Hi,
My wife and I bought our first Scamp this fall, a 1998 13' std. A few weeks later a 1988 19' Deluxe was offered to us at an interesting price. We own 2 Scamps now. Both have their own appeal, but neither fit our sleep needs. The issue on both is the beds. The standard's bed is long enough but only 44 inches wide. The 19 has two beds, a 44 inch bed / dinette combination in the rear of the trailer, and a 60 " wide bed over the hitch that is only 72" long. My wife and I are both 5'10'' and broad of shoulder. We cannot get used to concept of sleeping diagonally and so we are continually bump ing our heads and feet in the over the hitch bed in the 19 footer. The 44" beds are just too narrow for us. We have slept 10 is so nights in each trailer, but not well.
We camped in the 13 last night a campground about 100 miles away last night. We would really like to sleep comfortably in our Scamps. Ya think a couple of shots of Jim Beam would help? BTW, we towed it with our Mazda CX-5 and got 21.3 MPG round trip.
We see a solution in a new 13 foot Deluxe with a 54" wide bed and a front dinette. It is on order. We will be selling our current Scamps.
BobH. one of the Scamper Campers
Well, we have a 16 ft. Scamp and we came to the conclusion that one sleeps on the side dinette bed and one in the rear bed. It just works out that way. We sleep fine.
<p>Doug Allen 2016 Ford F-150 2018 Lance 1575</p>
Doug,
Lilly sez that I'm supposed to be in HER bed. I'm to sleep head to head and toe to toe with her. Who am I to disobey my wife? I do appreciate your thoughts.
Lilly and I hope to attend fiberglass events this coming year. We look forward to seeing you and meeting your bride.
BobH.
OK, we know what works with what we have. For us, home is vastly different than being in a tiny trailer. We sleep is absolute comfort when on the road, it works.
<p>Doug Allen 2016 Ford F-150 2018 Lance 1575</p>
Is your Mazda a 4 cylinder? How does it do on the hills?
The Mazda is a 2 liter 6 speed automatic. I have never ran out of power and have always been able to maintain our two lane highway 55 MPH speed limit.
However, the Mazda does downshift a lot. it has several gears to chose from. Here in flat central Illinois we have achieved as high as 24 MPG.
When we go to Minot to see the grand kids, we will tow with our 10 year old truck, higher speed limits and loooonger graaaaaades.
I'm certainly no expert on towing or automatic transmissions. So far the CX-5 has done well with the 13 footer.
BTW, I have found a little table that works well when setting at the 13 footer's bench.
BobH. on of the Scamper Campers
BobH. check out this guy's mod to his loft: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f56/converting-scamp-5er-loft-28336-4.html
It is a really long post, but he fabricated what my brain was imagining for our 5er bed. Ours has a completely useless vanity with sink wasting space forward of the side bath, stairs/ladder up to loft in the center (which blocks using the vanity!), and floor to ceiling closet on the right. My Bob is 6ft+ and would have to sleep diagonally without some kind of mod, so I was playing around with the idea of tearing stuff out and extending the loft floor to make a nearly true queen-size bed. Bravo Peter!
Hope this helps, Bernie
Bernie & Bob,
Newbies needing Mentor(s)
1984 19' 5er PROJECT "Boreggo"
1999 Dodge Ram 4x4 2500 "Thunder Buggy"
Tallahassee, Florida & Poway/Rancho Bernardo, California
Hi Bernie & Bob,
Thank you for the link, Peter did a very nice conversion. I'm sure that Lilly and I will give the conversion a lot of thought and then make some templates. Our 1988 5er Deluxe has a very nice cherry interior, I won't want to destroy any more 0f it than I have to. The mid bench is something that I enjoy in the Deluxe and I t would have to be removed.It appears that the hanging closet to the rear of the bed would have to be removed. I would want to use the full 78" length of a queen sized mattress. The steps to the bed are a bit of a puzzle at the moment, we need a safe way to get to and from the bed. Because of the bathroom's location, there isn't much choice as to where the steps have to be.
When you guys start your conversion, please keep us visually updated.
The Scamper Campers
I've seen Peters trailer at some gatherings and he did some nice work. The front to rear bed mod had been around but he did a nice job executing it, but it only works on a particular standard 19 layout. His cabinet doors are the more impressive thing he added, using a wire mesh center to allow the cabinets to circulate air for the Pacific Northwet area.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale
Greg,
I know very little about 5er layouts. Our is the only 19 footer that I have seen. There must be a lot of variation in the 19 footer's layout over the years. Our Deluxe has never had an oven and our center bench is roughly just 2/3rds the width of the trailer. I hope to attend Egg gatherings to see and learn more.
BobH