New Guy

[longshanks]

After several years of fishing and camping trips spent in my friends 9' wood-framed camper, I finally pulled the trigger and got my own camper. After considerable research and some help from folks on this forum I narrowed down my critera:

1) wife must approve of it
2) must fit in shop for storage
3) must last a long time (ie. get the one you want cause you ain't gettin' another one soon)
4) must have enough bed space and interior clearance for tall people
5) must be light enough that we don't need a 1T dually to haul it

I'm not even going to talk about how far I had to drive to get this one, but it came in under our budget and it looks like it's going to work out just fine. We don't really have a lot of needs for camping other than a comfy bed, a roof, and a table. The camper's a 2005 Grandby shell and it came with Jacks, a battery, a fantastic fan, screen door, and it's in fine condition. Also it has aluminum checkerplate on the rear 18" for use on a short bed truck. The people I bought it from were wonderful and they helped me load it and sent me away packing a lunch.

The funny part of the story is that I had to haul it home on my utility trailer (see attached photos of my 'Ozark motor-home'). Over the winter I cut my rusting utility trailer in half and added considerable structure to it, including an additional 14" width and a bunch of length. With a new axle and springs, it hauled the camper like a champ. Although it works just fine on the trailer, when finances permit I hope to replace my Tacoma with a truck that the Grandby actually fits in. I plan to keep the camper as light as possible, and I'd like to avoid buying a 3/4 T or larger truck as my daily driver. I will probably be back on here picking your brains about camper mods and truck options, but for now my intentions are to spend some time camping.

cheers

 

[MarkBC]

Enjoy your new rig, longshanks!

 

[White Dog]

I'm glad you got your point #1 correct.

Seems funny to see the camper on a trailer behind the truck. So close but not quite there!

Congratulations. I'm sure your trip list is increasing by the day.

 

[Smokecreek1]

After several years of fishing and camping trips spent in my friends 9' wood-framed camper, I finally pulled the trigger and got my own camper. After considerable research and some help from folks on this forum I narrowed down my critera:

1) wife must approve of it
2) must fit in shop for storage
3) must last a long time (ie. get the one you want cause you ain't gettin' another one soon)
4) must have enough bed space and interior clearance for tall people
5) must be light enough that we don't need a 1T dually to haul it

I'm not even going to talk about how far I had to drive to get this one, but it came in under our budget and it looks like it's going to work out just fine. We don't really have a lot of needs for camping other than a comfy bed, a roof, and a table. The camper's a 2005 Grandby shell and it came with Jacks, a battery, a fantastic fan, screen door, and it's in fine condition. Also it has aluminum checkerplate on the rear 18" for use on a short bed truck. The people I bought it from were wonderful and they helped me load it and sent me away packing a lunch.

The funny part of the story is that I had to haul it home on my utility trailer (see attached photos of my 'Ozark motor-home'). Over the winter I cut my rusting utility trailer in half and added considerable structure to it, including an additional 14" width and a bunch of length. With a new axle and springs, it hauled the camper like a champ. Although it works just fine on the trailer, when finances permit I hope to replace my Tacoma with a truck that the Grandby actually fits in. I plan to keep the camper as light as possible, and I'd like to avoid buying a 3/4 T or larger truck as my daily driver. I will probably be back on here picking your brains about camper mods and truck options, but for now my intentions are to spend some time camping.

cheers


You got what I got Longshanks, and I've loved every moment i have used it since i bought it new---as will you, just keep an eye on the water pump and hope nothing breaks and you have to take off the whole side panel to fix something under the sink or behind the thermostat-other than that have many years of fun! Think about new rear springs or real good airbags-they make the 1/2 ton PU/Gramby work allot better-check those threads on that-it makes driving and back country-ing more fun! Enjoy

Smoke

 

[Walldiver]

Looks pretty clean. Enjoy.

 

[RamRider]

Nice set up. Do you want to trade my Ranger for Grandby? Mine should work in your current truck. Athough it is not quite as new and neither quite as nice.

 

[longshanks]

hey guys...

thanks for all the good vibes... I've been working away at it and my first matter of business was to splurge on a Lagun table bracket so we could have a place to sit down and eat. It was worth every penny. Now working on building a table out of mdf, p-laminate, and maple edging. I think I'll do up a counter while I'm at it. No worries about the water pump because there isn't one in there. I am not sure what other comforts I am going to add to the camper, but my main goal is to keep this thing as light as possible so that I can carry it on a 1/2 ton truck.

Ramrider - Thanks for the offer on the trade - we can probably agree that a shorter camper is more practical for most trucks... But this baby ain't goin anywhere.