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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / March 2006

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Venture Chalet

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Dave - 02 Mar 2006 21:41 GMT
Saw a little popup in town today and thought I would check it out.  Is
labled "Venture Chalet".

I know Venture was owned by Starcraft for a while, but haven't had any luck
there.

Google has let me down in finding any information about this cute little
popup.  Anybody heard of it or know anything about it?

TIA

Dave
tobe - 03 Mar 2006 16:41 GMT
Was it one of the campers listed at:
http://www.chaletrv.com/?
or like the one at
http://www.freedomroads.com/Pop-Up/Used/1999-Starcraft-Starcraft-Venture-40850.html?
Dave - 03 Mar 2006 18:00 GMT
This thing was a early 1970's at least.  Had that wonderful green color that
was popular at the time.  Definately a tent trailer not like the new
chalets.

Dave
> Was it one of the campers listed at:
> http://www.chaletrv.com/?
> or like the one at
> http://www.freedomroads.com/Pop-Up/Used/1999-Starcraft-Starcraft-Venture-40850.html?
tobe - 03 Mar 2006 18:21 GMT
See:
http://lemon.onecle.com/content/74V163000-STARCRAFT-VENTURE-860-1974.html
about defective frame members on a 1974 model.
Cliff Hartle - 06 Mar 2006 01:36 GMT
I believe this is the pop up that my family had when I was a teenager.

The funny thing is that I was just about to post a question about this
trailer, more about my question later.

It seems at this time early 70's, Venture was the Chevy to Starcraft's
Caddy.  The trailer was unique in that the foldout beds flipped out the
sides not front and back.  This meant that the door was in the back and that
the beds could be a little longer because they weren't constrained by the
width of the trailer.

The stove could be used either in the trailer or attached to the back to the
left of the door.  There was also a shelf that could be attached to the
right.  This appealed  to us because we were old tent campers that didn't
live in the trailer.  We usually just slept in it.  The only time the table
was up is when it was just too rainy out.  We never used the sink and the
cooler was used for storage.

It was very light and if I didn't direct my father lining up the hitch I
would just lift it up and put it where ever we needed it.  That also meant
that I could move it 90 degrees if it fit the space better.

Now here is my question.  Are there no trailers like this?  When we
purchased a new car a few years back we got a 4 cyl. Vue with a towing
capacity of 1500 lbs.  Since our venture was only about 900 lbs dry I
figured that we would get something like this and probably put only about
200 lbs of stuff in it to tow.  I probably wouldn't even fill the propane
tank and just use my Coleman propane at the table (Still a tent camper) and
not use the water tank at all.  This would put us at about 80 percent of max
tow weight.

We went to the local RV show and it seemed all the models were around 1500
lbs dry.  Did they just not have any of these cheaper models or what?

thanks cliff

> Saw a little popup in town today and thought I would check it out.  Is
> labled "Venture Chalet".
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Dave
Dave - 06 Mar 2006 02:13 GMT
Thanks for the great info Cliff.  Love to see this one open and set up.  I
too grew up in a tent trailer, 68 Apache Mesa that went coast-to-coast.

Several years ago when I decided it was time to introduce my kids to the
wonder of popups, I was in the same situation as you.  Trying to find a
trailer light enough to tow behind a 4 cylinder vehicle.  Pickings were
pretty slim believe me.  Eventually settled on a Flagstaff 176LTD that came
in pretty light.  Towed it for a year with a 2.4L 4 cylinder.  Great on flat
ground, but a bear on any kind of slope.

Eventually traded up to a six cylinder minivan and went through the passes
to California with not a whimper.

Anyway, I was doing a little more research to respond to your question and
came up with a new source that you might check out.

http://www.livinlite.com  makers of the "Quicksilver" soft top tent camper.
The 8 foot model has a dry weight of 865 pounds and a hitch weight of 75
pounds.  Sounds ideal for a small car or suv... at least one with a pretty
good size 4 cylinder engine.

No LP bottle or stove, but certainly saves weight.

Drawback is that they look a little pricy.

The 10 foot version I saw online was $7450.00.  Thats almost double what
your could get a new flagstaff 176LTD for.

Good Luck in your quest for a new lightweight camper.

Let us know how it comes out.

Dave
>I believe this is the pop up that my family had when I was a teenager.
>
[quoted text clipped - 44 lines]
>>
>> Dave
 
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