The Good Weather Guarantee

The camper at Whitewater State Park. Photo by Sarah Donovan. 2022.

 For awhile now I've been trying to think of a way to provide some sort of guarantee that the weather will cooperate when you're off camping with the Dutchman. I know, right? So is everyone else.

I thought about building an insurance pool that could be used to refund campers when they get rained out and come home early, but there's no guarantee it could be large enough.

This weekend it hit me.  I love repeat campers. First, of course, they're really nice people I've already gotten to know. Second, they're not much work.  They already know the camper. They pull up, hook up, sign the paperwork and off they go.

So, I decided I would just guarantee good weather to repeat campers and foot the bill because (a) they're nice people and (b) they're not much work.

As it stands now, when you come early (and this applies to all campers), I usually ask Outdoorsy to credit you for unused insurance days and to rebate the portion of your fee that actually comes to me (note: it's not that much). Outdoorsy does not refund their fees. That's on them.

Under my new plan for returning renters, if bad weather forces you to return early, you will, of course, still get a refund directly from Outdoorsy for the unused days. But I will also send you a check for the difference between what is refunded and what you paid in total.

Here's how that works in practice:

Let's say you have a weekend rental. Two nights for $170. You'd probably also pay $15 for tax, $39 for insurance, and $16 for Outdoorsy's fee for a total of about $240 (note: These figures are hypotheticals).

A day later, it's raining and cold and the kids are rebelling. Just come home.

Typically, I'd refund about $65 for my share (I told you it wasn't much) for the unused day, and Outdoorsy would refund about $18 for unused insurance and that's about it. You'd get $83 back from your original $240.

Under the "Favorite Renters" option, I give you an additional $157.

There are common sense stipulations.  The weather really has to stink. A passing shower isn't an invitation to get free use of the camper, of course. And the camper has to be returned in the same condition in which it left. Again: of course.

But this seems like a good way to reward my favorite people and insure that if they don't have a good time, at least they don't have to have an expensive one.

Reservations are now open for the 2023 season.

New Stove

"Bob, does only one burner on the stove work?" the text message one weekend recently said.

"Not that I'm aware of," I replied. And I should know because I was the last person to use it when I took the camper to the EAA convention and airshow at Oshkosh.

"The left knob doesn't turn," said the reply.

That's when ordering a new stove seemed like a good idea. I don't know if the old one was original equipment or not but it seemed to me that the rubber gas line alone was near the end of its useful life (in aviation, we replace fuel lines every five years).

So I ordered a new stove ($400!) and while it took some work to rebuild parts of it, given that it had obviously been assembled by someone at 4:55 pm on a Friday, it came out fine.

I also replaced the gas line and the connector to the camper gas line. Remember how the old stove connector really had to be jammed into the connector? It turns out that these fittings are not universal so it's best to replace both halves of the fitting. Mission accomplished.

Setup is pretty easy.

Align the midpoint of the stove frame with the mark on the metal attach point on the camper.

Connect the top part of the metal bracket on the stove with the bottom part of the metal bracket on the camper.

Insert the support rod in the bracket on the camper and attach to the bracket underneath the stove.

Insert the gas line fitting of the stove into the connector on the gas line coming out of the camper by pulling back the collar on the camper fitting, then swing the locking lever (which turns on the gas) so that it is parallel to the fitting.

Light the stove with a match or lighter (there may be one in the utility cabinet).

The stove should only be used outside. There is a gas line behind the sink but presently that fitting is not compatible with the stove.

By the way, if you intend to use the awning (you should!), do not set it up with the stove in place.

The interior is finished

 It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, mostly because I wimped out on some cold days, but the upgrading of the interior has been completed, featuring a mix of grays that lines up nicely with the floor and tent.

Behold!

As long as it was a nice day, the big door at the hangar was open, and Mary Lucia's final show was providing musical motivation, I also put the new tent piece on.  It's a bit of a struggle to get it right but it came out just great.

You'd never guess that it's the same piece that was shredded last summer when a camper raised the roof slightly to retrieve an item his daughter had left behind. When he pushed the front bunk back in, it tore the screen and vinyl. But the company over in Wisconsin that made the original replacement (installed just last spring) did an outstanding job.

It's been a generally quiet rental season so far, thanks, I suspect, to the cold Minnesota spring and my reserving of a number of summer dates for my own use. But a less frenetic season may not be such a bad thing.

Here's hoping you enjoy your summer, should it ever get here.

Changes to the interior

 I'd hoped to be well underway in doing some remodeling of the Dutchman's interior but it's been too cold to work out at the hangar this winter. I used to like working in the cold weather but I was a younger man back then, I guess.

But we had a warm spell last week -- it got up to 30 -- so I at least got started, taping off a few sections and priming the old "faux wood" paneling. It doesn't look like much at the moment, I admit. But eventually it'll be a deep grey/blue, which should match the flooring better as well as the upholstery (which I wouldn't mind also updating if I knew how to do it).

The renter-damaged tent panel next to the door returned from the Wisconsin company that does these sort of repairs (same place I bought the all-new tent portion last spring), and I was pretty amazed at their work. The screen was completely replaced where it was ripped and I can't tell anything happened to the vinyl, and there's a new rubber channel along the bottom that slides onto the camper frame. The old one -- one year old -- had split. It takes some abuse in raising and lowering the camper, so I had the company sew some velcro to the bottom to take the pressure off that channel. We'll see how it works.

I'm still trying to find a suitable faucet for the sink but have had no luck so far. The old, cheap faucet isn't made anymore or is out of stock everywhere. I wouldn't want it, anyway, as it leaked far too much.

I'm still planning to add a new sunscreen/canopy, and I've also purchased a vinyl "rug" to place just outside the door.

As weather warms, I'll be working on the usual infrastructure -- wheel bearings and such.

I have no idea what the coming camping season will bring, how availability in state parks will match up to last year's tight squeeze, but I've opened up reservations for 2022 if you want to reserve some time now.

The season ends

 

Black River Falls was a popular destination for the camper this year. Thanks to Brian for the picture.

The last renter of the season is out with the Dutchmen for a little fall foliage viewing. It's 29 degrees and I don't know how she does it even with a working furnace (although the battery won't last that long) and my donation of a Buddy Heater. Me? Frankly, I prefer the warm comfort of my bed with, perhaps, a faithful dog for extra heat.

It was a really great season. Again this summer I met terrific people.  

Nineteen rentals was a new record. Almost every weekend was booked with the exception -- oddly enough -- of Labor Day weekend. And for the most part the weather cooperated too. The reviews submitted by campers were gratifying to read (See them here)

The Dutchmen is perfect for those weekend getaways, which is important because if you read the Facebook group associated with Outdoorsy RV owners, you'll be constantly told that just renting for a couple of days is too much work and not worth it.

Ah, the joys of being retired!  It's fun puttering around the hangar and although cleaning can get a little tedious after you've done it 100 or so times, I enjoy hearing of the camping experiences of the people I meet. By and large, everyone seemed to have had a great time.

When the camper comes back, it's time to get started on its off-season regimen.

This winter, I hope to paint much of the interior; out with the '90s faux wood and in with  combination of grays and blues, I think. 

A panel of the new tent needs to come down and be sent back to Wisconsin for repair, the result of an attempt to retrieve a child's belongings without raising the roof all the way.  That's a pricey fix although I didn't assess the actual cost. His heart was in the right place.

I also have to figure out what to do about the sink and faucet and whether it's worth it. Most people didn't seem to use the water tank or the faucet, which I had to remove because it leaked too much. They seemed to prefer the blue 7-gallong jug.  So far, it's been impossible to find a replacement faucet, which has to be low profile (otherwise it hits the roof when it comes down) and pump action.

And even though most people didn't use the awning, I'll probably install a new one in the offseason. The old one looks pretty beaten up.

And, of course, there's the usual maintenance like replacing wheel bearings etc.

It'll give me something to do at the hangar. The airplane-building project is stalled because of the delay (chip shortage) in getting the avionics package delivered. Ordered it in May. It's almost November and still no sign of it. And what with a killer frost overnight wiping out the gardens, it's going to be up to the Dutchman to keep me out of trouble until spring.

The tentative plan is to open the 2022 camper season on May 1.   I hope to see you then.

Bob

Don't lose Toby!

 

Toby holding Toby

Among the last things I say to people as they're departing for their adventures is "don't lose Chris." Chris is -- or at least was -- the crank that raises and lowers the roof and is, arguably the most important piece in the whole operation.

It's easy to leave the crank in the winch and drive away. Or leave it in the winch and have it stolen. That's why Chris gets special attention.

The crank handle is always named after the last person to lose one. Chris, a good guy as I recall, rented the camper in 2019 when he lost the crank, whose name -- Arturo -- it had for only a couple of weeks.

It's been a good run for Chris but somewhere between here and Prairie du Chien lies Chris.

Toby, a good sport, left Chris in the winch and the rest, including Chris, is history.

The other day Toby got to meet Toby.

Don't lose Toby

That's not camping

The camper, shown at this year's gigantic AirVenture in Oshkosh. Even with thousands of people camping, the place offers more space than a lot of commercial campgrounds.

 Even with the incredible heat this summer, demand for the Dutchmen has been the strongest ever. The biggest problem this year for people has been finding a place to camp. The most popular state parks are booked solid, which serves as a reminder to plan your summer trips during the winter for best results. I've already opened u, p the 2022 season for booking.

One of the illuminating aspects of renting the camper has been seeing the changing nature of "camping." When I was a kid, you put up a tent and lived pretty much by your wits. You quickly learned to do without the creature comforts and, despite our protestations, we found ways to entertain ourselves.

I fear that aspect of camping is disappearing fast, which is why I'm such a fan of Minnesota's state parks, which at least give you a little nature between you and the next campsite.

In early July, my wife and I visited her ancestral homeland of northern Vermont and we noticed that someone has built a new "campground" in the rural part of the so-called Northeast Kingdom. It's an area with mountains and spectacular views. This campground could've been a super place.

Instead, however, the developer basically created a large parking lot and jammed the big mobile rigs in side-by-side. Aside from the fact it wasn't an asphalt parking lot, err campground, it could've been a Home Depot parking lot.

Maybe that's not a big deal for the people in those big rigs with their slide out living rooms, bathrooms, showers and full kitchens, but that's not camping to my way of thinking. And it certainly isn't the environment to take a popup camper.

My guess is this will be more the exception rather than the rule across America, at least in campgrounds not run by the state or federal government. Too bad.

Do you have a favorite commercial campground that harkens back to your youth?