Hi Folks,
We made our maiden voyage to S.Utah to Fisher Towers outside of Moab. Super nice, super crowded. But we only had one night and two days, so we made the most of it.
Before the trip I added a Ford OEM Backup camera the the top of the door. $300, but it worked flawlessly and I only had to mount it and plug it in. It came with 25 feet of cable, so I mounted a small plastic electrical conduit box under the frame and twirled the excess cable up into that (you are not supposed to cut into the cable or it will most certainly fail, it's very specific cabling, possibly a micro co-axial with inner wire and outer braided filaments). I had to mount in center to mesh with the rest of the all-around-the-vehicle cameras—it's a little higher than the original tailgate placement, but it works well and absolutely a must for newbie truck drivers like us. Used stick-on wire-hider and smallest black cable cord, both from Home Depot being careful to make the hinge transition piece low and flat as possible.
I also found a used AeroShield RV Wind Fairing for $180 on my local classified ads. Had to bully the doorjamb clips on my vice for few minutes to get the correct shape. It works but I immediately went to REI to get ideas for new dj clips—the Yakima Fullback or Halfback bike racks have clips that are bigger and hopefully more perfectly shaped so I will be upgrading to those when they come today via online order direct from Yakima. It's got four huge rubber suction pads that allow it to rest on the cab roof, four plastic strap tie-downs to the doorjambs. Feels pretty solid when mounted.
Results: My impression is that it cuts down on noise that would otherwise be louder from driving with no wind fairing, but it also makes it's own unique wind-sound based on it doing it's job of redirecting air over itself and the camper. I do think it helps with overall aerodynamics—re helps with gas milage, but I have zero data to support this hunch. It definitely keeps more bugs from getting splattered on the front of the camper over the cab. The camper's two front-facing clips barely open and close with this thing mounted snug to the camper overhang.
[Backstory: After we got back I went down to my local Ace Hardware and they were having a fire sale on some stuff bc they are moving. I purchased just about ALL of the aluminum bar stock @ $2 per each. That's a smoking deal!]
Anyway on our trip my wife and I both wanted to take showers but since it was a little crowded where we camping we both wore swimsuits to shower using the camper shower. The shower works perfectly, but we both were jonesing for just a wee bit of privacy. And swimsuit showers are a PIA.
Hail necessity, the mother of invention! I sat down and had a beer and came up with a design for an exterior shower enclosure for the Hawk.
Shower Enclosure Design goals:
- Lightweight, but sturdy: Aluminum! I don't know how to weld, so all my joints/fasteners are little machine bolts with nylon stop nuts—I might not trust them for things mounted to the truck, but this thing comes on/off easily, so I think they are OK to use. And I just bought about $600 of aluminum for $80, so hell...
- No new holes in camper! I'm the very last guy in the world you want drilling into the camper, so I was desperate NOT to make any new holes in my brand new rig. Luckily I found the aluminum below the soft siding (black strip in fotos) had screws I could also us to mount this relatively lightweight frame via vertical clips.
- Don't cover up the shower heater but give full access to the shower wand/controller. Check. Who wants fumes blowing in their face? And you need to reach the wand control on the camper face, obviously.
- Make it so I can see outside easily, but private from the neck down. Check.
- Folds up, easy to store, easy to unpack, easy to use. Hopefully check.
- Includes little hooks for clothing, towel, soapdish, etc. Check.
Check out what I built. I'm pretty damn proud of it, my first DIY aluminum project. It mounts on the side, can be stored in space between truck bed and camper, opens easily and has little rubber nubs on the bottom rear and duck tape on the back side of the vertical hooks to keep it steady and from scratching the camper siding. Comes up to about my chin when I stand inside it.
Granted I need to use it: get a curtain and hang it on there (and the ends of the curtain may need to go around the 45degree supports, but that's easy to do also when setting it up I figure.)
Anyway, hope you enjoy my long post!
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Edited by BigRanchInSky, 29 April 2019 - 10:13 PM.
