phobe

It's the Evo 3, and not the turbo sports sedan from Japan.

2009 Coleman Camping Trailers | Coleman Trailers

I've been sniffing around for a lightweight toy hauler that we could pull with the FJ Cruiser and decided that a "sport utility popup" was the best option. The smallest hardwall toy hauler campers I could find were still too heavy, and way pricey. I looked at a couple different models, particularly the Starcraft equivalent, but the features and build quality of the Coleman won me over. It's extremely roomy when opened up, and the Toyota should pull it with relative ease.

I plan to use it for the racetrack, so I'll be selling off my kidnapper van and installing my Pitbull trailer restraint on the Evo's deck.

We're going to start doing some camping, and in the future a dirtbike will hopefully inhabit the deck for some weekends out west.

We'll be picking it up probably next week, and plan to take it out for Victoria Day long weekend in May. I'm excited to try it out and I'll give my full report.

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G-ForceJunkie

Looks like fun!

Heavy-Dee

Got any better pics of the deck? You can get your race bike on it?

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SheepOfBlue

You can put a bike in one Those are great but the Coleman we had as a kid folding down low also

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CBRVFR

I'm guessing you don't really get the concept of the humor of 'Engrish.'

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BobcatSig

WIN!

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SheepOfBlue

It was morning.... I told you in morning I only run at 50% (thus missing letters) Now get back to packing

Fixed enough so bite me :
You can put a bike in one Those are great but the Coleman we had, when I was a kid, folded down low also

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phobe

I don't have any good pics yet, but here's one taken with my phone...

You don't haul stuff on top of it or in it... There is a 4x8' deck on the front, with folding aluminum ramps that function as rails. It'll accept 1 quad or 2 bikes.

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__________________
Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
-Dark Helmet

Crime ain't sumfin you should do. It's sumfin you should don't.
-Ali G

ONEvcs

I'll be all ears for your report. That looks like something I might be interested in.

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Heavy-Dee

+1

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luvtolean

I don't know if it's a Coleman, but a co-worker has a similar rig for going to Burning Man, and tow it with an old Xterra.

They love it.

His also works as a good utility trailer when you pull the "tent" out.

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phobe

They used to be branded as a Fleetwood, but they've gone back to the Coleman name.

Starcraft makes a series that's almost identical, but the features and build quality were head and shoulders above on the Coleman. Plus the Coleman was a couple grand cheaper.

edit: also the Coleman matches our yellow FJ. :P

__________________
Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
-Dark Helmet

Crime ain't sumfin you should do. It's sumfin you should don't.
-Ali G

SomeStrangeGuy

It looks like you could even have some pigs in the little front pen area if you weren't going riding, pretty cool

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SheepOfBlue

Ahh very cool.

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ND4SPD

Wow, that looks pretty impressive for a pop-up. Enjoy it!

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bda116

Those things are pretty cool. Very popular around here with the dirty toy crowd.
I like them far better than your typical toy hauler that stores your dirty toys in the living area. Plus you can have your toys on the rig and sleep at the same time, most toy hauler trailers don't allow that.
You also get better mileage with them.

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phobe

Ya I never liked the idea of storing a dirty bike in the kitchen. The haulers with separate garage areas start at about 31 feet and you need a 1-ton... This will pull behind the Toyota nicely.

__________________
Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
-Dark Helmet

Crime ain't sumfin you should do. It's sumfin you should don't.
-Ali G

Jetbdude

I agree that with a dirt bike they are ideal, but I much ratter have my bike inside. A girl that races at Shannonville bought one. Very nice.

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ONEvcs

The girl?

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Jetbdude

Actually, both

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phobe

And now my full report on this trailer:




Hell if I know! Maybe I'll never know.

I got laid off on Monday night so I postponed the purchase indefinitely. We'd already had the hitch installed on the FJ and everything was ready to go. Losing my job really caught me off guard. Through the (very difficult) last few months I had ran my department very lean and did what I thought was neccessary to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Some very positive signs were starting to show and we were making progress towards a profitable month, the first of the year. My bosses panicked at the numbers and fired a bunch of people. As far as management goes I was low man on the totem pole so my chunk of the payroll was the easiest to shed. I believe it was a short-sighted decision that they are going to start regretting very soon.

It will almost certainly turn into a blessing in disguise for me... I was at a dead end in a family-owned dealership with no further room for advancement. I already have a couple of offers on the table. I'll be making a decision tomorrow afternoon and probably re-join the work force by Wednesday. My most promising offer is a middle-management position within a major dealer group that will open a lot of doors for me if I can make a splash and get myself noticed for the right reasons... which I think I will.

As for the camper... Right now I'm looking at 6x10 cargo trailers instead to haul my motorcycles. The security and protection of a proper cargo trailer for my expensive toys is pretty tough to beat. We still want to get into more of an outdoor lifestyle and will probably look at small lightweight hardwall campers (without toy hauling capabilities) after the wedding, so I don't think the "Evo" is going to happen. The friends that we are likely to camp with don't play with motorcycles, so my trail-riding (on the dirtbike that I'll eventually buy) will be done on different weekends anyway... with my trail-riding buddies.

Sorry I couldn't give a review! I still think it's a cool little unit but I don't think it's gonna happen.

__________________
Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
-Dark Helmet

Crime ain't sumfin you should do. It's sumfin you should don't.
-Ali G

SheepOfBlue

wow! hope your new job works out for you.

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Hammer

Sorry Phobe, but you are young and a hell of a guy and very smart. Good luck to ya bro.

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RedRider

Sorry to hear, Phobe. You've got a lot going for you...I'm sure you'll land something soon.

phobe

THe credit crunch hit us hard in retail... we had a 50% delivery ratio on cars we sold last month.

I went home, updated my resume and made a list of places I wanted to work. It might surprise some here to hear what my top 2 were, given the righteous know-it-all trash I've spewed here over the years. Ford and Hyundai. I'd happily give my reasons if anyone wants to hear...

Depending on what they offer, I could be the floor manager in a Hyundai store by tomorrow afternoon, with my sights set on a new car manager position and eventually GM. If that doesn't pan out, I've got my choice of 2 Toyota stores, but neither of them are ideal scenarios for me right now. I've also been offered a position as finance manager at a Honda store (within the same group as the Hyundai store) but I just never really wanted to work in "the box" as we call it. I won't give my reasons for that.

So like I said, it was definitely a shock to the system but should turn out to be a positive change in my life.

__________________
Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
-Dark Helmet

Crime ain't sumfin you should do. It's sumfin you should don't.
-Ali G

SomeStrangeGuy

Phobe, I am sorry to hear the loss dude, that sucks. I am glad to hear you're already updated and moving ahead with something.

I won't speculate as to your thoughts on moves, but I will say I agree with both/either (Hyundai/Ford) 100%. The situation above sounds better to me personally as I believe Hyundai is one of the ones that will be a good company on the other side of this mess. They also have alot of interesting cars coming out, and they produce a few inexpensive subcompacts with decent warranties that should still keep the load load to a minimum.

Good luck in whichever you end up with, not that you'll need it

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Jetbdude

Good luck with the new challenge! You seem to have the good attitude about the whole thing, so should go well

Now that you won't get it, I'm 99.9% sure that you would have regret the EVO with your bike. Think you're going to a race on a Thursday evening and it's pissing rain. The nice 600RR is getting everything coming out of the back wheel of the FJ right in the face, or the cover you put on it is flapping so hard that it's scratching that nice paint job. This is a dirt bike toy, not a trick out race bike one.

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ONEvcs

I'm sure you'll bounce back to a higher level.

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"Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has."
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luvtolean

Good luck phobe.

I watched some commercial on the what is it, Tiburon?, drifting with Smashing Pumpkins providing the music, but still...damn, what an ugly, downright stupid looking car. The Koreans seem to struggle like hell with styling.

Ford....I can see that...

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phobe

Ya the Genesis coupe... it's hideous.

__________________
Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
-Dark Helmet

Crime ain't sumfin you should do. It's sumfin you should don't.
-Ali G