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New Swift Camper, Mods, Upgrades Etc......Pic Heavy.

swift fwc four wheel camper Tacoma Toyota

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#61 Hodakaguy

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Posted 31 March 2018 - 01:49 AM

Installing an onboard charger in the battery compartment, I know that's not an ideal location but space is limited for these kind of mods in the shell model. The battery compartment has two outside vents and the batteries are sealed. I'll monitor the temperature on the charger unit and if it's getting to warm I'll install a small 12v fan on one of the vents to pull in fresh cool air when charging.

The IOTA 15A onboard charger with IQ AGM Module. This charger will provide proper voltages for the 3 stages of charge on the AGM batts and bring the batts up to 14.7V for a proper Bulk charge.

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Marking the bolt locations. The charger will be mounted on the roof of the battery compartment with flush mounted SS through bolts.

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Flush mounted hardware.

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Charger mounted and wired.

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Plugged in and charging the batts :-)

Hodakaguy
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#62 craig333

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Posted 31 March 2018 - 05:41 AM

I did the plug in upgrade for my Iota but I'm a little surprised by now that there aren't dip switches or something you can set for different battery types. Still they seem pretty rugged units. 


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#63 Hodakaguy

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Posted 02 April 2018 - 01:33 AM

Some camper mods and a review of the cooking gear we carry.

Custom floor mats on the cheap! I picked up a $20 foam backed kitchen mat for the entry of the camper. A little trimming is in order to make it fit perfectly.

Getting ready to trim the mat to size.

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I used a socket and a razor blade to round the corners for a factory finished look.

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And installed in the camper. The fit is perfect and the foam backing feels great on bare feet. I'll purchase a couple more mats and custom fit the rest of the camper out.

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Next up a storage location for our cooking supplies. Storage space in a small camper is at a premium so we need to utilize any available space. This box will go in the open area under the bench seat.

This wood box is light weight, fits the open space perfectly, it's durable and only $17! It also matches the campers interior very nicely.

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Adding adhesive backed felt pads to the sides and rear of the box to prevent any wood to wood contact/scratching. Rounded the corners with the socket and razor blade.

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Test fitting in the camper....spot on.

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Continued Below....
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My 4wd Sprinter Build: CLICK HERE

My Unimog U1300L Build:  CLICK HERE

My VW Syncro Westy Build:  CLICK HERE

My Tacoma/FWC  Builds: CLICK HERE

Ride Report - In Memory Of The Crewmen: CLICK HERE


#64 Hodakaguy

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Posted 02 April 2018 - 01:33 AM

Continued from above...

Ultra light weight/compact cooking gear review....Our cooking setup in our SWIFT.

With small campers weight is everything and space is a premium, the lighter the overall weight the more enjoyable the trip. Over years of long distance off road motorcycle travel and camping with our past FWC we have refined our light weight cooking gear set. This entire lot of gear fit's nicely into the small light weight wooden storage box and stows perfectly in the open space under the bench seat.

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And unloaded.

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JetBoil stove: This stove gets used heavily. It's compact and the whole unit stores inside it's own cook pot. It will boil a pot of water in 2 minutes! We use this every day to make coffee in the morning, for anything that needs hot water and you can also cook soup etc in the Pot. The cook pot has a heat sleeve around it and as soon as the water is boiling you can remove the pot from the stove, snap the plastic lid back onto the metal bottom area (Protects you from the hot pot) and hold the pot comfortably in your hand to eat out of if needed. The fuel canister lasts a surprisingly long time, love this piece of kit.

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BioLite Wood Stove: This is a very efficient and compact wood burning stove. It will run on any type of wood that you can stick into the burner, I carry pre-cut chunks of Hickory to cook with and can easily restock on the road with bags of BBQ smoking wood chunks available at most stores . There is a small internal electric fan that creates a swirl chamber inside the burner pot for smoke free operation. Once the stove is up and running the TEG (Thermo Electric Generator) produces electricity from the heat and charges it's own internal battery, runs the fan and will even charge a cell phone from a USB port. There are multiple fan speeds to control heat output. The optional grill attachment is awesome, we cook steaks, chicken, hot dogs etc almost nightly with this unit. You can open the lid on the grill and feed the burner without removing the grill. The setup makes for a VERY compact and efficient BBQ!

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The TEG Unit.

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And grill attached.

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Folding Bucket: This is a super light and compact bucket that folds up into a little square pouch. Once deployed it's very durable and self supporting once filled with water. We use this for washing dishes, fetching water to put out a camp fire etc. Very handy.

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Primus Fuel Stove: This is a ultra compact stove that screws onto the same bottles of fuel that the JetBoil uses. We use this with the small folding handle pan and have cooked many meals for the three of us with this setup. It's very stable once set up, weights almost nothing and takes up very little space.

Handheld lighter/torch: This is a small extendable handheld lighter that puts out a nice intense flame. Great for lighting the BioLite stove, camp fires etc. There is a small adapter I carry (Pictured) that allows refilling the lighter from the Jetboil fuel containers.

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Cooking gear loaded into the camper.

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Hodakaguy

Edited by Hodakaguy, 02 April 2018 - 11:39 AM.

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My 4wd Sprinter Build: CLICK HERE

My Unimog U1300L Build:  CLICK HERE

My VW Syncro Westy Build:  CLICK HERE

My Tacoma/FWC  Builds: CLICK HERE

Ride Report - In Memory Of The Crewmen: CLICK HERE


#65 ETAV8R

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Posted 02 April 2018 - 06:28 AM

Nice little yet functional set up. I've recently discovered Trangia/alcohol stoves. They are pretty light weight too. I've tried it out at home but can't picture actually not having my Coleman stove when camping. We'll see on the next trip when I try the Trangia in the field.


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#66 Hodakaguy

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Posted 07 April 2018 - 03:47 AM

Fabricating the hitch step for the camper. Since the camper sticks out past the rear of the truck the step needs to be quite a ways out to be useful, because of this I wanted the assembly to be fold-able so it can be tucked out of the way when traveling.

We will be using a Weathertech BumpStop Step (easy on the shins if you run into it) and 6061-T6 Aluminum for the extension/folding mechanism.

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My father at work drilling the holes for the hitch pin.

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Using a Jig saw and a steady hand to cut out the pivot plates from a sheet of Aluminum.

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Notching the Tubing.

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Welding on the pivot plates

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Assembled and on the truck. The pivot bolt and pivot lock pin are temporary in these pics as I didn't have the right size on hand, I'll snag some tomorrow. The whole assembly is super light, strong and folds in just a few seconds.

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And extended. The step works great with no deflection....seems to be rock solid.

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Hodakaguy.
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My 4wd Sprinter Build: CLICK HERE

My Unimog U1300L Build:  CLICK HERE

My VW Syncro Westy Build:  CLICK HERE

My Tacoma/FWC  Builds: CLICK HERE

Ride Report - In Memory Of The Crewmen: CLICK HERE


#67 Hodakaguy

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Posted 08 April 2018 - 05:50 AM

Solar Install.

Originally I was planning on utilizing two 120W flexible solar panels on a custom aluminum mount that I would fabricate to fit the FWC,  I utilized a similar setup (with 3 panels) on our old Syncro and it worked out really well.  After doing some more research I found a 175W single Mono panel with almost the perfect dimensions for the Swift so decided to switch to this panel.  This switch will save a lot of time and hassle over using the flex panels, and should be more durable in the long run.

The NewPowa 175 W Mono Panel.

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Back side of the panel.

P4071142-X3.jpg


The factory solar plug installed on the roof of the camper is an SAE connector, I will shorten the wiring on the panel and install the SAE connector in the proper location.  I'm using high quality crimps and two layers of marine grade heat shrink on the splices.  The connections will be covered by the panel.  The insulation on the panel wiring is quite a bit thicker than the wire on the SAE connector, the actual conductor size is very close to the same size.  

P4071143-X3.jpg

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You can see the factory installed solar plug on the roof of the camper in this shot.  The panel will mount on the Yakima roof tracks and fit between the two vents.

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Fabricating 4 mounts from 1.5" aluminum angle.  These mounts will bolt to the Yakima tracks then onto the aluminum frame of the solar panel.

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Connecting the panel to the camper.

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Panel mounted up.  The size of the panel is perfect, almost like it was made for this application.

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It was raining and nasty this morning, after the sun popped out I was able to check out the panel operation.  I ran the heater and roof fan for a couple hrs to pull some juice out of the batteries so the panel had something to make up.  The sun eventually started popping in and out but I seen as high as 8.5 amps going back into the batts, not bad.  I programmed the 3000i charge controller for a bulk charge voltage of 14.8v for the AGM batts, and a Float rate of 13.8V.  

Hodakaguy


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My 4wd Sprinter Build: CLICK HERE

My Unimog U1300L Build:  CLICK HERE

My VW Syncro Westy Build:  CLICK HERE

My Tacoma/FWC  Builds: CLICK HERE

Ride Report - In Memory Of The Crewmen: CLICK HERE


#68 Hodakaguy

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Posted 09 April 2018 - 03:50 AM

Re-visiting the storage box area.  Decided to make some rub rails out of 1/4" ABS Plastic to protect the wood next to the storage area.

Piece of scrap ABS that I picked up a few days ago.

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Cut a 1" Strip on the table saw.

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Beveling the ends that are open to the camper.

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I'm using 3M tape to adhere the rails to the camper.  It can be removed if needed by carefully sawing through the tape with some fishing line.

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And installed in the camper.  I will install matching ones in the rear and back corner.  Should do a good job at protecting the camper from the wooden storage box.   I left a gap on the front edge since I thought it looked better than the plastic going all the way across....if I change my mind down the road I'll install some new pieces :-)

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Hodakaguy


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My 4wd Sprinter Build: CLICK HERE

My Unimog U1300L Build:  CLICK HERE

My VW Syncro Westy Build:  CLICK HERE

My Tacoma/FWC  Builds: CLICK HERE

Ride Report - In Memory Of The Crewmen: CLICK HERE


#69 Vic Harder

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Posted 09 April 2018 - 06:21 PM

Solar Install.

Originally I was planning on utilizing two 120W flexible solar panels on a custom aluminum mount that I would fabricate to fit the FWC,  I utilized a similar setup (with 3 panels) on our old Syncro and it worked out really well.  After doing some more research I found a 175W single Mono panel with almost the perfect dimensions for the Swift so decided to switch to this panel.  This switch will save a lot of time and hassle over using the flex panels, and should be more durable in the long run.

The NewPowa 175 W Mono Panel.

P4071141-X3.jpg


Back side of the panel.

P4071142-X3.jpg


The factory solar plug installed on the roof of the camper is an SAE connector, I will shorten the wiring on the panel and install the SAE connector in the proper location.  I'm using high quality crimps and two layers of marine grade heat shrink on the splices.  The connections will be covered by the panel.  The insulation on the panel wiring is quite a bit thicker than the wire on the SAE connector, the actual conductor size is very close to the same size.  

P4071143-X3.jpg

P4071152-X3.jpg


You can see the factory installed solar plug on the roof of the camper in this shot.  The panel will mount on the Yakima roof tracks and fit between the two vents.

P4071148-X3.jpg


Fabricating 4 mounts from 1.5" aluminum angle.  These mounts will bolt to the Yakima tracks then onto the aluminum frame of the solar panel.

P4071154-X3.jpg

P4071156-X3.jpg


Connecting the panel to the camper.

P4071157-X3.jpg


Panel mounted up.  The size of the panel is perfect, almost like it was made for this application.

P4071166-X3.jpg

P4071169-X3.jpg

P4071163-X3.jpg

P4071164-X3.jpg


It was raining and nasty this morning, after the sun popped out I was able to check out the panel operation.  I ran the heater and roof fan for a couple hrs to pull some juice out of the batteries so the panel had something to make up.  The sun eventually started popping in and out but I seen as high as 8.5 amps going back into the batts, not bad.  I programmed the 3000i charge controller for a bulk charge voltage of 14.8v for the AGM batts, and a Float rate of 13.8V.  

Hodakaguy

Nice.  I like the fact that it looks like you have room for two more of those panels up there.  


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