A Little Camper

Well, things on the farm have been going well even though we have had some severe weather (including 7 inches of rain one night) and so we took a day to drive down to Springfield and order our farm sign. On the way there we came upon a Camping World and since we have been looking for a camper for several years we thought we would stop by and window shop.

When we had our 22' C-Dory in Alaska we really enjoyed it and loved to boat camp and we have been looking for a small used camper so we can explore the Ozarks, the Midwest and points East. We really were just looking for something to get us out of the weather and off the ground and we have no desire to carry the equivalent of a house with us to camp. Our tow vehicle is a 4x4 GMC 2500 HD so we have plenty of tow rig but if I am driving and we are going out for fun I don't enjoy hauling a heavy load....but you may or may not believe how difficult it is to find a small used camper in good shape.

The older small travel trailers are appealing to us and we thought about buying an old one and fixing it up but after looking at some and watching a few YouTube videos on what all that entails we decided to try and find something a bit more contemporary.

So back to the window shopping; we got out of the truck and immediately found a small camper but when we went inside of it it had bunk beds and was set up for a young family with small kids and though we liked the looks of it the layout was all wrong. We could see nothing else on the lot but increasingly larger and more expensive rigs but decided to grab a brochure before we left and a salesman approached and asked us what we were looking for. We told him, he said they have a used one that just came in we may be interested in so we looked at it. Turns out it was the layout we wanted and though it was used it was really brand new because it was purchased last year by an older couple who never used it and ended up trading it in for a motor home.

We have always tried to avoid having any payments and we like to live "bill free" as much as possible but after we negotiated a killer deal they dangled a low interest $100 a month payment in front of us and we bit like a hungry shark.....and now we have a payment. These things are worse than new cars and as soon as you drive them off the lot they lose about half their value but you know sometimes I have to remind myself not to be so frugal (or as the Mrs says..Cheap). Its something we wanted and that low payment is certainly attractive so we don't feel too bad about it.

There she is, a Coleman CTS14FD made by Dutchman. You can see the folding steps, spare tire and full awning in this picture. Its 17.5' overall length and the camper itself is 14.5' so its the small camper we were looking for.

 

It has a marine battery system, a 20lb propane tank, air conditioning, a furnace, a hot water heater and holds 28 gal of black water, 28 gal or grey water and has a 21 gallon fresh water tank. It even has a crank up TV and radio antenna and a cable hookup.

The inside is very nice and roomy for 2 people. The dinette table folds down to make a queen sized bunk and the refer in the picture can run on electricity or propane.

 

Across from the galley is a sofa and stereo with built in speakers and the mirrored cabinet in the back by the door is a hanging closet and on top of it is a place for a flat screen TV (it has the cable and antenna hookups there for it).

One of the things we really liked about this camper was the roomy bathroom. You can actually sit on the commode without your knees being scrunched and even the little tub and shower could be useful to take a quick shower. We plan to use the camp ground facilities and showers for the most part but having your own bathroom while on the road or camping in the boonies is a real plus to us.....not to mention how handy it will be for those 3:00 am pee trips we are starting to experience at our age.

 

And finally the galley. In addition to the fridge there is a microwave, two burner propane stove, and hot and cold running water as well as a lighted range fan and enough counter space to actually be useful.

All in all I am going to have a hard time considering this camping but we look forward to some get aways to explore, camp and fish and though we like working hard on the farm like we do we find we also need to take breaks now and again to recharge. We will stock the camper and do some modifications to suit us and then it will be parked in the barn between uses...it will be a well pampered camper.