Thanks for your kind remarks on the modifications I made to the trailer. We still have it and are using it regularly. Over the past 4 years or so we have driven it to every state in the US playing lots of disc golf along the way - obviously not including Hawaii. We never really lift the bed fully up into the ceiling - basically just lift the front up which gives us plenty of room to eat and never have to make the bed. Although we often take Mt bikes with us we never store then inside while trailering because often we pull into a Walmart or rest area real late and just get in the trailer and go to sleep. It has been a great trailer and I am real glad I found the "gear" model the only year they made it that way so I could do it the way I wanted. Still can't believe I bought it new for $13000 in 2016.

@@owenrae Just curious, how many rivets have you had to replace throughout its ownership?

​@@dcd6115 i have replaced probably 50 but i have also replaced some of them with through bolts and either aluminum plates or fender washers on the outside of the unit so that the rivets did not fail again. I have 1 1/2" wide plates about 2 feet long or the fender washers in strategic locations with size 10 bolts going all the way through rather than pop rivets. This connects to the aluminum superstructure on the inside. Since i did that have not really seen any issues but before i could see separation of the body from the frame in a number of spots.

plate on the outside

fender washers

Mine are just size 10 sheet metal screws.

I bought the heavy duty stainless steel closet rod and hardware from Home Depot. I have two of those, one at the front and one in the middle. The rear of the bed is held by the standard taxa bunk hardware. The front one, where most of the weight would be is just screwed into the aluminum with metal stainless screws, not through bolted. Same with the middle. The force would be a downward force and would have to sheer the screws. I don't think they would have much pulling force since the closet rod acts to keep them pushed against the wall. I'll add a picture here as well if I can figure that out.

hardware for closet rod installed

Thanks 👍

Thanks and I agree. The bottom of the box is open and there are slots in the step that it is mounted on but I did not mention that in the video. I have since switched to a lithium battery and moved it inside the camper. Thanks for the comment.

I have cargo netting in the ceiling between that and where the bed actually raises up to and can store my clothes for the day etc. With the bed raising up like it does all the bedding and pillows just stays on the bed so no need to store it anywhere which is pretty bulky to store.

I think Taxa should bring back the Gear version of the Cricket so people who want to can do what they want with the camper. They only made it one year I think (maybe 2).

No issues with any leaks from the fan after three years. Haven't inspected it lately though so thanks for the reminder. Also thanks for letting me know what the original intent of the space on the left was for. Can't say I like that idea though. With the fridge in place it would be tough getting it in and out of there. We keep a 12 volt fan and a collapsible cooler there now and have the campstove strapped down to the counter when moving.

Is be happy to talk to you and do some measuring etc to get your started. Just for point of reference my cricket is the gear model (only sold one or maybe two years) that doesn't have any of the regular bed or storage areas. If you want, send me your contact info to [email protected]

On my cricket there are two frame members running between the back and another frame piece about 28 or 29 inches forward. These two running parallel are about 6 inches apart and I think 2 x 2 angle. I drilled a hole through both and ran a long eye bolt such that the eye is just to the outside of the drivers side frame member. Then I ran the cable from the pulley through the eye and then down through the center of the spare rim. This slightly offsets the tire from perfect center, by about 4 or 5 inches. I need that anyway since my receiver hitch is center and my bike rack goes all the way through plus about an inch and the spare would have prevented that if it were perfectly centered so it all worked out. Also just for safety because some people commented that the wire cable could rust and break, I ran a chain with a quick disconnect around that same eye bolt but between the 2 parallel frame members and through the spare rim. It would make using the spare a little more of a pain because I would have to crawl under to release the chain before I then used the winch to drop the spare tire down. I have been fortunate and have not needed the spare yet. Just put new tires on it last summer after around 35,000 miles. Thanks for watching. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. 2012 must have been one of the first years. We love ours.

@@owenrae thank you. I made beds for 7 , dinner table seats 7-8 people, shower inside with no spill outside of floor drain, surecall 3.0 booster, anti swaying bar, By the way...how fast do drive before it starts to sway a little?

@@jessicavotran wow, sounds like you have done some fun mods. With the bikes on the back I need a sway bar for anything over about 60. Without the bikes on back I can go faster but I always use the sway bar and can go 75 no problems. My wife though doesn't like to drive faster than about 73 due to the sway tendency. We pull it with a 2018 Subaru outback with the 3.6. Fall 2019 we pulled it from Iowa to Alaska and back and averaged just under 17mpg.

@@owenrae that is awesome with 2018 Subaru outback being only 3600lbs dry and max tow of 2700lbs. cricket is 1500lbs dry or about 2000 lbs loaded. did you ever got a blowout ? how do you camp during high wind or gust?

I assume by blowout you mean a tire blowout? I have not had one on my Cricket since buying it in 2015. That is probably due to the 15 inch wheels and tires and not really putting a huge load on them. As far as camping in high wind, we have camped in 20 -30 mph winds with no issue even if the front is facing into the wind. If the wind were to get stronger I would just put the top down. We can still sit in the bed or sleep and Probably still do some minimal cooking with it down - I would say very similar to a teardrop camper. We got 10 inches of wet snow one night in Showlo Arizona this past spring and halfway through the night I put the top down so there wasn't so much weight on the lifting mechanism. Then I just pulled the snow off in the morning and lifted the roof back up.

Sorry about not replying sooner, I didn't see your question. I have used many different ways to secure things to the walls such as Stainless Steel metal screws or Pop Rivets. For the baskets I used 3/16 inch pop rivets and they have been great. When drilling just make sure you drill only through the inner wall, careful because it is thin and if you put too much pressure on the drill you may go through the inner foam and make a dent on the outer wall. I have used many pop rivets in mine for many reasons - same thing Taxa does as well.

Mine is a 2015 and was called the Gear. It was totally empty except for the front cabinet. At the time they touted it for people who wanted to carry bikes inside or kayaks. Things like that. It was perfect for me because it was a blank slate.

Thanks Gerry for the comments. I've been kicking around the truma system for awhile and may do something with it eventually. We do have a mounting system for our laptop that lets us watch videos while sitting in bed but only use it very seldom. Too busy being outside I guess. Biggest change that I am contemplating and actually am in the process of doing a proof of concept on is a slide out bathroom/shower. If it ever gets to the stage where I cut the sidewall out I will be posting lots more videos. Thanks again for your thoughts though.

I purposefully installed my Maxx air fan far enough forward such that when the front was lowered all the way down it was no taller than the "peak" in the center. Same with my solar panels,. They are mounted as far back as they can go. I still just barley clear it. I will measure the exact height and post on here. Also I disconnect my garage door opener so I can push the garage door up further so that it is higher than the opening. Two kind of inconvenient things you can do to lower it further. Take air out of the tires. Instead of the wheel in front lower it onto a under car work trolley. Those things people have to lay down on the n roll under cars to work on them. That drops it another three or four inches in the front which translates to about an inch lower at the peak.

I measured my garage door opening and it is exactly 6' 9 1/2".

Thank you Dave for responding so fast, I went ahead and measured again I’m actually about 6ft 11 if I account for a peace of rubber that moves back. Luckily my garage door goes up higher than the entrance. Sounds like I should be plenty fine considering your entrance is even smaller. My driveway is on a slight incline as well but it looks like the peak is where the axle is and there is a taper on the back and front. Straight flat roof might be difficult towards the back.

It would be a little tighter obviously. Probably wouldn't be able to sit up in either one but probably no different than like one of the cab over bunk births in a class c motorhome if you know what I mean. I think you would want to split the difference not put the upper bunk right up on the ceiling. I would drop it probably 8" down from the normal child birth so you could put a mattress pad and still have room for your feet at the low/back end. I think for sure though if you built the frame like I did so it could lift into the roof there would still be headroom to sit at your table with the bed lifted above it. I think using the removable closet rods like I did should still work for what you are talking about. I would probably measure the total distance you have between your normal bed and the ceiling then split the difference and do a mock up, like a sheet or piece of cardboard at the height where the upper bunk would be and see how it would be in the lower bunk. Hope this helps. If you end up doing it I would like to see the result.

I just bought the bolt on hitch receiver from Menards. Not sure what model. I'm happy with it and seems sturdy enough although I did add a couple of galvanised steel cross members to the frame so that I could bolt it up a little better than would have been possible without it. Also, and this is the downside to carrying bikes behind the Cricket, with all the weight of the rack and bikes behind the axel, and the swing weight in particular, I had to add an anti sway bar whenever I haul the bikes back there. At this point it is still the best location at least that I have found. I have mounted a rack on the side step but for a mountain bike the handlebar needs to be turned sideways making it time consuming to use the bikes.

I don't know the exact weights as I have never weighed it. The standard trailer I believe weighs around 1500 pounds according to the literature. Mine was probably 200 pounds less but I'm sure with all the changes I'm in the same ballpark now. Sorry can't be more specific. My 2012 Outback with the 4 cylinder engine pulls it fine. I did however buy a 2018 Outback with the 6 cylinder and it pulls it without even noticing it back there almost.

Thanks, heading to skagway in a few weeks with the cricket.

Sorry to not get back to you sooner, I've been out of town and am just now getting caught up with emails. It was pretty easy to cut the hole for the fan. I have a battery powered Ryobi Sabre saw that I used. Just have to make sure that you don't get it too close to the side or middle because the inner trim piece on the maxair needs about an inch extra clearance all the way around. I think I drilled holes in all four corners then used the Sabre saw to saw out the opening. Getting over the fear of cutting a big hole in the roof of my beloved camper was the hardest part .

Yes, the bed can be in the up position when the top is down. You can have the bed in the raised position when you raise or lower the pop top. We generally leave the bed in the lowered position when traveling though. You can also just raise the front without messing with the back if you need to get something from under the bed. I have recently added a pully system so I can raise and lower it by pulling on a rope running through carbineers clipped to the ceiling. By lifting it up in front leaving it down in back it makes just enough space to sit on the benches and you could put the table up and eat or play games etc, two people.

@@owenrae Ok thanks for you explanation Dave. I'm still undecided on whether to try this mod, as I would like to store bulk items (e.g. bikes) on the deck during transport. Will continue watching you channel, and thanks for your postings.

Yeah I know you really don't mind. I just said that for effect 😙

Thanks Kurt. Yeah the raising bed is one of my favorite things about the camper. So easy to go from bed to seating and vice versa. My favorite thing is being able to keep the bedding in tact and once we drop the bed down just get in. No making up the bed or tearing it down ever. The biggest disadvantage is that there is no where to mount any kind of cabinet storage for clothes as it would get in the way of the bed being raised. I thought about making some easily removable cabinets toward the back that just raising the front of the bed would not run into as that is what we do 95% of the time but then when the bed is raised there would be no access to the cabinets either unless you went around back and accessed from the back door or dropped the bed for a bit to get what you wanted. Still contemplating how to add more storage. In the meantime we just have our clothes in duffel bags on the floor which is really no different than before we had the trailer and were tent camping so not a big deal but it would be nice to come up with some solution. I am actually toying with the idea of a cabinet slideout of sorts. Basically having it slid in while moving but being able to slide out the whole cabinet once we got to camp. Anyway just a thought.