2006 Fun Finder T139FK

[profdant139]

Jeff, I've been out of town (camping) for a week, so I am a little late to the party -- but let me add my congratulations!! It's very smart of you to look for ways to keep your wife happy with trailering -- you both will enjoy it!

I don't know if you are an experienced boondocker, but we love boondocking in a 139 -- very cozy! My advice would be to start slow -- an overnight at first, to learn various resource conservation techniques (water, electrical, propane, etc.).

My wife was very skeptical of boondocking at first -- we tried it a few times, and she was hooked -- and now that is by far our preference, when it is available.

[Xerofall]

Originally Posted by profdant139

Jeff, I've been out of town (camping) for a week, so I am a little late to the party -- but let me add my congratulations!! It's very smart of you to look for ways to keep your wife happy with trailering -- you both will enjoy it!

I don't know if you are an experienced boondocker, but we love boondocking in a 139 -- very cozy! My advice would be to start slow -- an overnight at first, to learn various resource conservation techniques (water, electrical, propane, etc.).

My wife was very skeptical of boondocking at first -- we tried it a few times, and she was hooked -- and now that is by far our preference, when it is available.

Oh, I'm set on boondocking... it's the only way I like to camp, unless my parents go with us, then they like to reserve sites at a campground. Lots of public land here in Utah that's free for 14 days.

Here's a few pics from my previous sites... one took an entire day to get to, lol, in Canyonlands, a site called Gunsight Butte. I was in an old Army trailer I converted into a sleeper. It was the lonliest place I've ever been to. I didn't see another person for 5 days. I was trying to get my camera to show the stars, while lighting up my Jeep and trailer with a flashlight. It's blurry, but still cool.

[Xerofall]

2017 eclipse in Wyoming in my Apache pop up.

[Xerofall]

Mountains outside my town... in my old Winnebago and my dad's old 53 travel trailer.

[Xerofall]

Last year in Moab... this is my favorite place to boondock... been to the same place twice and we tried to go again, but couldn't because of the darn Covid. Moab at the time was only allowing residents of the county to camp. They allow it now, but it's too hot now. Have to wait until fall.

[profdant139]

Jeff, you have the boondocking bug, that's for sure. Now if you can convert your wife, you will have it made!

And don't forget the Uintas -- right nearby, and spectacular:

https://lookmomwerecamping.blogspot....e-country.html

[lemoine71@hotmail.co]

Hi all. I'm new in the forum and the wife and are I very happy with the recent acquisition of a 14' fun finder. The wife like it as soon as she saw it. I wonder if anybody has info to were I can find a complete kit of decals.
thanks
Mario from Vancouver Canada

[profdant139]

Mario --

Welcome to the club, and congratulations on your new rig -- what year is it?

I don't know of a source of decals -- let us know if you find one!

Is this your first RV? Vancouver -- wow -- you are in camping heaven.

Maybe start a new thread seeking the decals??

[Xerofall]

I've been fiddling around wiht the camper. Getting it tweaked to suite.

I got the big ladder out (to fix a plant hook on my house) and decided to take a really good look at the roof. I was actually surprised there was as much room as there was... in fact I believe I have room for my 4 solar panels. Saves me from having to buy a new system. I'll tip one end of each panel slightly up so rain will not pool. For winter, I'll tarp the trailer like I've done with all my others.

I'm also designing a collapsable outdoor shower stall, something I can hook up to the side of the trailer that allows a shower curtain to drape down. We have the bamboo slat bases from our other camper and I'll see if the outdoor shower fixture is better than my Zodi propane shower, otherwise I'll continue to use that.

Hot Tap Portable Outdoor Shower with convenient storage bag | Zodi.com

Going off on a tangent... If anyone wonders about the Zodi propane shower, there's a lot of pros and cons but I've solved a lot of their cons and I absolutely love it.

Their biggest con is the pump. The battery pack is 6 volt, so you always need to bring D sized batteries. I solved this by ditching their entire pump and power pack for a homemade 12 volt system that can be recharged with solar, or hooked up to a car battery. I got everything wired up all nicely into a Harbor Freight ammo box!

Second con. The end of the pump is too light, so it can float if you're not careful, and you MUST always have water flowing through the coils of the heater. Otherwise it'll catch on fire. Don't ask me how I know! I solved this by ditching the lightweight pump and getting a 12 volt submursable pond pump, this thing is powerful! I added a pond filter to the intake so the pump doesn't suck in leaves, dirt or bugs.

Third con. The head of the shower and tubing is laughable. The head is like a water toy for kids, has like 5 little nozzle holes. The tubing is thin and kinks if you look at it funny. I fixed it by using restaurant grade tubing that's really strong. Changing the pump out helped pressure and I was able to use a regular bathroom shower head.

Fourth con. It's made for the small propane tanks, I simply added the adapter to hook it to a regular tank with a pole extention to hold the heater up.

Despite it's claims of "instant hot" it does take a while to get it all nice and hot. So I have a 5 gallon bucket of source water and simply put the shower head back in it while it's pumping through the coils. Cycling and cycling until the entire 5 gallon bucket is hot. Then we can shut off the gas and just let the pump provide a steamy hot shower after a long day camping.

(I know most here have showers in their rig, but this is perfect for boondocking as you're not using the water that's in your trailer's tanks.) I have two 6 gallon water jerry cans that I can re-fill at the gas station in Moab near where we usually camp.

The best thing about the Zodi is you can collapse everything down and store it in the 5 gallon bucket. (Except the battery modification I did, haha)

[profdant139]

The other advantage of a separate outdoor shower is that you are not filling up the gray tank in the trailer!

On the other hand, when you are all done showering, you are wet and outside and it is often cold at high altitude (which is where we usually camp). On the third hand, think how great it feels to get warm and dry after you have been cold and wet!

[APD]

We have a small instant up tent cabana and a potty. We carried it with our camper van and now, since the virus scare, we carry it with our FF as well. State parks here in Georgia and the southeast don't usually have sewer hookups, only power/water. Visiting state parks we take the cabana to help stretch our tiny tanks.

Alan

[Xerofall]

I remember my trip to Canyonlands, completely isolated from another soul for a week, but before I got to my campsite, I had to talk with the park ranger, and she was absolutely beautiful!!!

The sucky thing was our entire conversation was about where I could and could not to bury poop and the right way to dispose of it. I had a portapotty, so burying it was not an issue... but man... imagine being the only thing you talk to other people about day in and day out!

Apparently, hikers are the worst offenders. No one brings a shovel when they hike, so they never bury their poo.

[APD]

Originally Posted by Xerofall

Apparently, hikers are the worst offenders. No one brings a shovel when they hike, so they never bury their poo.

Ours goes into a small bag, We usually are camped close to some hikers so while they're gone walking we can just drop it in their campsite on our way out......



Not really.

[Xerofall]

So if you remember, the previous owner fixed the awning slider arms by adding a plate and screwing it down, however it actually caused more issues because the head of the screw wouldn't easily pass the clips at the top of the rail, so I ordered 2 replacements. While I admire his ingenuity, the end result didn't really solve the problem, it only made it a little worse.

Less than $30 bucks and even less in minutes I was able to fix them and now they glide smoothly like they're supposed to.

The first attachment is the before. The black arrows point to the broken bits and the red arrow is what they did to fix it.

The second attachment is the after, nice, new part that slides so well!

[profdant139]

Well done!!

[APD]

Looks good! Where did you order the replacement parts? Would you recommend 'em?
I opened ours and cleaned it up a little in preparation for next week. Found a few UV damaged areas. May be replacing it this winter.

Alan

[Xerofall]

Originally Posted by APD

Looks good! Where did you order the replacement parts? Would you recommend 'em?
I opened ours and cleaned it up a little in preparation for next week. Found a few UV damaged areas. May be replacing it this winter.

Alan

eBay. I searched the interwebs for my model of awning (Dometic A&E Sunchaser) to get the instructions and parts diagrams. I was able to get the part number for the slider clips and searched Amazon and eBay for the best price.

eBay won out this time, having free shipping and a few bucks less than Amazon. It took longer to ship though. (I do love Amazon Prime's free 2-day shipping) They were about $16 each, about $35 shipped with taxes added.

For as little money as these were, I'm honestly surprised the previous owner went to the trouble of trying to salvage the broken ones. Like I said, I admire his ingenuity, but sometimes it's better to just get a factory replacement part and be done with it.

You do have to set a new rivet, most of the complaints online mention that. I didn't have the right tool per se... but I used a large phillips screwdriver bit and a hammer, forced the end to flange out, then pounded it flat with a hammer and it works just as a rivet tool would have. Some mention a nut and bolt, and there is room on the sides of the slide that would allow it, I was just able to get the rivet to work. (luckily)

Took like 20 minutes and I'll bet it took even longer to machine those repair plates... just sayin'

As far as the condition of the awning... it looks brand new, they probably didn't use it much and it shows. I live in a place where it will randomly gust wind, so I'll need to get some awning tie downs in the future.

[profdant139]

Here is a tip on preserving the awning from UV damage -- when the trailer is in storage, put a PVC rain gutter over the rolled up awning and bungee it on securely. The gutter can be tilted slightly to maximize the sun protection.

Just be sure that "remove the awning cover" is high on your pre-trip prep list. Don't ask how I learned this.

[APD]

Originally Posted by profdant139

Just be sure that "remove the awning cover" is high on your pre-trip prep list. Don't ask how I learned this.

That's where I saw that headline, "Flying Awning Cover Scatters Cars on Interstate!"

Alan

[Xerofall]

Originally Posted by APD

That's where I saw that headline, "Flying Awning Cover Scatters Cars on Interstate!"

Alan

Try having the ENTIRE ABS plastic roof come off your '72 Apache hardside pop-up camper on the freeway... the dude behind me was NOT happy.