NorCalSteve
Senior Member
I got my Hawk back in late November of last year (2011). Up until early April of this year, I had only used it once on a 3 day trip to the Northern California coast. But, I am now back from a 4 week trip to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and back home through Nevada, Idaho and Oregon. I had a great time and the camper performed very well.
Since I have been a lurker her for sometime, I want to say that I have enjoyed following the forum. Thanks to everyone for the helpful information. Camper decisions were made based on the information I found here.
A good friend of mine has owned a Hawk for about 2 years now. I have gone camping with him often and finally could not take it anymore and jumped in. Before my first trip, I had made a number of tweaks to the camper. Nothing special. Some things probably not even necessary but what the heck. And, I made some tweaks after getting home. I will mention a few things now and the rest later.
First, I have to admit that I have never tried the stock mattress for the camper. Currently, I am using a pad that I bought from the local Costco store. Since I am single, the small mattress works well for me. Since it is much narrower, I use the extra space between the mattress and the forward side of the bed for storage of clothes. The only drawback is on the rare occasions when I need something stored up behind my bed and the camper is down, which has not been that big of a deal.
I bought fiberglass insulation and stuffed it in the small space above the refrigerator. I did this because the heat from the back of the refrigerator was going up into that area and I was bothered with all the extra heat above the freezer compartment. Did it do any good? I have no idea. I never did any before and after measurements. But it gave me a little peace of mind. I was careful to keep some distance between the fiberglass and the fins on the back of the refrigerator.
I have the HW heater (wish it was smaller than 6 gallons) and was bothered that if I turned the HW heater on before dinner and off after doing dishes, the water would pretty much be back to outdoor temperature by the next night. So, I got more fiberglass insulation and stuffed it all around the HW heater to improve the insulation. Did it help? I don't think so. The temperature still seemed to be back at the outdoor temp by the next evening. Bottom line is, I more often than not don't use the HW heater because I don't like heating up 6 gallons of water and using less than one gallon to do the few dishes that I have. When there are lots of people on the trip, I do enjoy firing up the HW heater and doing the dishes for all the tent campers.
I took a belt sander to the drawer stop feet under each drawer. I made a slope on one side so, when the drawer closes, it "slides" up and over the slope. It stays closed as before because the front side of the foot is still the same. Did it help? Well, I like it but it probably was fine before. I probably should have searched the forum on this. Everybody probably does it.
I had FWC install a different faucet. It is still the lousy plastic faucet that is not long enough to come out far enough into the sink but it can be pulled out and held in my hand. It has a hose that attaches to the plumbing. The hose gets in the way a little under the sink but not too bad. I like it because I can pull it out while washing the dishes. The main reason I got it was so I could wash my hair. Did it help? Well, I like it better than the plastic faucet that the camper came with at the time I bought it (they had a new faucet that they showed off to me when I picked up my camper). But there is usually water everywhere after doing dishes or washing my hair. I do have the outdoor shower, which I have yet to use.
I still have more things to talk about but will start another thread later with some of the other items.
Thanks!
Steve
Since I have been a lurker her for sometime, I want to say that I have enjoyed following the forum. Thanks to everyone for the helpful information. Camper decisions were made based on the information I found here.
A good friend of mine has owned a Hawk for about 2 years now. I have gone camping with him often and finally could not take it anymore and jumped in. Before my first trip, I had made a number of tweaks to the camper. Nothing special. Some things probably not even necessary but what the heck. And, I made some tweaks after getting home. I will mention a few things now and the rest later.
First, I have to admit that I have never tried the stock mattress for the camper. Currently, I am using a pad that I bought from the local Costco store. Since I am single, the small mattress works well for me. Since it is much narrower, I use the extra space between the mattress and the forward side of the bed for storage of clothes. The only drawback is on the rare occasions when I need something stored up behind my bed and the camper is down, which has not been that big of a deal.
I bought fiberglass insulation and stuffed it in the small space above the refrigerator. I did this because the heat from the back of the refrigerator was going up into that area and I was bothered with all the extra heat above the freezer compartment. Did it do any good? I have no idea. I never did any before and after measurements. But it gave me a little peace of mind. I was careful to keep some distance between the fiberglass and the fins on the back of the refrigerator.
I have the HW heater (wish it was smaller than 6 gallons) and was bothered that if I turned the HW heater on before dinner and off after doing dishes, the water would pretty much be back to outdoor temperature by the next night. So, I got more fiberglass insulation and stuffed it all around the HW heater to improve the insulation. Did it help? I don't think so. The temperature still seemed to be back at the outdoor temp by the next evening. Bottom line is, I more often than not don't use the HW heater because I don't like heating up 6 gallons of water and using less than one gallon to do the few dishes that I have. When there are lots of people on the trip, I do enjoy firing up the HW heater and doing the dishes for all the tent campers.
I took a belt sander to the drawer stop feet under each drawer. I made a slope on one side so, when the drawer closes, it "slides" up and over the slope. It stays closed as before because the front side of the foot is still the same. Did it help? Well, I like it but it probably was fine before. I probably should have searched the forum on this. Everybody probably does it.
I had FWC install a different faucet. It is still the lousy plastic faucet that is not long enough to come out far enough into the sink but it can be pulled out and held in my hand. It has a hose that attaches to the plumbing. The hose gets in the way a little under the sink but not too bad. I like it because I can pull it out while washing the dishes. The main reason I got it was so I could wash my hair. Did it help? Well, I like it better than the plastic faucet that the camper came with at the time I bought it (they had a new faucet that they showed off to me when I picked up my camper). But there is usually water everywhere after doing dishes or washing my hair. I do have the outdoor shower, which I have yet to use.
I still have more things to talk about but will start another thread later with some of the other items.
Thanks!
Steve
