My Goldilocks trailer - Kimberley Kamper (1 Viewer)

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Romer

fatherofdaughterofromer
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I know, didnt I just buy an Adventure Trailer Horizon last year? Yes and it's a great trailer (For sale :) in classifieds)

I started out with a Jayco Baja. The Jayco Baja was really comfortable, but the wood would fall apart when I went on a mild trail, so I sold it and bought a Adventure Trailer Horizon. At the time I wanted a Kimberley, but there are like 20-25 in the states and hard to come by. I ended up buying an Adventure Trailer Horizon. Very capable off road with lots of capabilities. The tent I installed had a changing room and was fine when it was just me in Moab. With Rachel, it was smaller then I would like. It would fit 3 people fine.

Then I saw an ad for a 2002 Kimberely Kamper and after thinking about it for 10 days, I bought it.

This camper is just right for me. I can take it off road on mild trails

The Jayco Baja took about 20 minutes to setup, the AT took 10 minutes ( 20 with both awnings). If I am just camping overnight, this takes 3 minutes and has lots of room.

The cool thing about this is its expandability depending on what you are doing

The roof quickly folds down expanding the tent with it. All you have to do to be fully setup is expand one bar inside the tent area and then pull out the kitchen. Takes about 3 minutes

Quick and comfy area with storage under the bed. You can also sleep two on the floor with pads. LED lights at the back of the bed for reading.

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There is a lot of expandability to this camper, and I didn't want to figure it out on the trail so I put it up in my backyard today.

First you add the bathroom and then the awning

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When you are going to stay in a place longer and need more protection from the weather or you have more people to have room for, you add the walls

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Lots of room inside:bounce:

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There is also lots of storage. There is the big box in front. There is a big storage area behind the stove and even a small one in the sink part

Then there is a sliding metal basket under the bed and and small compartment in front of it. You can also strap a bunch of stuff to the roof if needed

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Mine is a 2002, the newer ones have two gull wing boxes on the front instead of the big box and are longer. They have a slideout fridge/freezer.

I have two fridges and will just set one on the ground in the kitchen area and keep the other in my cruiser
 
Very nice! Sure beats sleeping at the Hilton:D
 
I guess that cures the "sleeping in the vestibule" issue :lol:

Good luck with it!
 
Thats nice
 
Sweet. I got a good look at Hants' KK at Cruise Moab, I had major trailer envy!
 
very nice set up
 
Sweet Ken. Seems to fit everything you want from what you've described with the Jayco and the AT shortcomings for your needs.
 
Looks like a whole 3-ring circus could fit under that tent when it is all splayed out!
Cool!
 
The two things that this Camper didn't have that the newer ones did is space for a fridge and a Diesel Heater:

My 45Qt Engel would not fit in the front box, but measuring showed a 35qt Engel would fit. I figure that with the 50 qt ARB in my cruiser would be more then enough for Beer, some food and . . Beer. I sold the 45qt engel and called up Christo and ordered the 35qt. I'll take some pictures when it gets here.

The last two times I was in Moab it was freezing, in the 20's at night. I fortunately had a Mr Buddy heater. Those don't last all night with a 1lb bottle of propane and there is the danger of CO poisoning. Even though I had a separate CO monitor, this is not a good long term solution.

Even though I no loner have an Adventure Trailer, I talked to Martyn at AT and bought one of the Heatsource 2000 propane kits they have. I wanted propane over diesel. The Diesel Heaters tend to suck battery power (at least what I read), and I didn't want to have to carry another fuel type. I will likely get a 5 or 10lb tank as a backup as that would last a few days if the 30lb went empty.

The Heatsource came and it was time to figure out where to install it. Unfortunately, it's a bit wider than the Diesel heaters so it wouldn't fit under the bed on the sides. After a few . . .beers and a cigar, I decided the only place it would fit is the storage box under the bed. The next dilemma was how to route the hot air and return lines.

I finally decided to avoid more cutting on the underside, to route the hot air and return lines to the lid

Now the nervous part. Cutting holes in my new camper.

I first cut two holes out the back of the area for the exhaust and combustion air inlet. Next cut two holes in the lid and used a dremel to open the hole to fit the covers

In the second picture, you can see how thibk the lid is

Finally, drilled more holes for a robust mounting bracket. Don't want this bouncing around offroad
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After getting the hoses installed onto the unit, I installed it and bolted it in, drilling another hole for the propane line
I am short hose to reach where I put the air inlet, I'll order some more.

The combustion lines wrap around the underside and face the rear
The gas line connects to a propane hose and runs up to the tank. I had a custom 12 foot hose made, but got a pipe fitting end instead of a flared end to connect to the yello hose you see in the pictures. I'll take it back and get it modified. I put a seperate valve on the propane so there would only be gas in the line when I want to run the heater

I installed the temp controller just above the mattress, I used Velcro until I am sure thats where I want it.

You can see the controller in the left of the last picture and the air vent covers on the top of the storage box under the bed.

I made a groove with my dremel on the left side for the cords to run up by the lid with it remaining closed

Can't wait to get the hose replaced and test it
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Very nice.

Spressomon rocks one of these and it is extremely nice.

Congrats on finding one.
 
Ken,
What's the inside of the trailer lined with? Looks nice, like it will hold up while being easy to clean.
 
Ken,

Awesome find and nice upgrade/fix, we've been looking at/for a Kimberly for a while now, we have a large family and live just hours from Moab (as you do), just on the other side of the hill. I was wondering where you were able to find your Kimberly and if it's not to bold top ask (in print on the forum) what it took to own one of those bad boys... We started looking into Kimberly's when we became aware of them 06, we decided to contacted them last spring about having a new one shipped over, but we instead, seem to be following your path, "pop up" then.... but we'll most likely skip the smaller AT trailer because of the size of our family, 4 kids, but I think the Kimberly set up with the add a room for the kids will be the ultimate finishing touch to our mobile set up. It will fit behind an compliment our E350 4x4 extended body C.C.V. (Colorado Camper Van) Expo rig.

I'll be showing your set up to the wife and will be watching this thread for any new info/write ups that you share, thanks for all the pictures (keep them coming) an if you happen to spot another Kimberly for sale/trade or whatever I would appreciate any heads up. By the way, it would be extremely helpfully for my cause (with the wife), that if you are coming over the hill to Utah or close to it may I be so bold once again to ask, that if you wouldn't mind some strange people checking out your set up, I would be extremely grateful and honored to be able to see one in person but would completely understand if thats not possible. We've never actually seen one and that's what really stop us with pursuing a new one, not to mention price. That was the major hurdle for us with buying a Kimberly, something from over sea's sight unseen (except for online). We even went to the Overland Expo this year hopping to possibly see one, with no such luck.

Would you mind commenting on the build quality and the quality of all the parts etc. Along if there would be anything you'd change or look for next time etc.


Congrates again on your new toy and set up, thank you for sharing,

Cheers
Jamie
"Advrider"
 
Ken,

Awesome find and nice upgrade/fix, we've been looking at/for a Kimberly for a while now, we have a large family and live just hours from Moab (as you do), just on the other side of the hill. I was wondering where you were able to find your Kimberly and if it's not to bold top ask (in print on the forum) what it took to own one of those bad boys... We started looking into Kimberly's when we became aware of them 06, we decided to contacted them last spring about having a new one shipped over, but we instead, seem to be following your path, "pop up" then.... but we'll most likely skip the smaller AT trailer because of the size of our family, 4 kids, but I think the Kimberly set up with the add a room for the kids will be the ultimate finishing touch to our mobile set up. It will fit behind an compliment our E350 4x4 extended body C.C.V. (Colorado Camper Van) Expo rig.

I'll be showing your set up to the wife and will be watching this thread for any new info/write ups that you share, thanks for all the pictures (keep them coming) an if you happen to spot another Kimberly for sale/trade or whatever I would appreciate any heads up. By the way, it would be extremely helpfully for my cause (with the wife), that if you are coming over the hill to Utah or close to it may I be so bold once again to ask, that if you wouldn't mind some strange people checking out your set up, I would be extremely grateful and honored to be able to see one in person but would completely understand if thats not possible. We've never actually seen one and that's what really stop us with pursuing a new one, not to mention price. That was the major hurdle for us with buying a Kimberly, something from over sea's sight unseen (except for online). We even went to the Overland Expo this year hopping to possibly see one, with no such luck.

Would you mind commenting on the build quality and the quality of all the parts etc. Along if there would be anything you'd change or look for next time etc.


Congrates again on your new toy and set up, thank you for sharing,

Cheers
Jamie
"Advrider"

Jamie,

I don't mind showing it to anyone. There are two of us in Rising Sun now that own these.

The build quality is fantastic. This is an 8 year old camper, and other than a few small scratches, it looks new to me. You would expect the market to force that. In Australia, families go camping for weeks to months and the build quality has to last in the harsh environment and over time. There are several manuafacturers in Australia that make very similar style campers, so competition is fierce. KK is the only one I know of that tried to export to the US.

The new ones cost $30K and much of the construction is very similar to mine
 
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Ken,

Thanks for the kind words, I'm over on Portal almost every day not sure how I missed that one, but I'm glad it went to a good home.

I will be watching your post's to see if we will be by one another here anytime this summer, it would be great to get together and see the KK. We will be headed your way here very soon (next week or two) to pick up our "pop up" at my partners house (Colorado Camper Van -), he is repairing it after a friend of ours rear ended us coming home from Moab on our last holiday outing. We all felt bad that it happened especially him, but it's going back together better then new with a bunch of new features, so heres hopping the wife will be happy with her toy once again... I would post a link but I don't want to hijack your thread...

I'm originally from the Roaring Fork Valley, what part of "Central CO" or you from?

Jamie
Advrider
 
Been busy this week

The Kimberley comes with mounts to put your outboard motor. Since I don't have one, I decided to cut the mounts off and install dual batteries.

First chore was to find a box. I could not find a dual battery box for two group 31's. I couldn't find one via an Internet search. I walked into my local harbor freight looking for something else and found this for $80


This fits two GR 31's perfectly with a few inches to spare for some small stuff and a dual switch

First chore was to cut off the motor mounts
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Next install the box, batteries and switch. I also put two 12Volt Marine aux outputs on the front you can see in the last picture
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