sorry for not being able to tune in with the news on the camper.

Since last update i left montreal to Toronto and just barely finished up the camper in a week time with my dad. we were quite skepticle about the roof raising mechanism as we built it but at the end we got it dial on the same day of my departure! my roof weights 95lbs & it supports my weight on top & me(150lbs) hanging under it too when it's pop-up! The whole camper shell/roof/bench weight about 550lbs.


I did take the rest of the construction pictures but unfortunetly i don't have them with me on the road to showjust yet.

Last monday night i finally packed up the truck and left toronto @ 11pm. The drive out across canada from toronto to vancouver was quite a trip. we were 2 people, 100lbs dog

, gear packed truck/camper, 220lbs ish furnisher to deliver, and a 22 foot long sailboat/trailer (650lbs).




With about half a tank (36L ish), weigh station scale showed 1090kg front axle, 1600kg rear axle, and 240kg trailer axle. Front tires @ 38psi, rear @ 48psi.

The gvwr is 2425kg, does that mean i over loaded my truck?

Driving against the strong head winds btwn regina/medicine hat was quite a feat! With an old 325xxxkm 22re pulling a 6000lbs truck & sailboat, it was pretty much 85-90km/h in 4th gear everytime uphill is involved.

Going into the rockies wasn't hard actually, as it turns out that calgary is kind of higher than the base of the rockies mtns.








We had no trouble driving down the steep kicking horse pass with the boat either, i'm just glad that i put in new front discs b4 i left montreal.



Aside from being really good on time, (toronto-calgary : 48hrs) we got lucky not having to wait for the transcanada hwy 1 closure due to mud-slide closesure 65km west of golden, bc, near roger's pass. We've met people waiting outside Tim horton's in golden for 3days straight and we've only waited for 10mins!

[img]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/allochris/CIMG7645.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/allochris/CIMG7646.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/allochris/CIMG7648.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/allochris/CIMG7650.jpg[/img]


driving downhill from roger's pass

[img]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/allochris/CIMG7653.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/allochris/CIMG7654.jpg[/img]

through the revelstoke/3 valley gap, shuwswap, okanagan was definetely a blast, as it's all downhill until we had to climb a couple mtns on the coquihalla hwy, ranging from 200m al to 1400m al & again and again for at least 5-6 times. Of course, that involved lots of 3rd & even 2nd gear at some place just to get us rolling up the hwy! Finally, after we climbed the last hill, we pretty much descended 1400m the whole way down the coquihalla hwy to hope in about 30mins time.

I don't know how we did Toronto-Vancouver in 3days with all that load, seems crazy to me, and that's including a sleep-over at a friend's place in calgary!

[img]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/allochris/CIMG7665.jpg[/img]

The difference in engine performance wise b4/after this drive:
-louder coolant rushing sound when starting out in 1st gear with heater core opened (warm air)
-constant up and down rpm while idling (700-1500rpm)
-starting to burn oil. Did oil change just b4 the trip with 5w30. during the drive (4600km) i've put in about 2L of oil. is this acceptable


Gas mileage:
-(b4 trip, no camper/boat, just flat deck): 11.5-12l/100km

-best during trip: 12.9l/100km
-average: 13l/100km
-worst: 15l/100km
-whole trip: 4700km Toronto/Vancouver, $700Cad burned into the atmosphere

Gas price: (ouch!)
Toronto cheapest: 1.06
sault st marie: 1.09
winnepeg: 1.199
Medicine hat: 1.1
Calgary: 1.17
Field: 1.18
Golden: 1.259
Hope: 1.22
abbosford: 1.18
vancouver: 1.27