Scamp Photo Album 2015
Pilot Knob State Park, IA, April 3-6
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
The
first outing of the year is always a bit of a gamble
and can be an adventure as well. Thankfully,
this year was neither. The weather the first
day was windy and cold but sunny. The night
was quite chilly, but the furnace kept us warm.
The next two days were beautiful, warm, and sunny.
Basically, days that are not usually thought of for
the first weekend in April. While it was nice
to finally get out for the first time, I will really
be grateful when the trees finally leaf out.
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Ledges State Park, IA, April 17-19
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Our
second outing of the year was down to Ledges State
Park for a small family camping trip. While we
did get a little break in the weather and got to
enjoy some hiking, the rain did come a little harder
than I expected. The Scamp held up though and
we stayed dry and warm.
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Myre-Big Island State Park, MN, May 15-17
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
While I was trying to get back to Myre-Big Island
State Park in Minnesota, this is the first time we
made it back in over a year. Turned out to be
a fairly decent weekend with only a little rain and
mist on Sunday, but the Scamp kept us warm and dry.
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Believe it or not, this is the first time I got to
fly the Minnesota State Flag, on the right.
Strangely enough, after I purchased a series of
them, Minnesota was the third state that we camped
in. Usually it is number one or two.
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Memorial Day Weekend 2015
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I
tried a couple of more night shots over Memorial Day
Weekend. The first picture show the new light
I added to our camp sign. I have had the light
for about eight months, but could not figure out how
to mount it to the stand or sign. I showed it
to Lisa and she had it mounted within a couple of
minutes. Okay lesson learned. I will try
to get a better night shot of the sign. In
these pictures, there was a camp light behind me and
it played some nasty tricks on lighting.
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Merrick State Park, WI, May 29-31
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This
was a wonderful weekend back on the Mississippi
River. Well, sort of. The river is on
the other side of the island which is just on the
other side of the inlet we were camped along, but it
is still a really beautiful spot to camp. The
Scamp also came through again for us weather wise.
While Saturday was a beautiful day, Friday night was
a bit wet. We drove through a bit of rain on
the way, but it let up by the time we reached camp.
Once we were done registering, we started to put the
camper in the site when it began to rain...a lot,
and it did not let up all night. I was very
thankful to get set up and go to sleep in a dry bed.
I do
want to add a comment about the solar panel system
that we use while camping. We had used the
system the weekend before, but noticed on the last
day that one of our panels, the one with the blue
LED charging indicator, did not seem to be charging.
The light was off until we unplugged it from the
system. We initially thought it might have
been due to the overcast day, but on this weekend, it
did the same thing, even when the sun started to
peak out. After investigating the situation,
we learned that the cable we use to connect all
three panels to the charge protector was bad.
It would allow twelve volts one direction, but only
half of that in the opposite direction. We figured a diode in the cable
was bad. After replacing it, we finally got the
solar panels to charge the battery properly.
Also, I bought an extra charge protection unit and
discovered that one of the plug ends was wired backwards on
it. This was right out of the box. While
it is an easy fix, I would strongly encourage
everyone to pay close attention to details like the
plug wiring. Even from the factory they can be
incorrect. It does not hurt to have spare
parts as well. We now keep an extra charge
protection unit, as well as a spare cable to connect
the panels to the trailer.
Something else to consider, one of the first chores
to getting the trailer ready for camping should be to perform
maintenance on the battery, i.e. cleaning terminals,
reapplying anti-corrosive agents, looking for
bad cables and cable ends, as well as checking to
make sure that your battery can hold a charge while
not plugged into a live feed. A small electrical
test meter is a wonderful tool to add to your
camping kit, and can help you in checking the flow
of electricity, determining the charge of the
battery, as well pin pointing an electrical problem
much quicker than randomly replacing parts in hopes
that it will fix the issue. Without our
meter, I do not think it would have occurred to us
that the cable was bad. Especially since it
was still fairly new.
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A
couple of interest shots, Sammy was trying out the
bunk bed at the front of the camper. While he
could see out, we do not think he liked the height.
Also, yet another flag I got to fly for the first
time; Wisconsin.
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Merrick State Park, WI, June 26-28
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
Back
to Merrick State Park at the end of June.
Turned out to be a very nice weekend, but the bugs
were a bit busier than I would have liked. I
did put up the screen tent and that helped a bit.
As you can see, it was a great view of the river.
We did do a sudden teardown of the tent early Sunday
morning, 2 AM to be exact, due to some weather
moving it, but it only delivered a little rain.
No wind, thunder or lightening. We also took a
kayak trip Sunday morning and were able to get a few
shots from the river of the Scamp. I did not
realize that it does stand out a bit sitting along
the shoreline.
I
would like to add that the last time we visited the
park, we had some issues with our solar panels,
cabling, and charge protection unit. We were
able to get it fixed during that trip, and this
trip, the solar panels managed to keep the battery
at full charge most of the time.
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Wyalusing State Park, WI, July 1-5
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
For
the Fourth of July, we stayed at Wyalusing State
Park in Wisconsin. While the site we got was
not our ideal spot, it is still a nice campground to
visit. I love the different levels of the
sites and the Scamp really fits into the spots
nicely. Of course, we do have the added
protection of the ever watchful Sammy.
We
did have a pleasant surprise this trip. There
was a Casita in the park and we got to spend a
little time with the owners. A very pleasant
couple that had recently purchased their unit a few
months back and were out breaking it in.
Unfortunately, I did not think to get pictures when
we were talking with them so I could share it on
this site. If you do have an interesting
camper and would like to share pictures, I am always
open to posting photos of them. Just send them
to
information@dampenedenthusiasts.com or
russ@dampenedenthusiasts.com. A little
description or write-up about the pictures would be
great as well.
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Panoramic
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
Flag Order of Precedence
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I
have been looking at the Order of Precedence when
flying flags again. The problem I have with
our setup is that the holder is curved, and the
center flag tends to be a little higher than the
others. This is where the US Flag should be
because it is taller, but it still looked strange.
I could not find a rule that would cover how they
fly our trailer flag holder. The only rule I
could find was if the flags were on the same pole,
or if they were flying next to each other on poles
of the same height. I decided to go with the
second rule for a change. In this rule, the US
Flag is to the right of the trailer followed by the
state flags, and flying the US Flag on the right
helps it to fly a bit better since it is made of
stiffer material than the state flags. When it
comes to the Order of Precedence for the state
flags, you either fly them in alphabetical order, or
the order the state was admitted to the Union.
Here, I chose when the states came into the union,
but it also follows the alphabetical rule since Iowa
comes before Wisconsin.
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Castle Mound, Black River State Forest, WI, July 17-19
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
We
attended a family reunion in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin,
and we usually try to stay at Lake Wissota State
Park, but unfortunately, we waited too long to try
and reserve a site. We ended up staying in
Castle Mound Campground, which is part of the Black
River State Forest. We have been here before,
but that was long before the Scamp. It was nice to
get back and check the park out again, and camp
amongst the wonderful pine trees. While
we did not have a lot of time to explore, I am
considering trips in the future to check out the
hiking trails, as well as the canoeing and kayaking
scene.
Of
course, the Scamp came through again the first night
we stayed. We were awoken by thunder,
lightening and high winds. We manage to get
up, store the matt and solar panels just in time for
the storm to hit. The weather radio indicated
sixty mile per hour winds with lots of rain,
thunder, lightening, and possible nickel sized hail.
Other than the hail, it hit. It felt really
good to have a hard sided camper for that storm.
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Cooling Options
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I do
not know if I have mentioned this in the past or
not, but one of the nice features of the Scamp is
the amount of ventilation that ours has. While
we do have the air conditioning unit on the roof for
when we are using an electrical site, sometimes we
do not have that option. For that, we have the
large sliding window in the back, plus the standard
vent/escape hatch on the ceiling to help keep the
trailer cool. One of the options that had been
added was the reversible three speed powered ceiling
fan above the bed/table area which just makes that
job a bit easier. The fan does run off of the
battery, or 110 volts when the trailer is plugged
in, and provides a surprising about of air movement
for the trailer. When we need to vent the
trailer due to heat, or cooking inside, we can have
the fan blowing out, drawing the air from the
windows and door. When we are sleeping, we
reverse the fan to get a nice cool breeze of air
over the bed. It also helps keep pesky
mosquitoes away from us at night if any had made it
through the door during night setup. While the
air conditioning unit helps with the humidity and
keeps the trailer at a comfortable temperature, when
that is not an option, the fan and vents do a good
job and keeping the trailer comfortable. So
just something to think about when looking at
Scamps, or any other sort of travel trailer.
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Merrick State Park, WI July 24-26
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
Fast becoming one of
our favorite campgrounds, we returned to Merrick
State Park along the shores of the Mississippi River
at the end of July. It was a bit warm and
muggy, and while I would have preferred and
electrical site so we could use the air
conditioning, being along the shores of a body of
water provides a natural cooling affect. That,
and the fan in the Scamp and the portable fan, made
for a very nice weekend. We even managed to
miss a storm or two.
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Lake Darling State Park, IA August 21-23
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
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This
was our first trip back to Lake Darling State Park
in Iowa since the remodel had been complete.
The last time we were here was July 4th of 2010.
That was the year of major flooding in Iowa and even
though the lake was supposed to be drained, in
preparation for the rehabilitation project, it
actually had water. The sites are a bit larger
now and very easy to get any sort of camping
equipment situated. They did a very nice job
in the three plus year project in remodeling and
rehabbing.
I
would like to mention, that even though our site
looked a little bare in the pictures, we did have
our mat out the day before, as well as the screened
tent. Saturday night there was a line of
storms moving our direction so we made sure
everything as packed away before bed. Sunday
was a beautiful day, other than the very strong
winds, as indicated by the flags in the photos.
I only put them up for the photos on Sunday then
took them down immediately after. While we did
have a bit of weather move through, it was not
severe and the Scamp did hold up quite well once
again.
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Vernon Springs, IA August 28-30
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
Another family camping outing in Iowa. We had
quite a bit of rain on the trip, but the rest of the
weekend was beautiful. The gray coating that
can be seen all over the cars and the camper are
from the short trip into the campground. That
is how much rain there was the night before.
There is a bit of cleaning in my future after this
trip.
I
like this campground because not only do they have
electricity at all of the sites, they have water
hookup as well. It is strange to use the facet
inside and not here the pump kick on.
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Merrick State Park, WI September 11-13
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
Gorgeous weekend back at Merrick State Park in
Wisconsin. Started off a bit cool during the
evening, but warmed up nicely during the day.
We even got out on the river for a bit this trip.
Sammy did not like the boat at first, but soon
calmed down.
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Road Trip to Gettysburg, PA September 18-19
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
As
usual, when we travel to Gettysburg, it nearly a day
an a half trip. So we usually drive as far as
we can the first night, find a rest stop and crash
until morning. The Scamp is wonderful for this
type of traveling. Of course, you never know
what you will wake up to in the morning. For
us, usually a massive wall of truck and trailer.
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Artillery Ridge Campground, Gettysburg, PA September 19-24
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
This
was our second time at Artillery Ridge in
Gettysburg, PA, and I still really like the camp.
It has a good location to every where we want to
visit, easy to get in and out of when pulling the
trailer, and has nice facilities and amenities for
the campers. I like having water available on
the site so I do not have to use the supply in our
fresh water tank.
You
can also see that we decided to put up the screen
tent. We did not need it for insects, but it
was a nice place to get out of the sun, as well as
getting a bit of privacy outside.
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We
also got to add another state flag to our list of
flags we have flown over the Scamp. I also
took the American Flag during the time of the Civil
War, that we have, and flew that as well.
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East Harbor State Park, OH September 24-26
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
Our
last, and brief, stop was in Ohio. There was a
store I wanted to visit on the way back from
Gettysburg, so we took a little detour. It was
kind of nice to have the Scamp for this trip, since
we pulled in to site very late, it was easy to
maneuver into the site, unhook, set up and go to
bed. It was only a six hour drive from
Gettysburg, but we started late.
One
other thing to mention was that we had to use the
turnpike quite a bit on this trip, and while the
Scamp is a trailer, smaller trailers tend to cost
less while using toll roads.
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Ohio
also got added to the list of flags that have flown.
It was a bit of an unusual flag in the fact that it
has two triangular shaped tails, rather then a
rectangular shape to it.
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Dolliver State Park, IA October 16-18
(Click Thumbnails for Larger Picture)
Our
first of the late season camping. We joined up
with a group of family and friends at Dolliver State
Park in Iowa. The days nice, but could be a
bit chilly, and the evenings did dip in to the mid
to lower forties. The Scamp did a great job of
keeping us warm. One thing I will be adding in
the next few weeks is a Fresh Water (Holding Tank)
Heater to keep the water from freezing during the
late season camping. I will still winterize
the system for the majority of the winter, but this
will give us more opportunity to camp a little more
during the year. I will post photos of what I
come up with for that.
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Water (Holding) Tank Heater Installation
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I
finally broke down, did a little research and found
another little addition for our Scamp. It is a
Water or Fresh Water Holding Tank Heater.
It is an adhesive pad that sticks to the side of the
tank. It is designed for up to fifteen gallons
of water. You can get bigger heaters for
larger tanks, or you can get multiples of these for
larger tanks. They are designed to start
heating the water when the temperature gets to
around thirty-four degrees. I also put a
little insulation on the side between the outside of
the Scamp and the tank. You can use spray
insulation to aid in keeping the water warmer, but
that is not practicable in this situation.
The
heater runs off of 110 volts, and 12 volts.
The 110 just plugs into a regular outlet, whereas
the 12 volts needs to be wired into the system.
Also, they do not recommend running the 12 volts off
of the battery unless the camper is plugged in, or
connected to a vehicle. I do not have the 12
volt wires hooked up yet, but will next spring.
I will be installing a second rocker switch next to
the water pump switch so I can turn the 12 volt
connection on and off.
This
is a great little addition if you plan to winter
camp, or want to extend your camping season.
In years past, I would winterized around the end of
October or beginning of November, but it was a bit
of a pain when you cannot use the water system.
This will allow me to put off winterizing until the
last minute, and de-winterize a bit sooner in they
year. I would like to mention that if you have
more plumbing than just the sink, you may need to
find ways to keep the rest of the plumbing from
freezing if you want to use it. There are
other pipe heaters that can be found in your regular
household plumbing hardware stores. Our sink
plumbing and pump are close enough to the heat
source that regular heat conduction will keep the
water from freezing. I will still be
winterizing it for the really cold months of
December through February and into early March.
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Wyalusing State Park, WS November 6-8
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Late
fall trip to Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin.
I was not sure what sites would be available when we
arrived, since the reservation option was not
available anymore for the year, but we got one of
the goods ones. Temperatures dipped down into
the upper twenties at night, but we managed to stay
warm. Even had a good fire going Saturday
evening. Will hopefully be coming back in a
couple of weeks, but time will tell.
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The
only problem that we seem to have will cool to cold
weather camping is that the flag holder we use does
not seem to like to stick in the cold weather.
So I had to resort to different means to fly the
flags. I think it worked out in the end.
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If you would like better quality copies of the photos, or would like more
information about places we have been, please feel free to contact us
at
Information@dampenedenthusiasts.com
or
russ@dampenedenthusiasts.com.
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