Road Trip

catbird7 · Dec 7, 2021

Another successful long road trip in the old IDI. Central PA to northern Maine and back, nearly 1800 miles round trip. Average MPG 12.2 zero problems, worked like a clock! Third time she made this trip in the last two years. Zero luck with the deer (again), however had a great time, love Maine! Did find a nice moose she'd while hunting.

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Shadetreemechanic · Dec 7, 2021

That is a whole lotta camper back there. How much does it sway on the highway?

Shadetreemechanic · Dec 7, 2021

I love the old slide ins, except when I get passed by a tractor trailer on the interstate.

quickster · Dec 7, 2021

Nice! I always wanted to get a slide in and travel. Maybe in another life. LOL

IDIBRONCO · Dec 7, 2021

I do like mine, but I really feel that I need a turbo to do much traveling farther than about 150 miles or so. The Blue Truck's just a little lacking for power on hills trying to drive with the camper in the bed and being N/A. I can say that I can feel mine when it's in the bed. I can feel that it's a little bit top heavy, but the camper doesn't really weigh that much. It's mostly from the higher center of gravity. It is smaller than catbird7's. Without the rear drop, it works great for pulling a trailer too. The tailgate's held up in this picture because we just hooked up the trailer after buying the camper.

Stu Bailey · Dec 7, 2021

Hell yeah brother! Truck and camper look good, and I bet that trip was a beaut! You normally do your hunts in Maine? Do you have residency up there?

Cubey · Dec 8, 2021

IDIBRONCO said:
I do like mine, but I really feel that I need a turbo to do much traveling farther than about 150 miles or so.

Yeah a turbo helps for a high profile for sure, especially in head winds. I should probably consider selling my truck since it's just not a good fit for me, but of course i could always have a turbo put on it, I guess.

catbird7 · Dec 8, 2021

Shadetreemechanic said:
That is a whole lotta camper back there. How much does it sway on the highway?

It's a 1967 camper, I'm the second owner, it's still in very good condition. Never actually had it weighed however guessing around 2000 pounds + I had a bunch of gear loaded in it. Truck if F350 with stock suspension and I added a set of air bags on the rear. 50lbs of air in the tires and 50lbs in the bags and she rides pretty good. Yes still top heavy however it's something you get used to. Power wise it works great, however I do need to watch the pyro on long or steep climbs. The tires are 35" and it has 4.10 gears so the speedo is off around 10%. Typically drive around 55mph on the speedo which is just over 60mph according to the GPS.

catbird7 · Dec 8, 2021

Stu Bailey said:
Hell yeah brother! Truck and camper look good, and I bet that trip was a beaut! You normally do your hunts in Maine? Do you have residency up there?

Only recently (couple years ago) became infected with the "Maine Itch". Now after stomping those woods three times, can't seem to get enough. Maine North Woods is larger than Yellowstone, and Yosemite combined! Woods and water everywhere, trout streams and lakes and most importantly zero ATVs. If you want beautiful seclusion, it's got that! They even tell me there's big whitetail bucks roaming around in there however I've yet to find one!

IDIBRONCO · Dec 8, 2021

That's funny. Mine is also a 1967 model. It's still in pretty good shape too. I just have a hard time imagining why they felt the need to slope the front ends of our campers "backward" like they did. That doesn't even pretend to help push the wind up and over the camper. That's why I bought a rooftop spoiler. I can tell that it does make a difference.

Stu Bailey · Dec 8, 2021

catbird7 said:
Only recently (couple years ago) became infected with the "Maine Itch". Now after stomping those woods three times, can't seem to get enough. Maine North Woods is larger than Yellowstone, and Yosemite combined! Woods and water everywhere, trout streams and lakes and most importantly zero ATVs. If you want beautiful seclusion, it's got that! They even tell me there's big whitetail bucks roaming around in there however I've yet to find one!

That sounds sick!! I ended up meeting a lot of guys who were in the coast guard and got stationed in Maine and absolutely loved it. They were hunters or anglers and they just couldn’t get enough of the outdoor life. Said the people were great too. I’m not a big fan of the north east but I would have loved a tour up in Maine. I did watch a special on that forest up there and how pristine it was, it had something to do with a power company wanting to come in and bulldoze a bunch of it to run services. I never knew how massive the forests and wilderness areas are up there until that.

catbird7 · Dec 8, 2021

Wish I knew how many miles that old camper has been hauled and how many nights have been spent in it. Served me well.

Cubey · Dec 8, 2021

IDIBRONCO said:
That's funny. Mine is also a 1967 model. It's still in pretty good shape too. I just have a hard time imagining why they felt the need to slope the front ends of our campers "backward" like they did. That doesn't even pretend to help push the wind up and over the camper. That's why I bought a rooftop spoiler. I can tell that it does make a difference.

My motorhome is done that way too, so that design choice (higher front, lower rear) really did hang on. It does make some sense though for slide ins and motorhomes, since the cabover section needs to he higher, not so much the rear end ceiling.

My truck camper is done the better way though, lower in front and higher in the rear, but it's also very short and has no cabover. It was built extra light too, being just a shell, so it was meant to go on 1/2 tons with smaller engines, I guess. It came off of an 85 F250 or F350 (gas) that the seller's dad or grand dad had, but who knows what age the camper really is. I'd guess late 70s by the generic dark fake wood paneling, but it could be early to mid 80s too I suppose.

Road Trip

catbird7

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