Newish tabber, longer time camper.

ThatJakePerry

Hi there Tab community! 

Wanted to take the time to say hi and share some of our travels with our 2004 Dutchmen Tab. Been a follower of the forum for a few years, and a Tab owner for a little over a year now. We used to camp in an 1987 Starcraft popup that we did a full renovation on and loved it, with the exception of having to deal with so much setup and teardown. That part was always a pain when we were only stopping somewhere for a single night or when we were caught in the rain, which tends to happen often to us.

With that in mind we started researching the best lightweight, hardbody camper for us. A Tab checked all of the boxes perfectly for what we wanted in a camper; the only issue was the cost of a new one. (And some of the feature, we like having as few mechanical parts as possible to keep things simple.) By chance one posted for sale close to a location we were planning on camping at, we decided to leave the popup at home and take a look over it and immediately fell in love with the Tab. Given the age it was actually in a really good condition, first and third owners never had a chance to use it much, second owner did make an interesting modification though. They had cut a hole in the side near the closet to run a standing AC unit and vent it outside, but only installed a register cover to act as the vent. Needless to say when we got the camper home we patched that hole up and got to work checking out all of the seals and different parts of the camper. Aside from that patch to the wall we needed to fix the stabilizers, the winding nuts were completely shattered on three of the corners, and then the front tub needed a bit of bondo to patch a crack. We also had to remove the blinds from the windows as those were damaged and couldn't be pulled down.

Over the last year we decided to paint the front tub black, we also had to replace the valve to the furnace, had to reinstall and later replace the converter after it fell out on a backroad in Wyoming, decided to remove the old three way fridge and opt for a smaller fridge/cooler with a shelf over it for more storage, upgraded to lithium and moved that battery under the bed, and also installed a DC-DC charger to better charge when towing. Still planning some upgrades here and there, but all in all everything with the Tab is now in stellar shape, and every trip in it has been a blast since getting it.

A few things I would like to ask the community. Is it true that the first 100 Tabs were made using 100% imported parts from Germany? Saw a post on Facebook that was 7 years old, but didn't see anything else confirming that. Correct me if I am wrong but looks like ours was the 64th Tab ever built. (I've attached a photo but VIN ends in 0064, and was made August 2003.) Are there any other upgrades that are recommended for this era of Tab? We're thinking about adding the Al-Ko shocks since we tend to go on gravel roads and camp in national forests. 

Added a small assortment of travel photos. Sorry if some of them are a bit pixelated, compressed them down from a pretty high resolution. 

dragonsdofly

@ThatJakePerry, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your trailer. Can't answer about the first 100 t@bs, but we have a very early t@b owner here. His t@b is #100. @Geo are you on? Can you help?

Again, congrats and happy t@bbing!
-Denise

Denny16

Nice looking TaB, welcome aboard.  

Cheers 

Mouseketab

The Al-Ko shocks are nice. I have a set on my 2007. Really like them. If you haven't done so yet, check the bearings and order a new set to have on hand. nuCamp stocks them sometimes, and there are threads around here on finding the right ones. As far as shades. The current manufacturer has shade/screen combos that fit and work well, although they are expensive.

ThatJakePerry

Thanks everyone! Definitely planning to check out the bearings now. Been a bug in the back of my head but really need to check on them and get a set.

@Mouseketab We debated early on with installing the new versions of the shades. For the time being we've been using reflectix as blackout shades, and then we purchased some noseeums fabric that we cover the windows with using some velcro. I also want to thank you for your DC-DC installation post last year. That inspired us to do the same kind of install which really helps keep the battery full.

pthomas745

There have been a couple of threads on "Oldest".  This thread has a pic of a Dec 2003 trailer "identiplate", and a general discussion.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/8296/bought-a-2004-t-b-t2

Sharon_is_SAM

Boy, your TaB looks to be in great shape.  And you got an Archwing!

Geo

@ThatJakePerry,  Indeed #64 is a first run DM T@B.  Hello from #100.
I know of no confirmation about the parts used for first run builds, but I have seen several part differences between #-01, #28, #100, (and some others) and later run '05 and up, that make me suspect the first 100 to maybe 200 had all parts imported from Europe to be assembled.
The shocks are recommended to smooth out the ride, provide reduced bouncing.
I changed out our 3-way fridge for a 12VDC compressor fridge and am very happy with its performance.
May I suggest to change out your tail lights to LED units for increased brightness, visibility and safety.

Feel free to ask any ?
And welcome to the forum

Michigan_Mike

Welcome to the forum and it sounds like you have really restored your trailer nicely and made it your home away from home!  Good stuff and thanks for sharing!   

ThatJakePerry

@Geo Thanks for all of that insight! I've got an order in for some shocks now. Didn't realize there was an LED option for the taillights. Going to have to look into that and consider upgrading ours. Have a good month of downtime to work on things before getting back out on some trips.