coheed Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 So, I saw this Comanche on Instagram one day and decided to ask if I could get any info on the camper. The guy ended up messaging me and said he still had it and would sell if I was interested. When he said he still had it I started doing some research to see what I was getting into. From what I can tell this model was first introduced as the Country Squire in the late 70's, as shown in this sales ad>> 1980.Coleman®CampingTrailersFlyer.pdf Then in 1981 they changed the styling just a tad and renamed the larger version the Wrangler and the smaller one the Maverick. These seem to be in incredibly short supply. I can only find a few Facebook posts, including one guy in Uruguay looking for info on his, 2 sales ads, and a few pictures of the Wrangler versions as well as a parts diagram book. The only pictures I have been able to find of a Maverick are of the model that I currently own, and one on a Ranger. Here it is with the first Comanche it was on, and at the shipping location before it went to the guy I bought it off of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted December 10, 2023 Author Share Posted December 10, 2023 According to the picture of the manufactures tag in a pic from the original owner the camper was built on Oct 12, 1981. It also is supposed to only weigh 806lbs with 5 gallons of water, 10lbs of propane, and 25lbs of ice which is a perfect weight for a Comanche. It's also 85 1/2" long so you have just enough space to close the tailgate with it strapped in place. We communicated a good bit before I made the 1200 mile round trip to come buy the camper, and I think I got it for a decent price. He was very up front about the fact the roof seals had gone bad and there was wood damage, as well as the few spots the canvas needed repaired. In all honesty I had been looking at Alaskan campers, Fourwheel campers, and Skampers of the same era that were all more expensive and much heavier than the Coleman. So the prospect of having to do some work didn't detter me just because this thing was too cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted December 10, 2023 Author Share Posted December 10, 2023 So, one really cool thing about this camper compared to others of the era is they used 7/8" square steel tube for most of the structure, the telescoping legs are stainless, and the frame of the roof is basically 3/16" angle. That means all the rotten wood doesn't really give the camper structure. So, it's fairly easy to lift and move it in and out of the truck. The original wood is MDF like with an elm laminate over top. That said otherwise the camper is literally all original, including the ice box/cooler, the fire extinguisher, the propane tank, and the water jug. He also gave me the original cushions that I haven't taken a picture of yet. The only original accessory I didn't end up with is the table. It's got shore water hookups and a 12v light, but I think I might add a small 12v battery and a removable solar panel down the road. It also has the original 2 burner propane stove, though the gas line may need replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted December 10, 2023 Author Share Posted December 10, 2023 The canvas has 2 small rips over the pass side bed, which will be an easy patch because they're small. The big ones are the back pass window panel and the panel that connects the canvas to the frame on the back driver's side. I may end up outsourcing the replacement of these as there are some decent pop-up trailer replacement canvas businesses. I may buy a sewing machine and do it myself, who knows. It also has a surprising amount of room inside even with the top all the way down. I'm a little too tall to sleep in the back with the top down, but I'm positive some could. And of course, I had to christen it with something Comancheclub and I felt the Don sticker fit best on the cooler. The truck needs floors before the camper will get major work done on it, but I'd like to get at least the roof done relatively quickly to stop more water pouring in. This one will probably be slow going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 That is super cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 blast from the past!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 That will be a fun project. Congrats!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle_SX4 Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 Awesome camper!! My dad has a '67 Aristocrat Lo-Liner that gets out 2-3 times a year. He hooked it up to his eagle to move it around the yard and had to snap a pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff351 Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 really cool project. Brings back memories when i was a kid camping in the family Coleman pop-up camper. I can almost smell it just by seeing your pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 On 12/11/2023 at 6:53 PM, jeff351 said: really cool project. Brings back memories when i was a kid camping in the family Coleman pop-up camper. I can almost smell it just by seeing your pictures. Glad I could bring back some fond memories. And yes it smells exactly like that Finally got around to doing some actual work on it. Disassembled essentially everything in the interior except the benches. Bagged and tagged all the hardware so I don't forget what's what. The cabinets were only made of 1"x2" with 1/8" veneer over top of it. Should be very easy to replicate with nicer modern materials. The benches and countertops are cheap 80s particle board cabinet material, so I may even be able to shave a few pounds in the wood department. Also found out that surprisingly most of the roof and walls are just straight up Styrofoam. Not sure what the best way to replace/redo that will be. Presumably foam board. Not so much worried about insulation as the sides are canvas, so if anyone has a better/cheaper suggestion I'm all for it. Would really like to put a 12 volt battery in the bottom pass side cabinet where the optional furnace would've been installed and maybe get a solar panel on the top. Apparently you could get a optional boat rack for the roof so I know weight won't be a concern. Been looking at roof vents and for as much as they are I think I'm going to go to a bigger one that doubles as a skylight. I also bought a Singer sewing machine that'll do canvas. There are some very reputable camper canvas replication companies, but their lead times are near year long lengths and I'm hoping to head out west with it this summer. Plus it'll be way cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 How far west are you going??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 7 hours ago, fiatslug87 said: How far west are you going??? I've got family planning on being in Oregon but haven't gotten all the details ironed out yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefCooks Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 DAAAAANG!!! This thing is SICK! I thought my Wildernest was the best camper for these old trucks but this is the pinnacle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 7 hours ago, JefCooks said: DAAAAANG!!! This thing is SICK! I thought my Wildernest was the best camper for these old trucks but this is the pinnacle! Now that's a tough call. Originally my ideal would've been a Wildernest, but obviously finding one that fits a longbed is a needle in a haystack search as you know lol. A Wildernest would definitely cut on weight compared to this, but it's got storage and camp kitchen already built in which is nice. And no fiberglass to worry about. I'm still trying to figure out how the boat rack would've been attached to the roof though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefCooks Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 If I’m ever out east I’ll let you know and we can talk about a swap lol. As far as the boat rack, if you don’t find some built in supports when you redo the roof then it probably mounted to the structural angle iron. Congrats on the rad find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir495 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 This is so cool. You have to post pictures of your adventures in this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 On 2/14/2024 at 10:00 AM, JefCooks said: If I’m ever out east I’ll let you know and we can talk about a swap lol. As far as the boat rack, if you don’t find some built in supports when you redo the roof then it probably mounted to the structural angle iron. Congrats on the rad find! Hey at the very least a photo shoot would be necessary lol. Digging into the roof more I'm even more puzzled though. On 2/21/2024 at 8:25 PM, Drahcir495 said: This is so cool. You have to post pictures of your adventures in this Oh I definitely will. Life at the moment is keeping me from traveling a lot, but I'm trying to gear myself up for when that opens up I'll be very prepared to goof off far and wide. So I dug into the camper much deeper last Saturday. Got the canvas fully pulled off so I can remove the bad sections and make templates to recreate them. Got some swatches in to try and color match and surprisingly the natural canvas is the closest color match. I might try to use some RIT dye to match, not sure yet. And I'm still perplexed by the roof. I donned my respirator and started pulling the ceiling off. The whole thing is moldy. It very much seems like the Styrofoam is just glued to the aluminum roof skin. I had to jam my scraper in between the foam and whatever it's glued to rather hard just to get this little bit off. Also, the foam is completely soaked in water. Judging by the surface area and how much water comes out I think it probably adds about 75 lbs to the camper Also pulled the veneers off to get an idea of how the lower "walls" were built. Seems like 1/8" ply with what was advertised as a distressed elm veneer. The outside seems to just be 1/4" ply. Elm is nigh impossible to get in a typical lumber store but I've found a very small husband and wife team that sells specialty veneers for very reasonable prices so I can keep the interior in the red elm it originally came with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted Thursday at 03:48 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 03:48 PM Slowly digging and digging. Got the foam mostly off of the roof. Still can't figure out where a boat rack would have attached to. The entire middle is just the aluminum skin on foam, which gives no real rigidity. The outside edge has a this weird 1 1/4" quarter round to give the curve of the roof structure. Couldn't find anywhere local that sold anything similar without a massive tool set up cost. Menards sells 1 1/4" quarter round, but I'm not taking a 10 hour trip for 24' of trim. I'm gonna use the router table at work and try and replicate it as best I can out of 2"x2" since all of it is rotten. At some point a critter had burrowed tunnels through the roof foam. Not sure what would burrow into styrofoam, but I know I don't want it in my camper lol. The fold out sides are more rotten that I thought, meaning I'll need to rebuild them as well. Aiming to get the roof redone in the next few weeks as I was taking some screws out of the door frame and about a gallon of water shot out. So, I want to get the roof to a point where the frame isn't taking on water anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted 1 hour ago Share Posted 1 hour ago probably mice, but I agree, I don't want anything burrowing into my sleeping area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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