Any GTAM'ers have a tiny/micro camper? | Page 5 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Any GTAM'ers have a tiny/micro camper?

ToSlow said:
What else is there to see and do on 299, is there an entrance and exit you would suggest?

Anymore pic of the trip
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If you look on Google Maps there's only one way onto 299, and one way off. It runs north south.

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Along the road there was a handful of houses here and there, one campground (I think it was) that was closed when we were out there, In the thick of the road there's not much honestly except logging roads shooting off here and there. The photo above was a pull off just before one of them but it was dead quiet. The road runs parallel the river most of the length of the highway and it was one picture postcard moment after another - reminded of of driving through the mountains out west honestly.

You have to be creative where you stop as there really isn't much so far as organized pull offs and such, just spots here and there where you can easily stop and boondock at will. There's also countless numbered spots along the highway which we couldn't figure out to begin with but turned out to be reserved fishing spots - it ensures people are spread out and nobody gets to monopolize a spot they like, or one spot ends up with 50 people all jammed in there. Well thought out system. At each one there was limited parking on the shoulder. But if you keep your eyes open there was spots like the one we found above to stop and camp at.

I have a bunch more photos of the area but we're in all of them and I'm not interested in sharing, sorry. We only had one night on that stretch as not knowing how nice it was (and being a last second call versus taking 132 instead) we didn't know we were driving into a little slice of heaven. We won't make that mistake again when we go back out in May this year - I'm planning on spending at least 2 nights in that area so there's lots of time to just sit and enjoy nature.
 
Much as I love motorhomes when your enjoying all that nice space inside on a rainy day, I'm with PP as far as now your towing a car or something. I'm not crazy about packing up the kitchen just to run into town or move to another interesting spot.
I see the allure, just not the convenience.

There have been leaps and bounds on solar and wind generation for 'off grid' , flexible solar panels that conform to roof shape and wind turbine gens you can set up on a pole, golf cart batteries are so cheap now , other than wieght you can build a great 6V system for small cash. You can easily power a fridge / freezer now for days off grid . Warm beer , no bueno.
 
crankcall said:
You can easily power a fridge / freezer now for days off grid . Warm beer , no bueno.
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One of the niceities in this new trailer we bought is an actual RV sized fridge, 2 way - propane or electric.

I'd been all prepared to buy a compressor based cooler off Amazon for a whatever teardrop/squaredrop trailer we ended up with. I hate packing ice and then dealing with soggy contents in a traditional cooler, so the new 12V compressor based units (not thermoelectric/Koolatron) fit the bill. They range from insanely expensive to just-kinda-expensive, but still cheaper than some of the insane overpriced ice based Yeti options. Like, WTF, $1200 for a cooler? Unless it makes dinner for me every night when I'm camping I'm not paying $1200 (or, sure $500 for the smaller one) I'm not paying that much for some plastic and insulation, no matter how long it keeps ice.
 
I have an engle fridge/freezer I bought for a small trailer that we promptly sold LOL. Compressor based not cold plate (koolatron CTC ) and the compressor would work at a 30d angle , didn't need to sit flat. 12v/120. We charge off truck with 7pin connector when towing and run off three solar panels on trailer roof when parked. Had 100ft extention cord and would 'cheat' anytime we parked for lunch someplace and a 110v plug was 'unattended'
How I justified a $1,200 dollar cooler
ice at 3.00 x 2 bags a day= 400 bags pays for cooler= 200days out
not wrecking $10 in coldcuts and cheese every trip deduct $ 20 per weekend
not dealing with soggy bread products, deduct $5 ever weekend
paid for itself IMO in one season, plus it was really handy around the backyard for overflow parties.

I pulled the 12v battery out of the trailer and replaced with two 6v which 'almost' doubled capacity. It took some looking but I also found a 12v tablet we used as a TV on rainy evenings.
All bulbs were swapped out to LED, new trailers are just made with them, 300w of solar capacity and 100w of wind turbine if set up and we could be off grid for weeks with lights, TV x2hrs, fridge/freezer .
A power vent was installed in the ceiling Nicro brand, its self solar powered and with the tiny built in battery would run 24hrs with no sunlight.

Life can be very comfortable , depends on how much Xcash you want to throw at a toy, like everything LOL
 
crankcall said:
How I justified a $1,200 dollar cooler
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I looked at the $1000+ segment but as always happens there's lots of knockoffs now for less than 1/3 of that with (legitimate, I went to great length to vet them) good reviews - IE the one I linked to above, and there's others as well.

Anyhow, we have the trailer. Went to get lengths to be Covid safe during the trip even though as a commercial driver I'm exempt from 99% of the restrictions and such.

Camped on the way home as we were running later than hoped, plus there was the snow that blew through that I really wasn't super fond of towing in if it was unnecessary. Tucked ourselves in a parking lot and despite being -15 outside we were snug as a bug in a rug with just a 1500w space heater running inside - the trailer really is insulated super well. Floor was cold as hell though, not unexpectedly.

Moved it to a storage lot last night - had it in the driveway temporarily but with all the snow in the forecast and having just spent time and % at the carwash after getting home yesterday blasting it all clean, I really didn't want to pull it in the snow and slop again this week to get it there.
 
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crankcall said:
.... and I'm with your missus on the walk 150m to the loo at 3am, in the drizzle, with the raccoons, hard no.
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Another solution, camping diapers!
 
Great trailer buy @PrivatePilot. Once funds allow then we will be looking into this type of camping. Had a chat with the wife yesterday and she’s actually on board with the idea.

Daddy in the minivan or tent, and wife and kids in the trailer.
 
Sounds good. I will be renting it on RVEzy and Outdoorsy as well for anyone interested - reality is we still have the motorcycles and need to split our time between hobbies.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Sounds good. I will be renting it on RVEzy and Outdoorsy as well for anyone interested - reality is we still have the motorcycles and need to split our time between hobbies.
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what's the insurance cost off renting it on those sites?
 
ToSlow said:
what's the insurance cost off renting it on those sites?
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It's all wrapped into the service fee of 15% of the overall rental cost for the owners coverage. Renters can add additional coverage at the time of renting if they desire.

I spent some time talking to an RVEzy service rep via email (they're very accommodating, I'm impressed) and get a good vibe for how the insurance works and such. It's also a Canadian company as well so there's that - it's not like you're left trying to deal with a US insurance company or something if there's a problem.

Yeah, I'm also listing on Outdoorsy which IS a US company, but the setup process seems to recognize the differences between the Canadian and US market so they seem to have their ducks in a row as well.

I'll try to steer people to RVEzy though...I like the cut of their jib and having rented through them before for our Gaspe trip last year I was super impressed with how everything worked
 
PrivatePilot said:
Sounds good. I will be renting it on RVEzy and Outdoorsy as well for anyone interested - reality is we still have the motorcycles and need to split our time between hobbies.
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Learn something new. Didn't know you could even rent these things from the general public. Guess you'll be hearing from me when we're ready lol.
 
Scuba Steve said:
used to rent our trailer on outdoorsy but stopped last year with the vid.
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How was your experience with Outdoorsy?

I have it listed there already, as well as Kijiji (but I'll steer Kijiji inquiries to RVEzy to ensure I have the insurance coverage) and it's in the approval queue for RVEzy still - aiming for maximum coverage for maximum eyeballs versus relying on just one place.

I am definitely leaning towards liking RVEzy a lot more at this point based not only on the fact their email support was freakin' awesome (I was literally getting responses in under 30 minutes last night at one point) as well as the fact they allow you to put a good long description of your unit and such, whereas Outdoorsy cut me off at 2000 characters. If you like to be extremely descriptive on what the renter is getting 2000 characters is pretty stupid.
 
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For anyone interested in some early season camping, I'd offer a heck of a deal to a GTAM'er for the May 7 thru 18'th period...we reserved a camper through the rental place in Quebec last fall for our planned Gaspe visit again this spring (not anticipating having our own by that point) and I'm not sure the deposit is refundable unfortunately...so it's a toss up on whether we'll even end up using our own trailer for the trip honestly.
So it may be just sitting idle here.
 
PrivatePilot said:
For anyone interested in some early season camping, I'd offer a heck of a deal to a GTAM'er for the May 7 thru 18'th period...we reserved a camper through the rental place in Quebec last fall for our planned Gaspe visit again this spring (not anticipating having our own by that point) and I'm not sure the deposit is refundable unfortunately...so it's a toss up on whether we'll even end up using our own trailer for the trip honestly.
So it may be just sitting idle here.
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What are the rough numbers on similar trailers? I would guess cost 15K to 20K and rent for $200 a night but I could be way off?
 
I'm looking at $90-$100 night for mine. I'm priced pretty competitive I think in the micro trailer segment but a little higher based on the fact mine has a bathroom & shower which does mean a lot to people especially in the era of Covid where many campgrounds don't even have their showers open.

Prices can be all over the map....depends on how aggressive people want to be getting bookings I guess and how little they're willing to take the risk for in return.

For a GTAM'er interested in that specific period in May I'd be willing to do something like $50/day. Better being used than sitting if we don't end up using it ourselves after the fact. I can generate a special offer through RVezy so that we're still both protected by the insurance and all that good stuff despite the special rate.

I don't know, we need to sit and think about that whole situation. Obviously I'd like to use our own trailer, but if we're going to eat a not insignificant loss on the rental deposit (plus not have to tow 600km to where we'd pick it up, so the difference of about $80 in gas towing vs not I'd be guessing) there's an argument to be made for just going for the rental unit instead when it's all said and done. This also assumes the trip even happens - if Covid goes off the rails again between now and then we might very well cancel outright and I'd like to think the rental place would refund us in that case.

It's pretty funny as the friends we are travelling with (and also reserved a rental unit at the same place) also messaged overnight and said they too bought a trailer yesterday too. Also previous RV'ers who got out and are now getting back in, exact same as us. So they're potentially in the same boat as us lol.
 
Outdoorsy has been pretty good usually make 4-6k a summer haven't had any issues. They do take a lot of money it is way more than 15% if you ever see the renters bill. They take 15% of what you get but charge a bunch of fees etc you never see. We ask 130 a night for our 18CK no less than 2 nights. I wont deliver (tried that the first year but was too much hassle). Had one renter f up the awning but they paid for it in cash. Pretty painless.
 
PrivatePilot said:
I looked at the $1000+ segment but as always happens there's lots of knockoffs now for less than 1/3 of that with (legitimate, I went to great length to vet them) good reviews - IE the one I linked to above, and there's others as well.

Anyhow, we have the trailer. Went to get lengths to be Covid safe during the trip even though as a commercial driver I'm exempt from 99% of the restrictions and such.

Camped on the way home as we were running later than hoped, plus there was the snow that blew through that I really wasn't super fond of towing in if it was unnecessary. Tucked ourselves in a parking lot and despite being -15 outside we were snug as a bug in a rug with just a 1500w space heater running inside - the trailer really is insulated super well. Floor was cold as hell though, not unexpectedly.

Moved it to a storage lot last night - had it in the driveway temporarily but with all the snow in the forecast and having just spent time and % at the carwash after getting home yesterday blasting it all clean, I really didn't want to pull it in the snow and slop again this week to get it there.
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So what vehicle pulled it home? How did it pull? I assume a lot like a snowmobile trailer where it isn't heavy, but the aero drag is very noticeable?
 
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