I have done a few things with our Scamp to enhance the lighting possibilities.  One of the first things I did was to add an additional light just inside the front door.  Originally, the only light in this part of the trailer was on the opposite end of the couch and not in a very convenient position.  I often found myself trying to turn on a light just inside the door that was not there.  Then I had the idea of, "Hey, why don't I put one there?"  It was so easy to install, that I did it on a camping weekend.  I first attached it to the wall using wood screws, but they were too long and stuck out the other side of the wood.  This was bad since they could catch on your clothing when entering or leaving the trailer.  I used wood dowels to cover up the screw ends, but those did not work very well either.  I eventually replaced the screws with nuts and bolts.  You can see the mounting position in the first picture above.  It is the one on the bottom.  The one on the top was a battery operated tap light that I tried in a effort to provide light and save the battery on the trailer.  It did not work out so well.

Which brings me to my second point about lights.  They do draw amps away from your battery, and not a small amount either.  I had been considering changing to LED bulbs for quite some time, since they hardly use any battery power, but I could not find any lights that replicated the light coming from the incandescent bulbs.  Then I found BrightTech LED replacement blubs on Amazon.  They were advertised as LEDs that had a softer glow to them than the traditional LEDs, and the reviews on the bulbs were all very good.  I ordered two just to see how well they worked, and I fell in love with them from the start.  You can see what they look like in the second picture above, and you can see by looking at the third and fourth that there is no difference between them and the incandescent bulb.  I immediately ordered the remainder of the bulbs I needed to replace the incandescent bulbs.  When I received all of the new ones, I did a test.  I put all incandescent bulbs in, then checked the amp draw.  Then I put the LEDs in and did the same thing.  I found out that with all LEDs turned on, which was six, I was drawing the same amount of amps as if I had just one incandescent bulb on.  That was pretty impressive.  Over the last few years, when we go off grid, I have noticed better performance of our trailer battery, and I feel much better about using the lights now when off grid.

Other things I have done with lighting come in the way of outdoor solar lights.  I noticed other campers using them for decoration, and to mark hard to see objects in the dark.  That is when I came up with the idea of putting solar lights around the panels at night.  Since I place them where the best sun is during the day, they are not always in the same spot around the camper.  So I use the solar lights to mark their placement.  Also, since I move the panels around during the day to catch the best sunlight, the solar lights are good markers for where I need to put the panels back at night so they catch the best sun in the morning.  When we are not using the solar panels, I used them as part decoration, part marking the edge of things such as the trailer mat, the tongue of the trailer, and the edge of the campsite and driveway.  The most recent solar light I added was to light up our sign at night.  I purchased it at a local hardware store and it original was designed as a house number light.  Turns out it works really good for illuminating our sign as well. 

While we had a jack and factory lug wrench in the tow vehicle, I always like to add the cross bar lug wrench.  First, it has a couple of different size sockets for different sized lug nuts, and secondly, it's design offers a great way to get extra leverage to break the lug nuts loose, as well as a way to spin them off and on relatively easily.  I have two different kinds.  The first is the traditional wrench and I usually leave that in the Scamp, and the second is a foldable one that I leave in the tow vehicle.  Both work really well, but the traditional wrench has a bit deeper sockets for lug mounts that may be a bit deeper. 

About this time last year, I drug out my old military surplus flashlight, the one on the left, and also purchased a second military replica flashlight, the one on the right.  I have always liked this design, but the major drawback was the light was not as bright as I would have liked, and they seemed to drain the battery after only a limited use.  This year I did a little searching and found replacement LED bulbs designed for these types of flashlights (two cell battery compartment with incandescent bulbs).  I found the bulb pictured above and it is designed to replace, not just the military style that I like, but other two cell battery units as well.  I tried them out for the first time and was truly amazed at how well they worked.  Now they won't be as bright as flashlights that already come with LED bulbs, like the headlights that many people use, but they are still extremely bright.  I actually shone it in the woods around our campsite and was amazed at how much it lit the area up.  Also, it won't drain the battery nearly as bad as the original bulbs.  The bulbs are rated for ten years or one hundred thousand hours of service, and the batteries are supposed to last nearly ten times longer.  I will let you know how they work, but right now, they are a big thumbs up in my book. 

Here is the final redesign of the new bed and storage area.  It took a good day to complete the remodel/redesign, but it really came out looking good in the end, as well as being extremely comfortable.  I was only going to raise it eight inches, but I did not take into consideration the thickness of the plywood.  I did remember when I could have resolved the issue, but I thought I would just go with it and see what happens.  As you can see, the storage under the bed is much more usable.  We can store items on the left of the right on the old original seats, and the items in the middle will actually stay put during transport, since I built a lip at the front.  I will be adding a door and some form of step to make getting in and out of the bed easier. 

I did add to our kit this year.  I wanted to find a portable picnic type table that we could use in our screen tent, but would not take up a lot of room.  After much searching over the previous few  years, I happened onto this little table at Wal-Mart.  It was $40 and came with four camp stools that fold up inside.  Turns out it was perfect for a little outdoor workspace, or for a small dinner table.  It folds up nicely and easily stores away.

I thought it was time to upgrade our solar panel recharging system.  Our old panels were nearing twenty years old, and could not produce enough power to supply our needs.  So I found a Renogy system online that was the complete package.  It was two 50 WATT solar panels that combined would put out 100 WATTS of charging power.  That is equivalent to around 8 to 10 AMPs of charge in direct sunlight.  That was a huge improvement over the three panels with a combine total wattage of 32 in direct sunlight.  They take up less space, produce more power, and fold up into a nice little protective case that I can keep with us in the Scamp at all times.  they come with battery clamps to connect directly to the battery, or any battery for that matter, but I did order a pigtail that I could hard wire to the battery.  That way when we need to hook up the solar panels, all I have to do is to plug them into the pigtail for a solid connection.  I also purchased a twenty foot, two wire extension cable so I have a larger reach when we are camping.

I also added yet another device to our camping kit.  It is a 30 AMP surge protector for the camper.  It gives you readings about the outlet you are using like if it is shorted out, reversed polarity, etc. before you plug your camper in.  It also will protect you from surges and jolts.  It is designed NOT to be a resetable surge protector.  It is designed to fry before the electronics do in the camper.  It is a $90 insurance policy that protects the thousands of dollars of appliances and electronics in the camper.  Just a disclaimer, I am not insuring your camper against damage if you use one and you have damage.  That is up the company that you bought it from.  I'm just suggesting it's a good idea to have yet another layer of protection.    

I have been thinking about it for a few years, but I had not quite decided if I really wanted to add an awning to the Scamp.  We still have the screen tent for when the bugs get really bad, but I wanted something that was quick and easy to set up for those bug free sunny days of spring and fall.  I found an awning, put out by Shady Boy, that really fit the ticket.  It's small, light weight, easy to set up and take down, and works in most kinds of weather.  It is self supporting by the poles in the awning, but I got the two down poles and ropes that are supposed to secure it a bit more.  They have a couple of different colors, but the only one they still had in stock was the sliver top with the blue bottom.  Otherwise, I would have had to weight a few months since they were behind on production.  But that was okay, because it had the color combo that I wanted.  It was easy to install and the awning itself only weighs about fifty pounds.