rich
Contributors
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
- Messages
- 463
Hello Everyone,
After a 2.5 year search for the right camper I am finally an FWC owner. Last Monday I bought a 1989 Fleet from a wonderful couple in Rough and Ready for $600. The price reflects the condition of the camper but it was still a screaming deal and I couldn't pass it up. I found it on the Gold Country Craigslist thanks to a post on the forum's used FWC thread. The couple I bought it from Steve and Wendy were great people. They really wanted to sell the camper and truck combo but I had no use for the truck and after meeting me wanted my wife and I to have it. We ended up through a series of timing issues spending most of the day and night together. They helped me mount the camper, washed it before we put it on my truck, waited and chatted with me wile I mounted it, offered me beer and dinner and even took photos of me mounting it and e-mailed them to me later. They bought a 1990 Toyota truck with a 1990 Ranger II on it to replace this rig and love four wheel campers. We are still in e-mail contact with them and trading pictures of our weekend adventures.
This is a Fleet not a Fleet II so it is about the size of a Hawk. It is 7'7" long, 79" wide. It has a full size bed, couch that converts to a single bed, 2 burner stove, 8-11 gallon water tank (not sure which yet, haven't filled it), sink with electric and hand pump, furnace with thermostat and a ton of storage. I was shocked at how much gear it gobbled up for the weekend. I bought it on Monday and spent the week getting it ready for the shake down trip to New Brighton Beach in Santa Cruz CA last weekend. The old Fleets mounted with four regular bolts through the wooden floor to the truck bed. By all accounts this was not a good system. So, I took the camper to FWC in woodland and had them retrofit it with the modern mounting system of eye nuts and turn buckles. They installed eye nuts in the bed of the truck and the camper and cut new port holes for accessing the turn buckles. Chicali was very helpful and did most of the work on my camper himself. I was able to get the camper functional and have a great weekend with it.
I still need to wire it up to the truck to have electricity and the mods and projects list is already huge, fix a few rivets on the lift panels, new linoleum, paint the cabinets, recover the cushions, 303 clean and seal the vinyl, repair a few thin spots in the vinyl etc.... For any of you looking at these older ones the Fleets that are 79 inches wide are a great deal because they fit on the little Toyota trucks but get you a camper the size of a Hawk or Grandby. In fact, this fleet is 1" less wide than a new Grandby and 5.5" less long than a new Grandby. If anyone searching needs them I can post exact dimensions. I will post the pick up, mounting and shake down trip photos here and will add photos as the restoration continues. Thank you to everyone for their advice and information over the last two years while I searched for a camper.
During our shake down trip this weekend in Santa Cruz our little Fleet earned itself a name. I was sitting in a parking garage, 6'10" clearance and I could go in with my camper which was awesome, and a teenage girl walked by the camper while I was getting something out of the back, she looked at the camper, then at me and with a level of sarcasm and disdain that only a teenage girl can muster she said "umm Arkansaaaa" ha, classic. My wife and I and the people we were traveling with thought it was so funny that the name stuck. So, WTW FWC forum, meet.... Arkansas!
The first pic is of the camper fresh off of the truck where it sat for 20 years without being removed.
The second pic is of me attaching the camper with large ratchet straps to get it home.....it worked great.
The third pic is of me steadying the camper while we get my truck pulled up.....cable jacks are scary!
I can only post so many pics per post will add more in a second post.
We love our new camper.....let the restoration and mods begin!
After a 2.5 year search for the right camper I am finally an FWC owner. Last Monday I bought a 1989 Fleet from a wonderful couple in Rough and Ready for $600. The price reflects the condition of the camper but it was still a screaming deal and I couldn't pass it up. I found it on the Gold Country Craigslist thanks to a post on the forum's used FWC thread. The couple I bought it from Steve and Wendy were great people. They really wanted to sell the camper and truck combo but I had no use for the truck and after meeting me wanted my wife and I to have it. We ended up through a series of timing issues spending most of the day and night together. They helped me mount the camper, washed it before we put it on my truck, waited and chatted with me wile I mounted it, offered me beer and dinner and even took photos of me mounting it and e-mailed them to me later. They bought a 1990 Toyota truck with a 1990 Ranger II on it to replace this rig and love four wheel campers. We are still in e-mail contact with them and trading pictures of our weekend adventures.
This is a Fleet not a Fleet II so it is about the size of a Hawk. It is 7'7" long, 79" wide. It has a full size bed, couch that converts to a single bed, 2 burner stove, 8-11 gallon water tank (not sure which yet, haven't filled it), sink with electric and hand pump, furnace with thermostat and a ton of storage. I was shocked at how much gear it gobbled up for the weekend. I bought it on Monday and spent the week getting it ready for the shake down trip to New Brighton Beach in Santa Cruz CA last weekend. The old Fleets mounted with four regular bolts through the wooden floor to the truck bed. By all accounts this was not a good system. So, I took the camper to FWC in woodland and had them retrofit it with the modern mounting system of eye nuts and turn buckles. They installed eye nuts in the bed of the truck and the camper and cut new port holes for accessing the turn buckles. Chicali was very helpful and did most of the work on my camper himself. I was able to get the camper functional and have a great weekend with it.
I still need to wire it up to the truck to have electricity and the mods and projects list is already huge, fix a few rivets on the lift panels, new linoleum, paint the cabinets, recover the cushions, 303 clean and seal the vinyl, repair a few thin spots in the vinyl etc.... For any of you looking at these older ones the Fleets that are 79 inches wide are a great deal because they fit on the little Toyota trucks but get you a camper the size of a Hawk or Grandby. In fact, this fleet is 1" less wide than a new Grandby and 5.5" less long than a new Grandby. If anyone searching needs them I can post exact dimensions. I will post the pick up, mounting and shake down trip photos here and will add photos as the restoration continues. Thank you to everyone for their advice and information over the last two years while I searched for a camper.
During our shake down trip this weekend in Santa Cruz our little Fleet earned itself a name. I was sitting in a parking garage, 6'10" clearance and I could go in with my camper which was awesome, and a teenage girl walked by the camper while I was getting something out of the back, she looked at the camper, then at me and with a level of sarcasm and disdain that only a teenage girl can muster she said "umm Arkansaaaa" ha, classic. My wife and I and the people we were traveling with thought it was so funny that the name stuck. So, WTW FWC forum, meet.... Arkansas!
The first pic is of the camper fresh off of the truck where it sat for 20 years without being removed.
The second pic is of me attaching the camper with large ratchet straps to get it home.....it worked great.
The third pic is of me steadying the camper while we get my truck pulled up.....cable jacks are scary!
I can only post so many pics per post will add more in a second post.
We love our new camper.....let the restoration and mods begin!
