Roof Rack Capacity and Move to Rear of Camper

[pgandw]

The fridge uses next to nothing for propane, and nothing if we have electric hookups. We don't cook inside, so the only real use of propane is the heater.

We can only use the heat mode on the CoolCat during cool evenings at lower altitudes - much of our camping is when night temps drop into the low 40s or lower. At those temps, the CoolCat will run all night and not put out any heat. I don't bother anymore unless the low for the night is forecast to be above 45.

With about 16 nights a year of propane heater use, and fridge on propane for maybe 10 days while towing and a week of dry camping in cooler temps, we use about 1 20lb tank/year of propane. We typically set the thermostat about 58 at night, and use down blankets. Propane tank running out is seldom enough that I always get surprised when it happens - we don't do automatic switchover.

hope this helps
Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[TennesseePA]

Originally Posted by pgandw

The fridge uses next to nothing for propane, and nothing if we have electric hookups. We don't cook inside, so the only real use of propane is the heater.

We can only use the heat mode on the CoolCat during cool evenings at lower altitudes - much of our camping is when night temps drop into the low 40s or lower. At those temps, the CoolCat will run all night and not put out any heat. I don't bother anymore unless the low for the night is forecast to be above 45.

With about 16 nights a year of propane heater use, and fridge on propane for maybe 10 days while towing and a week of dry camping in cooler temps, we use about 1 20lb tank/year of propane. We typically set the thermostat about 58 at night, and use down blankets. Propane tank running out is seldom enough that I always get surprised when it happens - we don't do automatic switchover.

hope this helps
Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

THAT HELPS A WHOLE LOT!!! The only camping I have done in a camper was in a trailer I borrowed from a buddy and we were in FL in June. Other than that my camping has always been on the ground, more often than not without even a tent. Think US Army.

I am building this rig for an extended trip with my son for his graduation gift. I am saving up my vacation time and between his junior and senior year we are doing a 45 day tour of interior Alaska. I’m not sleeping on the ground in bear country. Plus at 50 years old I want a mattress under me now.

[OYO]

Originally Posted by TennesseePA

THAT HELPS A WHOLE LOT!!! The only camping I have done in a camper was in a trailer I borrowed from a buddy and we were in FL in June. Other than that my camping has always been on the ground, more often than not without even a tent. Think US Army.

I am building this rig for an extended trip with my son for his graduation gift. I am saving up my vacation time and between his junior and senior year we are doing a 45 day tour of interior Alaska. I’m not sleeping on the ground in bear country. Plus at 50 years old I want a mattress under me now.

Wow, that's a cool trip! Please keep us updated.

[TennesseePA]

It is two years out but I’m ready to go right now.

[Scrapper]

Since coupling the trailer to your TV raises the front of the TV up so the headlights bother other drivers you should look into using a WDH.

[TennesseePA]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

Since coupling the trailer to your TV raises the front of the TV up so the headlights bother other drivers you should look into using a WDH.

It’s not that I’m squatting but the height of the headlights to begin with. I have them adjusted correctly but if I roll up behind a car at a red light my lights are in the back window of many small cars. I usually stop about 20-25 feet away from the can in front of me but sometimes I can’t do that. The attached photos show how tall the Gladiator is. The one with the camper hooked up it with my generators and Dometic in the bed and the air bags are only on 5 psi. When I put them up to 15-20 I can get rid of all the squat. The trailer isn’t level because I had my 10 inch drop hitch on it. Before we departed on the trip I put the 8 inch drop in it.

[TennesseePA]

In a very uncharacteristic lapse in judgment my wife asked “why would you take the Gladiator, you need something bigger for that trip.” I’m taking this as a green light to get the F-250 Tremor on order! I already have a bit of a “big boy toy” problem and she may have made it worse. I’m very fortunate in that my career makes it easy to moonlight a couple days a month and fund my expensive hobbies without affecting the family budget.

[OYO]

Originally Posted by TennesseePA

In a very uncharacteristic lapse in judgment my wife asked “why would you take the Gladiator, you need something bigger for that trip.” I’m taking this as a green light to get the F-250 Tremor on order! I already have a bit of a “big boy toy” problem and she may have made it worse. I’m very fortunate in that my career makes it easy to moonlight a couple days a month and fund my expensive hobbies without affecting the family budget.

You have a wise partner. Go for it!

[JArry]

Originally Posted by TennesseePA

It’s not that I’m squatting but the height of the headlights to begin with. I have them adjusted correctly but if I roll up behind a car at a red light my lights are in the back window of many small cars. I usually stop about 20-25 feet away from the can in front of me but sometimes I can’t do that.

It's great that you're so considerate, but when I drove small sedans up here in pickup land, I experienced the blinding headlight issue with any pickup that was ever behind me, and many SUVs, moving or not!

(Even sedanless, not having headlights shine in my rear window is one of the unspoken joys of towing.)

[TennesseePA]

Originally Posted by OYO

You have a wise partner. Go for it!

She really is right when I think about it. If I have a bigger truck I can carry the transfer tank in the bed and still have room for everything else and not have to load the camper down so much. I plan to get the 7.3 gas engine over the 6.7 diesel. Love the Powerstroke engines but hate diesel fuel if I don’t need the diesel power. Especially since the diesel is $10k now.

[Cowboybarry]

Originally Posted by TennesseePA

Do the newer models even have that little poor excuse for a bumper in them anymore?

After I was rear ended in my 2016 T12RBTH, I had a major steel bumper welded on the back and it carries my spare as well. Added a 1" hitch that I put my 3 wheel bike on as well. Helps with the tongue weight as well.
I've had this trailer since 2016 and I'm on my 3rd set of tires. 175,000 miles of fun. Also modified the front toy area because so much road debris, snow, water and even horse pies all get in my stuff. Bolted aluminum plates to the ramps and built up the front by 3 feet. Much better now.

[TennesseePA]

Originally Posted by Cowboybarry

After I was rear ended in my 2016 T12RBTH, I had a major steel bumper welded on the back and it carries my spare as well. Added a 1" hitch that I put my 3 wheel bike on as well. Helps with the tongue weight as well.
I've had this trailer since 2016 and I'm on my 3rd set of tires. 175,000 miles of fun. Also modified the front toy area because so much road debris, snow, water and even horse pies all get in my stuff. Bolted aluminum plates to the ramps and built up the front by 3 feet. Much better now.

Almost my plan to the letter...except getting rear ended. I have decided that I am going to roll with a much larger truck than the Gladiator (F250 with the 6.7) so that I can make longer excursions away from the base camp and carry my fuel with me in the truck rather than on the trailer. I’m only 50 so I have a few years before retirement so my extended trips will be a few years apart for the foreseeable future. But it is very good to see that the camper is able to withstand the miles and remain functional.

[TennesseePA]

Originally Posted by Cowboybarry

After I was rear ended in my 2016 T12RBTH, I had a major steel bumper welded on the back and it carries my spare as well. Added a 1" hitch that I put my 3 wheel bike on as well. Helps with the tongue weight as well.
I've had this trailer since 2016 and I'm on my 3rd set of tires. 175,000 miles of fun. Also modified the front toy area because so much road debris, snow, water and even horse pies all get in my stuff. Bolted aluminum plates to the ramps and built up the front by 3 feet. Much better now.

I also need to see pictures of your front deck modifications if you don’t mind.

[cdnred]

We used to have an Flagstaff A-Frame until we sold it last year. I'm 6ft and we found that trying to sit on the benches caused a lot of neck strain for me. We ended up selling it and getting a full size trailer. I saw that a lot of people are concerned about finding aftermarket bike racks or the best place to mount them. Ours had an ATV platform on the front that came that way directly from the factory. The side rails come off to form ramps for driving the ATV up or down when needed. A couple years back we took a trip from the Detroit Michigan area over to Banff, Alberta then up to Alaska then down thru Washington state to Arizona and from there back home. We were gone for close to 3 months and never had any issues with our camper..

[TennesseePA]

Originally Posted by cdnred

We used to have an Flagstaff A-Frame until we sold it last year. I'm 6ft and we found that trying to sit on the benches caused a lot of neck strain for me. We ended up selling it and getting a full size trailer. I saw that a lot of people are concerned about finding aftermarket bike racks or the best place to mount them. Ours had an ATV platform on the front that came that way directly from the factory. The side rails come off to form ramps for driving the ATV up or down when needed. A couple years back we took a trip from the Detroit Michigan area over to Banff, Alberta then up to Alaska then down thru Washington state to Arizona and from there back home. We were gone for close to 3 months and never had any issues with our camper..

Your photo is the exact reason why I started this thread. Driving a Jeep Gladiator with a lift kit and 37 inch tires from TN to Alaska would be quite the adventure with all that weight on the tongue. If I go with a heavier truck I would be fine but that wasn’t my plan when I started asking questions. Very nice rig by the way. Hard to beat. Yamaha Grizzly for comfort and reliability. What where you towing the rig with?

[cdnred]

Originally Posted by TennesseePA

Your photo is the exact reason why I started this thread. Driving a Jeep Gladiator with a lift kit and 37 inch tires from TN to Alaska would be quite the adventure with all that weight on the tongue. If I go with a heavier truck I would be fine but that wasn’t my plan when I started asking questions. Very nice rig by the way. Hard to beat. Yamaha Grizzly for comfort and reliability. What where you towing the rig with?

We took the trip back in 2018 and at the time I had a Chevrolet’s Tahoe with the 5.3-liter V-8 that had a 8,600 lb maximum towing capacity. After getting back, I sold the Tahoe and bought a 2017 Lincoln MKX that only had a 3,500 lb tow capacity. We sold the Yamaha at the same time we sold the Tahoe so I changed the front deck over on the camper to include a storage box with racks for holding (2) mountain bikes which worked out great for extra needed storage..

On our trip we drove from the Detroit, MI area to Banff, Alberta then up to Alaska. After that we drove directly south to Washington state where we stayed for a month. We then drove thru all the National Parks headed to Arizona and then back home to the Detroit area. We were gone for close to 3 months on that trip.

Not sure if you've ever been up to Alaska before but you need to be wary of the roads. Going thru the Yukon, the roads had a lot of dips in them from the frost upheavel during the winter. If you're not careful with all the weight and slow down, the rig will really bounce a lot or might even bottom out..


With this COVID, I'd check for any restrictions in place regarding entry if you were planning to do the trip this year. I know currently the US/Canada border is closed to all non-essential workers. Hope you have an enjoyable trip..

[TennesseePA]

Our trip isn’t going down for two more years. I want to get the camper and make several trips before the big one so we have experience to know what I need and what I can leave at home.

[cdnred]

You should consider adding a weight distribution hitch with sway bar control on the trailer. Your Jeep has plenty on tow capacity for pulling but the hitch will make your car ride more level for better pulling. Before my Lincoln which has a tow capacity of 3,500 lbs, the rear end would sag like your Jeep did with the headlights aiming higher. After the weight distribution hitch was installed everything rode level with the car plus it felt better when towing. I found that with the sway bar control it made towing easier by not swaying from side to side..

[cdnred]

Another thing to consider is maybe getting a gennie to take along. On our trip to ALaska, before we left I had bought (2) Honda EU2000i generators for when we didn't have power when camping. It came in handy cuz there are lots of places (campgrounds) on the way up to Alaska that didn't have power hookups. I also bought (2) plastic 5 gal gas tanks filled with gas as a backup in case we ran short of gas for lack of stations. Those gas stations can be quite a distance apart depending on what kind of mileage your tow vechicle can get..

[TennesseePA]

I already have all of the basic stuff. I have two Generac IQ2000 inverter generators and a parallel kit for them. I have two 11 gallon marine gas tanks and an extended run fuel system. I was contemplating selling them for a single 3000W generator but on such an epic trip I am thinking that two units would be a better option should one decide to break down. My main concern while in Alaska will be fuel, food and bear deterrent measures. Our goal will be to spend as much time in the most remote locations fishing.