I purchased a 2013 Hawk - sudo trip report

Bill D

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2015
Messages
981
Location
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
I haven't posted on the forum for a while, because I've been busy with my new/used 2013 Hawk. I was looking at purchasing a new shell, while looking for used options the entire time. Living in Canada, the used options are even more difficult find.

I was planning a holiday trip and visiting the Canadian FWC dealer along the way and placing an order. The day before I was leaving a 2013 Hawk popped up on Kijiji. It was right on route for my trip. It couldn't have worked out any better.

Rather than purchasing a shell, I was able to afford a very loaded Hawk. It's made for a Ford, but I can deal with it. I'll take advantage of the extra space between the bed rails and the camper and I may even do something with the extra space between the cabover bed and the cab.

We slept in the Hawk in the previous owners driveway the first night then drove both trucks to an RV dealership in Salmon Arm, British Columbia at 8:30 AM the next day. Tri-Crown RV... I'll give them a plug because they were awesome. We had no appointment, but they were willing to do the install at 1pm that day, even though they were very busy.

I'm pretty handy, so I ended up doing the install myself while waiting. They helped me out a bit with the wiring, because the color codes didn't match. $15 in parts and $20 to buy the boys beer and I was on my way. I didn't even need to book the truck into the shop.

Tri-Crown RV even offered to explain all the features of the camper and show me how to use things. Not only that, but they offered us free tickets to a concert that was going on in town that night. I graciously declined as we wanted to get to Vancouver Island (Victoria, BC) to enjoy our holiday, so off we went.

The camper was a bit heavy in the rear end and I ended up getting a few annoyed drivers flashing their lights at me. Once I got to the island a fellow camper lent me some duct tape and I took care of the headlights temporarily.

The trip was awesome. We thoroughly enjoyed the camper. The propane furnace was such a treat for previous tent campers. The 3 cu.ft. 3 way fridge was also a treat. My GF is a health nut, so she loves the fridge. We didn't fill up the water system, seeing I was already heavy in the rear end and we would be driving back to freezing cold Alberta once our vacation was complete.

We took the camper to the beach every night and watched the sunsets, while eating chicken caesar salad and drinking cold drinks from the fridge.

We got back last week and I went back to work. This weekend I installed a set of Firestone ride-rite bags. I took the camper off, so I'll give you an update, once I get the camper back on. I also made a temporary 7 pin connector and I plan to wire the truck properly next weekend.

Here is a list of the features that are on the 2013 Hawk.

On demand Hot Water with outside shower
Fantastic Fan
3 cu.ft. 3 way fridge
Arctic Pack
standard sink and stove
Porta Potti
Yakima Roof Rack
Jacks
100 Watt solar panel
1 battery
Furnace
Rear wall steps
Internal Gas lift struts
Roll over seat
Hand crank to assist in lift roof
12 volt plugs

I saved about $8000 CDN purchasing used, even more now seeing the CDN dollar is still dropping.

Anyhow, I'm a happy camper. I look forward to getting good use out of the Hawk. So far it has saved us 3 nights of paying for campsites. I also like the fact that I no longer need to plan where I'm going to sleep each night, while on the road. We just stop whenever we are tired.
 

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Welcome to the gang. Sounds like a really nice trip.

Tri-Crown is a great outfit--they rescued me once when I thought I had a (gulp!) propane issue. It turned out to be very minor--but they sure were helpful and friendly.
 

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