trasko
Advanced Member
I've just recently acquired a mid-eighties Grandby that I'm very excited about. It's very dirty, leaks and has holes in the pop-up fabric but I'm not afraid of that. In fact, I'm excited to tear in to it and fix it up.
But here's the thing. I've never owned nor even slept in a camper before. I've done all my camping in tents and last year I used a shell on the back of my truck on a few trips. It's fine, but there is a lot of work each day shuffling stuff around (like setting up the kitchen, then breaking the kitchen down, then setting up the bed stuff, then putting it all away during the day, etc). Not to mention not being able to stand. I toyed with the idea of a "platform" but then I'd have so little room to maneuver it wouldn't be any fun.
So, I have a Grandby FWC now. It has a sink with a manual pump faucet, a 2-burner stove and an ancient (and dirty) icebox. There is a single interior light. What I am wondering is what sort of features do most people really get a lot of use out of? What is really great to have and what are the things that aren't such a big deal? I know this is often just personal preference, but I'd love to hear what ya'll have to say.
To get things started I'll state a couple of things I think I want:
* LED lighting all around. Incandescents and fluorescents are out, LEDs are in. I can wire them up. I am picky about light so these seem pretty mandatory. I want lights to read in bed, lights for cooking and lights for just seeing everything. I want LEDs on the outside. Do people find the exterior lights useful?
* Real fridge. This seems like a luxury to me, but why not? Using coolers for everything gets old. Do most people like the 3-way fridges or do people end up going back to ice boxes thinking "simpler is better?"
* (implied from above): Battery? Solar? Charger? all of a sudden it seems like I'm getting overly complex.
Thanks for any help. I am hoping to plan ahead of time more than I normally do so I'd like to incorporate all the features I might want into my design.
But here's the thing. I've never owned nor even slept in a camper before. I've done all my camping in tents and last year I used a shell on the back of my truck on a few trips. It's fine, but there is a lot of work each day shuffling stuff around (like setting up the kitchen, then breaking the kitchen down, then setting up the bed stuff, then putting it all away during the day, etc). Not to mention not being able to stand. I toyed with the idea of a "platform" but then I'd have so little room to maneuver it wouldn't be any fun.
So, I have a Grandby FWC now. It has a sink with a manual pump faucet, a 2-burner stove and an ancient (and dirty) icebox. There is a single interior light. What I am wondering is what sort of features do most people really get a lot of use out of? What is really great to have and what are the things that aren't such a big deal? I know this is often just personal preference, but I'd love to hear what ya'll have to say.
To get things started I'll state a couple of things I think I want:
* LED lighting all around. Incandescents and fluorescents are out, LEDs are in. I can wire them up. I am picky about light so these seem pretty mandatory. I want lights to read in bed, lights for cooking and lights for just seeing everything. I want LEDs on the outside. Do people find the exterior lights useful?
* Real fridge. This seems like a luxury to me, but why not? Using coolers for everything gets old. Do most people like the 3-way fridges or do people end up going back to ice boxes thinking "simpler is better?"
* (implied from above): Battery? Solar? Charger? all of a sudden it seems like I'm getting overly complex.
Thanks for any help. I am hoping to plan ahead of time more than I normally do so I'd like to incorporate all the features I might want into my design.