I process the payment it doesn't take another day or two to go to "ready for pickup" status....I'd REALLY like to have it for the weekend.
 
I'm looking for a tiny trailer for an uncle and aunt who want to be able to drive his mobily scooter into trailer and small enough to be towed by a 4 cyd SUV when they want to wander

Hijak - Anyone seen a 4x6 enclosed for sale recently?
 
With a camper setup when the scooter isn’t in it? Or just a utility trailer basically?
 
In related news, Shippsy still shows the hitch “In Transit”. 2 full days now. Hoping it shows up arrived today and that the payment system releases it right away so I can pickup after work this afternoon.
 
For those who didn't see it in the other thread, Shippsy came through and the hitch arrived and cleared this afternoon. I paid and it went to "ready for pickup" status immediately and I went and grabbed it right after work. I have it in hand now.

Pretty impressed with Shippsy overall. The actual transit time took a day or two longer than I'd hoped, but honestly, for a mere $7 fee for handling the import, collection of the taxes, and the transportation, I really can't complain despite my impatience. I'll definitely use them again.

I should have the hitch installed tomorrow despite the crappy forecast. Will get the rear end of the car in the garage and put a set of radiant heaters I own under there (scored for $10/each from Princess Auto on a pricing error!) and should get her bolted up. Will do the electrical afterwards and hopefully will get out for a tow test on Sunday.
 
Hitch is installed. Went pretty well, took about 3 hours start to finish but I wasn't rushing. I could easily do it in less than half that time the second time around, as is the case with most projects of this sort. Had both 1500w quartz heaters under there with me on either side and I was snug as a bug in a rug wrenching on things.

Hitch fits well and looks good. Well designed hitch and included every conceivable piece of hardware necessary for the different variations of Volts frames and attachment points. Even included the wire fish that was necessary. The only crappy thing was the bolts relied on lock washers to stop them from spinning inside the frame instead of going with cap-head bolts that lock into the plate like most other hitches - as a result I had a tough time getting 2 of the 4 bolts to tighten - it became clear quickly that they were just spinning inside the frame as the lockwasher wasn't enough to catch and hold them. A quick hammer with my impact solved that issue.

Test fit the receiver and such and it looks like with the 9" rise receiver I grabbed at Princess Auto and the Curt Rockerball (Google it, supposed to take the "herky jerky-ness" out of towing, anyone who's ever towed a trailer knows what I'm talking about) it's at the perfect height.

Going to do the electrical in the morning and then go for a test tow probably tomorrow afternoon.
 
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First ~100km test tow complete. Overall pretty freakin impressed with how the car tows it. There are some technical quirks related to my earlier mentioned (and seemingly now justified) concerns about the cars generation capability when running in gas mode versus the consumption required to tow the trailer (specifically related to how the car is programmed to manage it's battery level and not being aggressive enough with that until it's almost too late) but overall for the kind of travelling we're looking at doing now I'm pretty sure we're good.

I'll get more into the technical nuts and bolts in another post later.
 

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Looks good. Your mention of needing a 9" hitch riser sounded odd, but from the photo, it couldn't be much less and keep the trailer level. Hitch going to scrape the ground going in and out of parking lots? My Jetta would do that, but yours looks like it has less rear overhang.
 
The hitch for the Volt comes out of the back of the car really low because of the aerodynamic goodies under there, plus the rear bumper facia is just really low as well...and there's not much you can do to change that because the reverse light is square in the middle of the lower facia.

It just ever so lightly touched a few times coming out of the storage yard but that was only because there's depressions where the cars tires run so the hitch was lower in the centre. Never touched once at any point towing...and yeah, the trailer sits perfectly level. I'm not too worried about ground clearance, I tend to be pretty aware of that given the nature of my job and all you need to do is take things at a 45 degree if the angle is steep and that solves that concern.
 
crankcall said:
I spent some time doing boat interiors and have all the equipment (which makes the job way easier) , half the battle is being able to source the products for the build so it doesn't look like a homodepot special . Learning to make templates then running moulding and panels from template lessens the pain.
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I’m doing a boat interior now. When I started I thought I’d demo like you would do a house. An old codger at the boat yard told me to carefully remove each piece and make a paper pattern of it before tossing it in the bin.

best advice ever, there must be a hundred assorted trim parts to be machined. Im going to building and finish each piece at home then install.

Anyone know if mahogany and teak prices are rising like softwoods?
 
PrivatePilot said:
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First ~100km test tow complete. Overall pretty freakin impressed with how the car tows it. There are some technical quirks related to my earlier mentioned (and seemingly now justified) concerns about the cars generation capability when running in gas mode versus the consumption required to tow the trailer (specifically related to how the car is programmed to manage it's battery level and not being aggressive enough with that until it's almost too late) but overall for the kind of travelling we're looking at doing now I'm pretty sure we're good.

I'll get more into the technical nuts and bolts in another post later.
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What if you do all your towing in hold mode it should keep the generator running and battery topped off?

Sent from my couch using my thumbs
 
Harvest host has a deal running for membership if anyone is interested
 
Scuba Steve said:
Seems a bit sketchy to me but who knows. Not even sure why we go camping we live in the woods and have a pool, river and hot tub. Kids love camping so we go.

Sent from my couch using my thumbs
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I may go lawn camping with the kids this summer. Or if they are up for adventure, I'll throw the tent in the trees.
 
Scuba Steve said:
What if you do all your towing in hold mode it should keep the generator running and battery topped off?
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It would only delay the inevitable. Hold mode would start the tow at 90%SOC of course, but it would still slowly deplete as the car draws power faster than the car thinks it need to replenish/generate. This was the main issue.

2011's didn't have Hold Mode, either.

So, I ran in Mountain Mode instead which holds the battery at 45%SOC. Well, is supposed to.

That's where things get technical.

I'm going to post the technical bits in the EV thread instead.

ToSlow said:
Harvest host has a deal running for membership if anyone is interested
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I think I'm going to pass on HH. My wife found "boondockers welcome" and honestly it looks like a far better deal. I signed up today.
 
PrivatePilot said:
I think I'm going to pass on HH. My wife found "boondockers welcome" and honestly it looks like a far better deal. I signed up today.
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Boondockers, Is that for local camp? I’ve never heard of it.
I didn’t sign on to HH. I’m not sure how much they have available in Canada
 
Check out the website. It's not free but at least you get to see the listings and get an idea what's available before you pay, and honestly, there's a lot of pretty nice locations.
 
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