Well we did it… after much deliberation, research, and saving, we found a camper! We have purchased a 2012 Coachmen Clipper 1285sst. It was in amazing condition, garage kept, had all the features we wanted and was priced out the door for what we wanted to pay.
It was an adventurous journey to find and pick up our camper in Green Cove Springs, FL. After signing the deal, the dealer found that there was something wrong with our Jeep’s 7 way connector, and that we essentially had nothing but running lights when we were ready to leave. That meant if we were going to get home with it, I would either have to take the Jeep to a dealer and get them to fix it in Green Cove, go home and get it fixed and then come back for the camper, or mount up with no brake lights, turn signals or electric brake. This bad boy weighs about 2800lbs dry…. so needless to say, I was biting my nails. After talking to Marci we agreed… lets just get it home!
This meant that a guy who had not towed anything in 10+ years would be towing a 2800lb trailer that is 19ish feet long with running lights only. Let me tell you folks… it was a white knuckle experience! To simulate brake lights, every time I would touch the brake peddle with my foot, I would also actuate the Jeep’s headlights with my left hand, thus turning on the running lights on the trailer, simulating a “brake light.” Have you ever chewed gum, rubbed your stomach, scratched your head, and oh by the way… crapped your pants all at the same time???? Well that was our trip home!
Needless to say, we made it. We took the long way home through the Ocala forest which kept me off of the highway until we got to i4 in Deland. It gave me enough time to get a feel for how long it takes to slow/ stop, accelerate, etc. My parents met us at the house when we arrived and my dad helped guide me in to the garage in reverse for the first time. It was tight, but I was able to do it!
Our first camping trip was to Silver Springs State Park. Right as we got ready to leave, I found the Jeep’s battery was dead. I figured the camper had been plugged in too long and had sucked all of the Jeep’s battery dry trickle charging the Deep Cycle battery on the camper. I jumped the Jeep with the Mazda and we set out on our way. About 45 minutes in to our trip, I noticed my brake controller stopped functioning and that the running lights were also off. We pulled over to take a look but because it was drizzling and getting close to dark, we decided to just barrel through and get to the camp site. We arrived at Silver Springs about an hour and a half later and I quickly got the camper detached from the Jeep and leveled. I then went to hit the electric winch up button to lift the popup and found the deep cycle battery was dead. Crap!
I plugged in to shore power and found that the winch would not operate off of AC. Of course it was getting close to dark, Evelyn was getting a bit nudgy, and while I knew there was a manual crank backup to lift the popup if the electric winch died, I knew it would require some panel dismantling to get to. I quickly remembered I had jumper cables, disconnected from AC, turned the Jeep around and jumped the camper’s battery to lift the popup. A morning evaluation found that the fridge was running on DC power since we brought it home from the dealer. Whoops!
We took Evelyn for a glass bottom boat ride which she loved, played around the campground, lit a fire, and did all those things that make camping fun. While our maiden voyage was far from perfect, I learned a lot and we enjoyed the experience. We figure it will get easier each time… and I am sure it will! 🙂