Hello all, I'm new here and new to truck campers.

Long story short, I have horses and like to go camping with them. So far, I've been tenting it, but planning ahead for the future I was going back and forth between upgrading to a horse trailer with living quarters or buying a used truck camper and keeping my little (paid for) trailer for a few more years yet before upgrading.

This week, I got an email from a friend who had a friend with an "older pop up truck camper someone can have for free". I got out there, checked it out and brought it home yesterday.

Best I can describe it, its a Palomino pop up, 8ft bed. They don't know the year, but best they can figure is its a 70's model (they called and talked to Palomino and got the very standard "manual" for their campers).

The canvas is in great shape, all the zippers work. The guy I got it from said he thinks it was replaced, because its in way too good of shape to be original.

It has a small fridge (looks like electric/propane), a stove built into the counter top, a sink (with a water tank and I think a pump?), a furnace (replaced with a new one in 03 or 04, so that's relatively new).

They said they haven't used anything in 3 years, but the stove and furnace worked the last time they used it. The people I got it from never hooked up or filled the water tank, so they don't know if that works, and they never bothered with the fridge, so they have no idea about that either.

It has hookups for electric and water, and of course has a propane tank. No battery though that I could find.

It came with 3 jacks (hand crank), some sort of double ended screwhooks but he couldn't find the "pocket jacks" so we ended up tieing it down for the ride home and I'm going to try to find these "pocket jacks" that I guess slide into the holes of my bed to attach the camper with the double ended hooks. Hoping a local auto parts store will carry them or I suppose I could call an RV place?

It also came with a steel base w/steps for it to sit on when its not on the truck.

There is no musty/moldy smell at all, but most of the seams are split and obviously will leak if its out in the rain (they stored it indoors). A little rotten wood at the roof corners where it leaked in the past, but nothing major. The floors and underside seemed pretty solid, but I didn't get a GREAT look at the underside.

He did suggest that if I'm going to really be jacking it up and down a lot that I should reinforce the edges where the jacks sit under with steel, and get new jacks.. he said he got the feeling the jacks were getting "weak".

My truck, I'm assuming you'll want to know that, is a 2003 GMC 2500HD, regular cab, 8ft bed. I bought it for future plans for a larger horse trailer, and I'm assuming its more than enough to handle this camper.

I'll get some pictures, if that helps, but I left my camera at the barn so I'll have to get those later today.



My questions that I've thought up so far:

1. Caulking those leaky seams, is there a better type of caulking to use or will just general purpose caulk work? (and remove what I can of old caulking first, right?)

2. Fridge.. I know the camper needs to be level for it to work.. but considering its been several years since this thing has been used, will I need to get it serviced or something? Would it be relatively "safe" for me to just plug in the electric and see if it works that way (I don't want to start it up if it needs some sort of chemical added or something?)

3. Stove/furnace.. my mom's boyfriend works for the gas company, so he can check it over for leaks, etc I'm sure. And I'm guessing I'll probably need to upgrade the propane tank if it doesn't have the new regulator. Is there anything standard I should worry about as far as cleaning/replacing parts on these, since they haven't been used in 3 years?

4. I suppose I'll have to remove my tailgate.. there's no way around that is there? I can't haul the horse trailer with it down, so it needs to either be up or off.. and I just can't *quite* close it with the camper in.

5. Is installing a battery tough? Most of the time I camp at state parks with no electric, it would be kind of nice if I could run a small generator and have power for a few hours at night just to have lights for reading, maybe watch a movie on the laptop, etc. Not a priority, just curious. It is already set up with outlets, etc, just have to plug it in, so its all set up already for electric sites.. Wait a minute.. if I have a generator, do I need a battery? I can't remember how that works now.

6. Oh, that brings up another.. I suppose I should check all the wiring before I plug it in, don't need it burning down!

7. Eventually (winter project?) I'd like to rip out the bench seat and put in a small dinette that folds down to a single bed.. I can ask more about that though when I get closer to actually doing it

8. Can I leave it on the truck for everyday driving or is that bad for it? Obviously I'll get worse gas milage, but my truck is my main driving vehicle and there may be times when I have a lot of camping trips scheduled in a short time that it would be easier to just leave it on for a few weeks straight.

9. What are the main points I should be checking for rot/weakness? I"m assuming the floors and roof, both of which seem relatively solid, any places I should be really checking that I wouldn't think of?

10. Leveling.. what are the options.. I know my friend has one and she has these boards that are made into sort of small steps, and she drives her truck up onto them to level out when she needs to.. is that the standard way to do it?



Anything else I should know, or reading I should/need to do? Extra tips for a pop up or a truck camper that I wouldn't be familiar with having only used pull behinds in the past?

I do know to never close it up wet, to always let it dry before storing it closed. And to tuck in the canvas/windows when cranking it down. If I use the water tank, I know there's stuff involved with keeping it from freezing in winter. But that's about all I do know about these things

I would like to have it "usable" by next weekend as I'm making a trip across the state and was planning on tenting. My main thing is getting it clean so I can sleep in it (they cleaned it up nicely but I want to go over it again obviously), and if possible, getting the leaks sealed up as best as I can, but I'll still probably take a tarp to throw over the top if it rains. I won't need the furnace, stove, etc.. but just would like to take it on a test run and get used to the layout, sleeping in it, etc.

Sorry for the huge list of questions.. I'm hoping to find articles, etc that answers most of them but not finding much out there at the moment, so I do really appreciate anyone taking the time to give me some basic tips

Thanks!

Amy

I would think regular caulking would work just fine. And yes I would pull out old caulking first.
I would plug in the camper and see what happens. Turn on fridge and see if it works. It doesent "have" to be perfectly level to work on propane but it works best if it is. Check to see if the fridge has to be lit on gas or if it has an auto lite. If you start it on gas after it has not been used for awhile it may take a try or two before it lites as it may have air in the line.
Gas stove, first the camper should have a regulator on the end of the line where you hook up the tank and it sould be fine unless it is stopped up. The Tank should be the OPD type. Your gasman friend should be able to tell you about this. Fill the tank and hook it up and just try everything. Have your friend check for leaks. Same with the furnace, make sure gas is on and turn it on and set the thermostat as high as it will go and it should start, again it may take a circuit or two as it may have air in the line. It requires a battery or landline with at least 20 amps because it has a Sail switch which allows it to lite.
Is the camper an 8Ft? if so, and your truck has an 8 foot bed This is what I did, I removed the stops on the front of my camper and made sure it was against the bed and then I could close my tail gate. This may or may not work for you but try it. If not then you will have to remove it.
Battery, Look under your bench at the front of camper and there should be a place for a battery. Clean the connections and install a good marine type recharable battery. If that is not where it is located then look around all over camper and you should find where it is supposed to be mounted. Maybe even out side.
I do not trust the type of tiedowns that you want to use. If I were you I would get a set of Torklift tiedowns. They are easeily mounted and a LOT stronger. Some people leave their campers on the truck all the time, I sometimes leave mine on untill I need the truck for hauling, After you get used to it being there its really no problem.
I would fill the tank with water and some kind of sanitizer and flush it a couple of time before useing it. As you fill it just watch and check for leaks. Always drain it for winter. And make sure you drain all water lines.
If you have the camper loaded I would just open it up and start checking everything out. Spend some time looking it over and have your friend check over all gas lines.
Hope this helps some.
http://www.adventurerv.net/torklift-m-28.html Gary

PS There should be a little plate or sticker somewhere on the camper that tells the year and weight. Mine is located next to the dood on the rear.

Thanks Gary, that's some good info there!

I definately am not comfortable with the anchor points now that I've seen them, and will be heading to an RV place that has truck campers ASAP to get some different way to attach it. Torklift tiedowns.. got it.

I think I have the water mostly figured out (where everything goes) and I will try the other stuff out soon too. We spent some time just poking around it yesterday.

I didn't find any place for a battery, but I did find a long wire that has a four pin plug on one and and what looks like battery clips on the other end.. I'm assuming that plugs into the four pin plug in the front of the camper and the other end clips to a battery.. but you know what they say about assuming But good to know I will need some power for the furnace, and I think for the water pump too.. my my says they used to have to turn their water pump off or it would run periodically and drain the battery (when they weren't using the camper).

We're going to pull out the old, beat up, super cheap bedliner thats in my truck and see if that gives us enough room to close the tailgate, but removing the stops is a great idea. Right now it is only about a 1/4 inch from being able to close.

As for the year, there's a plate but it only says Model: Bronco and a serial number.. when the guy called Palomino they were not able to look up the serial number as they lost those files in a big fire years back I guess.

Thanks again!!