But.......  the warranty issues concern me.  Did NightEagle just get an unusual lemon?

What is the consensus out there on quality and durability of these truck campers?

Thanks for your input.

Looking forward to actually owning a big diesel duely and TC and being a member of this organization.

Mike in Olympia

Creekside Campground
604-885-5937

Bayside Campground
604-885-7444

Link

The Bayside is suitable for a rally.

Please note you only pay for the ferry in one direction only. Click to expand.

So Saturday morning I load all 3 dogs (Sophie the Wirehaired Pointer, Aly the Lab mix and Candy the Golden Retriever) into the truck and off we go, with the door off the propane compartment. First stop was the propane station, where I pulled in just as a big Class A was parking next to the dock. The guy at the dock knows me since I come there all the time to refuel my hot air balloon, so he helped me first. He looked at the plumbing I had and said it was wrong, and replaced a few pieces and then everything fit fine. He then said to have a good trip and we'll settle up when I get back. It's nice being a regular some places.

The weatherstripping on the upper right side of the pop-up had come loose, and was hanging down and he helped me tuck it back in. I left with the refrigerator set to work on 12V, but since I had fried the wiring I didn't know if it would work. I decided to experiment while it was empty.

After that I had a fairly uneventful drive up to Boulder, CO, to spend the night with my mom. And no, the fridge didn't get cold on 12 V.

Day 2 - The next day my goal was Jackson, WY. I headed up through Fort Collins and LaPorte, CO towards Laramie, WY. I hadn't driven that way in YEARS and it was beautiful. I hit a dog park in FC along the way. So far everything was going well with the camper, but of course I hadn't used it yet since I slept at my mom's house. The fridge was now plugged in for the drive into the power inverter in the truck. I knew I didn't want to leave it like that with the truck not running, but wanted to see if it would work while plugged in there.

I got to WY and hit wind, of course. The wind was trying to throw me all around but wasn't too terrible and I kept going. Then I hit rain. It came and went but it stayed cloudy. When I hit Rawlins I pulled off to get fuel and decided to change the route. The beauty of taking your hotel with you, right? I went up Hwy 287 towards Moran. And hit more rain, lots of it. And snow. I also ran across a herd of cattle that had knocked down a gate and wandered into the road. With another traveler along the road, we herded then back in and he put the gate back up. Finally I got to Moran, which I discovered was just a post office outside the gate of the Tetons. So I turned back to the last gas station to refuel again. This was the SLOWEST pump I have ever used. No matter what I did, it was pumping 1 gallon per minute. So 25 minutes later I was finally done. I then went through the gate of the park and ended up parking in a parking lot for my first night boondocking. The fridge was nice and cold, and the air outside was nice and cold, so I left it without power to see what would happen overnight. I checked the camper and my seals were good - no obvious leaks. That night, I had the best night of sleep in weeks!

Day 3 - I woke up and the fridge was warm. I ate all the rest of my yogurt for breakfast (was in a cooler with now-melted ice in the truck), fed the dogs, packed up the camper and headed out. 5 minutes down the road, the weatherstrip was again flapping around, I forgot it was coming lose. I didn't want to put the top back up so I duct taped it to the side of the roof.

The drive through the Tetons and Yellowstone was beautiful, though about an hour after I started out the rain moved in again. Thankfully, I remembered I had forgotten to close the roof vent before it started raining! I got to see Old Faithful erupt, it was all so great to see. I would have stopped more if the weather had been more cooperative.

Once I left the park, the sky cleared up for a short while and I got to see a bald eagle nest, complete with 2 adults and at least 1 young (I got pics).

I made it all the way to Great Falls, MT that day. It was raining buckets for a lot of the drive, and my windshield wipers were getting worse and worse. I had new ones - they were sitting in the back seat of the truck! The weatherstrip had come untaped at some point, and the canvas sling I had fashioned to protect my tailgate was saturated and hanging low.

Day 4 - I ran some errands this morning before the run to the border. I taped the weatherstrip back in place using rolled up pieces of Gorilla tape up in the track it was supposed to be in. I replaced the canvas tailgate protector with a piece of 3/4 inch styrofoam insulation cut a bit bigger than the tailgate. It was shoved between the tailgate and the bumper (had to raise the camper for this) and then the other end was bungeed to the tailgate.

I headed to the border, where the line was short. After finding a few geocaches right there I headed north. As it got later I started looking for a place to stay. Not finding anything I liked (and didn't really want to pay) I ended up driving longer than I meant to and made it to the outskirts of Calgary where I had another first - my first night spend in a Walmart parking lot. So proud...

Day 5 - I drove from Calgary all the way to Jasper. Banff to Jasper was a beautiful drive. In Banff I tried to hit to the hot spring but the pool was out of commission until the afternoon, and I didn't want to hang out. I drove around town but didn't walk through the streets. I'm not a shopper and it would have been more fun to wander through the shops and such if I had another human with me.

I took the 1A (Bow Hwy) rather than the main road from Banff. I thought it was going to be gravel but it's now all paved. Other than large ungulates I didn't see a whole lot of wildlife. But it did rain again. Towards Jasper, the Icefields Parkway was another beautiful drive. And also rainy. And snowy. I gave up taking 100's of pictures, and ended up mounting my Droid on the windshield as a dash-cam and took time-lapse video of most of the Icefields drive. I stopped a few places but now the big icefield, since it was raining good when I went through there and I just felt like I wanted to keep on going. Again, somebody to share the experience with would have made it better. Did see both a grizzly and a black bear on the Icefields drive, within about 15 minutes of each other!

That night I camped in Whistler outside of Jasper, the only camp open right now in that area. I set the dogs up on their tie-off lines and prepared dinner. A cow elk came right through camp while I was getting ready to cook, close enough to make me worry about the safety of my dogs and forget to take pictures. After dinner I installed a power inverter onto the aux/camper battery. My site wasn't level so I couldn't use propane, so I decided to see how long the inverter would work for it, but didn't want to risk my truck battery. I plugged it in at 9:30pm, and at 1am it beeped the low voltage alarm. I turned it off and went back to sleep, noting that the battery wasn't really dead, the lights were still working. It just had reached it's low level threshold.

Day 6 - today - I drove from Jasper to Dawson Creek. Soon after leaving town I saw elk and big horn sheep. Another beautiful drive, and finally not raining and I had a tail wind.

Now I'm sitting at the Mile 0 RV park. Tomorrow I plan on exploring a bit before heading down the Alcan. Finally, my ultimate road trip is happening!
 The drive is going well so far, I think.

Hawke

when: August 30 - September 2 2013

 what is going on:

 up on the mountain they have a fall festival. it is a indeed a beer festival  but it is set up to be very family oriented. they will have many beers to choose from, wines and ciders. there is also a kid zone with games and such going on. the trails on the mountain will be open for hiking and biking. the chair lift will be open for rides all day to the top of the mountain. additionally there are horse back rides and even a zip line that you can ride. the  shops at the resort will all be open during this event.

 I have arranged with the resort for them to set aside a small section in the parking lot for up to 5 tcs to park next to each other on Friday. after Friday its a first come first served parking. although for those staying you can always move over after the majority of people leave for the night. the parking is in a dirt parking lot just below the lodge. there are no hook ups but there is no fee to camp. we can even have a campfire as long as it is not a big ole bonfire.

here is a link to the resort with some information: http://www.schweitzer.com/things-to-do/events-calendar/fall-fest-2013/

here are a couple pictures from last year I was up there.

 i do not have any planned events for this gathering but if there are a few of us going we could always do a pot luck dinner if we like.

 if you would like to go just let me know. if you would like one of the 5 spots set aside for us, you must arrive on Friday. please let me know so i can make sure you get one of those spots.

 last year was so much fun. i cant wait for this years fall festival.

http://newadventuresofolddave.blogspot.com/

we went away for the long weekend over to Frankenmuth Mi. leaving home Friday afternoon .

Drove as far west as Barton Mi. and stopped for the night at Walmart.

Next Morning we set out and purchased diesel from a Marathon Station.

Within half an hour the alarm went off and warned to drain the water separator.

we were nearly at the camp grd. so when we got there I crawled under and drained)

stayed put for the weekend and when we headed home it went off again within a half hour of departing.

and again 5 more times until the tank got low enough to re-fill close to home.

I just  finished sending Marathon Fuel Co. a nasty email.

wonder if I will get a response.

I bought the unit from Bozeman Ford & RV in Montana.  I was going to buy a 2 or 3 year old used unit, but when I found this unit at not much more than a used one, I bought it instead.  I knew Lance had a dealer in Salt Lake City, UT about 40 miles from home, so I wasn’t worried about having a resource for the warranty service.  Little did I know.

The first issue under warranty was the Jensen radio/CD player doesn’t want to work when it’s cold.  I called the SLC dealership to see about getting a replacement.  I explained where I bought the unit and why.  Their service department told me I would have to take the issue back to Bozeman, MT because I didn’t buy it from them and they had no interest or desire to do warranty work on a unit that wasn’t purchased from them.

I called Bozeman RV and talked to the manager and explained the situation to him and how driving 700 miles (round trip) wasn’t going to happen.  He had his Lance regional sales rep call me and he relayed my complaint directly to Lance.  Lance called me yesterday and I explained the situation.  The Lance rep was very accommodating.  He is shipping me a new replacement radio which I will install.  And if I need warranty service in the future, I’m to call Lance direct and they will intercede with the dealer for me to get the needed service.

The sad thing for this SLC dealership is the fact that I will not ever choose them for any kind of service or parts in the future (except warranty work) and they have lost a potential customer.  I will also not recommend there business to anybody who asks me for advice about service work.  I would think that the SLC dealership would want to establish a good relationship with any and all Lance product owners.  But apparently that is not the case.

If your travels will take you through Utah with a new Lance product and you find yourself in need of some warranty work, I sincerely hope you will be treated better than I was.

Posted some details and pictures on my blog:

http://newadventuresofolddave.blogspot.com/

http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-reviews/chalet-rv-pushes-the-limits-with-ts116-triple-slide-prototype

possibly 6000 pounds with options and your stuff *yikes* would a 5500 size truck be needed?

I was also considering trying to wire the dome lights (since they have an on/off switch) together with the wire for the refrigerator, and then where the dome lights are in the plug diagram wiring in the line to a backup camera (which I know will then be on all the time). Right now I'm thinking of forgetting about the backup camera, though I'd take it with me for possible installation over the summer for the return trip.

Thanks a bunch! I'm tired, anxious, and about ready to hit panic mode...    so much to do, hoping I get some sleep during the night shifts so I don't have to waste daylight sleeping.

My son-in-law does kayaking and does not like inflatables, however, with the lack of space I have carrying a 10 foot kayak is almost impossible.

thanks

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/05/13/kelly-mcparland-harper-delivers-less-winter-to-canadian-sunbirds&pubdate=2013-05-13

What to you suggest I get on board to hold it together and have a nic ride.

Has 6 leaf springs now, with reg shocks and reg shocks up front. 350 Motor

Thanks in advance

PS where in Florida is good place to go

http://quinaultbeachresort.com/

http://www.kimarcherband.com/

The cargo carrier and scooter weigh about the same as the hitch weight from the enclosed trailer.

http://buggynews.com/resources/the-cargo-carrier-and-scooter-weigh-about-the-same-as-the-hi/thumb/55379

We usually take a dune buggy to drive the beach, but it is prepped for a ride in two weeks.

http://buggynews.com/resources/we-usually-take-a-buggy-to-drive-the-beach-but-it-is-preppe/thumb/55380

This beach is considered a roadway in WA and only allows street licensed vehicles.

http://buggynews.com/resources/this-beach-is-considered-a-roadway-in-wa-and-only-allows-str/thumb/55381

The rain came in today the same time another truck camper rolled in. That was my cue to go back to work.

http://buggynews.com/resources/the-rain-came-in-today-the-same-time-another-truck-camper-ro/thumb/55382

* Sorry image tags do not work on this forum, so the link must be selected.

Life is good......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ENMyllgT2FY#!

We had a minor hiccup with the truck on the trip down that was unexpected.  With less than 500 miles logged since my last oil change 2 weeks ago, the oil life monitor went to zero and put the truck in limp mode on I-70.  We stopped, turned the engine off, reset the oil life indicator back to 100%, and continued on our way.  By the time I got back home with another 350 miles logged on the truck, the oil life monitor was back down to about 50%.  I was expecting a slight decreased in oil life, but certainly NOT a 90% plus reduction.  I’ll be discussing this with my local Chevy Service Department and posting about it on silveradosierra.com as well.

I took the TC off the truck to make launching the boat each day much easier.  Coming off the truck was very easy; putting it back on the truck – not so easy.  J  I’m sure most of you already know this.  Maybe after I’ve done this a hundred times it will be almost as easy as taking it off; at least I hope it becomes so.  Here we are set up at the GCNRA Campground at Bullfrog.

I had an issue with the water pump not wanting to shut off all the time after turning a faucet on and off our using the toilet.  It seems the cause was I had some air pockets still in the lines.  The water stream would sputter a lot when the faucet was on.  Running the water longer (wasting precious fluids) would fix the problem most of the time but it would be right back the next time a faucet was turned on and off.  When I got back home, I drained everything and started all over and let everything run until ALL the sputtering stopped for at least a minute.  I’ll test the system later today by turning on all the faucets (one at a time) to see if the problem is fixed.

I have 2 Group 24 batteries installed and the monitor panel showed the charge at ‘Good’ from Sunday evening until Wednesday morning when it dropped down to ‘Fair’.  We only used some lights for a couple of hours in the morning and evening combined each day with no TV or radio use.  Some folks around us were using generators every afternoon but I didn’t have to run mine even once.  I’m thinking that’s a good thing.

The mileage for the trip was 8.7 mpg with a low of 8.1 mpg and a high of 10.5 mpg.  Most of the decrease came from the 30 mph headwinds on the trip down.  It’s too early to tell what my long tern average is going to be, but I’m hoping it will be much closer to the 10 mark than it was on this trip.

Well that’s my maiden voyage in my brand new Lance 992.  All in all a good adventure with some bass and walleye put in the freezer as a bonus.  I’m hoping to get out next week pulling my own boat and staying in a State Park with hook-ups for some walleye and trout fishing.  Stay tuned.

Early Tuesday morning about 3:30 were heading out to the lake. Just got to where town turns to country when out of nowhere a Dear ran in front of us. Where traveling at about 65 mph. Had no time to avoid the collision  All I could do was slam on the breaks that did little good at all, it did let the dear get a full broad side hit where the tail was on the driver side and the head on the passages side. Our tool box and front carrier took the full hit. The carrier got slammed into the brush guard and the hitch mount impaled the dear ripping it wide open where it fell under the front wheel on the passage side and the rear dullies sliding on the carcass turning it into hamburger meat. Made a bloody mess on the road and coated the side and underside with blood and guts and other fine stuff. No damage to the truck or to the TC all damage was confined to the tool box and carrier. Bent the tool box almost to a point I’m not sure if I can knock it back into some shape to use again. The carrier broke three of four welds forth broke as we druge it into the garage before heading out again. Will start out tomorrow  in repair it. Will add pic of the repairs .

Thank You!

Chuck K.

Thank You!

Chuck K.

Some of our trucks are getting more valuable due to simpler ignition systems...

http://thetclife.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/beer-and-history-may-3-5-2013/

thanks for looking.

Thank you Brian for being a member of NATCOA...

The next drawing will be in June 2013..

(Remember that you must be a member in good standing to be eligible for this perk)

Thank you,

NATCOA Board Of Directors

Jerry Galang (Budster)      

Drawing Coordinator