The New Hawk's Maiden Voyage(s)

strannik

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
13
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
After staying what is possibly my last night in a woodland hotel, I went to the new FWC location with the truck sans tailgate, and had the camper installed. After the installation and run-through, I set my GPS bearings for the delta, where I would camp for the night. I made my first stop in the delta town of Isleton, where I got a platter of crawdads cooked in Cajun spices at Isleton Joe's.
001_Isleton_Joes.jpg

The camper across the street in this cute little delta town:
002_Isleton.jpg

I love the Delta's network of islands and sloughs, and I'm planning to return with the Kayak next time.
003_Delta.jpg

I crossed a little bridge to Vieira's Resort - the first campground.
004_Vieiras_Resort.jpg

And after putting the top up for the first time, SERENTIY was revealed to the world:
005_Vieiras_Resort.jpg

The next day, I did some camping of a very different sort - stealth camping with the top down in the middle of San Francisco:
006_Stealthy_in_SF.jpg

I got the camper home for a brief day or so, and then it was back on the road for an annual pilgrimage and picnic at Fort Ross:
007_Fort_Ross.jpg

I had the only major incident with the new camper on the way. I was pretty sure that I had secured all of the latches on the camper top, but I was pretty sleepy. Either I forgot one, or thinking that the camper was short enough for a drive through breakfast, I banged the hanging "test pipe" before the drive through (the one that tells you not to go through!). Either way, the front latches were undone, unbeknownst to me. When I got on the freeway, I noticed the truck wasn't handling very well, with a sort of shimmy sensation. My passenger then said "there's a guy waving at us and pointing". I pulled over, and saw the the front of the top was up! Fortunately there was no apparent damage, and I got the top raised and lowered properly, and double checked the latches. There is one mistake that will only get made once!

After the event at Fort Ross, I drove a few miles up the road to the Timber Cove campground:
008_Timber_Cove.jpg

Where I had this as a view from my camper window:
009_Timber_Cove.jpg

The private beach was a short stroll down the driveway:
010_Timber_Cove.jpg

At the private beach, was the private seal on his private rock:
011_Timber_Cove.jpg


I took my time meandering home, and finally experienced what a KOA Kampground is (insert psycho stabbing music here)

I was home for a bit more, and now I'm back on the road - at Saratoga Springs (not too far), in order to test my Kat Kamping theory, and provide the Cat some time to adjust to the idea. The cat is not convinced that this is a good idea, but she is actually doing splendidly:
012_Kat_Kamping.jpg

013_Kat_Kamping.jpg


LESSONS LEARNED:
  • You can't check the latches too many times.
  • Plan to forego all garages, drive-throughs and other "needle eyes"
  • You can boondock anywhere, as long as you provide no evidence that you are anything but a parked car. Boondocking with the top up - that is a bit more challenging
  • The cat *can* learn to enjoy camping - but not on your schedule
 
I've yet to find a drive thru I don't fit in. Parking garages, well lets just say theres a tiny dent in my camper where I misjudged.

Glad to hear it all went "almost" well.
 
Congratz on getting your new camper !


Welcome to the FWC Family.


Thanks for the great trip report.


Let us know if you need anything down the road.


Happy Camping.


:)



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I've yet to find a drive thru I don't fit in. Parking garages...

Likewise.
Seems like "standard" vertical clearance at a drive-thru is 9 feet...but not so with parking garages.
 
I think possibly the luggage rack puts me just above the limit for drive throughs (It's probably just as well - one more reason not to go to those places!).

I must say that I am VERY pleased with the Hawk. It is just the right size, right combination of features, is well engineered and both handles and camps like a dream. My test mileage before the camper was around 18 MPG and went down to about 14 (freeway). I'm not sure how often the turbo on the ecoboost engine is kicking in, but if sound is any indicator, it would seem to be just from a cold standstill up a steep hill. I'm still on my first tank of propane, so I'm not sure what my "mileage" is there.

The next challenge: find beautiful boondocking spots that are out of the way, but not so far off the grid, that I can't get 3G internet, so I can keep working and camp longer!
 
My test mileage before the camper was around 18 MPG and went down to about 14 (freeway). I'm not sure how often the turbo on the ecoboost engine is kicking in, but if sound is any indicator, it would seem to be just from a cold standstill up a steep hill.


What speeds are "freeway" for you?

Definitely keep us posted, supposedly that engine's numbers improve after a few thousand miles of break in.
 
What speeds are "freeway" for you?

Definitely keep us posted, supposedly that engine's numbers improve after a few thousand miles of break in.


Since getting the truck/camper, and being more aware of speed affecting MPG, I've gone to between 60 and 70, generally the lower end of that scale. Prior to that it was *ahem* much faster.

I'm looking forward to see what kind of performance improvement I get. I'm at around 1500 miles now.
 
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