Another New Hawk About to Hit the Road!

[strannik]

My Ford F150 XLT 4X4 Ecoboost V6 finally arrived and is on the road. I'll get a final production time estimate in about a week, but it looks like I will be able to go and get my new Hawk installed in about a month. This will serve as my mobile office as well as my get-away cabin. Soon I will be drilling down into the details about where to put what and how to do x.

Some of the time, I will be driving solo, occasionally I will have a passenger, and sometimes the cat will come too. So the first question for experienced four wheelers is: have you traveled with a cat, and if so, where did you put the litter box? ;-).

 

[Barko1]

Maybe the cat can go through the access port and crap in the truck bed

 

[strannik]

Maybe the cat can go through the access port and crap in the truck bed


Heh! Not as funny as you think - some truck campers have large enough access ports where that is exactly where the box goes. I checked a demo model to see if that was a possibility with the Hawk. Tie downs are in the way, and not much space - my cat is already too big. So that was already considered. ;-)

 

[MarkBC]

...sometimes the cat will come too. So the first question for experienced four wheelers is: have you traveled with a cat, and if so, where did you put the litter box? ;-).

I'm also interested in the subject of cat-camping, so to offer my 2¢: I was thinking that I'd put a litter box in that little alcove designated for a human 'litter box' (where I currently store my Weber table-top gas grill). It's not odor-isolated, but I would have to accept that.

I haven't yet traveled with my cat, but I'd like to see if it would work out for me and my cat so that I could take longer/more trips without leaving kitty lonely at home.

Last year somebody posted on this subject -- cat-camping, but I don't think he specified where he kept the litter box...and I don't remember the guy's name, haven't re-found the post.

 

[wi_hawk]

I did give some thought on taking my cat camping. With a little research and a talk with the vet best advise is leave it/them home. Cats like their domain and don't like the changes. Have someone look in on it/them to make sure everything is ok. Have to remember if your out in the wilds and they take off that may be the last time you see them. Have read that if you start when they are kittens and get them use to travel that they adjust.

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Ya'll can just share: Cat Litter Toilet

(@Jay and Fisherman: nyeah, nyeah...)

 

[pods8]

My Ford F150 XLT 4X4 Ecoboost V6 finally arrived and is on the road.


What cab, box length, rear end gears?

I'm very interested to hear how a FWC type camper performs on this truck platform. The truck throws out nice numbers unloaded but is on par with most v8's when hauling a heavy trailer. However neither one of those scenarios address our type of usage, some payload and increased wind resistance.

 

[MarkBC]

I did give some thought on taking my cat camping. With a little research and a talk with the vet best advise is leave it/them home. Cats like their domain and don't like the changes. Have someone look in on it/them to make sure everything is ok. Have to remember if your out in the wilds and they take off that may be the last time you see them. Have read that if you start when they are kittens and get them use to travel that they adjust.

You may be right...
I asked my cat if she'd like to go camping, and this was her response:

I take this as a "NO!!".

(well, actually...I found this mid-yawn-shot when looking in my archives for other photos this morning

)
And please forgive this off-topic diversion.

 

[strannik]

What cab, box length, rear end gears?

I'm very interested to hear how a FWC type camper performs on this truck platform. The truck throws out nice numbers unloaded but is on par with most v8's when hauling a heavy trailer. However neither one of those scenarios address our type of usage, some payload and increased wind resistance.


Yeah, I'm curious as to what sort of performance I will have as well. It is a supercab with the short bed (6.5). I don't recall the type of rear end gears off the top of my head (whatever came with the total 4X4 package). I had a hard time getting all of the different Ford packages I wanted, due to Ford's idea of which packages are compatible and which are not - some for obvious reasons, and some that made no sense whatsoever. There is always compromise in selecting features - hopefully not the wrong ones in my case.

 

[strannik]

My cat loves to explore new places, but she is an indoor cat by my choice. The only time I let her out of doors is when she is on her harness and leash. I have a length of clothesline in one part of the yard, and another clip cable that I can set up at a moments notice between trees or a portable stake. I clip the leash to the line, and she can run/walk back and forth, exploring within the limits of her safety line. She is pretty well trained to use those, and it is always a supervised activity (in case of tangles, predators, or what not). I plan to use the same method when camping. Other folks that take their cats camping use a similar method (ether the "cat run" line or a long leash) with no apparent problems. She can even climb trees within the limits of her leash.

You may be right...
I asked my cat if she'd like to go camping, and this was her response:

I take this as a "NO!!".

(well, actually...I found this mid-yawn-shot when looking in my archives for other photos this morning

)
And please forgive this off-topic diversion.

 

[strannik]

Polka Dot and the "Catwalk":

 

[MarkBC]

Polka Dot and the "Catwalk":

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=wCy2hUnSRu8

Wow!

I've never seen anything like this -- a leash-line for a cat! Supervision does seem necessary, as you say, to un-do tangles -- especially in the trees. In the video you mention a backpack cat-carrier...is this what a sounds like -- a way to carry the cat around when hiking, etc.? I've never heard of that, either!

 

[Barko1]

Wow, a noose for a cat!! Mine wouldn't tolerate it very well. Watched him catch a mouse today, good kitty.

 

[MarkBC]

I think my cat would be OK with a harness...maybe even a leash. A couple of years ago when I put a collar on her -- necessary to hang the magnet to open the magnetically-locked cat door -- she hardly even noticed it.

I still think she might not be OK with being outside her territory. If I could get her to see the truck and camper as part of her territory that would be good enough...she spends >90% of her time sleeping/napping/relaxing anyway.

 

[pods8]

Yeah, I'm curious as to what sort of performance I will have as well. It is a supercab with the short bed (6.5). I don't recall the type of rear end gears off the top of my head (whatever came with the total 4X4 package). I had a hard time getting all of the different Ford packages I wanted, due to Ford's idea of which packages are compatible and which are not - some for obvious reasons, and some that made no sense whatsoever. There is always compromise in selecting features - hopefully not the wrong ones in my case.


Cool, keep us posted!

 

[strannik]

Cool, keep us posted!


It turns out that FWC went into production overdrive, in spite of having moved, and I will get the camper installed on Thursday! I will then immediately test my 3 modes of camping:

1. With full hookups at a resort in the Delta
2. In "stealth" boondocking mode (top unraised, curtains closed, no discernable presence) in San Francisco
3. In full wilderness boondocking mode around the Fort Ross Area.

Then begins cat camping training!

The backpack I mentioned is also a car cat carrier, and can be wheeled.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015MFZSY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=strannikcombo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B0015MFZSY

The other cat product which makes this more do-able is a safer, more comfortable, easier to use harness:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003BWFRPW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=strannikcombo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B003BWFRPW

 

[rotti]

Don't know anything about cats.

Always had dogs, but I do like cat tacos.

 

[MarkBC]

Don't know anything about cats.
Always had dogs, but I do like cat tacos.

And some cats like rotti tacos -- see ski3pin's post #25

 

[rotti]

And some cats like rotti tacos -- see ski3pin's post #25

Yep, those big kitties will win every time. They kill for a living, mine begs.

Now don't get me wrong, I do like little kitties too. Just had to use that picture I found awhile back.

 

[strannik]

I LOVE the cat taco! - I'm sure that cat feels as humiliated as mine does by the Santa Claus outfit.

First trip with the new Hawk - I'm loving it!

I camped near Isleton in the Delta, and now I am "stealth" camping in San Francisco. Actually not as stealthy as originally planned. I found a parking place outside a friends apartment, and I might actually put the top up.

MPG dropped from around 18 to around 14 or 13 with the hawk installed. That includes water in the tank and about 50 lbs of stuff in the drawers, etc. I planned to run off campground power, but the "ready to go" package didn't include the right type of plug. With the solar and two batteries, it wasn't at all necessary. I ran all my gadgets in the evening, and the power meter barely went down by morning - sweet!