Are You a Hunter Shadow Owner?

[Sarge]

Rob,

It was my pleasure to show off my Hunter Fat Shadow trailer.

Anyone else in the San Francisco Bay Area that wants to see one in person, just send me a personal email and we can arrange a time and location to meet.

BTW, I just installed a piano hinge on the floor boards per Dave's recommendation. Looks great and works great. Thanks Dave.


Also, decided to use my AC battery charger to top-off the battery. Took all of about 3 minutes to access the battery, hook up the charger and begin charging. A non-issue in my mind. Took longer to locate and access the battery charger in my less-than-organized garage.

Now comes the hard part...convincing a 7+ month pregnant woman to go camping.

Take care,

-Sarge

[San Diegan]

Hey Sarge,

I think it's pretty nice of you to let others have a look at your tear. My Hunter order was based on the HOP web site, Camp ADK, Mike B.'s site, and conversations with SuZanne and Phil. I wish I could see one in person, but am nevertheless committed to my decision. I had initiated my interest by ordering the Kufflel Creek plans. Kevin is just a great guy and followed up with personal e-mail on my questions. I realized that while I would love to build a Comet, family, work, and diverse interests would not allow for a completion date any time soon. I'll use a lot of the information I obtained while considering a build, and probably proceed on a project, but I also expect that the Hunter is a quality product that I will be able to put to immediate use.

So there's another little sarge on the way. That is pretty special. My wife looks back at her pregnancies as the most fulfilling times of her life. She was uncomforatable during those times, but has good memories of a sense of well being. I suspect you and the eldest young one are on your own camping until the happy event comes to pass and for some time thereafter. Time passes quickly and before you know it, you, Mrs. Sarge, and the two young ones will be out there enjoying your enthusiasm for camping with your Fat Shadow.

I've just returned from an Anza Borrego trip. No tear yet (I slept in the back of the car), but I did get in some good hiking up Sheep Canyon. And I did get to see some Borrego; 5 or 6 adults and about 8 juveniles picking their way along an utterly impossible game trail above me. I spent about 45 minutes absolutely stationary, just taking them in. They are pretty skittish. Sheep Canyon winds up to a wonderful waterfall, palms, lichen coated rocks, and the proverbial oasis in the desert. There are a number of these canyons out in Anza Borrego, and I never get tired of exploring them. Not what you would expect of a desert wasteland. I am looking forward to having the HU-1 as my base camp for these experiences.

Tom

[Sarge]

San Diegan,

I love camping and I do hope to pass that on to the little Sarge(s). As you mentioned, it is also my hope to give Mrs. Sarge some time on her own by talking the troops camping. When she's up to it, I'm sure she'll sign on. Meanwhile, I've recruited some other fathers and their little ones to go camping.

Regarding seeing a Hunter before purchasing - the only one that I had access to before buying was the Eddie Bauer display model. Of course, I only live 8 blocks from the store so I could see it quite often.

Your trip to the desert sounds great. I too love to hike and would love to use the Fat Shadow as base camp for day trips. With my 3 year old, those trips are about 1 mile round-trip and take hours! I look forward to being able to go on longer hikes again, but seeing the world through 3 year old's eyes is precious.

I hope we have the chance to meet when you come up here.

Best Regards,

-Sarge

[capsu78]

Dave at ADK,
The EB version of the Hunter is mostly a full optioned unit with a couple of trim differences- "Hunter Green" trailer frame and wheel well covers, a special floor pattern in the galley, green cushions. It is also anondized so for better or worse, I won't be using your polishing tips.
If it has one issue I would reconsider, it would be the 4x 8 size. A foot in either or both directions would make a real comfort difference come bed time. My wife is a little prone to claustrophibia, so she woke up the first night and had to open the side door... until she met the Wisconsin mosquito. However my original purchase thought was to match up with my VW, so I didn't want the extra size during my original purchase plan anyway.
I am hoping to get out around April 15 for our first trip, and to try to do a trip a month until November. So far we have only done campground camping as my wife is willing to rough it only if a shower is involved. Other than that, and in the case of us having "cross words", she says I can meet her up at the nearest Hilton.
Dave

[San Diegan]

The anodization issue was just brought up in Teardrop Construction Tips & Techniques. I'll be interested to see how those with experience weigh in on this.

Sarge, I'll keep you up to date as we get closer to delivery. Sounds like my HU-1 and little Sarge II are about on the same schedule.

Tom

[campadk]

Dave at ADK,
The EB version of the Hunter is mostly a full optioned unit with a couple of trim differences- "Hunter Green" trailer frame and wheel well covers, a special floor pattern in the galley, green cushions. It is also anondized so for better or worse, I won't be using your polishing tips.
If it has one issue I would reconsider, it would be the 4x 8 size. A foot in either or both directions would make a real comfort difference come bed time.

Dave

Yup on the 4x8. We almost bought a 4x8 from a guy here in Ontario who was going to build one for us... we were new to teardrops at that point. I started asking question about there being door seals.. and think I scared him off. Luckily cuz the 4x8 was tight, and we ended up with 4x10 which gives you some head space, and extra storage. As I always say though... the ideal tear size is 4.5x10.

[San Diegan]

So, I got to thinking. I am one of those who ordered the tongue mounted spare tire.



A tire ring and insert would dress things up nicely.



Now with the insert and fenders painted to match the tow vehicle...

Tom