41 replies to this topic

[JDeanP]

Isn't that a lot of camper to be rear of the axle?

[mhskog]

This is going to be a pretty lightweight build out, so I'm not too worried about placement. In its current form it's not even compressing the suspension at all. Driving I would say was pretty normal to the camper not being on. I guess we'll see when it's done.

[GoodMack]

I have the same overhang- its on my 3/4 ton GMC 05 duramax - because I almost always am towing my fishing boat as well, I did see a visual droop in the rear of my set up- but I did many thousands of miles and months and months of camping and never felt any sort of front end wandering or unweighting.  I did finally add air bags and that totally solved the "sag look"   

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[mhskog]

I did pull the trigger on 5k airbags, I think this is going to be way overkill but better than underkill, and we will be taking it on fireroads and other out of bounds areas so ride quality would be nice.

 

update, lighting is going in, insulation is going in, rebuilt the sleeping shelf but going to redo it tomorrow, wife has been sewing. I hope to have more pics up probably tomorrow.

[mhskog]

Ok so been really busy and really hot, average afternoon temp has been hovering in the triple digits, so things have been a bit slow going.

 

 

Starting framing in the box that the battery is going to live in as well as storage,

 

I used this poly sheeting that I got at Home Depot for the walls, I've got it hanging from the top then tacked here and there, it's supposed to be able to float a bit. My biggest problem with it was not cutting the space needed for the trim, I was constantly going back and having to trim off another 1/8th.

 

 

I filled in the lower fridge opening and screwed closed the old propane tank access door. this pic I'm still putting in insulation, by the way, I hate that stuff I itched for a week.

 

 

decided to just box in the bench, this will work as a single bed or an oversized couch, we are going to have pillows and bolsters that can be moved around. the platform is 27x 79

 

 

I've wired in the old light fixtures, I'll get some LED bulbs for them this week, I've got LED strips that go around the top of the bottom section that change color and look pretty cool. the 110V is just two outlets from the 110v on the side of the camper, just direct wired it, it will be rarely used. Have 2 USB 1 12V and voltage meter in the center panel as well. Sink will be fed from water container on the top cabinet you can just see to the left.

 

 

I left half of the vent for the old fridge, I'll make a slide down cover for it so in the winter running the Mr Buddy heater we can crack it for 02 to the heater.

 

 

rear shot, the poly wall sheeting isn't tacked down yet or the window trim

 

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another shot of the rear corner, we've just left it open to use for things like chairs and tarps ect.

 

 

This is a interesting thing I haven't seen before but I'll bet someone else did it, I have read about how converting to a pullout bunk the bunk can slide forward during the night creating a gap. I make a 45 degree cut on the end board so that when it's in the position it naturally locks into place as a happenstance the old brace fits in the groove and the pull out sits even on the shelf.

 

 

ok so time to play with carpet for the benches and the sleeping area. flooring and cabinet doors, I think I can see the light and only three weeks past schedule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mhskog]

double posted one pic this is the pull out bed detail.

 

[mhskog]

We took it camping !!!!!

 

 

we went about two hours away, 50 plus miles on dirt fire roads over a mountain pass. Things worked great. I did put the airbags on but as I thought the truck only went down about 1.5 inches loading the camper on. The airbags took about 50lbs per bag to get it back up to preload height which might be a bit too stiff. I'll need to play with it a bit.

 

interior pics

[mhskog]

more:

 

 

so it's functional, UPS guy just dropped off the tarps.com fabric and the sailright pieces so the next project is the canvass but I think we are going to shoot for the fall on that. I've got lots of little things to do, we need curtains ect and to organize a bit better and some trim work to finish.

 

So should I do a video walk around / through ?

 

Should I do a large format picture review using imgur ?

 

any comments?

[shellback]

Looks great, glad you have gotten out and camped in it!

[mhskog]

so did a 1000 mile round trip, no issues with the truck or the camper that were not self-induced. I boondock camped two nights and did a KOA on one night.  The truck will run 65/ 70 MPH with the camper on without issues on the straightaways. I got about 12MPG average for the whole trip which wasn't thrilling. The F150 suspension with the airbags feels great no wandering or wallowing, my truck has the 4.6 V8 which unfortunately is underpowered I've really got to kick it in the butt to get it to climb hills. I went over several 5K passes. Temps on my trip was in the 104-108 range so I kept my eye on the temp gauge and babied it a bit. I use the Torque App on an android phone to monitor the vitals and I only saw 231 water temp on hard hill climbs. If you're looking to monitor your rig it's a fantastic app. So going to start looking for a Diesel Ram or Ford.