Prospective buyer question

My wife Katy and I do a bit of car camping near our home in western WY. How durable is the chassie, and how tight are the seals on window, door, and hatch openings. We spend a lot of time on dusty, washboard, rocky two tracks and my concern is dust in the trailer. We are very interested in the 560. Thanks, Tim

 

Re: Perspective buyer question

Tim,

I have camped in tents, popups, travel trailers, and 5th wheel. Not a Camp Inn yet.

Dust is a microscopic particle that gets everywhere!!! In other commercial campers, dust will get into the trailers around windows, vents, furnace openings. After setting up the 5th wheel, easy to wipe off counters. The Camp Inns are made extremely well. Much better then the traditional commercial travel trailers. The 550 front windows are well sealed. I would not expect them to leak. The cargo doors on the front bump may not be sealed as well. Dust may enter there. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if some dust entered via the roof vent fan. The seals around the galley are good. Yet, would expect some dust to settle. Again, should be easy to wipe clean. Overall the Camp Inn is a quality constructed T, massive amounts of dust entering the unit should not be an issue with normal road driving. If you drive on excessive amounts of fine gravel roads, don't know what to expect during periods of excessive, fine dry dust. Biggest issue for gravel roads will be protecting from rock chips. The Alcan will be necessary.

Jean

 

Re: Perspective buyer question

Tim, I have traveled the Alaska Highway round trip and found the trailer amazingly dust free except for two cautions....1) make sure the fantastic fan cover is closed tight, if it bounces open dust will get in. No trick to this, just turn the knob. 2) The air conditioner vent does not seal. Parked next to a lake where the wind was blowing I had gusts come in the cabin through that vent. I used some clear packing tape to cover the vent which worked perfectly. Now, had I needed the air conditioner I would have had to tape and re-tape which would have been a drag. If I traveled a lot of gravel roads I would want a better cover for that vent. Cary and Craig were discussing a fix at one point, but I don't know how much traction the idea got. I suspect most have no need for such a cover.

As to rocks, you won't stop them so be prepared to live with it. I call it "character". I had rocktamer flaps. On a bouncy gravel road they might have flipped some rocks up, can't be sure. I watched lots of rocks bounce off the fenders, my alcan cover is peppered with scuffs and I have many small knicks above that cover. People who view my trailer don't notice. I buffed the trailer when I got home and it continues to get lots of looks. Further, I love it even more.....

I hit lots of pretty serious frost heaves, many going way too fast and was certain each was the one that was going to destroy my raindrop. I have described these frost heaves as akin to being in a 14 ft. boat charging into 3 ft. waves. one after another, after another, after another. Happily, the 560 just tracked true and was a clean bed every night. Still, care,caution and a little tenderness is a worthy approach.

Kent

 

Re: Perspective buyer question

Tim, welcome to the forum. As a 560 owner I can't say enough good things about it - we've had ours for 6 months and love it. We've been on 10 trips with it so far.

Regarding dust, we did about 20 miles on a dirt road last week. There was no dust in the cabin (windows were shut and fan cover closed), but we did get a light coating in the galley.