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If you are like me, I need help at
times. I purchased a Bunkhouse Camper no instructions as to how to set-up
or fold it back into it's neat little shell were enclosed. The guy at Bunkhouse
did show me how to fold it up properly, and I think I've shown you with some
extra tips how to do it properly.
In this article are some good hints and
a good primer to refresh you prior to going camping.
I accept no responsibility as to any damage
to your camper, follow this procedure at your own risk.
I think you'll be happy with the results.
To the right is your trailer all packed
up.
The initial first thing to do is lower
the 4 jack stands and level the trailer.
Stands not shown to conserve space here.
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The cover is pretty snug upon the
camper frame.
Step 1.
Unhook the bungee cords from the
5 hooks located around the trailer sides and
in the rear.
Step 2.
Then lift each corner of the cover up a
few inches as to get it started up over the tent unit.
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| Step 3.
Finish removing cover from trailer
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Step 4.
The tent is now ready to be unfolded.
I always place a plastic tarp on the ground
to protect the tent floor from punctures and moisture from the ground. On
rough surfaces with gravel I try and clear the area well first. If there is
just a gravel surface I have a carpet I put inside the tent
but on a gravel surface it goes under the tent
floor upon the plastic tarp for puncture protection.
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| Step 5.
First unfold first fold of tent floor.
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Step 6.
Next lay rest of floor onto ground.
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| Step 7.
Lift up tent room poles and let tent hang
as shown.
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Step 8.
Next open up bed unit and fold down metal
extension legs and adjust to ground height.
(Note: My yard was not level and trailer
is not
level either, so pardon the cattywhompus look,
if this had been an actual camping experience it would have been leveled properly.
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| Step 9.
Raise up right most tent pole till it clicks
on each side.
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Step 10.
Next extend the middle tent pole till it
clicks into place upon each side.
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| Step 11.
The left hand most pole has two sections
that extend outward, a straight section and a U shaped section that extends
into the tent top.
Extend the straight sections first till
they click and lock in place.
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Step 12.
extend the U shaped section till it locks
on each side. Fluff out the floor area and unzip door to front room.
You can then place a carpet upon the floor or rug if you prefer. You can also
set up the attached front awning with the poles that come with your unit.
Awning is not set up in this picture.
You are now set up and ready to camp.
Actually set-up is done in 2 to 3 minuets with
help and 5 to 6 when done by yourself. If setting up by yourself I
use some spring loaded clamps with rubber tips on them to place on poles as
I extend them and walk from side to side till sections are fully extended.
Making sure I do not extend the poles to far, as not to place too much pressure
on pole sections.
No big deal just takes several minuets longer
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Time to Go Home
A word of
if you notice the Bunkhouse has external tent
poles on the room portion of the camper. In the bed portion of the camper
the tent poles are internal, (inside the tent itself). Caution should be taken
to pull the tent material outward in the bed portion of the camper and inward
on the room portion of the camper. Reason being to keep from pinching the
tent material between the tent poles and wearing a premature hole in the
material.
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The art of packing
up your camper is not
hard
but I've tried to put in some hints
that should
make your packing up easier
and extend
the life of your camper to
it's fullest. |
| Step 1.
Remove articles from inside tent and remove
carpet if placed inside at set-up.
Retract room tent poles in reverse order as
in Set-Up.
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Step 2.
Next step is to fold in bed unit back over
trailer.
Hint: There are a set of white ties as
indicated in picture to the left. Pull them upward as this forms a
triangle as shown, this keeps the tent material from being pinched between
the bed board as it is folded down..
Hint: As you fold up bed unit pull tent
material
outward from between tent poles inside the
bed unit. Again, to keep from pinching tent material from in between poles.
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| Hint:
As you fold the metal legs up it is good
to place a piece of cloth or a towel between the legs and bed bottom. This
protects the surface of bed board and keeps gray coloring off your surface
material.
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Hint:
Now that you've protected the bed board,
the tent top folds over and on top of the metal leg assembly. To protect
it I place my carpet for the inside of the tent on top of the metal legs
for two reasons.
1. To keep coloring off tent top.
2. The hinge brackets that the legs attach
to are
somewhat protruding, the
carpet protects and
pads the brackets from puncturing
your tent
top as shown below.
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| Hint:
As you fold the tent room portion of the
camper
back over onto the trailer itself the top of
the tent will rest upon the hinge brackets as mentioned.
If you open the zippered front door you can
see inside the tent where the brackets are pressing against the top of the
tent after it has been folded in place.
The Carpet is placed over the let brackets
as it pads them to provide a smooth surface for the top to rest upon.
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Step 3.
After you have formed the triangle as explained
and kept the tent material pulled out of the bed unit tent poles, and as you
can see the tent material is inside the external tent poles on the room unit.
Fold the hinged room unit onto the trailer and fold the "triangle" of material
formed in the prior step in between the top of the bed board and under the
room unit, the tent material from the bed unit automatically fold into this
area also.
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| Step 4.
Your unit should look like this now.
(Note the tent material bulging out from
the room unit)
Take hold of the zippered edge of the tent
on top and lift and fold the bulged material up into and under the front of
the tent on both sides.
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Step 5.
Now take the floor of the tent and fold
onto the trailer and with the tent material folded in as described it should
look like the picture to the left.
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| Step 6.
You now have a small portion of the tent
floor hanging down in the previous picture. Unzip a portion of the front
door to let air escape from the tent material and fold over the trailer as
pictured to the right.
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Step 7.
You can now place your tarp or other coverings
upon the top of your trailer and then place the cover upon the trailer.
The first step to placing the cover on the
trailer is to find the bungee cord that hooks to the rear of the trailer,
(the front of the trailer has no hook).
Place the cover with this bungee cord to the
rear.
Hook one corner of the cover over the trailer
corner but not all the way down.
Then slip the opposite cover corner down on
it's corner. Follow with the other two remaining corners.
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| Step 8.
Work the cover down going from corner to
corner as the cover is a snug fit and will not simply go on all at once.
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Step 9.
Now that the cover is completely on the
trailer,
hook the bungee cords to the 2 hooks on each
side of the trailer and 1 hook in the rear.
You can now retract all of your jack stands
and
hook the trailer to the bike.
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