Field Test 4

Field testing never ends - nor should it.

This trip had nine days of camper use and 3900 miles of driving.

The fourth field test went smoothly as expected after the previous tests with camper # 1. But we encountered a few things that merit fixing; small things that are easy to fix.

But first, there were a few things that had been changed since the last field test that were of particular interest:

The new (patented) cover with the radiant barrier demonstrated its effectiveness. The radiant barrier blocks heat from entering when it is hot and sunny and retains heat inside the tent when using a heater. On the second day of use we were in the far west end of Oklahoma under a clear sky with the temperature at 88 degrees. You may know how tents behave under sun. They get hot inside - much hotter than than the outside temperature. We started the day without the cover. Sitting at the table inside the camper when the sun was high, we could feel heat building inside the tent. It had become uncomfortable. The cover was pulled over the tent and the effect was immediate. Heat radiated through the top of the tent was gone and it was cooler inside by more than 10 degrees. It was like sitting in the shade while a light breeze came through the large open windows. It was pleasant.

As mentioned below, the radiant barrier also improved cold weather performance.

The cover without the radiant barrier that was used in earlier field tests did not stop heat from entering when hot outside or from escaping when cold outside.

The new corners that hold the main tent poles worked well. The change was to make them quick and easy to attach to the trailer rather than having to twist knurled nuts onto screws at each corner. That was a nice fix that reduced setup time and eliminated handling small parts with in the cold with ungloved hands.

We also wanted more experience with our catalytic propane heater. How much ventilation did we need to prevent carbon monoxide buildup? Our Camco heater is advertised as 99.9% efficient. If so, that means we could run it on high without worrying about fumes or carbon monoxide and that we had allowed too much ventilation during previous cold camping. We left Oklahoma for some boondocking at 9300 feet in the mountains a little west of Buena Vista Colorado. We learned that we could keep the windows zipped closed while running our Olympian Wave 3 catalytic propane heater on high all night without setting off our carbon monoxide detector. Nor were we aware of the fumes created by other types of propane heaters. That is what we had expected, but it was nice to verify. In the mountains the night time lows were in the mid 20s to mid 30s. The Olympian 3 produces 3K BTUs on high. It kept the temperature in the tent fine for sleeping, but a little nippy rolling out in the morning. There are two propane quick connects in the Cumberland, so we could run two 3K heaters. But in future, we will likely use one Olympian Wave 6 that that produces 3K BTUs on low and up to 6K BTUs on high. At 3K BTUs an Olympian heater will run for about 140 hours on a full 20 pound propane tank vs about 70 hours running at 6K BTUs. That will get you through a week of cold nights. The Wave 6 is a better choice for the Cumberland since it provides the ability to run anywhere between 3K and 6K BTUs.

Well, we've camped in cold temperatures in unheated ground tents. We must be getting soft.

Boondocking at 9300' in Colorado with prototype 2

We did some beautiful (and strenuous) day hikes from here.

A few days later in the Tetons we had an electrical hookup and were able to use our 1500 watt compact (about 6" diameter x 10" high) electric heater that puts out about twice the BTUs as the Olympia 3. We maintained an inside temperature between 55 and 60 degrees with the outside temperature in the low 30s. Getting up in the morning was more comfortable. One night we set the electric heater to 50 degrees with the outside temperature in the 40s. The heater never came on until we turned it up in the morning. The radiant barrier in the cover had something to do with that. The next night we set the heater to 60 degrees with the outside temperature in the low 30s. The heater ran most of the night but kept the camper warm. We did not find it necessary, but we could have run both the propane and electric heater or we could have used two electric heaters since each electrical wall plate in the Cumberland will handle a little over 1500 Watts.

We did some cooking inside the tent on this trip and report on that in a separate blog. A thing we confirmed is that, when boondocking and using our portable propane stove inside, we only needed very low flame settings to fry eggs and bacon and medium settings to boil water quickly. We never needed to crank up the heat. In fact, the issue was sometimes balancing the burner between low enough and high enough to stay lit.

Unlike previous field tests, the weather for this entire trip was dry and sunny, though hot in the Oklahoma desert and cool to cold in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.

On this and previous trips, we used a 77 quart 'Lifetime' cooler we bought at Walmart. Its a good cooler for the money. It keeps ice well and the contents cold. We now think that the 55 quart version is large enough for two people and enough ice for 4 to 5 days at a time and plan to try that in the future. Smaller is better if it does the job. We learned the hard way that eggs need to be protected in a plastic egg case rather than the carton they are sold in.

There are now some good large capacity portable lithium battery power packs with 110V AC 30 amp outlets that could be connected to the Cumberland's electrical system to run one of the nice portable refrigerators now on the market. One of these will fit easily into the space we put our 77 quart cooler. These also can be recharged with portable solar cell sheets. We haven't used one yet because our cooler works well for us.

As in previous trips, we received a few unsolicited compliments on the Cumberland from others in the campground.