News Blog

Well, we have to let potential customers know that for orders placed after Sept 1, our shipping charges have increased for our Portland location. This reflects a long summer of delays with our previous freight carrier that offered economical rates - but was taking longer and longer to pick up and deliver between our locations. We have switched to a different line to improve our scheduling accuracy going forward. We charge a shipping fee between locations to reflect the cost of moving the parts between our assembly shop in San Diego and our conversion/installation shop in Portland. The total price of campers delivered in either office remains similar, since California charges a sales tax.

With prior trade war tariffs on Chinese imports, Ursa Minor absorbed some of these costs but eventually included them when our prices changed on May 1, 2019.   While we do not import directly from China anything of significance, many of our hardware and raw material suppliers do and have passed tariffs on to us.

There is a new round of uncertainty about a proposed escalating tariff on imports from Mexico that may start in June.  As a small operation, we can only roll with this change in the global trade system if it is implemented, and have no expectation of bail out or special exemptions from Washington. We hope that any planned change from the current NAFTA agreement is reviewed and implemented with consideration for all businesses impacted, since finding an alternate source is not quick or easy even if possible.

Our approach for the proposed tariff on Mexican goods will be the same as when California changes the sales tax rate.  If the State changes the sales tax rat

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Ford included the Surf Wagon in the main booth at the Fred Hall show

Ford brought out our 2019 Surf Wagon custom build for the 2019 Portland International Auto Show. Front and center in the booth, we had great conversations about the cool features in the 2019 model as well as our camper. 

Camping in Comfort - JP Magazine recently got some extended seat and sack time in an 2007 Wrangler Unlimited equipped with Ursa Minor’s J30 hardtop camper conversion. Read the complete article on the JP Magazine website

Outside Magazine ranks a Jeep with our Ursa Minor J30 camper top as one of six ultimate adventure vehicles! Have a look at the article here: Outside Online

New 2nd generation designs for our J30 and ECamper have begun production. For all campers built after Jan 1, 2014 the headroom increased by 12", the hinges are all stainless steel, and we have new fabric for the interior pads!

Ursa Minor displays the new ECamper at the 2007 LA Auto Show!

This pop up camper conversion of the Honda Element is a new take on the straight-forward and simple camper van pioneered by VW (but no longer offered in the USA.) With a sleeping loft for two and standing room at the rear, this lightweight carbon-fiber approach to camping delivers fun for weekend adventures and function for weekday commuting