306 replies to this topic

[longhorn1]

Thanks be for sharing. jd

[CougarCouple]

PokyBro
Thanks for sharing your trip wit us. Camper looks great glad you had fun. Yes sometimes better to travel less and see more.

Russ

PS good trip report.

[shellback]

Camper looks great Poky! Glad you had a nice trip. Been so hot here on the east coast my FWC hasn't moved. That's about to change. I modified a regular window A/C unit to go in my front slider. Can't use it while on the truck, but I always take my camper off at my destination. The wife and I will be heading to Lake Erie in NY for some walleye fishing the end of the month. 

 Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your thread and your help with my project. Without it, my project might have been gone to the scrapyard! This is a great forum and a godsend to those rehabbing old FWC.

Edited by shellback, 19 July 2018 - 12:02 PM.

[PokyBro]

Hello folks, it's been awhile since I've posted and thought I'd do a little catch up.

First, Just wanted to thank Shellback for his kind comment.

Camper looks great Poky! Glad you had a nice trip. Been so hot here on the east coast my FWC hasn't moved. That's about to change. I modified a regular window A/C unit to go in my front slider. Can't use it while on the truck, but I always take my camper off at my destination. The wife and I will be heading to Lake Erie in NY for some walleye fishing the end of the month.
Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your thread and your help with my project. Without it, my project might have been gone to the scrapyard! This is a great forum and a godsend to those rehabbing old FWC.

Well, I've done a few more projects on the Four Wheel Camper.

When I was installing the water system in the summer, I had to figure out a way to do the water tank drain. I realize some route the drain water line to the exterior along the floor pack to the rear of the camper.. I wanted it to go through the camper instead, and not wanting to have to see the water line along the floor, I built an elongated wood box/ tube for the water line to run through, at the base under my cabinets on the galley side. It does become exposed when it goes through the drawer cabinet before it exits to the exterior, but won't be seen once the drawers are in. I then went with the metal flange and ball valve on the exterior used by others in another post some time ago. The arrangement has worked out really well, and should be durable enough to last a long time. Nice to be able to just drain the water tank easily after an outing.








Next, I installed the 120 Volt AC line in from the exterior 30 Amp inlet, through a breaker box, and into two outlets. One on the galley cabinet for use of accessaries, and one under the cabinet to plug in the Iota DLS-30 W/ IQ4. This required a bit of wiring, and some cutting on the cabinet face frame. It all went pretty smoothly. I haven't used the converter/charger yet because the solar is keeping the batteries up, but now I'm prepared if the need arrises when storing out of sunlight, extended bad weather, or if I need to use shore power at a campground in shaded conditions.










Next I fashioned some corner covers for the seat boxes serving two purposes. One to hide the edge of plywood on the box, and two, to keep the wood from chipping on the edge if hit with shoes or objects with use. I also like the aesthetic look it added.




Lastly, I acquired a Four Wheel Campers sticker from Stan at FWC ( Thanks!), and officially christened the camper as a legit FWC just as it went through the factory doors originally way back in 1981, with a major remodel, nonetheless.

Oh, another thing...Recently I had the opportunity to weight my rig while taking some things to the landfill. I'm estimating my camper to weigh around 1300 lbs. without the batteries or a tank of water. Not bad all in all.







That catches me up on the building process over the last while. I've also had it out for several outings since I posted last, more to come!

Poky

Edited by PokyBro, 28 October 2018 - 11:58 PM.

[CougarCouple]

Looking good there Sir. I like the corner covers on the seat box.

Russ

[PokyBro]

On the second week of October, I went on my annual elk hunt in Colorado and Utah. There's a number of things to share about the outing.

 

The weather was variable with bright sun, to overcast and snowing. While I had experienced some troubles with the Atwood furnace, the repair I made earlier in the year, of replacing the sail switch, resolved the problem. Compared to the 12,000 BTU furnace I originally installed, the new 18,000 BTU Atwood worked much better. The noted difference was before on the first furnace, in extremely cold weather, it seemed to run constantly to keep up with the chill outside, utilizing considerable amount of propane. The new furnace cycles in much shorter periods of time, and with the digital thermostat, keeps the camper a nice even temperature and uses much less propane, just what I had hoped.

 

We did experience a considerable amount of condensation, but I expected this and didn't worry about it much. Didn't have an outside thermometer, but was pretty sure it got down to single digits a night or two. We shut the furnace off at night, and bundled up in two sleeping bags. Still froze water inside the camper in water bottles and even with two sleeping bags I got a little chilled. We used a five gallon water jug for water needs, as the water system has been winterized, and I didn't want the fittings to freeze and break causing leakage. The solar system, and the batteries kept up with power needs despite the overcast conditions. The main power draw was the DC Isotherm fridge, the furnace, lights, and a CPAP at night.

 

 

My hunting buddy was a friend from work, where we once were partners in a sales territory. We had a good time, getting up at 4:30 AM to have breakfast, load packs, bundle up and set out hiking up the mountain before first light. We saw a lot of animals on the first day, and my buddy was able to take a bull elk in the early afternoon. That meant the work began, because the meat had to be cared for. We hung some of it to cool, and then began packing some of it out. We were back in about two miles from the road, as this is a hike in or horse area only, which doesn't sound like much until you're carrying a 70-80 lb pack. The hips and shoulders really feel it by the time you get back to camp.

 

 

I was able to take a cow on the third day. We took a total of nine loads to get the two elk out and back to camp. As the snow was melting, the terrain was muddy and slippery, and careful footing was required, but I still went down twice. No injuries luckily. The scenery was beautiful, and we had the additional experience of seeing several coyotes,  eagles, beaver, mule deer, hawks, and crows and Clark's Jays (camp robbers), to name a few.

 

 

 

The trip was wonderful and the Four Wheel Camper made the outing a delight. With two bunks, warm inside, a nice galley, with stovetop and fridge, it was way comfortable and delightful. I used to go in a white outfitters wall tent complete with a wood burning stove, camp stove, lantern, chainsaw, axe, etc. Really roughing it! That took a lot more equipment and time to set up and take down. While it was comfortable and fun to use the wall tent when I still had my sons at home, for just two people the camper is so much more simple to use and can't be beat.

 

There were no issues with leakage or anything malfunctioning, so it seems I've got things dialed in.

 

 

Poky

 

 

[WyoIDI]

Congrats on the elk! Especially packing it out yourself, nothing about elk hunting is easy.  Oh yeah, camper looks good too

[Living The Dream]

Poky!

 

Great to see you out there using the camper. Congrats on the elks! Looks like a great time! The camper looks 100% ! 

[Ourayphotography]

wow, 

PokyBro

just found you post and beginning to read. You are going (or went) deeeeeeeep!!

[Ourayphotography]

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Aha, so you used L brackets to hold everything together to get it to the welder for all the welds? Did he use a Tig machine?