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First trip with new FWC Fleet – review and lessons learned

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#1 EnviroProf

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 01:31 AM

Hi all, I drove from Pennsylvania to Bozeman, Montana, to have my new Fleet (front dinette) installed and then continued on to the West Coast and back for a shakedown cruise. I thought I’d share some thoughts and experiences. Maybe this will be useful for those considering a pop-up truck camper. For a reference point for my observations, I have previously traveled and camped for several years in a 1989 VW Syncro Westy camper.

 

Total miles driven with camper: 4,100

Nights camped: 14 (trip was 30 days and included bunking with relatives)

 

 

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Steven installing camper in Bozeman.

 

Solar

I had all of the solar gear with me and installed it in a friend’s driveway after I picked up the camper. Luckily I learned from the threads on this forum and pieced together all of the gear I needed beforehand.

Victron MPPT 100/30 solar controller

Victron BMV 700 battery monitor with Bluetooth dongle

Grape Solar 180 watt panel mounted on Yakima tracks

Zamp semi-flexible 100 watt panel stored under mattress

 

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On the road in Montana on first day. Steven told me this is the first silver fleet with matching silver doors for the various appliances.

 

Initial issues

There was a small propane leak when I filled and connected the tank. I immediately returned to the Bozeman shop and Steven quickly replaced the leaking fitting and I was good to go. I do have an issue with one of the stove burners that will have to be sorted out. The directions call for holding the knob down for about 8 seconds when you light. While one burner lights correctly this way, the other sometimes takes several attempts before it will stay lit. Anyone have this issue?

 

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Coolest campground on trip in Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.

 

Fleet review

After a month on the road with the Fleet I am very happy with its performance. I wanted to find its limits on this trip, so used everything to its full extent to determine battery storage, heating, propane efficiency, etc. In other words, I used everything and didn’t worry about conserving.

 

A typical day included running the hot water heater once a day and running the furnace each night set to about 64. The temperatures at night ranged from high 40s to a low of 14 one night camped in Wyoming. I had several nights with temps in the 20s. I did order the thermal pack and was glad that I did. I ran the hot water heater each night when I camped so I could wash dishes and found that I still had warm water in the morning. With this type of use I went six nights before emptying the first tank. Cost to fill at a store in the boonies was $5.50. Best money ever spent. As I climbed in elevation on the return trip and the temperatures dropped I left the furnace on and set at about 48 during the day and left cabinets open while driving to prevent any freezing issues with the water system.

 

The solar worked about how I expected, with the batteries dropping to 78-80% each night and then pretty quickly climbing to 100% via the 180 panel and driving. Camped in Jedediah Smith Redwoods, with virtually no sunlight hitting the panel because of the big trees, the batteries dropped to 56% after two nights. As I wanted to test the limits, I was not trying to conserve at all, charging the laptop, and running anything that I wanted to, including the furnace fan, vent fan while cooking, etc. My guess is that if I had been trying to conserve and with warmer temperatures, I could have squeezed a third night out of the batteries without dropping below 50%.

 

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Awoke to this on the Smith River in Jedediah.

 

Pickup camper vs. VW Westy

The Fleet has more floor space and much better bunk space than the Westy, as long as you only need one bed. The Fleet also has more total volume, more storage space, and much more counter space.

 

The Westy space is much more accessible. Let’s face it. Climbing in and out of the small Fleet door is a pain. In the Westy you can see better from inside and it’s easy to keep track of dogs, kids, etc., from inside the van with the big sliding door open. I felt more isolated and shut in when inside the Fleet.

 

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Mt Olympus in Olympic National Park. 

 

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Also ran into my almost twin in Olympic. Never met the driver but the truck was carrying Oregon plates.

 

Most painful lesson learned

Smashing my pinkie finger when lowering the roof in the dark early in the morning before coffee. To be fair, I was warned by Steven to keep fingers away. My dog learned some new words that morning . . .  

 

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Coldest temps were found in Wyoming near the Colorado border.

 

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And one final photo from the salt flats near Great Salt Lake.

 


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#2 BILL98388

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 01:56 AM

Nice camper and trip report. Wish you many more days/nights camping.

That campground in the Redwoods is awesome.

Bill


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#3 Pax2525

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 02:00 AM

Great pics and write up. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.


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#4 MattC

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 02:07 AM

Good stuff 


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#5 Casa Escarlata Robles Too

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 02:14 AM

Looks like a great trip.Thanks for the post.Also welcome to the cult.

rank


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#6 rollinrollinrollin

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 04:56 AM

Thanks for the report. Your photos are great and inspiring. I recently purchased a Woolrich Edition Hawk and will be taking it on its first shakedown trip to Yosemite for a week. I’m also interested in battery and propane consumption. My camper has two batteries and since the weather is supposed to be cloudy and cold I won’t be getting much help from the 160 watt solar. I purchased a 90 watt P3 Solar rollable to supplement the roof panel. I’ll probably be driving the truck every other day to keep the batteries up if necessary. I’m looking forward to reporting back with my findings.
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#7 buckland

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 11:41 AM

Nice report and beautiful photos. Making your camper your own and ironing out the wrinkles. Fun all around. Happy motoring!


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#8 EnviroProf

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 12:05 PM

Thanks for the kind words folks. I appreciate all the advice I received on this forum as I was deciding which options to order, how to install the solar, etc.


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#9 EnviroProf

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 12:17 PM

Thanks for the report. Your photos are great and inspiring. I recently purchased a Woolrich Edition Hawk and will be taking it on its first shakedown trip to Yosemite for a week. I’m also interested in battery and propane consumption. My camper has two batteries and since the weather is supposed to be cloudy and cold I won’t be getting much help from the 160 watt solar. I purchased a 90 watt P3 Solar rollable to supplement the roof panel. I’ll probably be driving the truck every other day to keep the batteries up if necessary. I’m looking forward to reporting back with my findings.

 

I will be curious to see how much better solar performance I see when I use the camper with full summer sun, rather than low-angle October sun in the cloudy PacNW. What was really useful to me was the Victron battery monitor with the bluetooth. This allowed me to learn how much power was being drawn each day. It was also useful to see how much the truck was charging while driving and how the solar was charging when parked. It also has alarms you can set when the charge drops to a certain point. 

 

As far as propane consumption went, I was glad to have the two tanks instead of one. It's difficult to determine how much propane you have in a tank for sure and you don't want to run out in the middle of the night with temps in the 20s if you only have one tank. This did happen to me on the trip and it was nice to know that I had another full one sitting right next to it. 


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#10 RC Pilot Jim

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Posted 04 November 2017 - 02:44 PM

Great shakedown trip. Your going to love it once your body memory adjusts to the size of the door. I'm 6 foot 1 inch and after 5 years in the Eagle I hardly ever "wack" my head. Just learned to go out backwards. Side benefit you will have to keep your weight down to fit.

 

Fleet looks good on the 4-door Tacoma too.

 

Happy camping.


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