Possible New Buyer 560 Ultra

Hello everyone!

My wife and I are looking at the 560 Ultra. We just got back from a camping trip a couple weeks ago out in Sand Dunes National Park and had a blast with the family (3 kids). Just tried out our new Kodiak 10x14 flexbow tent and loved it. But we had a couple things nagging us on the trip home.

1. 2 days prior to getting there - the park was struck by lighting. So the threat was real about getting hit with lighting. We love the Kodiak - but.. it has 1" steel frame poles. So what do we do at 3am in the morning if a storm rolls in? The idea of lugging kids to the car or bathroom with a bunch of other people to wait out a storm for who knows how long and no one sleeping didn't sound good. Or what if we were in BLM land and didn't have a bathroom and just the car with all our gear/car seats/etc. Also the low got down to 29 which was not expected and I was super worried about my 4 year old that kept crawling out of her sleeping bag - ended up just putting her in mine to stay warm. But would have felt better taking her to the trailer for the night and knowing she was safe and warm. Bigger kids kept their gloves/hats on just fine and stayed warm.
2. How do we haul all this stuff plus we want to take our dog (and Alaskan Malamute - so a good sized pup at 70 pounds). We have a hitch trailer and a roof rack bag - but still.... a lot of gear for a family.
3. While we were there and the weather turned south - got 6" of snow which was not in the forecast at all (was supposed to be 50 low/80 high), lugging the camp stove and cooking gear out of the car, setting up, tearing down, and cleaning up was a pain. Before kids - wasn't bad, but with a family - meant as the cook - I was eating cold food last lol. So the idea of a setup kitchen with a 12V cooler and everything just ready is really appealing.
4. As the kids get bigger - it would be nice to have some space to grow into/spread out - the kids could take the tent and wife and I could take the trailer.
5. We want to be able to do BLM land and go a bit off the beaten path (nothing crazy but we don't really want RV parks at all). We want to get back to being in nature again now the kids are sleeping well and we can do this.

So on the way back home - my wife started to research. We ruled out typical RV's as that's not what we want. She found Vistabule which we really like the polish of - they look sleek and pretty with the paint/etc. But they are a bit too small for us. Then we researched CO Teardrop, Bean, and many others. Ruled out CO - too tall, Bean - fiberglass and not very friendly service when I asked about lighting, etc. We had decided to go with Vistabule a couple nights ago when my wife stumbled upon Camp Inn 560 Ultra. And we wondered how had we missed this?!?!?

I talked with Cary the other day for almost an hour - was amazed how patient he was with me. Answered all my questions, mentioned I was asking stuff not many people had asked (like the lighting question and gave an example of a owner getting struck and was safe and protected in case you were wondering), and we just had a really good conversation. We watched all the YouTube videos of the tour of the place/etc and I can tell they really have thought about everything in how they are built.

We right now are leaning to the 560 Ultra (a bit sad as we were looking forward to a bright color - but Cary explained about paint and aluminum don't get along well - which had us wondering how Vistabule is doing it or if in a few years there will be some not so happy owners with corrosion issues).

I was hoping to get any feedback on any families that have used the 560 Ultra or just feedback in general. I'm honestly surprised there weren't more videos out there of the 560 Ultra. I could find video after video of the Beans, the CO, and many other brands but most the Ultra 560 were 6-9 years old which surprised us. Even though this is one of the oldest companies in the teardrop community - they seem to be flying under the radar of the "YouTube influencer's who have gone to full time camping/van life/etc" - which I'm just surprised by.

Thanks for any help/advice! We are super excited (a bit sad that the wait time it till May but - is what it is).

Happy trails!

 

Welcome to the forum. There are used well taken care of 560's that come up in the "For Sale" forum.

FOR SALE - 2012 560 Ultra Raindrop | Unofficial Camp-Inn Forum (campinnforum.com)

Keep your eyes open as the sell fairly quickly. The build quality is amazing on these. I have been a Director of Quality in Tier 1 manufacturing companies for 40 plus years. In addition these have a fairly high resale value also.

If your wife likes the SHINY painted , perhaps she would want to have a mini-airstream polished Camp Inn 560


Good luck and happy hunting.

 

We're new owners of a used 560 (as of April), and I love it. I have two small kids and they absolutely adore the "camping room" which is what they call it. Your family is unfortunately big enough that there's no way that you're all fitting in the trailer, but may want to consider using an ARB side room in lieu of a tent. The bigger one is 8'x8' and you could definitely fit the dog and one person in there, which will save you the hassle of pitching an additional tent (since you could fit two adults and two smaller children in the trailer).

I've already found that once you get into the swing of things, having a trailer where you have nearly all your camp supplies live really cuts down on the amount of time it takes to prep for a trip. Basically throw clothes and food in there, stow gear, and you're ready to go.

 

O'Bannon woods mean anything to you? We may have met...

Boy...lots here.

Weather is an issue in whatever rig you have, especially Lightning. Its really hard to argue with that kind of voltage. Usually when you're in those kinds of storms you have wind and possible tornados. Really the best thing to do is to go to the shower house. Personal choice: I sleep like a baby through storms unless they are REALLY bad in which case I'll evacuate. This is not unique to Campinn or any tiny camper.

Hauling Critters. I've got a 60 pound fur-baby. She generally sleeps in the side tent unless it is stormy/wet/raining, in which case she very happily crawls into the footwell -- I hug my wall more closely, and my wife takes the middle. While it isn't a perfect situation it works out OK. Last weekend we went with the dog, and 2 12 day old kittens. They live in a tote still so it was pretty manageable

Bad weather cooking - we typically either go to a local restaurant, skip the meal (we itnermittant fast anyway) or rely on food that doesn't need cooking, or very little. We have a canopy (KingCamp car tent) that we setup on sunny days or days that will be drizzly/rainy. This and the optional side covers make beingoutside acceptable. If it is going to be really windy there really isn't a good tent option that I've found since PahaQue stopped making the "Cottonwood"

On the food topic, I use a Dometic fridge --- 12/120 volt --- 1 'zone' --- but its nice to be able to take steaks, soda, lunchmeat, and pretty much anything refrigerated with us. I can get it down to zero degrees when I make trips to buy ice cream and such ... it happy acts as a freezer too -- just not at the same time. And, you can carry it in the Galley while traveling...really nice to have, so much that I have 2. The other is an ARB model which I can't galley carry dedicated to...canned goods

Kids - not an issue for us. But, we have a 560, the bunks will work for a certain subset. I'm not sure I can offer much more than saying when I was a kid --- tenting was cool. A little scary, but learning how to deal with those fears is something FAR too many people day still haven't figured out how to do.

I love my CI --- and we use it a lot. This is my second one (I had a 2012 and sold it...immediate regret and bought a 2021 -- find my story elsewhere) I LOVE my CI. Since november, I've personally spent 30+ nights in it --- couple week long trips, few weekenders and at least one "night on the couch" I honestly would not trade it for anything else made today.
CampInn has taken care of problems with the same patience you experienced while talking to Cary -- he's one of the best customer focused people I have ever worked with....ever. The whole CI team is amazing and takes honest pride in their pieces of art.

As an airplane enthusiast, I know aluminum. Don't get caught up into looks --- keeping a shiny finish is a tremendous amount of work. Embrace the patina and enjoy camping. Wax it, wash it, and avoid salt if you can...and if you do get exposed start looking for a coin-op car wash beofore you stop for the night. Take what Cary says about finish and care with trust. He knows what he's talking about.

Welcome to the club --- can't wait to get to know you better

 

Family Travel Plus...I sent you the contact information in a Private message

 

ARB side room -- great suggestion. I have one ironically. I just used it as a rainfly and havn't yet configured to screened room portion. The roof itself seems pretty robust....and will probably get used a lot in the coming couple of weeks...

Having a small trailer is great --- like you said prep time is minimal. Fill the fridge, checked your shirts/pants inventory (we keep a minimum set onboard at all times ready to go). Hook up to the car and go. Assuming you pre-staged when you got babck from your last trip, I can be on the road in 30 minutes....

Trick is --- keep it minimal. You add too much stuff, and it suddenly gets complicated

 

That’s a big difference from tent camping - 90% of your time loading & unloading & where did we leave that? is now replaced by keeping most of the gear in the trailer. Clothing and food - that’s it!

 

I do not have a family that travels but I do agree that I love just having to pack food and clothes. Also set up is a breeze even with side tent and canopy. Workmanship is great as well as resale value.

 

bed made ... clothes tomorrow....fridge on Saturday... 7 glorious days coming soon

If workmanship is your measure....then buy with confidence. Absolute confidence.

 

Sweeney, where you off to? It should be a perfect week for you.

 

We’ve had our 560 Ultra for 7 years and have loved it. A lot easier to prep for camping and cleaning up once your home in this versus tent camping. Once we’ve cleaned up we are ready to go once we pack our clothes & food for the next trip. As you’ve already heard from others & talking with Cary, the customer service is great and so is the quality of the build. Good luck with your decision.

 

That is totally what I have planned. I want all the gear in this thing, ready to go. So all we need to do is meal plan, pack a suitcase and hit the road! We have the bug so bad - it's been so long since we've been able to do hiking/camping stuff and we miss it! Very much looking forward to getting back to nature again!

And I want to say thanks to everyone - this is such a great community! We are looking forward to becoming full time members very soon! Will have lots of fun/crazy stories to share for sure

 

Sadly nowhere fun Except probably evenings with a little R&R in the evenings. I'm helping aging parents, and family stuff, leaving the rest of the family at home. This is a solo trip. Mooch docking in a driveway. However, temperatures are looking perfect, and may even be a few nice campfires. Fortunately, I have a solostove from my big-rig days....

To the OP --- this is another side benefit, my CI will slip right into a driveway with a single 15amp extension cord, I can run everything I need too at a cost a whole lot less than a hotel, all in just a few minutes notice.

I've made this same trip 15-30 minutes after a phone call. Which is why I keep 5 days of clothes on board. This one is planned. I'll be doing most of the checklist throughout the next 24-36 hours...I think I have time

leaving checklist:

1. Did I fill the clothing bags?
2. load Shaving Kit
3. Fill Dometic CFF35, check trailer battery, put in galley
4. secure tables & chairs, tarps and canopies. Lock galley
5. Fill fresh tank with water (if I didn't fill it when I got home from the last trip - its usually full in summer)
6. Load computer equipment and wifi hotspot
7. lock cabin
8. Hook up, light check, pull from garage. Recheck
9. Pet the dog, scruff cats, secure the house
10. off we go....

Optional:

1. Generator oil check, gas can check -- load into TV
2. Toilet & tent - Load into TV

 

For what it's worth, we have the ARB side room AND a Clam popup tent. We prefer the Clam. The ARB side room is a little bit of a pain for few reasons:

1.) If you're camped on a paved surface, you can't stake it down. You have to use weights, rocks, etc. Out in the backcountry, it's fine...lots of unpaved surfaces to easily stake things into. But regular campgrounds can be difficult.
2.) If it's windy, the ARB side room makes a bunch of noise. Especially if it's not staked down in the preferred manner.
3.) The zipper on the side next to the door of the trailer can scratch the aluminum, particularly when it's windy. I bought some rubber U channel strips that I cut down to 0.5-inch pieces that I stick on the zipper whenever we use the side tent to protect the aluminum on the trailer.

Meanwhile, the Clam popup is stupid easy to set up. We normally take the 4-sided with us, but we have a 6-sided for the bigger family camping trips. We can set it up away from the trailer (and away from the pavement). My wife liked having a potty bucket in the side tent right next to the trailer, so to compensate I recently added the Tuff Stuff Shower Tent (Mounted Shower Tent Enclosure - Tuff Stuff 4x4 & Tuff Stuff Overland) to the port side of the roof bars...haven't tried it yet, but so far it looks like it will be perfect. It can be used as a shower tent, a potty tent, or a changing tent. I'll leave a full review of it once we have a chance to use it in the wild.

 

Which models of the Clam do you have?

 

Here they are, with links:

4-sided Clam Quick-Set
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MX2RV13

6-sided Gazelle Gazebo
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VVM72ES

I also picked up some opaque panels for inclement weather and privacy:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XBZHQL2

It's worth mentioning that they are all pretty much the same product, just different sizes and brand names (and I suspect made at the same factory overseas). Also, I went with the lighter tan color rather than the dark green after I read someone's comment somewhere that the tan is significantly cooler when it's hot out; figured it would show ticks and other bugs better, too.

 

Awesome, thank you very much!

 

I love the CLAM too --- except --- EXCEPT the screens cut off air flow.....

IF they made one that had no screens, but still had the "x"'s and opening --- it woudl be bank on PERFECECT. I'm afraid to start cutting screens on mine to see how well it would still work....

I keep looking in dumpsters for one that has been tossed becuase some one didn't bother to follow the instructions to open it properly....like I did the 2'nd time I tried to open mine a set of wrenches and 2 hours were needed to unscrew THAT light bulb

 

We love our clam. Super easy to setup. Side tent can be a pain since we can not stake so we use bean bags for weight. Camp inn with clam equals set up in less than 15 mins when we arrive.

 

Such a useful thread I bumped it with a request for info:
Now that a few have the G6 which was a newer copy of the Clam, with a couple advantages- any feedback?

Still happy with the New Breeze 12x12 cuz it can be setup a variety of ways:

CI ticked under far enough for'ard to provide a private side entrance, room for a honey bucket of the collapsible sort stowed under until night.

CI tucked under just enough to have a galley shelter plus larger screen room to sit around a Big Buddy heater as toe warmer/campfire substitute* enjoying the view in the colder shoulder seasons that are common in high desert.

See Moab and all that red rock country, Joshua Tree, east side of the Sierras, Grand Canyon, Four Corners, and on and on further north.
* in wildfire season its getting strict out west since covid (and the newby family campers/vanlifers/homeless who have forgotten the "Leave No Trace" ethic of a generation prior); "no fires".

With the new Heated LiON option you dont HAVE to save the roof for solar- a couple hunnert watts on folding suitcase panels set up in the sun on an extension cord will do ya. Leaving the CI tucked in the shade or covered with a fly in desert as needed.

Then you can mount a rooftop tent for the big kids.
Or a Bundawn like the Aussies...