1997 Chinook Side Entry Build/Update

[noluck]

post up some pictures if you get a chance, looks like you are getting to the bottom of the handling issues

[Blewett]

My wife knocked out some amazing curtains before the trip.

[Blewett]

post up some pictures if you get a chance, looks like you are getting to the bottom of the handling issues

I was so busy trying to knock out the projects that I didn't take any photos. I will try to make up for it with some photos of the trip. The handling is dialed I couldn't be more happy.

[Blewett]

Road Trip

With most of the projects done we hit the road.

We took the ferry to Vancouver Island and spent a few days bopping around.

On the second night I realized the cut out between the chassis battery and camper batteries stopped working. I just manually connected the battery in the morning and disconnected it at night.

[Blewett]

We caught another ferry out of Port Hardy to Bella Coola with a ferry connection in Bella Bella for a total of 18 hours of ferry ride. For some reason the ferries run at night in the winter and you are not allowed to go back to your vehicle. Made for a long night. We left at 6pm and changed ferries at 3 am in Bella Bella a torrential down pour.

The final ferry to Bella Coola only has one entrance and required backing down a long narrow loading ramp half asleep.

But the weather improved by daylight for some impressive views.

After landing we found a campsite and tried to get some sleep. Only to have another mouse come into the camper. I saw another mouse poke its head in where the water tank comes through the floor. I crammed the with a bunch of junk and chased the remaining mouse out of the back hatch. The next day I got some foam from the tiny hardware store and sealed the hole. This was the last mouse problem we had.

[Blewett]

After leaving Bella Coola we didn't have cell reception for 4 days and covered close to 400 miles with over 150 being on dirt roads. The new shocks did an amazing job on some really rough roads.

[Blewett]

We spent several nights at different camp sites on forest service land

[Blewett]

We eventually got to Williams Lake and headed south on 97 before taking hwy 99.

This was probably one of the prettiest sections of roads I have ever been on. From Lillooet to Pemberton it was also one of the steepest, tightest and roughest paved roads I have been on.

We spent several days poking around Whistler and Squamish before crossing the boarder on black Friday and headed home.

We drove about 1500 miles and had no problems. I was impressed with how much of an impact the sway bars and shocks made. I was also impressed with how well the camper did on snow and ice. I still want to do a 4x4 swap but I moved it farther down on my list.

[Blewett]

Oh and we made a friend in Bella Coola who was nice enough to pose for a photo.

[noluck]

i do the duffy on the harley every year, it is one of my favorites