Morning Cup Of Coffee And Weather

So thats where the nickname comes from!
PS: what does "re-crowning" the axles do for ya?
Rotisseries are such great work helpers! I made two while building the plane, one for the fuselage, and one for painting the wings. Both saved a ton of back straining work and repositioning time. The fuselage one could only be turned about 300 degrees before the vertical stabilizer would hit the floor, but it still was a big help. With the wing one, while I was painting, if you saw a sag forming in the paint, you could quickly reverse the angle of the wing until the sag flattened back out before turning into a run, and not long after, the paint would set up enough not to move any longer, but not enough to lose your "wet" edge either, so the short delay didn't make the paint job look patchy.
 
Hate to rub it in...but 36 outside, with Meijers "Michigan Cherry" in my cup. I'm on cup #2, both made with an Aeropress - this cup a little bitter. Not sure what I did differently. But it's not terrible, and it's warm, which is nice.

The Gazelle G6 tent setup was uneventful last night, though it took a bit longer that it should have due to forgotten methods. Setting one of these up wrong is MADDENING. Doing so results in the need to disassemble and start over. No thank you!

With the CI backed into the 1 "open" side. The alternate entry door isn't bad, but is something I would not recommend if you have balance issues. Inside, the big buddy floating between medium and high heat. I have the Gazelle interior at 53. The most significant heat loss is 1 screen that I have open for light (1/4 of 1 of the 6 sides) and from under and around the trailer. Better shoes (croks are not great insulators -- my feet are cold). Its cloudy, hopefully the sun breaks out as it is predicted too. That will make a HUGE difference.

I've used the CI in much colder temperatures (down in the low 20's) and did just fine. The furnace and a warm blanket is more than enough. This however is my first attempt at an extended stay in a single spot. As long as I have propane, I can see this being quite doable as long as it isn't raining or snowing. The lack of a shower house/bathroom is the only really unpleasantness but there are ways to deal with that as well.


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Thanks Sweeney for the great info and validation on the G6 holding enough heat as a useable spare room with the windows closed and Big Buddy as toe warmer/space heater. Extends the CI to shoulder season and high deserts. You need a 20# tank on there or cached in the TV now for longer trips...

What exactly is the "alternative exit" btw- squeezing past the fender on one side?

Does the G6 have two doors like the Clam?
Thats a great pic btw... between your coyote brown G6 and DustinP? Camo Clam its a tossup for best CI as hunting/game watching blind ...or ice fishing house!

Now to do something about the newly birthed shiny egg sticking out...
How about a wrap in Mossy Oak?
;)
 
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The disaster declaration combined with the "black swan" event in Baltimore has one of my conspiracy minded friends beside himself. I'm one to not trust too much either, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar as Ziggy put it.

OK....dumb question fo the day, what the heck is re-crowning of the axles? I've never heard of this...is this just raising/lower/releveling the trailer if one of the side is a little "weak?" and not sitting level? I noticed Serenity is a little off...just enough to notice if I look for it....
 
Crowning the axle is a description of doing a camber adjustment on the axle to make sure the wheel camber is perfectly correct. As the camper gets miles the axle tends to wear in and the camber changes a bit. Older models left with not enough camber also so older models benefit the most. A newer one may need a slight adjustment to minimize tire wear. The heavier the camper the more the effect so a well optioned 560 usually benefits from having it checked more than a more basic 550 model perhaps.

Cary
 
Crowning the axle is a description of doing a camber adjustment on the axle to make sure the wheel camber is perfectly correct. As the camper gets miles the axle tends to wear in and the camber changes a bit. Older models left with not enough camber also so older models benefit the most. A newer one may need a slight adjustment to minimize tire wear. The heavier the camper the more the effect so a well optioned 560 usually benefits from having it checked more than a more basic 550 model perhaps.

Cary

Thanks Cary -- there a procedure for this? I doubt I'm anywhere needing it --- but like to have this around. Especially as my 560 is "well equipped" as Chrysler use to say....
 
What exactly is the "alternative exit" btw- squeezing past the fender on one side? Does the G6 have two doors like the Clam? Thats a great pic btw... between your coyote brown G6 and DustinP? Camo Clam its a tossup for best CI as hunting/game watching blind ...or ice fishing house! Now to do something about the newly birthed shiny egg sticking out... How about a wrap in Mossy Oak? ;)[/QUOTE said:
Hey Kevin, the only Clams that have two doors are the ones where their owners added a second door themselves, like myself, and I know of at least one other Camp-Inn owner who added two extra doors.
The Gazelle G6 Deluxe and G6 Cool Top both have two entrances as manufactured. Clam didn't take my advice,to add a second door for tear-droppers even after I sent them pics of what I had done, and instead, they let Gazelle eat their lunch.
 
Thanks, Dustin!
Advantage G6, then for the two doors,
but looks like they still need a camo option...
Good deal on them here:
Gazelle G6 Deluxe 6-Sided Portable Screen Tent

Thats the model I was using. I couldn't put out the cooler stand (on the right) but the other side (I use for grill & cleanup) worked just fine. My only complaint is that its heavy and to put in the roof rack with 1 person is a 'grunt'
 
Thats the model I was using. I couldn't put out the cooler stand (on the right) but the other side (I use for grill & cleanup) worked just fine. My only complaint is that its heavy and to put in the roof rack with 1 person is a 'grunt'
I noticed on the pic in your post that you had the Gazelle opening about even with the back of the wheel fender. We set our Clam up so that the top edge of the main opening is about right over where the hatch hinge is, which will bring the sides of the opening about half way forward of the rear of the fender. We drape the canopy/door of the Clam over the CI roof, and the interior screen door is opened with one side draped down each side on top of the fender. You can maybe see what I'm talking about in the attached pic. This gives just enough room for the side table with the Dometic on it.
 

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I noticed on the pic in your post that you had the Gazelle opening about even with the back of the wheel fender. We set our Clam up so that the top edge of the main opening is about right over where the hatch hinge is, which will bring the sides of the opening about half way forward of the rear of the fender. We drape the canopy/door of the Clam over the CI roof, and the interior screen door is opened with one side draped down each side on top of the fender. You can maybe see what I'm talking about in the attached pic. This gives just enough room for the side table with the Dometic on it.
Nice! That tucks in there perfectly! Like it was made for it.
Also note how its got room for The CI side tent...
Spa option?
 
Two Tom’s just walked across the field in front of my house. I wanted to take a picture of them together but they were too far apart.

We had a head custodian who was from NYC and had not been in SC long when some turkeys ended up in the parking lot on some cars. The custodian said he was going to chase them away. We told him not to try. Luckily he didn’t get hurt, but it’s a shame cell phones with cameras weren’t around. It was comedy gold.
 
I noticed on the pic in your post that you had the Gazelle opening about even with the back of the wheel fender. We set our Clam up so that the top edge of the main opening is about right over where the hatch hinge is, which will bring the sides of the opening about half way forward of the rear of the fender. We drape the canopy/door of the Clam over the CI roof, and the interior screen door is opened with one side draped down each side on top of the fender. You can maybe see what I'm talking about in the attached pic. This gives just enough room for the side table with the Dometic on it.

Yah, I wasn't pulled back fully --- there was still a little room. I probably could have pushed the tent farther to the camper. Seeing yours confirms, it, but it look like it was iffy enough I didn't want to unsteak the tent and move again. BTW, I love the tent stakes that came with ours!

If I were going to use this a lot, I'd want (but never actually build) a drawstring-type sealed fabric to seal off the area around the camper a bit. The cold wind certainly did come in around it. :) I was surprised that during the day I could get it from mid/low 30s to 65, even with 1 of the 1/4 screens open for light.
 
Yah, I wasn't pulled back fully --- there was still a little room. I probably could have pushed the tent farther to the camper. Seeing yours confirms, it, but it look like it was iffy enough I didn't want to unsteak the tent and move again. BTW, I love the tent stakes that came with ours!

If I were going to use this a lot, I'd want (but never actually build) a drawstring-type sealed fabric to seal off the area around the camper a bit. The cold wind certainly did come in around it. :) I was surprised that during the day I could get it from mid/low 30s to 65, even with 1 of the 1/4 screens open for light.

Something we tried at the last CICO was laying down about a 8x10 tarp a few feet behind where we wanted the TD to end up sitting, then back that last few feet so that the TD wheels were on top of the tarp. We then pulled up some of tarp into the fender wells behind the tires creating a barrier to critters/bugs coming under the TD into the gazebo, then put down our jack blocks, and leveling jacks on top of the tarp, and pulled the excess tarp up around the bumper. That created a pretty effective seal for underneath. I've been working on a couple light wt. PVC pipes with suction cups attached to hold the screen door flaps more securely to the sides of the TD when insects are more of an issue.
 
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